The experience of minorities in the First World War is one of the most significant, yet least developed aspects of the conflict’s history. It is now over twenty years since the major conference on ‘National and Racial Minorities in Total War’ which spurred the highly influential volume: Minorities in Wartime. With the centenary of the First World War fast approaching, it seems a particularly appropriate time to revisit this subject.

Over the preceding decades, there have been massive shifts in the writing of ethnic and minority histories, which have started to excavate areas of convergence as well as departure. At the same time, our understanding of the social and military history of the First World War has expanded massively. No longer is the history of the conflict confined largely to the trenches of the Western Front. It now encompasses everything from non-combatants and the home front through to occupation and the memory of war.

The aim of this two-day conference is to mesh recent developments in the military history of the First World War with those in the field of minority studies. We welcome proposals covering any ethnic or national minority group involved in the conflict. The journal ‘Patterns of Prejudice’ will publish a selection of papers in a special edition.

Keynote Speakers: Professor Tony Kushner (University of Southampton); Professor Humayun Ansari OBE (Royal Holloway); Professor Panikos Panayi (De Montfort University, Leicester)