Abstract
In the 1920s and 1930s, activists of different shades – including pacifists, feminists and humanitarians – forged transnational links and thus sought to overcome national antagonisms. As this stimulating and well-conceived volume shows, ex-servicemen made manifold contributions to interwar internationalism. An exploration of veterans’ involvement in this phenomenon is particularly welcome as they constituted a sizeable constituency that, however, tends to be studied in mostly national terms. As a whole, the book engages with two research themes that have generated much stimulating work in recent years: first, the Great War’s impact on political culture in different countries; second, the role of transnational currents and connections. Julia Eichenberg and John Paul Newman have assembled an impressive cast of scholars to investigate veterans’ internationalism. Seven contributors to the volume have published monographs on veterans and political culture (Niall Barr, Stephen Ortiz, Antoine Prost, Martina Salvante, Natali Stegmann as well as the editors); two of its authors have made important contributions to the literature on the First World War (John Horne, William Mulligan); and one is an expert in the history of international associations (Thomas Davies). As such, this collection both promises and delivers a survey of key work in the field.
One reason why veterans are an intriguing subject for comparative and transnational research is their prominence in national(ist) discourses. This point is illustrated by three insightful chapters on newly constituted states in interwar Europe, namely Czechoslovakia (Stegmann), Poland (Eichenberg), and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Newman). The essays highlight ambiguities that resulted from the nature of wartime mobilization: after all, veterans in these countries had fought within opposing armies. As Newman notes, this meant that – rather than being purely a question of international politics – ‘reconciliation was also a domestic concern’ (p. 105). Casting veterans as national figures therefore involved a selective interpretation of the recent past. For example, the suitability of the Czechoslovak Legion for national celebrations was self-evident; yet official rhetoric went further and posited that Czech and Slovak soldiers in the Habsburg army had fought ‘on the wrong side but for the right purpose – the Czechoslovak state’ (p. 126). A shared feature of the dominant veterans’ associations in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia was their support for the post-war order. By means of contrast, it would have been interesting if the book had included contributions on the formerly dominant parts of the Habsburg Monarchy. For instance, how did Hungarian veterans engage with the irredentism that featured prominently in their country’s political culture? A chapter on Austria would have complemented Stegmann’s interesting material on German-Bohemian veterans in Czechoslovakia. It would have also tied in with Mulligan’s observation that Weimar Germany’s republican and pro-Locarno Reichsbanner association favoured Austria’s integration into a greater Germany.
Beyond their national features, veterans’ associations aimed at an active role in international affairs, as the very status of their members was defined by the war experience. A sensitivity to such matters inspired national associations to participate in international ventures. The two main bodies were FIDAC, a federation founded in 1920 by the representatives of Allied veterans, and CIAMAC, launched in the Locarno era to foster contacts between veterans from former enemy nations. As a unifying feature (and general strength) of this volume, all chapters consider the interplay between national associations and these two international organizations. Perhaps a more detailed index would have been useful; it could have pinpointed recurring references to specific FIDAC and CIAMAC events or initiatives. Regardless of this matter, the book certainly testifies to the vibrancy of international associational life amongst ex-servicemen. Furthermore, it traces the differences and convergences in the paths pursued by the two international organizations.
International organizations were a forum where veterans engaged with two major sets of issues. The first was welfare provision for veterans. International congresses allowed national associations to showcase their own successes or gather information on arrangements elsewhere. The second strand of veterans’ internationalism was disarmament in both the military and the moral sense. Ortiz’s chapter on American veterans is instructive in this respect. It illustrates how the American Legion maintained a determined distance from pacifism whilst simultaneously adopting a language of peace and reconciliation. Meanwhile, Davies draws attention to the different ways in which FIDAC and CIAMAC contributed to the campaigning efforts surrounding the Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
The authors are far from oblivious to the problematic dimensions of veterans’ internationalism. For example, as Salvante notes, the Italian authorities acknowledged FIDAC’s ‘usefulness as a tool of propaganda for the fascist regime’s achievements’ (p. 163) and staged a large-scale international meeting in Rome in 1936. Barr’s fascinating chapter indicates that British Legion leaders had an ill-founded belief in their foreign-policy calling. Early on, they regarded the organization ‘as a peace-maker, not only for British ex-servicemen but also for their Allied comrades’ (p. 36). By the 1930s, their approach intersected with Appeasement policies and meant that some Legion initiatives could be exploited in the Third Reich’s propaganda. The Legion’s actions during the Munich Crisis are particularly striking in this context; they included the offer to recruit volunteers who would police the Sudetenland’s transfer to Germany.
The ability of veterans’ internationalism to serve diverse agendas is a recurring theme in this book. It would be worthwhile to examine alternative internationalisms in this context: its communist variety (to which some of the authors allude) or the experiences and attitudes of veterans who were colonial subjects. Such scope for further discussion is an indication that this collection opens up a rich array of questions. The editors have succeeded in producing a remarkably focused volume that deserves the attention of anyone interested in the relationship between nationalism and internationalism.