The Gaza Strip may be the world’s most relentless conflict zone. After decades of destruction and resistance, it is hard to imagine a different reality. But before the Gaza Strip, there was Gaza—a gateway city within an eponymous region with a much-neglected history. Stripped is an exploration of the Gaza borderland that aims to salvage Gaza’s past from the conceptual and historiographic shackles imposed by the current reality of the Gaza Strip, as well as to render imaginable a horizon for Gaza beyond this reality. The work is the first to methodologically depart from the common understanding of the Gaza Strip as purely a consequence of the 1948 war. Instead, Stripped situates Gaza within a century-long history of the Eastern Mediterranean’s integration into the global market economy, the Ottoman-British quest for imperial sovereignty over the Sinai-Palestine-Hijaz desert corridor, and the Palestinian struggle to overcome the urban and environmental destruction of World War I in the face of British and Zionist colonialism. Relying on little-studied sources in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Hebrew, English, and French, the dissertation explores how the Gaza region adapted to Ottoman agrarian reforms and gravitated into British economic orbit in the Mediterranean. As a result of these processes, Gaza of the late nineteenth century reoriented its economy from land to sea and turned to fully rely on exporting its locally cultivated barley to the British beer-brewing industry overseas. While generating promising growth for some two decades, global demand for grains diversified widely in the early twentieth century, leading to an abrupt collapse of Gaza’s new financial base. Concurrently, the very trade Gaza relied upon sliced this historic borderland into separate zones of imperial domination, turning it into a frontier between the Ottomans and the British. Gaza thus became one of the Middle East’s most devastating battlefronts during the First World War. When Palestine was made a formal political unit under the British Mandate, Gaza was both financially and physically in ruins, forced into a slower, more convoluted historical trajectory than other parts of the country. Ruins and their meanings, therefore, are central to the dissertation’s inquiry, as they turned in the interwar period into a contested ground in the struggle for Gaza’s recovery. Dwelling among the physical debris of their former city, Gazans had to marshal waqf regulations and Ottoman land legislation to restore their urban and agricultural environments against British antiquities preservation and land development schemes. Navigating often contradictory reconstruction initiatives, the people of Gaza toiled to carve themselves a space within the emerging Palestinian national collective as well. However, after a century-long “stripping” of its previous economic, social, and political centrality, Gaza could only remain peripheral to the political upheavals of the Mandate period and finally even remote from the battlefields of the 1948 war. It thus almost naturally emerged as a safe temporary shelter for wartime Palestinian refugees, around which the Israeli and Egyptian armies demarcated the Gaza Strip.

No description available.

This thesis focuses upon the impact of war upon the progressive movement in Texas during 1914-1918. Chapter I defines progressivism in Texas and presents an overview of the political situation in the state as relating to the period. Chapter II discusses the negative impact that the first two years of World War I had upon the reform movement. Chapter III examines the revival of the Anti-Saloon League and the 1916 Democratic state convention. Chapter IV covers the war between James E. Ferguson and the University of Texas. Chapter V tells how the European war became a catalyst for the reform movement in Texas following America's entry, and its subsequent influence upon the election of 1918. Chapter VI concludes that James E. Ferguson's war with the University of Texas as well as World War I were responsible for the prohibitionist victory in the election of 1918.

In this thesis an attempt is made to show the impression World War I made on the mind of a young German author. I have tried to interpret his outlook on war and to show how he could arrive at such a seemingly sordid statement as "living is killing". In 1920 a relatively unknown member of the Reichswehr published an account of World War I that soon became a bestseller. The book was In Stahlgewittern, its author Ernst Jünger. It was followed two years later by Der Kampf als inneres Erlebnis. Their common subject was war. The success of the two novels served to catapult Ernst Jünger from being a highly decorated officer of the war, but otherwise widely unknown, into the limelight of fame. It opened the doors for him to the intellectual and literary circles of Germany and later on of Europe. Although the subject of both works specifically pertains to World War I, almost the whole length of which the author had seen on the western front, their scope is much wider. Jünger attempts to show how he sees war in general. To make this clear he deals lengthily with the word of Heraklit of war as the father of all things. At the time that Jünger published these books which show war as a positive experience, the general literary feeling in Europe was still strongly anti-war. Nevertheless he managed not only to voice his opinion, but also to use these works especially as the starting point of an immensely successful and prolific literary career. Even though Ernst Jünger does not deny the horrors and atrocities of war, his books are an apotheosis of the subject. Paradoxically, war to him is the one thing that will serve to perpetuate the human race. This is achieved in a way that is vaguely reminiscent of Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest. In war a new elite or new "race" is born. Just as war has fathered it, it in turn will be responsible for the following generations. Race, in Jünger's sense, is not a biological term, rather a philosophical experience. To survive, and to create the new man, the soldier has again to be made aware of his past. Only by linking his prehistoric existence with modern man and modern man's accomplishments, will he be able to form this new race. Blood, i.e. instinct rather than reasoning, originality rather than the stifling process of learning, is modern man's only means for survival. Especially with this theory Jünger came dangerously close to the world of ideas of National-Socialism. Even though Jünger was opposed to the crude ideology of the Nazis, he did little to defend his works against their use and exploitation. This, as well as his own ideas about war, has made him one of the most controversial German writers of the twentieth century.

