The Great War and Veterans' Internationalism (Electronic book text)

After the Great War, Veterans were a new transnational mass phenomenon. Their status raised a number of new questions about the presence of ex-soldiers in society, their entitlement in terms of welfare (pensions, disability benefits, etc), and their role in politics and on the international stage. This volume sets national expertise within a transnational framework. It shows traditions of internationalism and of commitment to international institutions among former soldiers that even survived into the post-1945 world. The volume discusses extent and impact of international veterans' organisations such as CIAMAC and FIDAC and draws out important comparative points between well-researched and documented movements (i.e. France, Britain, Germany) and those that are less well-known. Certainly in terms of geography, the project will show that these cultures did not exclude any part of formerly belligerent Europe, and that 'fraternal links' between veterans branched out across the continent and beyond. The volume explores these transformations in the memory of war and the identity of veterans in the interwar period throughout Europe and the wider world.