scholarly journals The Philosopher and the Rooster

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-383
Author(s):  
Geert Somsen
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
International Committee ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
World War ◽  
Science Diplomacy ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Moral High Ground ◽  
First World

Unlike what is often presumed, scientific internationalism persisted through the First World War and its aftermath. Although many scientists aligned themselves with their belligerent nations after 1914, and although Germany and Austria were excluded from international meetings after 1919, the rhetoric celebrating the universally fraternizing nature of science continued as if no such ruptures existed. In this article I argue that this persistence was rooted in the war itself, and particularly in the massive mobilization of academics in wartime propaganda and diplomacy. In these activities they used internationalist arguments and their own supranational status as scientists to defend their countries’ war causes and defame those of the enemy. I illustrate this by following the diplomatic work of the French philosopher Henri Bergson. From the start of the war Bergson presented himself as a neutral scientific arbiter, developing a philosophy of the war (based on his work on life and evolution) as a battle of German barbarity versus universal (not just French) civilization. His government took note and sent Bergson on several diplomatic tasks, most notably a secret mission to the United States, early 1917, where he was to speak to President Wilson to persuade him to enter the war on the French side. Bergson’s universalism and his stature as a philosopher should appeal to Wilson’s dislike of partisanship and craving for the moral high ground. After the war, Bergson-style universalism continued and was institutionalized in the League of Nations and its International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation—with Bergson as its president. This essay is part of a special issue entitled Science Diplomacy, edited by Giulia Rispoli and Simone Turchetti.

MLA Group Projects, 1921–55

PMLA ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 70 (4-Part2) ◽  
pp. 3-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Research Association ◽  
World War ◽  
International Union ◽  
International Astronomical ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Scholarly Projects ◽  
First World

The First World War had been over for two years. In the League of Nations atmosphere following its close, world scholarship had begun to mobilize. In 1918 the Modern Humanities Research Association had been founded. In 1919 the International Research Council, the International Astronomical Union, the International Chemistry Union, and the International Union of Academies had all been organized, and similar bodies were being founded each succeeding year. In these international bodies, American scholars were ill at ease. The war had convinced Great Britain and Europe of the material achievements of the United States, but American scholars, many of them trained abroad, felt keenly that their nation did not stand so high in the fields of international scholarship. One of the first actions of the MHRA had been to send representatives across the Atlantic to meet with MLA members, out of which discussion grew the MLA annual bibliography (1921), intended to display American literary and linguistic scholarship to European scholars. The American Council of Learned Societies, founded in 1919 to make possible American participation in the International Union of Academies, had immediately addressed itself to fostering American scholarly projects that would earn respect abroad.

French War Aims and the American Challenge, 1914–1918

1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 877-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
World War ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Aims ◽  
First World

Between 1917 and 1919 the United States made its first, spectacular intrusion into European power politics. For President Wilson, entry into the First World War was a chance not only to eliminate an immediate threat to American interests but also to transform international relations. The time had come to weld the industrialized countries into a community of interest, based on a shared loyalty to representative government and the market economy, expressed by membership of a League of Nations, and in which economic and territorial causes of tension would have been removed. But hardly had the German obstacle to this programme been overcome before, at the peace conference of 1919, Wilson ran up against almost equally determined obstruction from his former allies. This article examines one source of that antagonism, in the latent conflict before the armistice between American war aims and those of France. It argues that French policy was moulded by a tension between the Paris leaders' own desires for the settlement with Germany and their need to preserve a system of alliances deemed essential for French security in the future as well as for the war itself. By 1917 French governments were already confronted with dilemmas which were to harass them for the succeeding twenty years.

scholarly journals POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE EMERGENCE OF THE MANDATE PALESTINE: Old and “New Diplomacy” (1918–1923)

2018 ◽  
pp. 398-408
Author(s):  
Liudmila M. Samarskaya
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
Arab Nationalism ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Administrative Unit ◽  
First World

Introduction. The Mandate Palestine as a separate administrative unit inside the British empire emerged after the First World War. The aim of the present article is to research and analyze the key factors of its creation, the so-called «new diplomacy», which was formed on the verge of 1910s–1920s. Materials and methods. The methods used in the article are historical-analytical and historical-systematical applied to the original sources, as well as to the research literature on the relevant topics. Results and Discussion. During and after the First World War there happened considerable changes in the international political system: nationalist movements of the Middle East became the leading players in it; among them a major role was played by the Jewish and Arab nationalism. Their aspirations were supported by the United States of America, which with the help of the «new diplomacy» and the League of Nations tried to change the balance of powers on the international arena of that period. Conclusion. As a result of all the changes the mandate system was created – a new phenomenon in the international relations of that period. Thus the appearance of the Mandate Palestine became possible Keywords: the Mandate Palestine, Zionism, nationalism, the Middle East, «new diplomacy», the League of Nations

