Friday, January 8, 2010: 2:50 PM
Edward D (Hyatt)
Lost Province or:, History and Propaganda in World War I
During First World War, history could become a malleable tool in the hands of nationalist intellectuals., along with the neighboring of, serves as a case in point. German and French scholars revived, intensified, and simplified long standing debates over's history in an effort to claim the region as decidedly German or particularly French. Such debates, and the propaganda derived from them, was directed not primarily at the Alsatians themselves, but at the broader homefront as part of an effort to define the nature of the war effort. More broadly, the propagation of historical claims about's "true" nature was aimed at winning international sympathy for particular visions of a postwar settlement.
Examining the wartime efforts of historians, archeologists, and geographers to (re)define Alsatian history yields insight into how the French and Germans sought to undergird their propaganda with scientific insight; conversely, it also therefore demonstrates how scholarly undertakings became warped in service to the nation. Moreover, the selective use of history by German and French scholars over points to basic conceptions of German and French nationhood, nationalist ideals hardened in the fires of war.
This talk will briefly examine the pre-war debates over Alsatian history, then turn to show how the war exacerbated tendencies of nationalist scholarship in both countries. The talk will conclude by considering briefly how scholarly propaganda was translated into more popular media.