With a view to encouraging and informing reflection, the McDonald Centre in association with Christ Church Cathedral will stage the following series of public lectures during Hilary Term.

21 January
Jeremy Paxman, Great Britain’s Great War

28 January
Margaret MacMillan, Accident or Choice? The Outbreak of the First World War

4 February
Gary Sheffield, Victorious Donkeys? British Generals and Generalship of the First World War Reconsidered

11 February
Nigel Biggar, 1914–1918: Was Britain Right to Fight?

18 February
Matthew Grimley, The War and English Religion

25 February
Holger Afflerbach, “If you do not want to see God’s hand in everything, even in the most unbearable, you are lost.” Experiencing the First World War Alongside Kaiser Wilhelm II

Go to the website
Download the series poster

The programme for The British World War One Poetry Spring School has now been announced.

This is the second spring school run by Oxford University’s English Faculty. The School is open to (and aimed at) members of the public, and particularly at those who have read some WW1 poetry but are now seeking a deeper critical appreciation. It will bring together world-leading experts in the topic, each invited to give an introductory lecture guiding the attendees to further avenues of study. Speakers will be encouraged to put together reading lists and follow-up exercises for students to do after each lecture on their own.

Speakers include Adrian Barlow, Margi Blunden, Meg Crane, Guy Cuthbertson, Gerald Dawe, Simon Featherstone, Philip Lancaster, Stuart Lee, Jean Liddiard, Alisa Miller, Charles Mundye, Jane Potter, Mark Rawlinson, Jon Stallworthy.

Further details are available at: http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/news-events/upcoming-events/201404/british-world-war-one-poetry-spring-school

This spring Oxford’s English Faculty will be hosting a British Poetry of World War One Spring School.

The School is open to (and aimed at) members of the public, and particularly at those who have read some WW1 poetry but are now seeking a deeper critical appreciation. It will bring together world-leading experts in the topic, each invited to give an introductory lecture guiding the attendees to further avenues of study. Speakers will be encouraged to put together reading lists and follow-up exercises for students to do after each lecture on their own.

Speakers confirmed so far include: Adrian Barlow, Meg Crane, Guy Cuthbertson, Gerald Dawe, Simon Featherstone, Philip Lancaster, Stuart Lee, Jean Liddiard, Alisa Miller, Charles Mundye, Jane Potter, Mark Rawlinson, Jon Stallworthy.

Great War and Global History conference poster

‘The Great War and Global History’ conference
9-10 January 2014
Maison Française, Oxford

A two-day conference hosted by the Oxford Centre for Global History, Changing Character of War programme and Maison Française d’Oxford.  Convenors: Hew Strachan, James Belich, John Darwin

 PLENARY SPEAKERS:

 FINANCE

Patrick O’Brien (LSE)
‘Warfare with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France and the Consolidation of British Industrial Supremacy’

Georges-Henri Soutou (Paris)
‘They Marched Singing into Bankruptcy: Finance in the First World War’

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REVOLUTION

Dominic Lieven (Cambridge)
‘Imperialism, War and Revolution: a Russian Angle’

Hans van de Ven (Cambridge)
Title TBC

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IDENTITIES

Hervé Drévillon (Paris)
‘Identities and Otherness as Agents of Globalization in Early Modern Wars‘

Tamara Scheer ((Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Social Science History, Vienna)
‘Habsburg Empire’s National Identities during World War One’

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MANPOWER

Jos Gommans (Leiden)
‘Fair Play in Early Modern Warfare’

Douglas Porch (California)
‘From Carnot to Reynaud: The Ascent and Disintegration of the French Nation in Arms, 1793-1940’

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MYTHS

Margaret MacMillan (Oxford)
Title TBC

Stig Förster (Bern)
‘The Myth of the Short-War-Illusion in 1914. A Long-Term Perspective’

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GEOPOLITICS

Tonio Andrade (Atlanta)
‘The Global Military Balance: A Long View, 900-1918’

Naoko Shimazu (Birkbeck)
Title TBC

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RESISTANCE

Martin Ceadel (Oxford)
Title TBC

Karen Hagemann (UNC)
‘Women, War and the Nation: Gendering the History of the Wars Against Napoleon’

Showing as part of the CCW War in Film Series

Monday, 2nd Week, 29 April 2013, 8.00pm
Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College

A small group of French officers struggle to escape their fates as German prisoners during World War I. Filmed in 1937 as Europe fell under the shadow of fascism, Jean Renoir’s masterpiece portrays the transcendence of human relationships against the futility of war.

The War in Film Series is intended for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and movie fans among the wider Oxford University community. Screened in the new Pichette Auditorium at Pembroke College and hosted by the Oxford Changing Character of War Programme, the Series presents outstanding war films that emphasize the human dimension of war: the challenges of leadership, dilemmas of morality and ethics, war and literature, the tragedy of war, and its dark comedy.

http://ccw.history.ox.ac.uk/events/war-in-film/

Run by RunCoCo, IT Services, University of Oxford and the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.

There are a number of initiatives in Oxford, within the University and outside, currently being planned for the forthcoming centenary of the First World War. The aim of this meeting is to bring people together to see how this might be co-ordinated as an overall programme. The meeting has been set up by the Bodleian Libraries and University of Oxford IT Services, who are both involved in large centenary projects. This includes the Bodleian exhibition, World War One Centenary: Continuations and Beginnings and Europeana 1914-1918 (funded by the JISC WW1 Commemorations Programme and EuropeanaEU).

The main purpose of this meeting will be to:

– Bring together those who are in the initial stages of planning commemoration activities or events for the anniversary to share information and ideas.
– Explore possible areas for collaboration.
– Discuss how we can move forward to enable a central response to the anniversary.
– Consider possibilities for outreach and public engagement.

The meeting will be opened by Professor Hew Strachan with short presentations on the UK Government plans by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the digital landscape from Kate Lindsay (IT Services), Bodleian exhibition from Mike Webb (Bodleian Libraries) and community outreach from the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum. If you are interested in attending this meeting please contact Kate Lindsay at IT Services, University of Oxford.