1914-1918-online: The InternationalEncyclopedia of the First World War

1914-1918-online: The International

 

Encyclopedia of the First World War.

 

A global project for a global war

 

Oliver Janz*

 

Since October 2014, 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War

offers to both the scholarly community and the broader public a comprehensive, online,

Open Access, English-language encyclopedia of the Great War. The project is coordinated

at the Free University (Freie Universität) in Berlin and is financed by the German Research

Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). The 1914-1918-online project will be

presented in the following pages. The paper will focus on how the Encyclopedia reflects

and drives forward the transnational and global history approaches, which have gained

such strong momentum in First World War Studies in recent years1.

 

THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN TRANSNATIONAL

AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

 

The general public’s perception of the First World War is still dominated by the Western

Front, by images of endless trenches, static warfare and industrialized battles of attrition

 

* Translation from German to English by Christos Apostolopoulos.

1. This text is an updated version of an article which was published in 2014 in the Geschichte in Wissenschaft

und Unterricht review (Janz 2014a). The article is based on a lecture given in January 2014 at the Univer- sities of Tokyo and Kyoto. For reasons of space, bibliographical indications for specific aspects of the First World War have been to a large extent avoided. One can find overviews about single countries, regions or issues, which reflect the current status of the research and offer bibliographical data in the respective areas, in: Winter 2014a; Horne 2010; Hirschfeld et al. 2009.

 

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at the Somme and at Verdun. Historical scholarship itself is dominated by an image of

the First World War concentrated on Central and Western Europe. The war appears mostly

as a form of European Civil War between Germany, France and Great Britain. It’s rather

forgotten, at least among the general public, that Eastern and Southeastern Europe were more

affected by the war than Western and Central Europe. While, in the West, many countries

like Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway were able to safeguard

their neutrality, the whole of Eastern and Southeastern Europe were afflicted. It is even less

well known that, for all the bloody battles that took place there, casualties on the Eastern and

Southeastern Front, as well as in the Near and Middle East, were higher than those in the

West. Almost a third of the Serbian and Romanian troops lost their lives during the war, more

than twice as many as in the German or in the French army. The Ottoman Army lost 20% of

its soldiers, almost twice as many as the British or the Italians. The numbers are even less

ambiguous if one includes civilian casualties in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. The Near and

Middle East can account for more than a third of all civilian victims of the First World War 2.

The public’s and until recently also the academic community’s lack of awareness

concerning the extent of Eastern European and Middle Eastern involvement in the First

World War can be attributed to, amongst other things, the Soviet Union’s fixation on the

Russian Revolution as its origin myth. This has overshadowed the memory of the First

World War for a long time. In countries such as Poland or Czechoslovakia, the state-building

processes and conflicts that followed the war are commemorated to a far greater extent

than the war itself. In much the same way, the central point of reference for the collective memory in Turkey is not the First World War, but the Turkish War of Independence, which

was fought against Greece and resulted in the proclamation of the Republic.

The First World War was not only a pan-European war, but also a global war. In times

which are marked by an experience of accelerated globalization, we have to refocus our

attention on the global dimension of the First World War. For many European as well

as non-European countries, the war was a turning point and ushered in the 20th century.

No other experience heretofore has changed the lives of more people on all continents.

The First World War proves how globalized the world and its international power system

was as early as in 1914. It was not solely fought by European states outside of Europe as

in past conflicts, i.e. in Africa or on the high seas. During the First World War sovereign

non-European powers, above all Japan, the Ottoman Empire and the United States of

America, participated also, like numerous other states.

The intense efforts on both sides to attract more allies rapidly expanded the scope of

the war. To persuade states to enter the war, belligerents offered concessions to territorial

claims. In this way, many regional conflicts, very much unrelated to the hostilities at the

centre, were drawn into the war. This can be observed in Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal,

 

2. See Overmans 2009.

 

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but also in Japan, the Ottoman Empire or China. These countries attempted to exploit

the major European conflict to either protect themselves against powerful neighbours and

regain lost sovereignty, as in the case of the Ottoman Empire and China, or to further

expand their territories, such as Japan, which became a dominant power in Eastern Asia

in the course of the First World War. Australia and South Africa also exploited the war

for their own purposes, fueling it by way of sub-imperialism 3. Once the United States of

America joined the fray, states could no longer afford to remain unengaged. It was now

certain that the world would be reordered by the victors of the conflict. Taking heed, Latin

American countries and others followed the example of the United States.

