Contenu du sommaire : Prisonniers de la Grande Guerre : victimes ou instruments au service des États belligérants – II

In the course of the First World War, tens of thousands of civilians who were nationals of the “enemy nations” or simply “suspects” were interned by the various belligerent parties. Among them were numerous women. Once it had entered the war, in October 1914, the Ottoman Empire carried out a partial internment of foreigners and suspects. It was in this way that a nun from the order of Notre-Dame of Zion, Mother Marie Constantina (Fanny Manrique) was arrested in May 1915 and held for seventy-three days. Found guilty of intelligence with the enemy, this Alsatian of German nationality but openly francophile found herself in an awkward position : to the Ottomans she was an enemy agent, and to the German Embassy, a traitor to the homeland. Set in a context that was dramatic for Christians living within the Empire, when the extermination of the Armenians was being carried out in the background of the Russian invasion of northeastern Anatolia and the Allied intervention in the Dardanelles, Mother Marie owed her life to the intervention of the American diplomat Henry Morgenthau. The account of her captivity, published and reviewed here for the first time, is rich in information.

Italian prisoners in the First World War suffered inhumane conditions. The Italian Government refused to allow them the assistance to which they were entitled under international agreements, arguing that Caporetto revealed them as traitors, when in reality the responsibility for the defeat rested mainly on the military command. The prisoners returned to Italy full of reproach for the ruling classes that had sent the nation to war without due preparation, and reproach too for the socialism that had abandoned them to their fate. This mentality was subversive, and it played its part in the advent of Fascism.

About five million men were captured on the Eastern front in the course of the First World War. This article sets out, on the one hand, to elucidate the experiences of the men concerned, in particular against the backdrop of the Russian revolution. On the other hand, it seeks to show these prisoners not as mere victims of their fate but as actors, reacting both individually and in groups to the collapse of the monarchies of Central and Eastern Europe and to the formation of Communist Russia. In this transformation, these prisoners might well belong to the avant-garde of the nascent world-wide Communist movement.

The issue of prisoners of war of the « Entente » in Bulgaria (1915-1918) remains far removed from the interest of Bulgarian historians. Their total number is high : some 40,000 men, including 2,000 French. In official documents the French and British prisoners have always been considered as a group, and the term most often used is “Anglo-French”. The living conditions of prisoners from Western European countries (the Italians later became part of this group) were far better than those of Russian, Romanian and especially Serbian captives. The Netherlands Legation, which represented the interests in Bulgaria of France, Spain and Switzerland, ensured that the text of the Hague Conventions was applied, especially for the French prisoners. The reports of the representatives of the Red Cross who inspected the camps also noted differences in the treatment, which varied widely according to the nationality of the prisoner. The French were among the best treated.

This article offers an overview of the central fields of research concerning prisoners of war (POWs) in the Habsburg Empire during the First World War, including conditions in the camps, propaganda campaigns, forced labour, and repatriation. It also shows the discrepancy between the principles of the Austro-Hungarian authorities relating to POW politics and an often harsh reality. All POWs were affected by the supply shortages which began in 1916. Thousands of POWs died from disease, exhaustion and undernourishment. In addition, soon after their capture, POWs faced a novel dimension in the realm of captivity : forced labour. Most prisoners were employed in various work projects, some in the hinterland, others behind the frontlines, and some even in combat zones. The article also illustrates how the Russian revolution of 1917 had its effect on the fate of POWs in the Habsburg Monarchy. It ends with a short excursus into the situation specific to the French who were held captive by the Habsburg monarchy in this period.

In the years 1914-1918, the Italian historian and philosopher Benedetto Croce is confronted with the harsh realities of the First World War. Even if he is not called up for military service, Croce in this period experiences the bombing, the constant struggle for life, the uncertainty of tomorrow, the grief over human losses. These events overwhelm his spirit and are reflected in his writings. His thoughts go out especially to the young lives mown down by war. In his Pagine sulla guerra, many passages are consecrated to the honour of soldiers who died in battle. He is writing about young men whom he knew directly or indirectly, and their death plunges him into a state of profound dismay.

In August 1914, the possibility of a German attack through Belgium was not taken seriously by the French people. However, the northern frontier ended up as the front line, notwithstanding the obsolescence of its military installations. Despite the weakness of the defences, the lack of troops and the political pressures, three fortified cities had to stop the German advance. Up to November 1914, the Nord Département was traversed by troops that were little interested in these three great centres. How does one explain the fate of these three cities in the first three months of the Great War, and what were the consequences for their military roles ?

In the late 1930s, the creation of Match, a successful photo-news magazine, by the media owner Jean Prouvost was an important step in the history of the press. As a vector and component of “war culture”, Match gave us, from September 1939 to June 1940, a peculiar vision of the Second World War. This article identifies and analyses the different methods used in the magazine to present the war and to denigrate the enemy, as well as the participation of its editorial staff in the war effort, in the context of a conflict which would soon become global

Group 11 of the Chantiers de la Jeunesse, based in Villard-de-Lans in Vercors, is put in charge of inculcating the message of Pétain into the local youth while at the same time employing the youth in communal work in the forest. Group 11 becomes an important contact between the Vichy government and the rural and mountain communities. The young units that are incorporated reject this initiative, while the rest of the local population takes the side of the resistance movements that proliferate throughout Vercors.