Find out! here are the links to the findings from three webinars (introductions and the individual papers):

- Medieval (25.06.2021)
- Early Modern (28.06.2021)
- Modern (24.06.2022)

Attention! We’re talking about history here, and it’s important. This might be the summary of the online webinar on #historyinconflict held on June, 25th (2022), where we addressed the role of bringing up historical narratives in conflicts in the 19th-21st centuries. It was the third instalment in a series of webinars, after meetings on medieval and early modern conflicts. Now our attention has turned to modern conflicts: for instance, WWII in the Netherlands, border struggles in South America from the 19th century onwards, tensions related to religious reforms in India in the 20th century, and the perceptions of the past in post-WWII Poland or Vietnam. The insights we gained from the fascinating papers that were presented, and the discussions that followed, show that references to the past have clearly gained a foothold as powerful and versatile tools. And that they grab our attention and often create controversy.

Historians like Margaret Macmillan and Timothy Snyder have rightly pointed out that history has been used, abused and re-used many times over, sometimes in a cyclical fashion. The editors of the newly minted Journal of Applied History underline that our current engagement with the past – especially during conflicts – is a topic that in fact more than merits our attention:  ‘The accumulation of crises in the new millennium, as well as the omnipresence of the instrumentalisation—and abuse—of history and historical claims in a highly polarised political climate may have increased public awareness of the value of historical thinking for the present, but these developments have also made such awareness more urgent.’ A crucial issue here is the role of professional historians: what part have they played in conflicts in the 20th century, and what role are they playing or should they play now? Is debunking myths enough, or should the spokespeople of the past be more activist or creative? [....]

‘The Prophet of Islam and his Time as an Argument - but for what?’

Bringing the History in Conflict webinar to its conclusion, Margrit Pernau showed us how historical arguments referring to one person in the past – while also based on the same corpus of sources –  could deviate significantly. The context for her paper was political conflict in Hyderabad, the biggest of the princely states in India. As previously one of the provinces of the Moghul empire, Hyderabad was transformed into a state in the 18th century and continued with its Moghul form of rule. This meant, in short, a rule by the aristocracy that consisted mostly of Muslims. Although this government was not based on religion, it still had a Muslim majority, and this led to problems in the 1930s after a series of developments that started in the parts of India directly under British rule. First, there was the movement towards national independence, and secondly, another move towards mobilization of ever-increasing part of the society towards democratisation – that, of course, also had an impact on the princely states. [....]

'Conflict, memory and history in the writings of Ho Chi Minh, 1920-1960.'

The penultimate paper of our workshop stemmed from another of our colleagues here at the University of Amsterdam, Rimko van der Maar, assistant professor for the History of International Relations. In his presentation, he focussed on the use of history in the propaganda of Ho Chi Minh (1890-1960), leader of the Vietnamese decolonization war against France and president of Communist North Vietnam. Rimko presented Ho as a skilled propagandist who could rely on a broad range of personal experience gathered in his life abroad which in the first half of the 20th century led him on travels throughout the world.[....]

'The past as warning through word and image: the transnational case of a Dutch illustrated broadsheet (1598).'

As we continue our look back over our latest History in Conflicts Webinar, we now return briefly to the early modern period with our University of Amsterdam colleague, Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez. Rodríguez Pérez’s presentaiton tackled the theme of ‘The Past as a Warning in Word and Image’ using the evidence of a Dutch broadsheet first printed in 1598, but which had a legacy stretching into later centuries. [....]

'The Afterlives of the Kuruc-Labanc Conflict in Hungarian History.'

Next in the webinar we could welcome another University of Amsterdam colleague of ours. In her paper, Krisztina Lajosi-Moore, senior lecturer in Modern European Culture at the Department of European Studies, taught us about the persistent use of a mythologized early modern conflict in present day Hungary. [....]

‘Crusaders: Christianization and Germanization in Poland's Late-20th Century Memory Wars.’

James Bjork, in his paper for the History in Conflict webinar, turned our attention to the long run-up to the Millennial Anniversary of Polish statehood in 1966. In particular: the theme of German-Polish reconciliation and how this was developed in these historical commemorations and the discourse of communist Poland throughout the 1950s and 60s. The decades after WOII were not just a time of Soviet power consolidation in Poland but also, perhaps more fundamentally, a period when the Polish nation state as a whole was geographically relocated several hundred miles to the west. After 1945 a third consisted a quarter of pre-war Germany. Ensuring that the new demography would be Polish rather than significantly German involved one of the largest short-term mass migrations in human history. This was then combined with a reinterpretation and use of history going back to the early medieval period.[....]

‘Using history for propagandistic purposes in Dutch-language media during the Second World War.’

Next up, as we look back over the modern edition of the History in Conflicts webinar series, is our University of Amsterdam colleague Marjet Brolsma who joined us to talk about her research into the uses of history in second world war propaganda. Her presentation originated with of her work on the ‘Media War’ project at the Institute of Sound and Vision, which has brought together several historians (including her UvA collaborator Vincent Kuitenbrouwer) each exploring a different aspect of Dutch language media from the war years.[....]

‘From contending plots to social semiosis: diplomacy, historical narratives and the rise of the modern public sphere.’

Kicking off our third ‘History in conflict’-webinar, Noé Cornago, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, provided an overview of the theory of history to show how the concept of writing about the past and thinking about the agency of historians have changed over time. Drawing on White, Ankersmit, Koselleck, De Certeau, Guha, and, particularly, Habermas, Cornago examines the performative aspect of historical narratives beyond the text. It was the rise of the modern public sphere, he argues, that provided a broad public access to historical narratives which before had been confined to historians and to those directly involved in conflicts. [....]

We are returning to the question: what role did references to history/the past/memory play in conflicts?... We have discussed it for medieval and early modern conflicts, now it's time to tackle the 19th and 20th centuries!

Attendance by zoom: if you want to join us, send a message to j.j.wubs-mrozewicz@uva.nl[....]