Furthermore, the war took on a truly global dimension in the wake of Great Britain’s

and France’s mobilization of their colonial empires’ resources, which counted a quarter of

the world’s population, not only in economic but also in military terms. France recruited

550 000 men from its colonies; 440 000 among them were deployed in Europe. 1.3 million

soldiers were mobilized in India. More than 800 000 of these soldiers were deployed beyond

the subcontinent. A large number of British troops fighting in Europe were from Australia,

New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. These countries of the British Empire accounted

for a total of 1.2 million soldiers, 900 000 of which served in Europe 4. The Russian Army

too, counting a total of 15 million men, was not exclusively European, but recruited soldiers

from the empire’s Asian population. Moreover, Britain and France both made use of a large

labour force in Europe, recruited from their colonies and from China5.

In terms of economics, the war was from its very beginning a global event. Due to the

British Naval Blockade, the Central Powers were largely cut off from the international

markets. Consequentially, they were forced to rearrange their economies in radical ways.

The Entente Powers were similarly required to concentrate their domestic resources only

on those branches of the economy which were most vital for the war effort. They also

regulated their imports. The key to the Entente Powers’ success however was not their

increased rationing of limited domestic resources, but rather their massive intervention in

the international markets, buying up raw materials, foodstuffs and other goods on a large

scale. In this way, the British Ministry of Munitions became the largest trading company

in the world. The global deployment of the state’s concentrated market power largely

eliminated private competition and allowed prices to be kept at a relatively low level. The

British increasingly cooperated with their allies on this issue in order to avoid unnecessary

competition. The United States entry in the war further enhanced the Allies’ control on

world trade. The success of this strategy was owed to the lack of markets outside of the

Allied territory, in which producers of raw material would be able to sell their goods.

 

3. See Strachan 2010.

4. See Aldrich, Hilliard 2010.

5. See Xu 2011; Ma 2012.

 

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Imports were also easily controlled, because they were run through a small number of

mainly British and French ports. In addition, the Allies controlled international shipping

and the maritime insurance system, whose center of activity was London. With their

global network of coal stations, on which everyone depended, the British were able to

put pressure on neutral maritime traffic. This also facilitated their control of world trade 6.

If one turns the eye away from Central and Western Europe, conventional periodization

comes into question. The First World War was not only a global war, it was a long one as

well. In many respects, the war began before 1914, mainly in the Balkans and in colonial

peripheries such as Libya. On the other hand, it was kept alive long after 1918; not only in

the sense, that the Paris Peace Treaties were unable to create a stable international order and

laid the groundwork for the rise of fascism and national socialism which in turn led to the

Second World War. Even if one does not want to go so far, it is clear that the year 1918 does

not mark the end of the war. Numerous other wars and armed conflicts followed thereafter,

which emerged directly from the Great War and persisted partly up to the early 1920s. The

list of these violent conflicts is long. The Russian Civil War in all probability cost more

Russian lives than the First World War. There were numerous conflicts in Central Eastern

Europe after 1918, the war between Turkey and Greece which ended in 1923 with the

Treaty of Lausanne, and there was the struggle for Egyptian independence.

These are some of the key historiographical perspectives, which have served as guidelines

for the Encyclopedia. It intends to present the First World War in its entirety from a

transnational view, as a pan-European and global war, which extended past 1918. One part

of this transnational approach are the comparisons between countries and regions involved in the war, as well as a look at the multiple ties and interactions between them. Making use

of a global perspective not limited to military events there is hardly any true neutrality, but

only different ways of participation in the war. Therefore, the Encyclopedia systematically

includes the neutral countries and regions, which were politically, economically, medially

and mentally affected by the war to an often considerable extent.

These perspectives are not novel to the experts. For the general public as well as for

the wider community of scholars, however, they are not yet common knowledge. The

Encyclopedia intends to summarize the latest international expertise and make it accessible

to both the professional community and the broader public, in a more comprehensive

way. In this way it moreover aims to contribute to a post-national and global image of the

First World War also within commemorative culture. It furthermore intends, through its

comparative and global design, to identify gaps and advance scholarly research.

These perspectives and aims find expression in multiple ways both in the structure of

the project and in that of the articles of the Encyclopedia.

