The Great War and Veterans' Internationalism

摘要

It could have all been so different: the interwar period that emerges from this fine study of First World War veterans' movements is one where Champions of peace and reconciliation abound. Drawing on Wolfgang Schivelbusch's work, this volume is structured around the idea that the end of the war created cultures of victory and defeat and argues that veterans' internationalism - their involvement with their peers from other countries to campaign for international stability, peace and veterans' welfare rights - helped dismantle these cultural divisions. Central to this was the work of FIDAC (Federation Interalliee des Anciens Combat-tants), the international umbrella association of veterans' movements from the former Allied countries, with a membership of some 8 million by 1933, and CIAMAC (Conference Internationale des Associations de Mutiles et Anciens Combat-tants), the international association of disabled ex-servicemen, membership approximately 4 million (p. 199). CIAMAC included members from both former Entente and Central Power states, while FIDAC invited ex-enemy veterans to some of its events. Both organisations were stalwart supporters of the League of Nations - and of interwar disarmament as Thomas Richard Davies's chapter shows. FIDAC and CIAMAC jointly demonstrated in Geneva in support of the World Disarmament Conference in 1933 (p. 195).