Description
The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme is a significant new volume from Norman Ingram, addressing the history of the Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH), an organisation founded in 1898 at the height of the Dreyfus Affair and which lay at the very centre of French Republican politics in the era of the two world wars. Ingram posits that the Ligue's inability to resolve the question of war guilt from the Great War was what led to its decline by 1937, well before the Nazi invasion of May 1940. As well as developing our understanding of how the issue of war origins and war guilt transfixed the LDH from 1914 down to the Second World War, this volume also explores the aetiology of French pacifism, expanding on the differences between French and Anglo-American pacifism. It argues that from 1916 onwards, one can see a principled dissent from the Union sacree war effort that occurred within mainstream French Republicanism and not on the syndicalist or anarchist fringes. Based on substantial research in a large number of French archives, primarily in the papers of the LDH which were repatriated to France from the former Soviet Union in late 2001, but also on considerable new research in the German archives, the book proposes a new explanatory model to help us understand some of the choices made in Vichy France, moving beyond the usual triptych of collaboration, resistance or accommodation.
About the Author
Norman Ingram is Professor of Modern French History at Concordia University in Montreal and has held Visiting Fellowships at Magdalen College, Oxford, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, and the University of St Andrews. He has served as Co-President of the Society for French Historical Studies in the United States. Although he is principally known for his first book, The Politics of Dissent: Pacifism in France, 1919-1939 (1991 and 2011), he has published widely in English and French in a wide number of international scholarly venues.
Reviews
It is impossible to summarize all of the richness of this essential study for understanding the evolution of the interwar period, on which we thought that everything was known. * Maurice Vaisse, Revue d'histoire diplomatique *
This impressive monograph rests on original research using the papers of the LDH. Despite the widespread assumption that these materials had been destroyed, they were repatriated to France from Russia in 2001. Moreover, German archives concerning the LDH's fraternal interlocutors east of the Rhine supplement Ingram's evidence. This adds a really novel dimension setting the context of the dialogue with the German sister organization the Deutsche Liga fur Menschenrechte ... War Guilt transforms our understanding of this quintessentially republican institution, being based on impressive archival evidence revealed serendipitously and through sheer hard work. Ingram ought to be applauded for not writing a narrow institutional history. In so doing, he exhibits the intellectual ambition to provoke wider debates about France's republican past. * Matt Perry, French History *
provides a fresh new perspective on the influence of the Great War on French politics during the inter-war period ... Based on very extensive archival and primary research in France and Germany, The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme reconsiders the course of republican and pacifist politics in France and illuminates the impact of the debate over the origins of the Great War on national, international, and transnational European politics ... an extraordinarily mature and thoughtful analysis of important issues ... The War Guilt Problem will take its place as a landmark study with resonance well beyond the political history of France in the era of the two World Wars. Scholars interested in human rights, in the role of history in public debate, or in the impact of the Great War on transnational intellectual exchange, will all find much to think about in the well-researched, well-written and imaginative book. * Peter Jackson, H-France Reviews *
Norman Ingram's book shows how the commitment of most of the members of the Ligue to replace Article 231 of the treaty with a different understanding of how the war broke out was at the heart of its interwar political history. The dispute over the revision of the Treaty of Versailles was a matter of fundamental importance, therefore, not only to German politics but to French politics ... Many of the leaders of the Radical Party from Caillaux on were members of the Ligue, and Ingram shows well their tortured search for something better than just blaming Germany for the war and its appalling consequences. His fundamental argument is that this political conflict over war origins tore the Ligue apart, in such a way as to destroy it ... In great detail, the author traverses annual meetings and party debates to provide us with an exhaustive account of a political formation that, in a sense, committed suicide. * Jay Winter, Journal of Modern History *
Norman Ingram's The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme, 1914-1944 does what few historical monographs do. A very well-researched and written work of history, it raises fundamental questions about historical interpretation that will be of interest to a wider public. * Donald Reid, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, H-Diplo *
This finely written book makes an important contribution to the debates about the origins of the First World War in France, and to a lesser extent in Germany. It provides a detailed analysis of how pacifists grappled with the question of war guilt and continued to read contemporary developments through the lens of the First World War. The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme is a timely publication that provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate the currency of civil society individuals (including historians) in public debates, especially with regard to their expertise in a world where some have loudly proclaimed the irrelevance of experts. * Charlotte Faucher, University of Manchester, H-Diplo *
This [book] places the war-guilt debate in an unexpected and original setting, one that Ingram is perfectly equipped to explore he dramatically changes the chronology of the organization's decline by clearly placing its beginning in 1914, when the Ligue supported the government, and its justification for war one of the strengths of this work is the important archival research that lies behind it. * Andrew Barros, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, H-Diplo *
Ingram's book is a tour de force: imaginatively researched in both French and German archives, forcefully argued and eloquently written. For historians, one of the more striking aspects of the book is the oft-expressed belief that sound historical research alone could ultimately provide an objective answer to the war-guilt question. The belief seems rather naive now, but its persistence underscores the extent to which the inter-war period needs to be read forward from 1914-1918 and not backwards from 1939-1945. * Talbot Imlay, Universite Laval, H-Diplo *
Norman Ingram has long been recognized as a distinguished scholar, well known for his mastery of the sources, elegant writing, and incisive analysis. In his recent book he does not disappoint [T]his fine book will be greeted with some indignation by some scholars of the topic in Paris. Everywhere else it will be greeted for what it is: an exceptionally fine piece of scholarship and an important contribution to our understanding of inter-war France. * William D. Irvine, York University, Toronto, H-Diplo *
The diversity of Ingram's nuanced argumentation demonstrates a stupendously wide reading which is expressed clearly in a metaphorically-rich style and with thesis-like increasing seriousness. That is admirable Now we know more about the entirely different but no less central meaning of the war guilt discussion in France and the politics surrounding it [This is] an outstandingly researched and stimulating book. * Prof. Dr. Jost Dulffer, HSozKult *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198827993
Author Norman Ingram
Format Hardback
Page Count 308
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 604g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 164mm * 22mm
About the Author
Norman Ingram is Professor of Modern French History at Concordia University in Montreal and has held Visiting Fellowships at Magdalen College, Oxford, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, and the University of St Andrews. He has served as Co-President of the Society for French Historical Studies in the United States. Although he is principally known for his first book, The Politics of Dissent: Pacifism in France, 1919-1939 (1991 and 2011), he has published widely in English and French in a wide number of international scholarly venues.
