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This edited collection examines the violence experienced by non-combatants during the civil wars which took place in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The determinants of violence in civil wars are highly complex and variable. By focusing on both the victims and perpetrators of violence in eight European countries, including Russia, Ireland, France and Spain, the book explores what happened when differing groups within a polity clashed, and in which ways internal conflicts manifested themselves and permeated societies. Divided into two parts, the chapters firstly identify and analyse how rearguard violence was produced and exercised during the European civil wars, and secondly, they examine the violence perpetrated by, and against, women. Shedding light on the violence that was inflicted upon European civilians in the early- to mid-twentieth century, this book presents insights for historians of Europe, political scientists, and international relations scholars alike.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Patterns of Violence Behind the Lines in Europe s Civil Wars.- Part I. Logics of Rearguard Violence.- 2. Introduction - The Other Twenty Years Crisis: Europe s Civil Wars.- 3. Civil War in Russia: Violence and People.- 4. The Finnish Civil War: The Road to Political Violence, 1918.- 5. The Irish Civil War in Comparative Perspective.- 6. Logics of Repressive Violence behind the Lines in the Spanish Civil War (and its Aftermath).- 7. Collaborators vs. Resistance Fighters: The Spiral of Violence in France during the Occupation,1940-1944.- 8. The Move from Words to Deeds: The Logic of Violence against Inner Enemies and Civilians in the Italian Civil War, 1943-1945.- 9. Violence in the Greek Civil War, 1943-1949.- 10. The Courses, Causes, and Consequences of Chetnik Violence: Yugoslavia, 1941-1945.- Part II. Women in War. Victims, Militias and Perpetrators.- 11. Introduction - Women in Wars.- 12. Gender, Violence, and the Russian Civil War in Contemporary Russian Memory.- 13. A Woman as an Enemy: The Finnish Civil War, Gender Roles, and Violence.- 14. Violence and Indiscipline ? The Treatment of Militant Anti-Treaty Women by the National Army during the Irish Civil War, 1922-1923.- 15. The Enemy s Women or Women Enemies? Violence against Women during the Spanish Civil War.- 16. Civil War as Fratricidal Conflict? Re-examining the Case of Violence against Women in Liberation France.- 17. Women and Violence: Victims and Perpetrators during the Italian Civil War, 1943-1945.- 18. Women at the Symplegades of the Greek Civil War.- 19. Partisans vs. Chetniks: Gender Policies, Combat and Violence in Yugoslavia, 1941 1945.
About the author
Francisco J. Leira-Castiñeira is Ramon y Cajal Fellow at the Institute for Policy and Governance of the Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain.
John Sakkas is Professor of Modern History at the University of the Aegean, Greece.
Summary
This edited collection examines the violence experienced by non-combatants during the civil wars which took place in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The determinants of violence in civil wars are highly complex and variable. By focusing on both the victims and perpetrators of violence in eight European countries, including Russia, Ireland, France and Spain, the book explores what happened when differing groups within a polity clashed, and in which ways internal conflicts manifested themselves and permeated societies. Divided into two parts, the chapters firstly identify and analyse how rearguard violence was produced and exercised during the European civil wars, and secondly, they examine the violence perpetrated by, and against, women. Shedding light on the violence that was inflicted upon European civilians in the early- to mid-twentieth century, this book presents insights for historians of Europe, political scientists, and international relations scholars alike.