Toward the Concept of Collective Security: The Bryce Group's “Proposals for the Avoidance of War, ” 1914–1917

1970 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin David Dubin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
International Court ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World

A remarkable document in the history of international organization is a detailed constitution for a league of nations which was given limited distribution in March 1915 under the title “Proposals for the Avoidance of War”. Prepared by British liberal and socialist critics of prewar British diplomacy headed by Lord Bryce, the historian, jurist, and retired ambassador to the United States, it undoubtedly was the single most influential scheme for a league of nations produced during the First World War. Although the “Proposals” recommended neither international social or economic cooperation nor measures of international administration, it was known to the authors of the major league schemes prepared in the United Kingdom and the United States during the First World War and to officials in both countries. Indeed, the document was the source of key concepts and language embodied in 1919 in the Covenant of the League of Nations and subsequently in the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and of its successor, the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Yet discussion of the “Proposals” in the literature on the origins of the League of Nations is both cursory and imprecise. Even such writers as Henry R. Winkler and Alfred Zimmern who recognize its importance seem not to understand how the “Proposals” evolved and how early and pervasive an influence it had.

The Compost Wars

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Barton
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
First World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The World ◽  
Popular Audience ◽  
First World

After the death of Gabrielle Howard from cancer, Albert married her sister Louise. Louise had been pressured to leave Cambridge as a classics lecturer as a result of her pro-peace writings during the First World War. After working for Virginia Wolf, she then worked for the League of Nations in Geneva. Louise was herself an expert on labor and agriculture, and helped Albert write for a popular audience. Albert Howard toured plantations around the world advocating the Indore Method. After the publication of the Agricultural Testament (1943), Albert Howard focused on popularizing his work among gardeners and increasingly connected his composting methods to issues of human health.

Stowaways at Bohemia's Shores: Undocumented Emigration and People-Smuggling Networks in Interwar East Central Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 564-583
Author(s):  
Allison Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The People ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Migrant Smuggling ◽  
First World

AbstractThis article investigates interwar people-smuggling networks, based in Germany and Czechoslovakia, that transported undocumented emigrants across borders from east-central Europe to northern Europe, where the travelers planned to sail to the United States. Many of the people involved in such networks in the Saxon-Bohemian borderlands had themselves been immigrants from Galicia. They had left a homeland decimated by the First World War and subsequent violence and entered societies with limited avenues to earn a living. The “othering” of these Galician immigrants became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as those on the margins of society then sought illegal ways to supplement their income. This article concludes that the poor economic conditions and threat of ongoing violence that spurred migrant clients to seek undocumented passage had driven their smugglers, who also faced social marginalization, to emigration and the business of migrant smuggling.

Iterative Modernism

Transfers ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greet De Block ◽  
Bruno De Meulder
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
New Order ◽  
World War ◽  
Urbanized Territory ◽  
Access Road ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World ◽  
New Infrastructure

This article traces the implicit spatial project of Belgian engineers during the interwar period. By analyzing infrastructure planning and its inscribed spatial ideas as well as examining the hybrid modernity advocated by engineers and politicians, this article contributes to both urban and transport history.Unlike colleagues in countries such as Germany, Italy and the United States, Belgian engineers were not convinced that highways offered a salutary new order to a nation traumatized by the First World War. On the contrary, the Ponts et Chaussées asserted that this new limited access road would tear apart the densely populated areas and the diverse regional identities in Belgium. In their opinion, only an integration of existing and new infrastructure could harmonize the historically fragmented and urbanized territory. Tirelessly, engineers produced infrastructure plans, strategically interweaving different transport systems, which had to result in an overall transformation of the territory to facilitate modern production and export logics.

scholarly journals Introduction: Agents of Internationalism

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
JESSICA REINISCH
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
European History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Transnational Connections ◽  
First World

In 2005Contemporary European Historypublished a special issue on transnationalism, edited by Patricia Clavin and Jens-Wilhelm Wessels. The articles presented six examples of ‘transnational’ connections between Europeans from different countries, focusing primarily on contacts in the political and economic realms, and documenting a multitude of ties and links between Europeans at all levels from the end of the First World War to the early 1960s.

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