The Selective Service Act of 1917 made provision for the exemption of conscientious objectors belonging to certain religious bodies. It did not provide protection for the sincere individual objector against vilification from a public who labeled him disloyal, unpatriotic, and pro-Hun. This report is based on an incident which occurred in Portland, Oregon. It involves the assistant librarian of the Library Association of Portland who was a conscientious objector, and the repercussions which her stand had on the library board, the head librarian, and the public in general. In April of 1918, Portland had just completed a successful drive for contributions to the third Liberty Loan drive. Indeed, Oregon was the first state to complete its quota. On the day that this victory was confirmed, an afternoon paper broke the news that the assistant librarian of the public library, Miss M. Louise Hunt, had refused to buy bonds. This action touched off a heated controversy which affected not only Miss Hunt herself, but involved the governing body of the library. Before the incident was closed, civic and social organizations and individual citizens found an opportunity to express their views on the subject of conscientious objections. Miss Hunt refused to purchase bonds on the ground that she was a conscientious objector and could not support the war. Her opponents pointed out that she was a well paid county employee and therefore was under obligation to support the war bond drive. A committee from the bond drive headquarters, calling on Miss Hunt at the library, tried to persuade her to change her mind. Her statements, as quoted in the press, were ill-chosen and branded her in the public mind as pro-German. She was also interviewed by an agent of the United States District Attorney. Public indignation was so aroused that a special meeting of the library board was called to consider the matter. With one dissenting vote from the board itself and one from the chairman of the county commissioners who serve as ex-officio members of the library board, the board went on record as believing that Miss Hunt had never in any way obstructed, nor intended to obstruct, the activities of the Government. Although the board plainly stated that they did not share in any way Miss Hunt's opinions, they felt the right to one’s own conscientious opinion was the very foundation of human freedom. They were unwilling to compel anyone to , give up the very thing for which the war was being fought. This, in 1918, was a most unusual and courageous stand for any civic body.to take in the face of accusations of disloyalty. Public disapproval of the board's action was so great that a second meeting was held to reconsider the decision. At this time, Miss Hunt presented her resignation from the library staff. By now, tempers were frayed and the dissenting board member protested the board's stand. Charges of disloyalty were hurled against the president of the board and the head librarian. Immediately, civic and social groups demanded the dismissal of the governing body. Wiser voices spoke up in defense of both board and librarian and the press turned from personal details of the squabbling to a more objective discussion of the principles involved in freedom of conscience. Miss Hunt returned to her home in Maine and, as far as Portland was concerned, the Hunt affair was over. In a larger sense, the Hunt case forced Portland to confront, if only briefly, its historical ideals and to consider to what degree it was willing to protest the right to dissent during a period of crisis.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation is an examination of the operations of U.S. battleships in World War I. The study examines tactical cooperation between units of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and the British Grand Fleet and relations between the two navies; the efficiency of U.S. battleships in terms of both personnel and material; and the strategic ideas of U.S. naval leaders governing the use of capital ships. The manuscript is based primarily on records of the Department of the Navy in the National Archives and Admiralty records at the Public Record Office. Also important are the private papers of principal naval leaders, located at the Library of Congress and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, U.K. The published memoirs of several of the participants are also utilized. The first chapter examines Anglo-American naval relations and traces diplomatic events leading to the U.S. Navy Department's decision to dispatch dreadnought battleships to European waters. The following two chapters discuss the amalgamation of Battleship Division Nine into the British Grand Fleet. Chapter IV examines the gunnery efficiency of U.S. battleships serving with the Grand Fleet. Chapter V reviews Anglo-American planning for a possible German battle cruiser raid against the Atlantic convoys. Chapter VI deals with the movement of Battleship Division Six to Berehaven, Ireland. Chapter VII discusses the use of pre-dreadnought battleships as training ships, convoy escorts, and troop transports. The study concludes that U.S. battleships made a subsidiary, but important contribution toward victory at sea. The addition of U.S. battleships allowed the Allies to protect Scandinavian commerce and the supply lines from the United States from German surface raiders while also maintaining superiority in the North Sea.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2005. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-282).

This PhD examines the role of British intelligence in Anglo-American relations during the period of American neutrality in the First \Vorld \Var. Unbeknownst to the Americans, British intelligence began to intercept and decrypt virtually all American diplomatic telegrams between Washington and U.S. diplomatic outposts throughout Europe. Although several studies of Anglo-American relations in this period exist, none consider British intelligence's role. Providing an analysis of the relevant cod.es and cryptographical developments during the war, the thesis traces British intelligence's progress in deciphering these various diplomatic codes and offers an analysis of the distribution and use of this intelligence material. Through an exploration of this intelligence aspect, this thesis challenges existing interpretations of British and American policy in this period. A crucial conflict at the heart of British policy-one missed by previous historians-existed over the importance of the United States. Presaging America's international role later in the twentieth centu1y, many of Britain's leaders came to seriously doubt that, without the United States, the war remained winnable at all. Yet these officials contended with a second, powerful faction that remained wedded to outmoded ideas of America's limited relevance on the global stage and that refused to accept the existence of practical limits to British power. This conflict play~ out in several areas of British policy-over diplomatic, military, financial, and political affairs. Intelligence, however, provea a favoured weapon. Intercepted communications, sometimes ripped from their context, caused serious but spurious paranoia that the Americans were collaborating with Germany. Previous scholars, however, by ignoring the weapon, have failed to see the battle. Until it entered the war, American policymakers worked t:u:elessly to achieve a peaceful settlement. Previous historians have entirely dismissed the significance of these efforts, casting them as well-intentioned but futile. In reality, however, those British leaders who understood Britain's dependence on the United States tended to favour these proposals as a useful way of ending an unwinnable war that was bleeding the country d17- This PhD makes a significant contribution to the history of British intelligence, British policy, and American diplomacy during the period of American neutrality during the First World War.