CALL FOR PAPERS FOR A CASE STUDIES COLLECTION “GREAT POWER POLITICS TOWARDS MIDDLE EUROPE, 1914–1945”

ABSTRACT : 300 words
Deadline : 15 February 2015

PAPERS : 4000–7000 words
Deadline: 15 May 2015

Contact: 1914mideu1945@gmail.com (Aliaksandr Piahanau and Andras Becker)


In the first half of the 20th century, Middle -or Central - Europe, repeatedly set the stage for great power rivalry and conflict, as well as political, economic and cultural exchange. With a touch of irony, contemporary Hungarian writer Lajos Grendel described the region as a mere sum of small landlocked countries that could be occupied by foreign armies from any direction. Indeed, during the Great War, the interwar period and World War II, the area situated between Germany and Russia has become the target of covert or direct expansion. Although with a fluctuating pattern and intensity, Middle Europe seemed to carry important implications for the national and imperial objectives of great powers in the period, that Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill were the first to call “the Second Thirty Year War”. The context of great power meddling in Middle Europe in the period 1914–1945 still offers numerous unresearched perspectives. The consideration of the varying and often conflicting regional viewpoints about national and political identity, frontier and territory had not only underpinned regional interstate antagonisms, but at the same time provided a platform for great power interference.

We are inviting submissions to our edited volume on the subject of Great Power politics in Middle Europe between 1914 and 1945. We are welcoming papers analysing the policy of any given great power (the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, the USA and Japan) towards the region, either as a whole, or towards any individual country. The timeframe of analysis is also broadly based; it can encompass the entire era, but could similarly concentrate only on a shorter period (4–5 years). Investigations of specific regional issues with international implication, such as the Anschluss, or the question of the Polish Corridor, are also welcomed.

The idea of publishing a collection of articles on great power policy towards Middle Europe emerged following discussions held at international conferences on the topic (“Central Europe between France and Russia during the Interwar”, Paris, France, November 2013 and Minsk, Belarus, October 2014, and the panel “Great Power Politics towards Middle Europe” at the IV. International Congress of Belarusian Studies, Kaunas, Lithuania, October 2014).

We are aiming to put a selection of articles together, which, as far as possible, equally represent each Great Power. We plan to publish up to 20 papers from internationally reputable scholars, as well as from young promising historians. A major publishing house in the UK has already expressed its interest in the project, which should be published by the end of 2015.

Please, send your abstract (no more than 300 words)to 1914mideu1945@gmail.com by 15 February 2015.

The potential participants will be informed by 20 February 2015 whether their papers have been accepted and be directed to submit their final written work by 15 May 2015.

The abstract should contain:
1) the title and subject of the paper (including its chronological timeframe);
2) the relevance of the paper to the theme ‘Great Powers policies towards Middle Europe in 1914–1945’;
3) information about the primary sources used.
An academic CV with a list of publications should also be attached.


The papers should be written in English and be approx. 4 000 – 7 000 words (without footnotes).
The final deadline for submitting papers is 15 May 2015.


All documents should be sent to 1914mideu1945@gmail.com


Aliaksandr Piahanau,
PhD Candidate (Belarusian State University), associate researcher (University Paris VII - Denis Diderot)
http://bsu.academia.edu/AliaksandrPiahanau
+33 6 95 16 80 96

Andras Becker,
PhD., Visiting Research Fellow
(University of Southampton)
https://soton.academia.edu/AndrasBecker
+44 75 45494857