‘The Origins and Impact of World War I: An Interdisciplinary Conference’, New York

Columbia University will host a conference about the origins and impact of the First World War.

The conference will take place on the 17th-18th October 2013.

The keynote address will be made by Professor Dominic Lieven, University of Cambridge.

It is being organised by the Harriman Institute, Columbia University, in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Balassi Institute: Hungarian Cultural Center New York, Flanders House New York, French Cultural Services in New York, Goethe Institute New York, and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Further Details

The conference will be held at:

Columbia University,
Room 1501 International Affairs Building,
420 West 118th St #1,
New York, NY 10027

To register to attend for Thursday 17th October, click here.

To register to attend for Friday 18th October, click here.

Agenda

Thursday 17th October

5:30pm:

Russia and the Origins of World War I: Time to Reconsider?

Introduced by: Victoria de Grazia (Columbia) and Jack Snyder (Columbia)

Keynote lecture: Dominic Lieven (Cambridge)

Friday 18th October

9:00am – 9:15am:

Welcome by Timothy Frye (Columbia) and Volker Berghahn (Columbia)

9:15am – 10:45am:

Panel I: The Origins of World War I – An Interdisciplinary Dialogue

Chair: Alan Timberlake (Columbia)

Speakers: Jack S. Levy (Rutgers), The Role of Preventive Logic in German Decision-Making in 1914

Stig Foerster (Berne), The Great Dilemma. The German General Staff and the Prospect of a Long War

Volker Berghahn (Columbia), The Role of International Big Business in the July Crisis of 1914

10:45am – 11:15am:

Coffee Break

11:15- 12:45pm

Panel II: The Eastern Powers and the Origins of World War I

Chair: István Deák (Columbia)

Speakers: Guenter Kronenbitter (Augsburg), A Game of Hazard. Decision-Making in Vienna, June-July 1914

Peter Bihari (Budapest), Rationalization of the War in Hungarian Public Opinion

Jack Snyder (Columbia), Paradoxes of Russian Strategy in 1914

2:00pm – 2:30pm

Panel III: The Experience of Violence – An Interdisciplinary Dialogue I

Chair: Kimberly Marten (Barnard)

Speakers: Annette Becker (Paris), Violence against Invaded and Occupied Women on the Western and Eastern Front

Jay Winter (Yale), The Experience of Shell Shock in World War I and Its Legacies

Michael Matthews (US Military Academy, West Point), Soldier’s Heat, Shell Shock, Combat Fatigue, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Bio-Behavioral Disorder or Social Construction?

3:30pm – 4:00pm

Coffee Break

4:00pm – 5:30pm

Panel IV: The Experience of Violence – An Interdisciplinary Dialogue II

Chair: Tarik Amar (Columbia)

Speakers: Antoon Vrints (Gent), Beyond Victimization: Violence as a Manifestation of Domestic Tensions in Occupied Belgium, 1914-1918

Ana Antic (London), Reading Total War from Psychiatric Patients Files

Jan Szkudlinski (Gdansk), Here Starts Half-Asia. German Experiences on the Eastern Front in 1914

5:30pm – 6:45pm

Panel V: International Law and Modern Warfare

Chair: Michael Doyle (Columbia)

Speakers: Isabel Hull (Cornell), International Law and the First World War

Kazimierz Lankosz (Krakow), World War I: Violations of the Laws of War, Postwar Developments and Lessons for Today

Source: Harriman Institute website