The War Beyond Italy

Italy entered the war to cement its great power status. To convince its Entente partners it was actively contributing to the global struggle, it sent troops first to Albania and later Macedonia, both in pursuit of territorial goals and to support the allies. As the conflict expanded in scope and scale, Italian war aims grew correspondingly: in 1917 a new allied agreement promised Italy territorial compensation in Asia Minor. The St Jean de Maurienne Agreement also enabled Italy to send a tiny expeditionary force to Palestine. By 1918 the need to demonstrate a global commitment led to even more overseas deployment for Italian forces: units were sent to France to the Western Front and to both Murmansk and Manchuria to fight in the Russian Civil War. Despite all these far-flung missions, however, only in Albania was there any intention to remain after the war’s end.

Britain’s European Island-Empire, 1793–1815

This chapter explores the creation and maintenance of Britain’s European island empire during the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. It traces the initial establishment of island bases in the Mediterranean, North and Baltic Seas, outlining their importance to British trade and strategy. It explains how and why British war aims came to rely on these imperial possessions. Across the Mediterranean, the war came to be defined by the extension of island empires. British victory in 1814 owed much to these islands, lynchpins of its wider European strategy. In northern waters, the island of Heligoland acted as a rendezvous point for trade with the continent, and was a key site from which Napoleon’s ‘Continental System’ could be undermined. Britain’s European island empire proved itself to be a crucial part of Britain’s wider imperial network, and its significance would continue into the nineteenth century and the era of Pax Britannica.

The Politics and Diplomacy of the First World War

The politics and diplomacy of First World War are a complex topic. Tens of thousands of books, articles, and editions of primary sources were published on many aspects of the question, but very few works try to cover the ground comprehensively. The reason is the sheer complexity. The attempt to cover the topic in its entirety and in depth would fail to amalgamate the enormous amount of information. There is not a simple “line of events” to follow. A thorough analysis of the politics and diplomacy of First World War has to cover the events and the political intentions and actions of key protagonists, and then to link them with internal politics, with military events and strategic expectations—and this for the entire duration of the war. The task is massive; over thirty states fought in this war. Many neutrals as well as non-state-actors, like for example the churches, would have to be included in such a survey. It is evident that it is very difficult to deliver such an analysis for the entire period of the war in reasonable depth; and maybe it would not even be sensible to try. Many studies analyze developments in politics, strategy, and war aims on the level of single states or on the level of wartime alliances, or they examine single political events of international nature. What is missing are not the “unit level” studies, but “system level” analysis of First World War diplomacy and political relations covering the entire war. We have to pay a significant price for the non-existence of thorough international studies of the war. It leads to serious and unavoidable shortfalls in interpretation because the “unit level” view—let’s say, the view of the contemporaries living during the Great War—tends to survive and perpetuate itself and to dominate research up to our present times. This bibliography reflects this state of research, by offering first an introduction to some key works on the start of the war (i.e., the July crisis) and introducing then some useful studies which cover the entire topic of international politics and wartime diplomacy. It will then turn toward the politics and diplomacy of First World War on a “unit level,” state by state. It ends with literature on the armistice in 1918. It abstains from covering the Versailles peace negotiations which are a closely linked but separate topic.

Working for Peace

World War I represented a troubling predicament for suffragists. This chapter explores the ways Kentucky suffragists managed to “sneak in a little suffrage” even as they committed themselves fully to supporting American war aims.

Internationalism and War

With the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the Japanese taking all of Indochina, Roosevelt prepared the country for war and began to implement his grand strategy for victory. The president implemented his expansive vision of the Monroe Doctrine to allow naval escorts of lend-lease supplies across the North Atlantic, extended American aid to Russia, creating the Grand Alliance of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, and joined with London in enumerating Western war aims through the adoption of the Atlantic Charter. At the same time, he extended the economic embargo against Japan to include oil, bringing the final break in relations with Tokyo. By the fall 1941, the U.S. Navy was engaged in the Battle of the Atlantic with German submarines. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 brought the United States directly into World War II.

2. 1861

“1861” describes the events of that year, which began with the appointment of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy. Following the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for troops, appointed George McClellan to command Union forces, and imposed a blockade against the South. The first battles were chaotic. Union forces (“Yankees”) benefited from greater manpower and technology; Southerners (“Rebels”) had a stronger military tradition and familiar terrain. Although the war did not begin with the aim of abolishing slavery, the institution played a role in military and diplomatic developments. Abolitionists hoped that Union war aims would transform into a struggle against slavery.