 

6. See Balderston 2010.

 

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THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA PROJECT

 

The Encyclopedia is directed by a central project team in Berlin. The contents of the project

are coordinated at the Institute for History (Institut für Geschichte) of the Free University.

The technical part is carried out by the Center for Digital Systems of the Free University. In

addition, the Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek) in Munich is responsible

for the indexing of the contributions as well as their long-term archiving. Moreover, the

Bavarian State Library catalogues each of the Encyclopedia articles, which can, in this way,

be searched and found worldwide via the libraries’ common network catalogue.

An editorial board is responsible for the contents of the Encyclopedia. It consists of a

13-member Editorial Advisory Board serving as consultants to the editors, seven General

Editors and 86 Section Editors. The seven General Editors, who are from Europe,

USA and South Africa, are the main editors of the Encyclopedia. They set the guidelines for

the Encyclopedia and make all strategic decisions. In addition, and together with external

specialists, they act as experts in a two-step review process, which every article on the

Encyclopedia has to undergo.

The Section Editors, which are also renowned and established experts, are in charge

of the regional and thematic sections of the Encyclopedia. They develop concepts for the

articles of their section and suggest authors. In addition, the Section Editors assume first

peer review duties to the articles in their section.

The Editorial Board consists of a total of 106 experts. They come from more than twenty

countries. The United States of America (19) Germany (18) and the United Kingdom (11) dominate, while France (5), Russia (6), Ireland (7), Austria (4) and Italy (4) are also strongly

represented. The other editors are from Australia (2), Belgium (2), China (1), Japan (3),

Canada (2), Lebanon (1), Luxembourg (1), New Zealand (1), the Netherlands (3),

Turkey (3) Poland (2), Portugal (2), Switzerland (2), Serbia (1), South Africa (1), Spain (1),

Slovakia (1), Norway (1), Hungary (1), Denmark (1) and Sweden (1).

In addition, more than 130 external experts support the review process. Within the

anonymous peer-review process they, along with the General Editors, evaluate the articles

in a second assessment phase. This two-step evaluation procedure, which every article of

the Encyclopedia must undergo, ensures the high scholarly quality of the content.

More than 900 authors from around the world write for the Encyclopedia: authors

from Trinidad and Tobago, Indonesia and Nigeria, as well as from Germany, Great Britain

or France. Sometimes, the articles are written collaboratively by several authors from

different countries. The article Commemoration and Cult of the Fallen for example compares

commemoration in Poland, the Baltic States and Finland. The article is co-authored by a

German, an Austrian and a Finnish author7.

 

7. Jalonen, Richter, Szlanta 2014.

 

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In addition, the project is supported by over thirty partners from ten countries. Project

partners are mostly institutions, such as the Imperial War Museum in London, the Colonial

Picture Archive (Koloniales Bildarchiv) in Frankfurt or the Library of Contemporary

History (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte) in Stuttgart, which have made documentary material

–mainly visual resources– from their respective collections available to the Encyclopedia.

The German Historical Institutes (Deutsche Historische Institute) in Moscow, Warsaw,

London, Paris and Rome support the editorial board of the Encyclopedia and fund English

translations. Additionally, some organize meetings for regional sections. For example, in

December 2014 a meeting for the Italian section took place at the German Historical Institute

in Rome. The German Historical Institutes in Warsaw and Moscow are responsible for the

“East Central Europe” and “Russian Empire” sections. In these cases, the directors of the

Institutes act as Section Editors. These institutions also offer scholarships for authors. They

have specially recruited staff tasked with writing articles for the Encyclopedia or supervising the

content of the sections. In the particular case of Poland, where research on First World War

has been in arrears for many years, new studies are expected exclusively for the Encyclopedia.

Some ongoing research projects on the First World War have approached 1914-1918-

online and have offered to manage the content of sections, which –in several cases– had

not initially been planned. The Switzerland in the First World War project, for example,

which is run at the Universities of Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Lucerne works on the

“Switzerland” section. Another example are the historians of the University of Lisbon,

who manage the section “Portugal”, or the colleagues from Kyoto University, who are responsible for the “Japan” section. These collaborations make the Encyclopedia particularly

innovative, because they bring attention to countries that have been hitherto neglected in

First World War Studies.

Another project partner is CENDARI (Collaborative European Digital Archive

Infrastructure), a project funded by the European Union, which connects the First World

War archives and their digital resources across national borders, thus building a digital

research infrastructure for the First World War. Articles in 1914-1918-online are bound

to this infrastructure, in order to enable the use of specific links to archival resources on

relevant issues.

