Protest and Terror: Political Violence in Western Europe after 1968. This project aims to explore how the protest era of the 1960s in Western Europe transformed into a decade of political violence and terror in the 1970s. By undertaking an unprecedented transnational analysis of the history of political violence in France, Italy and West Germany after 1968, the project intends to generate a new understanding of the origins of home-grown terrorism in Europe and the precariousness of democratic st ....Protest and Terror: Political Violence in Western Europe after 1968. This project aims to explore how the protest era of the 1960s in Western Europe transformed into a decade of political violence and terror in the 1970s. By undertaking an unprecedented transnational analysis of the history of political violence in France, Italy and West Germany after 1968, the project intends to generate a new understanding of the origins of home-grown terrorism in Europe and the precariousness of democratic stability. The project aims to place the rise and fall of political terror in a new perspective, via an analysis of a wide variety of forms of violence by individuals, political groups, social movements and states, with significant benefits to understanding similar challenges in the contemporary world.Read moreRead less
The silent wilderness speaks: the long history of Gallipoli and the Dardanelles. When Charles Bean, with his Classical education, wrote about Gallipoli, he imagined it in the context of three millennia of wars and human lives. Bean's historical vision has been lost. Gallipoli has become increasingly important to Australians as a site of national memory and pilgrimage, yet the events of 1915 exist in a bubble, divorced from the historical landscape that spawned them. We will give back to Australi ....The silent wilderness speaks: the long history of Gallipoli and the Dardanelles. When Charles Bean, with his Classical education, wrote about Gallipoli, he imagined it in the context of three millennia of wars and human lives. Bean's historical vision has been lost. Gallipoli has become increasingly important to Australians as a site of national memory and pilgrimage, yet the events of 1915 exist in a bubble, divorced from the historical landscape that spawned them. We will give back to Australians the long history of Gallipoli and the Dardanelles, placing a key part of Australia's history in its true geographical context: an area which has been lived in and regularly fought over for thousands of years. Given the significance attached to Gallipoli, the project will also enhance Australian-Turkish relations.Read moreRead less
Crises of Leadership in the Eastern Roman Empire (250-1000 CE). Armed conflict, the upheaval of social systems, and environmental crises cause citizens to question their leaders during periods of social change. They also increase religious extremism, including speculations about the imminent end of the world. The period 250-1000 CE reveals many examples of how such crises served leaders who knew how to profit from instability to expand their powers, and how they damaged the reputations of those ....Crises of Leadership in the Eastern Roman Empire (250-1000 CE). Armed conflict, the upheaval of social systems, and environmental crises cause citizens to question their leaders during periods of social change. They also increase religious extremism, including speculations about the imminent end of the world. The period 250-1000 CE reveals many examples of how such crises served leaders who knew how to profit from instability to expand their powers, and how they damaged the reputations of those who did not. Understanding how past leaders of the Roman world addressed these crises in practical and rhetorical ways may provide helpful and timely models of what works (and what does not) for contemporary community and political leaders, even in democratic political societies such as Australia.Read moreRead less
The Last Soviet Famine, 1946/47: Drought and food crises in war's aftermath. This project aims to increase our understanding of the relationship between drought and famine by analysing the most recent, though least understood famine in Soviet and Modern European History. This famine followed a massive drought in the summer of 1946 across the western Soviet Union and led to the deaths of at least one million people. This research is timely given the growing threats to food security, markets and t ....The Last Soviet Famine, 1946/47: Drought and food crises in war's aftermath. This project aims to increase our understanding of the relationship between drought and famine by analysing the most recent, though least understood famine in Soviet and Modern European History. This famine followed a massive drought in the summer of 1946 across the western Soviet Union and led to the deaths of at least one million people. This research is timely given the growing threats to food security, markets and trade posed by the increasing incidence of severe and enduring drought in Australia and globally. The expected outcome of this research is to produce new historical knowledge with contemporary application to better inform policy approaches with the expected benefit of reducing the threat of food crises emerging from drought.Read moreRead less