Reviews
It is impossible to summarize all of the richness of this essential study for understanding the evolution of the interwar period, on which we thought that everything was known. * Maurice Vaisse, Revue d'histoire diplomatique *
This impressive monograph rests on original research using the papers of the LDH. Despite the widespread assumption that these materials had been destroyed, they were repatriated to France from Russia in 2001. Moreover, German archives concerning the LDH's fraternal interlocutors east of the Rhine supplement Ingram's evidence. This adds a really novel dimension setting the context of the dialogue with the German sister organization the Deutsche Liga fur Menschenrechte ... War Guilt transforms our understanding of this quintessentially republican institution, being based on impressive archival evidence revealed serendipitously and through sheer hard work. Ingram ought to be applauded for not writing a narrow institutional history. In so doing, he exhibits the intellectual ambition to provoke wider debates about France's republican past. * Matt Perry, French History *
provides a fresh new perspective on the influence of the Great War on French politics during the inter-war period ... Based on very extensive archival and primary research in France and Germany, The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme reconsiders the course of republican and pacifist politics in France and illuminates the impact of the debate over the origins of the Great War on national, international, and transnational European politics ... an extraordinarily mature and thoughtful analysis of important issues ... The War Guilt Problem will take its place as a landmark study with resonance well beyond the political history of France in the era of the two World Wars. Scholars interested in human rights, in the role of history in public debate, or in the impact of the Great War on transnational intellectual exchange, will all find much to think about in the well-researched, well-written and imaginative book. * Peter Jackson, H-France Reviews *
Norman Ingram's book shows how the commitment of most of the members of the Ligue to replace Article 231 of the treaty with a different understanding of how the war broke out was at the heart of its interwar political history. The dispute over the revision of the Treaty of Versailles was a matter of fundamental importance, therefore, not only to German politics but to French politics ... Many of the leaders of the Radical Party from Caillaux on were members of the Ligue, and Ingram shows well their tortured search for something better than just blaming Germany for the war and its appalling consequences. His fundamental argument is that this political conflict over war origins tore the Ligue apart, in such a way as to destroy it ... In great detail, the author traverses annual meetings and party debates to provide us with an exhaustive account of a political formation that, in a sense, committed suicide. * Jay Winter, Journal of Modern History *
Norman Ingram's The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme, 1914-1944 does what few historical monographs do. A very well-researched and written work of history, it raises fundamental questions about historical interpretation that will be of interest to a wider public. * Donald Reid, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, H-Diplo *
This finely written book makes an important contribution to the debates about the origins of the First World War in France, and to a lesser extent in Germany. It provides a detailed analysis of how pacifists grappled with the question of war guilt and continued to read contemporary developments through the lens of the First World War. The War Guilt Problem and the Ligue des droits de l'homme is a timely publication that provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate the currency of civil society individuals (including historians) in public debates, especially with regard to their expertise in a world where some have loudly proclaimed the irrelevance of experts. * Charlotte Faucher, University of Manchester, H-Diplo *
This [book] places the war-guilt debate in an unexpected and original setting, one that Ingram is perfectly equipped to explore he dramatically changes the chronology of the organization's decline by clearly placing its beginning in 1914, when the Ligue supported the government, and its justification for war one of the strengths of this work is the important archival research that lies behind it. * Andrew Barros, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, H-Diplo *
Ingram's book is a tour de force: imaginatively researched in both French and German archives, forcefully argued and eloquently written. For historians, one of the more striking aspects of the book is the oft-expressed belief that sound historical research alone could ultimately provide an objective answer to the war-guilt question. The belief seems rather naive now, but its persistence underscores the extent to which the inter-war period needs to be read forward from 1914-1918 and not backwards from 1939-1945. * Talbot Imlay, Universite Laval, H-Diplo *
Norman Ingram has long been recognized as a distinguished scholar, well known for his mastery of the sources, elegant writing, and incisive analysis. In his recent book he does not disappoint [T]his fine book will be greeted with some indignation by some scholars of the topic in Paris. Everywhere else it will be greeted for what it is: an exceptionally fine piece of scholarship and an important contribution to our understanding of inter-war France. * William D. Irvine, York University, Toronto, H-Diplo *
The diversity of Ingram's nuanced argumentation demonstrates a stupendously wide reading which is expressed clearly in a metaphorically-rich style and with thesis-like increasing seriousness. That is admirable Now we know more about the entirely different but no less central meaning of the war guilt discussion in France and the politics surrounding it [This is] an outstandingly researched and stimulating book. * Prof. Dr. Jost Dulffer, HSozKult *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198827993
Author Norman Ingram
Format Hardback
Page Count 308
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 604g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 164mm * 22mm