Therefore, 1914-1918-online is the largest and most global project and network in the

field of First World War Studies. It now includes more than 1 000 experts around the world,

who are contributing to the project as editors, authors, reviewers and institutional partners.

 

THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES

 

The global approach of the Encyclopedia is reflected not only in the range of international

participants in the project, but also in its content. Here we can only give a rough overview.

 

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The Encyclopedia offers four different types of articles:

 

– Regional Survey Articles provide an overview of a region or a country;

– Thematic Survey Articles give a transnational and comparative overview of a topic;

– Regionalized Thematic Articles cover a topic for a specific region or country;

– Encyclopedic Entries.

 

Encyclopedic Entries are shorter articles, usually about one to five pages long. Handbook

Articles can be fifteen to thirty pages long. 1914-1918- online is therefore not simply, in

the strictest sense, an encyclopaedia, but also an extensive handbook.

The Encyclopedia is divided into the following eleven world regions: Africa, Australasia,

Central Europe, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East, South and South East Asia, Southeast Europe and Western Europe. This partitioning affirms

the global aspirations of the project and demonstrates that hitherto underrepresented

regions are represented equally.

These regions are further divided into individual countries, for which there are Regional

Survey Articles. The articles provide an overview of the development of individual countries

during the First World War while systematically taking into account preliminary events as

well as the aftermath and consequences of the war. Beyond political and military history,

they also examine social, economic and cultural developments. Neutral countries such as

Sweden, Switzerland and Spain, as well as states that emerged only during or after the First

World War, such as Poland or Czechoslovakia are all considered.

In addition, the Encyclopedia is divided into six thematic sections: “Pre-war”, “Power”,

“Violence”, “Media”, “Home Front” and “Post-war”. This division conforms to the

priorities of First World War research. In these sections, thematic overview articles

cover topics such as, for example, “Schools and Universities”8 in the “Home Front”

section, or “Russian Civil War” 9 in the “Post-War” section. Further examples of these

transnational and comparative thematic overview articles include “Prisoners of War”10,

“Revolutions”11, “Post-war Welfare Politics”12 or “Colonial Empires after the War”13. In

addition to comparative and transnational overview articles, some of these topics are also

covered with a regional focus and are directly linked to the overview article; for example,

“Science and Technology” during the war in Germany, France, Russia, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, or Portugal. In this way, users reading about German innovations in science and

 

8. Donson 2014.

9. Sumpf 2014.

10. Jones 2014.

11. Fulwider 2014.

12. Pironti 2014.

13. Kitchen 2014.

 

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technology can find a link to respective developments in France or in Portugal, or consult

the overview article based on the regional articles and comparing the different scientific

and technological innovations during the First World War. Here are some further examples

of issues that are examined both in comparative overview articles and in regional entries:

“Warfare”, “Social Conflict and Control”, “Protest and Repression”, “Arts”, “Making Sense of

the War”, “Labour”, “Film/Cinema”, “Women’s Mobilization for War”, “Post-War Societies”,

“Bereavement and Mourning” or “Historiography 1918-today”, just to name a few.

Among the Regionalized Thematic Articles there are not only comparative articles as

the above-mentioned, but also articles on issues that are exclusively related to individual

countries and regions. For example, in the “Australia” section there is an article concerning

the Indigenous Experience of War14, which deals with the war experiences of the indigenous

population of the continent. The “Africa” section has an article about Post-war Colonial

Administration15 dealing with changes in colonial administrations of territories whose

“owners” changed during the war.

Handbook articles are complemented by Encyclopedic Entries, which are divided into

the following categories: individuals, organizations, events, objects, concepts, and places.

Here are some examples: “Sidney Sonnino”16, “US race riots”17, “Russian-Japanese War”18,

“Commission for Relief in Belgium”19 and “All Quiet on the Western Front (novel)”20. This is

a lemma of the “object” category: the handbook article “Literature (Germany)”21 is linked to

the Encyclopaedic Entry “All Quiet on the Western Front”, which discusses the novel by Erich

Maria Remarque. Other war novels from other countries, as Le Feu22 for example, are linked to this lemma via the taxonomy, which connects the content of the entire Encyclopedia.

