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Revolutionen beschleunigen Geschichte, verdichten die Zeit, schaffen ein Diskontinuum und versprechen bei alledem eine Zukunft, die politisch und sozial gerechter ist. In Band 6 der ›Kritischen Reflexionen‹ widmet sich Frank Jacob diesem globalen Phänomen der Moderne und beleuchtet einige grundlegende Fragen im Hinblick auf Ziele, Abläufe und Interessensgruppen innerhalb revolutionärer Transformationsprozesse.

Wars create their own dynamics, especially with regard to images and language. The semiotic and semantic codes are redefined, according to the need to create an enemy image, or in reference to the results of a war that are post-event defined as just or reasonable. The semiotic systems of wars are central to the discussion of the contributions within this volume, which highlight the interrelationship of semiotic systems and their constructions during wars in different periods of history.

Die Russische Revolution von 1917, die in Wirklichkeit aus mehreren Erhebungen bestand, bildet die Zäsur zwischen'langem'19. und'kurzem'20. Jahrhundert und leitete das sogenannte'Zeitalter der Extreme'(Eric Hobsbawm) ein. Viele, die an den Erfolg der Revolution geglaubt hatten, wurden von den tatsächlichen Entwicklungen bitter enttäuscht. Wieder einmal war eine Revolution nicht dazu in der Lage gewesen, das zu erreichen, was von vielen erwartet, ja herbeigesehnt wurde. Die revolutionäre Erhebung des Februar 1917 endete mit ihrer Korrumpierung im Oktober desselben Jahres. Frank Jacob widmet sich auf Basis eines analytischen Vergleichsmodells der Frage nach dem Prozess dieser Korrumpierung und zeigt, ob diese einer zwangsläufigen Entwicklung der Ereignisse oder vielmehr dem Machtwillen einiger weniger geschuldet war.

Die Schlacht um Gallipoli war Großbritanniens bitterste Niederlage des Ersten Weltkrieges. Dieser Band beschäftigt sich mit der Perspektivierung des Feldzugs. Zum einen sollen die Operationen innerhalb des Ersten Weltkrieges verortet werden, zum anderen beschrieben werden, welche Rolle die „Unvollendetheit'Gallipolis gegenwärtig im nationalen Gedächtnis der Nachfolgestaaten des Britischen Empire.

War Memorials were an important element of nation building, for the invention of traditions, and the establishment of historical traditions. Especially nationalist remembrance in the late 19th century and the memory of the First World War stimulated a memorial boom in the period which the present book is focusing on. The remembrance of war is nothing particularly new in history, since victories in decisive battles had been of interest since ancient times. However, the age of nationalism and the First World War triggered a new level of war remembrance that was expressed in countless memorials all over the world. The present volume presents the research of international specialists from different disciplines within the Humanities, whose research is dealing with the role of war memorials for the remembrance of conflicts like the First World War and their perceptions within the analyzed societies. It will be shown how memorials – in several different chronological and geographical contexts – were used to remember the dead, remind the survivors, and warn the descendants.

With the end of the Second World War, all its violence, war crimes, and sufferings as well as the atomic threat of the Cold War period, societies began to gradually remember wars in a different way. The glorious or honorable element of the age of nationalism was transformed into a rather dunning one, while peace movements demanded an end of war itself. To analyze these changes and to show how war was remembered after the end of the Second World War, the present volume assembles the work of international specialists who deal with this particular question from different national and international perspectives. The contributions analyze the role of soldiers, perpetrators, and victims of different conflicts, including the Second World War. They show which motivational settings led to the erection of war memorials reflecting the values and historical traditions of the second half of the 20th and the 21st centuries. Thus, this interdisciplinary volume explores how war is commemorated and how its actors and victims are perceived around the globe.

The battles of the First World War created a fundamentally new impression of war. Total warfare, the use of propaganda, chemical weapons, and every possible other measure to ensure victory defined the event that should later be known as the »Great War«, because it caused so many deaths and much suffering. The catastrophe also had an impact on the humanities, which inevitably had to deal with the processing of an event that seemed to be too big to be clearly understood by the human mind. The present volume covers several interdisciplinary perspectives by dealing with the impact of the war on the humanities during and after the conflict that deeply influenced the mindset of the 20th century.

This book challenges the premise that a ‘military revolution'prompted the major European powers to enter into an era of global hegemony during the early modern period, and suggests that this theory is not supported if we closely examine contemporary historical events. The conquests of Mexico and Peru, arguably the two most important colonial acquisitions by a European power during that era, were accomplished without the technology or tactics that are usually associated with the ‘military revolution'. On the other hand, Japan, Korea, some Indian states and the Ottoman Empire implemented military reforms, both tactical and technological, that are commonly associated with what was considered an exclusively Western approach to warfare. By comparing case studies of the Western and the non-Western world, Frank Jacob and Gilmar Visoni-Alonzo show that the concept of such a ‘military revolution'is a myth perpetuated by a Eurocentric perspective on history.

Die verborgene Macht der Geheimgesellschaften hat die Phantasie der Menschen seit jeher beschäftigt und fasziniert. Als reales historisches Phänomen treten Geheimgesellschaften zu allen Zeiten und an vielen Orten der Weltgeschichte auf. Das Buch liefert erhellende Einblicke, indem es seinen Gegenstand aus dem Reich der Legenden ins helle LIcht historischer Wissenschaft rückt. Die Ursachen, die Ziele, die Mitglieder, die Agitation und schließlich der Einfluss der Geheimgesellschaften werden als verbindende Strukturmerkmale herausgearbeitet. Anhand von Fallbeispielen - den Freimaurern, den Illuminaten, der Thule-Gesellschaft, aber auch der chinesischen Geheimgesellschaften - wird as Werden und Wirken der Geheimgesellschaften als historische Triebkräfte in den unterschiedlichen Epochen und Erdteilen bis in die Gegenwart anschaulich geschildert.