Mussolini and Hitler: fascism, the cultural history of diplomacy and male friendship. The relationship between Mussolini and Hitler was central to the history of the 20th century. The project will study this relationship through the prism of the cultural history of diplomacy and reappraise the central role of male friendship in modern history and politics. In particular, it will broaden our view of German-Italian relations and European fascism. The project will explore the significant alliance b ....Mussolini and Hitler: fascism, the cultural history of diplomacy and male friendship. The relationship between Mussolini and Hitler was central to the history of the 20th century. The project will study this relationship through the prism of the cultural history of diplomacy and reappraise the central role of male friendship in modern history and politics. In particular, it will broaden our view of German-Italian relations and European fascism. The project will explore the significant alliance between the two leaders and their regimes which paved the way for the unprecedented destruction wrought upon Europe and the world during the Second World War. The project will also help us to understand the significance of the interpersonal dynamics of international relations in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.Read moreRead less
Memories of utopia: Destroying the past to create the future (300-650 CE). This project aims to examine the evidence for competing utopian ideologies in early Christianity, which was a prelude to the later clash with Islam from the seventh century onward. Evidence from pagan-Jewish-Christian conflicts in Late Antiquity (300-650 CE) shows that violent destruction of the past is not exclusive to fringe religious groups. These past conflicts are relevant for understanding the conflict in the Middle ....Memories of utopia: Destroying the past to create the future (300-650 CE). This project aims to examine the evidence for competing utopian ideologies in early Christianity, which was a prelude to the later clash with Islam from the seventh century onward. Evidence from pagan-Jewish-Christian conflicts in Late Antiquity (300-650 CE) shows that violent destruction of the past is not exclusive to fringe religious groups. These past conflicts are relevant for understanding the conflict in the Middle East, precisely because analysis of the sources shows that, in intra- and inter-religious conflicts in Late Antiquity in this same geographic region, violent destruction of the past was a propensity in mainstream religion.Read moreRead less
A history of the Anglo-German relationship. This project will offer a new interpretation of the Anglo-German relationship in the modern era. It will examine interdependence and conflict between Britain and Germany in an in-depth case study, challenging the established pattern of two parallel national historiographies. This will lead to the first comprehensive new Anglo-German history since the 1980s.
Mapping Print, Charting Enlightenment. This project aims to reconstruct popular reading trends to revise understanding of European enlightenment and the transformational impact of print. Through an innovative, industry-wide digital survey of unprecedented scope and sophistication, tracking millions of copies of thousands of titles and all sectors of the book trade – legal, pirate and contraband – it asks: What books were widely read? Where were they produced and consumed? What was the relative s ....Mapping Print, Charting Enlightenment. This project aims to reconstruct popular reading trends to revise understanding of European enlightenment and the transformational impact of print. Through an innovative, industry-wide digital survey of unprecedented scope and sophistication, tracking millions of copies of thousands of titles and all sectors of the book trade – legal, pirate and contraband – it asks: What books were widely read? Where were they produced and consumed? What was the relative scale and nature of key parts of the trade – notably religious and illegal publishing? How cosmopolitan was popular reading? The project also aims to reflect on its digital methods and develop transferable technologies for studying print’s impact across time and space.Read moreRead less
Revolutionary Voyaging? Science, Politics and Discovery During the French Revolution (1789-1804). Despite the turmoil of the French Revolution, several state-sponsored scientific voyages were sent to various parts of the globe between 1789 and 1804, notably to Australia and the Pacific. This project is the first to examine these expeditions as a collective group. It seeks to determine whether they represented a new form of scientific voyaging, shaped by the radical changes of the time. It will ....Revolutionary Voyaging? Science, Politics and Discovery During the French Revolution (1789-1804). Despite the turmoil of the French Revolution, several state-sponsored scientific voyages were sent to various parts of the globe between 1789 and 1804, notably to Australia and the Pacific. This project is the first to examine these expeditions as a collective group. It seeks to determine whether they represented a new form of scientific voyaging, shaped by the radical changes of the time. It will also highlight the influence these voyages had, in return, on French debates regarding the nature of Man and human societies, our relationship with the natural world, and French understandings of Australia’s place in the world.Read moreRead less
World War One Refugees in Austria-Hungary and the international community, 1914-1923. This project investigates how refugee movements in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War One contributed to the empire's collapse in 1918. It explores the impact of war, forced migrations, nationalism and the international community on the breakdown of modern state and civil society structures in Central and Eastern Europe.