In this way, the Encyclopedia offers global, transnational and comparative, but also national

and, especially at lemma level, local and individual perspectives. It traces a multifaceted

history of First World War, weaving individual, local, regional, national and transnational

histories together in new ways. Users can choose among accounts of varying breadth

and degrees of complexity and abstraction, between transnational overview articles or

encyclopaedic entries on individuals, organizations and events. The Encyclopedia reflects the

current state of scholarship while also initiating new research. Users can find state-of-the-art

 

14. Riseman, Winegard 2014.

15. Authaler, Michels 2014.

16. Carlucci 2014.

17. Brown 2014.

18. Peeling 2014.

19. Little 2014.

20. Schneider 2014.

21. Hüppauf 2014.

22. Müller 2014.

 

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information on central issues and key developments before, during and after the First

World War. They can also make unexpected discoveries, as 1914-1918-online covers

cutting-edge approaches, such as the History of Emotions, with articles on topics such as

“Wartime Emotions”23. Thanks to its comparative design, the Encyclopedia helps identify

desiderata. With its innovative navigation and semantic links, it also helps make visible

previously unidentified and surprising connections.

 

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

 

A few examples will now serve, without any claim to completeness, to demonstrate

how the Encyclopedia takes into account the transnational and global expansion of

the First World War Studies, and how it represents individual regions. The section “East Central Europe”, which covers a region long time neglected in scholarship, is

particularly innovative. The section includes overview articles on Poland, the Baltic

States and Finland24. Other articles offer regionally tailored discussions on topics covered

across multiple national sections, such as “Historiography 1918-today (East Central

Europe)”25 and “Warfare (East Central Europe)”26, or issues particularly relevant for

Central Europe, such as “Post-war Agrarian Economic Policies (East Central Europe)”27.

Entries in this section include, among others, the Finnish Civil War28, the Treaty of

Riga29, postwar conflicts in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania30, and important people like

the Polish military figure and politician Józef Piłsudski31 or Antanas Smetona32, the

first President of the Republic of Lithuania, which declared its independence in 1918.

Several scholars at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw are carrying out research

in regional archives for new articles. The Encyclopedia thus not only contains the most

recent research on the war in Eastern Europe, but also publishes completely new research

findings.

 

23. Frevert 2014.

24. Richter 2014a.

25. Richter, Szlanta 2014.

26. Szlanta, Richter 2014.

27. Richter 2014b.

28. Tepora 2014.

29. Borzęcki 2014.

30. Richter 2014c.

31. Leśniewski 2014.

32. Svarauskas 2014.

 

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The role of neutral countries during the First World War has taken on increasing

scholarly importance in recent years. It was practically impossible for any country to

remain truly uninvolved in a war that covered not only all of Europe, but that also had

many global dimensions. The Encyclopedia therefore includes separate sections on neutral

countries. The Swiss section is a good and particularly innovative example, as it is closely

linked to the aforementioned “Switzerland during World War I” research project. As a

result, previously unpublished results of ongoing research find their way directly into the

Encyclopedia.

One of the objectives of 1914-1918-online is to make clear that the First World War

had a profound impact on those regions and countries outside Europe which gave up

their neutrality late or not at all, or which were, from a military point of view, only

marginally involved in the war, even if they did enter it. Latin America is a particularly

good example33. The region does not appear at all in many general histories of the First

World War, with the sole exception of the sea battles between Germans and Britons close

to Chile and in the Falkland Islands. Nevertheless, the war had many important effects

on the region. The war in Europe meant that the United States of America, like Japan in

East Asia, enjoyed significantly more freedom of action in the Western Hemisphere, and

both powers moved to claim their interests in the region more aggressively. The economic

consequences were also of great importance to Latin America: the blockade forced them

to shift their exports to the Allies and to goods which were important for warfare. Due to

the war, the United States of America likewise became the major trading partner of and lender to many Latin American countries.

The war had also important intellectual and political consequences in the region. In

terms of communication, Latin America, like Japan, participated fully in the war, being

the target of a fierce propaganda war between the powers. It is particularly important that

the image of Europe changed among leading intellectuals: to many of them, Europe ceased

to be the admirable center of world progress. This devaluation of Europe led to a loss of

legitimacy for the local oligarchies who had bet on the European model of development, as

well as to a re-evaluation of local societies. All of this, in turn, gave impetus to nationalist

and reform-oriented forces. The urban middle classes in particular were strengthened in

their demand to social reforms in the name of an independent nation. Some of them joined

nationalist parties, others movements advocating the rights of indigenous people or of the

growing workforce. The women’s movement gained also momentum, as did the student

movement, which was itself influenced by the wartime repudiation of European models,

the rhetoric of reform and national awakening, and the idea of the special sustainability

 

33. See on the following the article of Stefan Rinke, Section editor of the Encyclopedia for Latin America:

Rinke 2014a.

