Michael J.K. Walsh

Andrekos Varnava

In 1914 almost one quarter of the earth's surface was British. When the empire and its allies went to war in 1914 against the Central Powers, history's first global conflict was inevitable. It is the social and cultural reactions to that war and within those distant, often overlooked, societies which is the focus of this volume. From Singapore to Australia, Cyprus to Ireland, India to Iraq and around the rest of the British imperial world, further complexities and interlocking themes are addressed, offering new perspectives on imperial and colonial history and theory, as well as art, music, photography, propaganda, education, pacifism, gender, class, race and diplomacy at the end of the pax Britannica.

Culture and society

The Great War and the British Empire

This book shows how cultural production derived from, or in anticipation of, conflict can be used to create specific social identities, national histories, and contemporary concepts of memory in Britain and Australia. Studies on the politics of cultural production have usually focussed on one conflict, or on one particular cultural medium, at a time. This volume, however, presents a broader horizon to draw attention to more popular forms of cultural production from the Great War up to and including its Centenary. The chapters in this volume interrogate the contentious philosophical notion that culture thrives in times of war, and expires in peace, and asks whether ‘art’, as a form of social barometer, can anticipate conflict rather than merely respond to it. This is a fascinating read for students, researchers, and academics interested in British and Australian History and its relationship with Popular Culture. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Contemporary British History.

Popular Culture and Its Relationship to Conflict in the UK and Australia since the Great War

Margaret Hutchison

Michael Walsh

Romain Fathi

Exiting war explores a particular 1918–20 ‘moment’ in the British Empire’s history, between the First World War’s armistices of 1918, and the peace treaties of 1919 and 1920. That moment, we argue, was a challenging and transformative time for the Empire. While British authorities successfully answered some of the post-war tests they faced, such as demobilisation, repatriation, and fighting the widespread effects of the Spanish flu, the racial, social, political and economic hallmarks of their imperialism set the scene for a wide range of expressions of loyalties and disloyalties, and anticolonial movements. The book documents and conceptualises this 1918–20 ‘moment’ and its characteristics as a crucial three-year period of transformation for and within the Empire, examining these years for the significant shifts in the imperial relationship that occurred and as laying the foundation for later change in the imperial system.

The British Empire and the 1918–20 moment

Exiting war

Richard Scully

Comic empires is an innovative collection of new scholarly research, exploring the relationship between imperialism and cartoons, caricature, and comic art.

Imperialism in cartoons, caricature, and satirical art

Comic empires

Michael J. K. Walsh

A century after the Armistice and the associated peace agreements that formally ended the Great War, many issues pertaining to the UK and its empire are yet to be satisfactorily resolved. Accordingly, this volume presents a multi-disciplinary approach to better understanding the post-Armistice Empire across a broad spectrum of disciplines, geographies and chronologies. Through the lens of diplomatic, social, cultural, historical and economic analysis, the chapters engage with the histories of Lagos and Tonga, Cyprus and China, as well as more obvious geographies of empire such as Ireland, India and Australia. Though globally diverse, and encompassing much of the post-Armistice century, the studies are nevertheless united by three common themes: the interrogation of that transitionary ‘moment’ after the Armistice that lingered well beyond the final Treaty of Lausanne in 1924; the utilisation of new research methods and avenues of enquiry to compliment extant debates concerning the legacies of colonialism and nationalism; and the common leitmotif of the British Empire in all its political and cultural complexity. The centenary of the Armistice offers a timely occasion on which to present these studies.

Empire, Endgame and Aftermath

After the Armistice

Philip Payton

This edited collection explores how migrants played a major role in the creation and settlement of the British Empire, by focusing on a series of Australian case studies. Despite their shared experiences of migration and settlement, migrants nonetheless often exhibited distinctive cultural identities, which could be deployed for advantage. Migration established global mobility as a defining feature of the Empire. Ethnicity, class and gender were often powerful determinants of migrant attitudes and behaviour. This volume addresses these considerations, illuminating the complexity and diversity of the British Empire’s global immigration story. Since 1788, the propensity of the populations of Britain and Ireland to immigrate to Australia varied widely, but what this volume highlights is their remarkable diversity in character and impact. The book also presents the opportunities that existed for other immigrant groups to demonstrate their loyalty as members of the (white) Australian community, along with notable exceptions which demonstrated the limits of this inclusivity.

Immigrants in a Globalised World

Australia, Migration and Empire

Nicholas Coureas

Marina Elia

This book examines the various minorities living in the island of Cyprus from the early modern (late Venetian and early Ottoman) period down to the present day. It charts their history, with special emphasis on their relations with the powers ruling Cyprus and with the two dominant Christian-Greek and Muslim-Turkish communities. The theme running through the book is that despite being significant members of Cyprus' society, the three historical minorities (Maronites, Armenians and Latins) were only included in society to a certain extent by the two major communities. This was formalised in the post-independence (1960) period when they were compelled to become members of either dominant community and thus they suffered 'internal exclusion' by being regarded as religious sub-groups of one of the two dominant communities rather than national minorities in their own right. Within this general context, the social, legal and political roles, customs, culture and language of the various minorities are examined as they evolved through time and in response to internal and external developments affecting Cyprus in the political, economic and global spheres. They are discussed not as static entities, but as evolving groups that have adapted with greater or lesser degrees of success to the radical and at times painful changes Cyprus has undergone, especially over the last 150 years, in all walks of life. Finally, the question of what the future holds for the minorities of the island in the light of Cyprus' EU membership and the prospect of reunification are also analysed. This book is a product of the conference Minorities of Cyprus: Past, Present and Future, which was held on 24 and 25 November 2007 at the European University Cyprus.

Development Patterns and the Identity of the Internal-exclusion

The Minorities of Cyprus

This book examines the various minorities living in the island of Cyprus from the early modern (late Venetian and early Ottoman) period down to the present day. It charts their history, with special emphasis on their relations with the powers ruling Cyprus and with the two dominant Christian-Greek and Muslim-Turkish communities. The theme running through the book is that despite being significant members of Cyprus’ society, the three historical minorities (Maronites, Armenians and Latins) were only included in society to a certain extent by the two major communities. This was formalised in the post-independence (1960) period when they were compelled to become members of either dominant community and thus they suffered ‘internal exclusion’ by being regarded as religious sub-groups of one of the two dominant communities rather than national minorities in their own right. Within this general context, the social, legal and political roles, customs, culture and language of the various minorities are examined as they evolved through time and in response to internal and external developments affecting Cyprus in the political, economic and global spheres. They are discussed not as static entities, but as evolving groups that have adapted with greater or lesser degrees of success to the radical and at times painful changes Cyprus has undergone, especially over the last 150 years, in all walks of life. Finally, the question of what the future holds for the minorities of the island in the light of Cyprus’ EU membership and the prospect of reunification are also analysed. This book is a product of the conference “Minorities of Cyprus: Past, Present and Future”, which was held on 24 and 25 November 2007 at the European University Cyprus.

Andrekos Varnava

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