Shaken Lands

Tomas Balkelis is a senior research fellow at the Lithuanian Institute of History in Vilnius. He is the author of The Making of Modern Lithuania (Routledge, 2009) and War, Revolution and Nation-Making in Lithuania (Oxford University Press, 2018). His research fields include nation-building, forced migrations, population displacement, and paramilitary violence in Lithuania, Russia, and Poland.Andrea Griffante is a senior research fellow at the Lithuanian Institute of History in Vilnius. He received his MA at the University of Trieste and his PhD in history at Klaipėda University. His latest monograph is Children, Poverty, and Nationalism in Lithuania, 1900–1940 (Palgrave, 2019). His research fields include history of humanitarianism, nation-building, history of childhood, and social history of medicine.

“The Shaken Lands offers a valuable contribution to a growing body of literature that paints a much darker picture of these times, bringing into focus violence, mass population displacement and extreme economic hardship. In this regard, The Shaken Lands lays the groundwork for more nuanced, and possibly more hopeful, histories of the region.”— Vaida Niksaite, Cahiers d'histoire russe, est-européenne, caucasienne et centrasiatique“The edited volume succeeds in portraying a multiethnic region in turmoil, with violence in its various forms remaining its central factor. The authors contribute to a better understanding of the interconnectedness of violence during the ‘Greater War’ in East Central Europe and ‘the multifaceted nature of its forgotten cruelty.’”— Karsten Brügemann, Ab Imperio“East Central Europe was transformed by war, revolution, and the birth of nation-states after the First World War. The Shaken Lands excels by examining 1914 to 1923 as an interconnected ‘Greater War’. Combining conceptual insights with solid case studies, it suggests both national comparisons and transnational overviews of the manifold violence that shaped the entire region, including the Baltic states. It is an indispensable study in this rapidly emerging field.”— John Horne, emeritus Professor of History, Trinity College Dublin

• Acknowledgements IntroductionTomas Balkelis and Andrea Griffante Contributors 1. The Evolution of Wartime Criminality in Lithuania,1914–1920 Vytautas Petronis            2. War Violence andIts Representation: A Comparison of Civilian Experiences of the Great War onBoth Sides of the Former Russian-German Border Vasilijus Safronovas, Vygantas Vareikis, and Hektoras Vitkus         3. The MilitaryPogroms in Lithuania, 1919–1920               Darius Staliūnas 4. Scandinavian Volunteers as Perpetrators of Violence andCrime in the Estonian War of Independence Mart Kuldkepp5. The Rich and the(In)famous: Social Conflicts and Paramilitary Violence in Hungary during theCounterrevolution, 1921–1923           Béla Bodó            6. The Polish CentralGovernment, Regional Authorities, and Local Paramilitaries during the Battlefor the Western Borderlands, 1918–1921                Jochen Böhler7. Eisenbahnfeldzug:Railway War in East Central EuropeMaciej Górny     8. Beyond Comparison?The Challenges of Applying Comparative Historical Research to ViolenceJulia Eichenberg