 

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of Latin America in view of the European disaster, which was seen by many as a betrayal

of civilization and as a reversion to barbarism.

These perspectives are reflected in the articles of the Latin America section, making

this part of the project highly innovative. Articles have been published on topics such as

“Post-War Economies (Latin America)”34, “Propaganda War (Latin America)”35, “Labour

Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Latin America)”36 and “Press (Latin America)”37,

as well as an article on social movements, which deals with the women and student

movements, as well as with the Indigenismo movement. There are also shorter articles,

for example on the Panama Canal (opened in August 1914)38, whose protection against

infringements by hostile powers was an important pretext for the United States to extend

their influence in the region; or on Epitácio Pessoa39, who represented Brazil in Versailles

and later became Prime Minister of the country.

Another region often neglected in the European perception of the First World War is

Africa. While the war in Togo, Cameroon and South West Africa came to a fairly quick end,

fighting continued in East Africa until the end of 1918. Though the number of soldiers

deployed was relatively low, the consequences for the region were devastating. This was

mainly because the war in Africa was a war of movement and, due to poor infrastructure,

a large number of porters had to be recruited; the British alone used about one million.

The death rate among them was as high as among the soldiers on the Western Front: in

Kenya, victims accounted for one-eighth of the adult male population. Requisitions and

plundering strained civilian life too, with famines and pestilences as a result. In German

East Africa alone, an estimated 650,000 people –about one-tenth of the population– lost their lives during the war. France recruited soldiers and workers from its western

and northern African colonies to be deployed in Europe. Across the continent, the war’s

profound impact was felt far beyond 1918.

In addition to four regional introductory articles about Northern Africa, West Africa40,

East and Central Africa and Southern Africa41 and a few thematic articles in other sections,

such as “Occupation During and After the War”, “Pre-War Military Planning” and

“Post-War Societies”, this section also includes articles tailored to the specific conditions in

the region, such as “Colonial Labour Requirements during Wartime”. Handbook articles

 

34. Bulmer-Thomas 2014.

35. Rinke 2014a.

36. Rinke 2014b.

37. Jiménez 2014.

38. Schuster 2014.

39. Araujo 2014.

40. Njung 2014.

41. Storey Kelleher 2014.

 

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are complemented by entries about, for example, the tirailleurs sénégalais recruited from

France, the South African politician Louis Botha42, the Battle of Tanga in November 1914

and the Carrier Corps.

The Ottoman Empire’s entry into the war was one of the most important turning

points in expanding the conflict beyond Europe. The war was extended to the Caucasus,

Mesopotamia, Persia, the Sinai and Arabia, which in turn had repercussions across

Europe. The Ottoman army, consisting of 1.6 million men, tied up strong Russian

and British forces. The consequences for the region were dramatic, with genocide and

deportations taking place in unprecedented degrees. Famine and epidemics decimated

Asia Minor’s civilian population, so much so that one-third of the war’s civilian victims

were from that region. At the end of the war, further displacements, as well as an

exchange of population, ended the 2000-year history of the Greeks in Asia Minor.

The war upended not only the political, but also the demographic, ethnic and social

structures of the region.

The section “Ottoman Empire/Middle East” is therefore of great importance to the

project. Its content is supervised by experts from the United States and the German Orient

Institut in Istanbul, which allows for the involvement of numerous authors from the region.

A regional survey article43 deals with the entire region, and there are regional articles on

Persia, Afghanistan and Egypt. Several articles allow for a comparison with other regions,

such as “Prisoners of War (Ottoman Empire/Middle East)”44 and “Food and Nutrition (Ottoman Empire/Middle East)”45, while others take into account regional specificities,

such as the article on Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa, the intelligence and terrorist organization of

the Committee of Union and Progress, which was subordinated to the Ministry of War,

and, of course, the article on Armenian Genocide. Shorter entries cover topics such as

Franz Werfel’s famous book Forty Days of Musa Dagh46.

