In September, 1911, Italy declared war on Turkey and proceeded to the conquest of the vilayet of Tripoli, a North African province of the Ottoman Empire. This thesis will attempt to determine the effect of this war upon British policy during the critical period just prior to the First Great War.

Despite the emergence of historical scholarship concerning masculinity in the past two decades, historians have largely failed to examine masculinity during either of the two World Wars. This thesis examines the use of masculinity within a selection of posters that the British government's Parliamentary Recruitment Committee produced during their preconscription period in World War I (1914-1915). Using a visual template to deconstruct the designs and messages of the selected posters, the thesis contends that the posters incorporated familiar prewar masculine images and ideas in order to lure potential recruits into the British army. The posters' use of prewar masculine ideology also contributed to their idyllic presentation of war, which differed significantly from the actual experiences of British soldiers. In addition to poster analysis, this thesis examines how British boys became familiar with "militaristic masculinity" in the prewar period, as well as the modern poster and its prominent role within the PRC campaign. / Department of History

This thesis looks at ways in which the British Catholic Church confronted the issue of Catholic unity and authority during the First World War. In a period when it was already attempting to articulate its position in relationship to the establishment and in the context of their Catholicity, the First World War offered the British Catholic Church both added difficulties and increased opportunity to express its position. For Catholics, the claim of universality was not only that they were the Church Universal in the sense that they were a supra-national church but that their Church was complete. Catholics argued that the Church was held together as a body united by and under the authority of Christ, the pontiff of Rome and the traditions maintained and accepted by the Church. These factors made it necessary for Catholics not only to make evident the advantage of their practices but to demonstrate that the fullness of the Church in its sacraments, doctrines and structure was neither in internal religious conflict nor fragmented by political or cultural differences; in short, that it was in itself complete. In the context of a world war in which Catholics were fighting one another and an unresolved political situation in Ireland, maintaining this position was both complicated and yet vital to the Catholic understanding of unity, authority and universality. In this thesis are analysed some of the ways in which the British Catholic Church addressed these challenges of self-definition.

The New Zealand Government�s repatriation measures to assist Great War veterans have largely been considered a failure. This thesis examines repatriation through the experiences of Dunedin and Ashburton veterans, demonstrating that within the context of the 1920s pre-welfare state these provisions proved to be both generous and far more successful than is often suggested. The Government�s repatriation response to returning veterans reflected contemporary attitudes towards dependency and need. Belief in self-reliance underpinned repatriation policy, with a stated aim of restoring veterans to the civil position they held prior to enlistment rather than providing assistance to move up the occupational ladder. Fear of the morally corrosive effect of dependency, as well as economic concerns, meant the repatriation provisions were principally concerned with ensuring veterans regained financial independence through employment. To that end war pensions compensated for lost earning power, rather than providing a full living income, and repatriation provisions largely consisted of assistance in finding jobs or obtaining farms and businesses. The Government�s repatriation provisions also reflected contemporary medical knowledge. The repatriation legislation restricted war pensions and free medical care to veterans with disabilities directly attributable to military service. However the link between military service and disability remained unclear in many cases. Slightly more than half of those discharged unfit suffered from sickness rather than wounds, many from conditions common among the civilian population. Contemporary aetiological knowledge often did not support the war pension applications lodged by returned soldiers disabled as a result of non-contagious disease, and an absence of clinical evidence undermined claims of latent illness. In addition the medical profession�s failure to adopt psychological theory and practice meant that by the early 1920s shell shock sufferers were treated according to psychiatric medicine�s understanding of mental illness. Within the context of 1920s New Zealand the repatriation provisions were generous: the Repatriation Department�s work had no precedent; the war disabled were one of the few groups to receive state pensions and received more than other state pensioners; and the provisions of the soldier settlement scheme were available to all veterans, regardless of health, capital or farming experience. Despite the limited aims of the Government�s repatriation provisions many veterans did successfully re-establish themselves in civilian society. By the 1930s Ashburton soldier settlements had proved more successful than others in Canterbury, and compared well with other crown settlements in Ashburton County. More generally war service produced no dramatic change in the occupational structure of veterans: veterans generally retained their occupational status during the post-war decade, volunteers faring slightly better than conscripts but neither as well as their civilian counterparts. Although some veterans certainly did experience need and indigence after the war the majority of urban and rural men in the sample groups were financially stable, particularly after the boom and bust of the immediate post-war years. The men in the Dunedin and Ashburton sample groups represent the most successful of the returned soldier population nevertheless they show that a significant proportion of Great War veterans were successfully repatriated by the end of the post-war decade.

Thesis (M.S.)--Wisconsin State University (La Crosse), 1967. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [167-173]).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic University of America, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-89).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University , 2002. / Advisor: Richard Rempel. Includes bibliographical references (leaves (308)-320). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University , 2002. / Advisor: Richard Rempel. Includes bibliographical references (leaves (308)-320). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (B.A.Hons. 1979) from the Department of History, University of Adelaide.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2003. / "A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, June, 2003." Includes bibliographical references.