The Encyclopedia does not end in the year 1918. Rather, it takes into account the

conflicts that arose in the immediate aftermath of the war, as well as other cultural

consequences including commemoration and memory. The postwar section contains

articles on the Russian Civil War47 and the Russo-Polish War of 1920-192148, as well as an

overview article on “Post-war Welfare Policies”49, which examines in a comparative way

 

42. Samson 2014.

43. Yanıkdağ 2014a.

44. Yanıkdağ 2014b.

45. Schulze-Tanielian 2014.

46. Werfel 1933.

47. Sumpf 2014.

48. Centek 2014.

49. Pironti 2014.

 

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the significance of the war for the development of the welfare state. Other contributions

cover such diverse topics as “Colonial Empires after the War/Decolonization”50,

“Influenza Pandemic”51, “The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences”52, and

“Historiography 1918-Today”53.

Overall, more than 1 700 articles are currently planned: 47 Regional Survey Articles,

137 Thematic Survey Articles, 604 Regionalized Thematic Articles and 945 Encyclopedic

Entries.

Finally, a few words should be said about the advantages of publishing such an

encyclopedia online. 1914-1918-online is an English open-access publication: this

ensures maximum visibility and spread beyond the circle of academic experts, making

the Encyclopedia available to pupils, students, teachers and the general public worldwide.

Another advantage of digital publishing is that articles can be gradually released and

updated at any time (all versions of an article remain accessible at all times). Online

publication also allows for the enrichment of individual entries with images, maps and

geodata, video and other digital sources, as well as links to library catalogs and external web

content, making relevant websites (evaluated by the editors), research literature published

online, and digitized sources readily available to the user.

Online publication furthermore allows for innovative navigation through an extensive

collection of texts. The articles are elaborately connected and diversely searchable. Users

can browse through the vast network of the Encyclopedia’s material in associative ways,

while also being able to easily target specific information, and compile custom collections

of articles based on topics, keywords, countries or regions. This makes it considerably easier for users not only to identify linkages and connections, but also to draw comparisons. The

transnational and global claim of the Encyclopedia is thus supported and enhanced by its

technical structure, the form and medium of its publication.

 

50. Kitchen 2014.

51. Phillips 2014.

52. Sharp 2014.

53. Winter 2014b.

 

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Aldrich, Hilliard 2010 = Aldrich Robert, Hilliard Christopher, “The French and

British Empires”, in Horne John (ed.), A companion to World War I, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell,

2010, p. 524-539.

 

Araujo 2014 = Araujo Rafael Pinheiro de, “Pessoa, Epitácio”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL:http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10041.

 

Authaler, Michels 2014 = Authaler Caroline, Michels Stefanie, “Post-war Colonial

Administration (Africa)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/

ie1418.10403.

 

Balderston 2010 = Balderston Theo, “Industrial Mobilization and War Economics”, in

Horne John (ed.), A companion to World War I, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p. 217-233.

 

Borzęcki 2014 = Borzęcki Jerzy, “Riga, Treaty of”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.

doi.org/10.15463/ ie1418.10032.

 

Brown 2014 = Brown Charlene Fletcher, “U.S. Race Riots”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10029.

 

Bulmer-Thomas 2014 = Bulmer-Thomas Victor, “Post-war Economies (Latin America)”, in

Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10365.

 

Carlucci 2014 = Carlucci Paola, “Sonnino, Sidney”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10627.

 

Centek 2014 = Centek Jaroslaw, “Polish-Soviet War 1920-1921”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http:// dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10297.

 

Daniel et al. 2014 = Daniel Ute, Gatrell Peter, Janz Oliver, Jones Heather, Keene Jennifer,

Kramer Alan, Nasson Bill (eds), 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First

World War, Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, 2014. [online] URL: http://www.1914-1918-

online.net/.

 

Donson 2014 = Donson Andrew, “Schools and Universities”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10346.

 

Frevert 2014 = Frevert Ute, “Wartime Emotions: Honour, Shame, and the Ecstasy of Sacrifice”,

in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10409.

 

Fulwider 2014 = Fulwider Chad R., “Revolutions”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://

dx.doi.org/10.15463/ ie1418.10345.

 

Hirschfeld et al. 2009 = Hirschfeld Gerhard et al. (eds), Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg.

Aktualisierte und erweiterte Studien- ausgabe, Paderborn, Schöningh, 2009.

 

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Horne 2010 = Horne John (ed.), A companion to World War I, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

 

Hüppauf 2014 = Hüppauf Bernd, “Literature (Germany)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10391.

 

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Janz 2014a = Janz Oliver, “1914-1918-online: The International Encyclopedia of the First World

War”, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 65/5.6, p. 369-379.

 

Janz 2014b = Janz Oliver (ed.), Der Erste Weltkrieg in globaler Perspektive (special issue), Geschichte

und Gesellschaft, 40/2 (2014).

 

Jiménez 2014 = Jiménez Patricia Vega, “Press (Latin America)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10343.

 

Jones 2014 = Jones Heather, “Prisoners of War”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.

doi.org/10.15463/ ie1418.10475.

 

Kitchen 2014 = Kitchen James E., “Colonial Empires after the War/Decolonization”, in Daniel

et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10370.

 

Leśniewski 2014 = Leśniewski Michal, “Piłsudski, Józef ”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10107.

 

Little 2014 = Little Branden, “Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB)”, in Daniel et

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Ma 2012 = Ma Li (ed.), Les Travailleurs chinois en France dans la Première Guerre mondiale, Paris,

CNRS, 2012.

 

Müller 2014 = Müller Olaf, “Le Feu”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.

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Njung 2014 = Njung George N., “West Africa”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.

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Overmans 2009 = Overmans Rüdiger, “Kriegsverluste”, in Hirschfeld Gerhard et al. (eds),

Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg. Aktualisierte und erweiterte Studienausgabe, Paderborn, Schöningh,

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Phillips 2014 = Phillips Howard, “Influenza Pandemic”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

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Pironti 2014 = Pironti Pierluigi, “Post-war Welfare Policies”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10358.

 

Richter 2014a = Richter Klaus, “Baltic States and Finland”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10002.

 

Richter 2014b = Richter Klaus, “Post-war Agrarian Economic Policies (East Central Europe)”,

in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10464.

 

Richter 2014c = Richter Klaus, “Independence Wars (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia)”, in

Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10285.

 

Richter, Szlanta 2014 = Richter Klaus, Szlanta Piotr, “Historiography 1918-Today

(East Central Europe)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/

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Rinke 2014 = Rinke Stefan, “Ein Drama der gesamten Menschheit. Lateinamerikanische

Perspektiven auf den Ersten Weltkrieg”, in Janz Oliver (ed.), Der Erste Weltkrieg in globaler

Perspektive (special issue), Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 40/2 (2014), p. 287-307.

 

Rinke 2014a = Rinke Stefan, “Propaganda War (Latin America)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

URL: http:// dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10537.

 

Rinke 2014b = Rinke Stefan, “Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Latin America)”,

in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10439.

 

Riseman, Winegard 2014 = Riseman Noah, Winegard Timothy C., “Indigenous Experience of

War (British Dominions)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/

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Samson 2014 = Samson Anne, “Botha, Louis”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.

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Schneider 2014 = Schneider Thomas, “ All Quiet on the Western Front (novel)”, in Daniel et

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Schulze-Tanielian 2014 = Schulze-Tanielian Melanie, “Food and Nutrition (Ottoman

Empire/Middle East)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/

ie1418.10322.

 

Schuster 2014 = Schuster Sven, “Panama and Panama Canal”, in Daniel et al. 2014.

[online] URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.15463/ie1418.10229.

 

Sharp 2014 = Sharp Alan, “The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences”, in Daniel et al.

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Storey Kelleher 2014 = Storey Kelleher William, “Southern Africa”, in Daniel et

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Strachan 2010 = Strachan Hew, “The First World War as a Global War”, First World War

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Svarauskas 2014 = Svarauskas Artūras, “Smetona, Antanas”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online]

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Szlanta, Richter 2014 = Szlanta Piotr, Richter Klaus, “Warfare 1914-1918 (East Central

Europe)”, in Daniel et al. 2014. [online] URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10410.

 

Tepora 2014 = Tepora Tuomas, “Finnish Civil War 1918”, in Daniel Ute et al. 2014. [online]

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Werfel 1933 = Werfel Franz, Die vierzig Tage des Musa Dagh (Forty Days of Musa Dagh), Vienna,

Paul Zsolnay Verlag, 1933.

 

Winter 2014a = Winter Jay (ed.), The Cambridge History of the First World War, 3 vols.,

Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014.

 

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Xu 2011 = Xu Guoqui, Strangers on the Western Front. Chinese Workers in the Great War, Cambridge

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