Conference “World War Two in the Baltics”. January 14-15, 2012. Tartu, Estonia.
Deadline: Abstracts (500 words, in English) should be submitted along with an academic CV by September 15, 2011 to the organisers via email: Tartu2012@ksk.edu.ee
The Estonian National Defence College and the Baltic Defence College are happy to present the call for papers for an international conference “World War Two in the Baltics”. The organisers wish to bring together historians working on various aspects of the Baltic history in the late 1930s and the 1940s.
The organisers believe that the Baltics is still a ‘blank spot’ in most histories of the Second World War. It is seldom realised just how important the Baltics was in the outbreak and the spread of the war in Europe. During the “phony war” in western Europe, the Baltics was a scene of a joint Nazi-Soviet attack on Poland, of a Soviet war on Finland and of Soviet annexations of the Baltic states and parts of Romania. The impact of the war was profound. Finland fought its great-power neighbor twice and survived, but the costs were high. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania experienced not one but three successive occupations; their societies were subjected to genocidal policies and to social engineering on an unprecedented scale. As states they were wiped off the map at the end of the war. Indeed, they were the only states of Nazi-occupied Europe to lose their sovereignty altogether.
The war in the Baltic was not only severe, it lasted longer than in most places. German forces in Courland fought on until the bitter end, but in the forests another war started, a bitter armed resistance against the Soviet regime. It was here that the Cold War began almost immediately, and it was really a hot war, at least in the beginning.
The organisers wish to re-examine the Second World War in the Baltics by covering the issues of grand strategy and diplomacy, politics and social issues, as well as military affairs.
We invite papers on the following topics:
The Baltic Region in German strategy
The Baltic Region in Soviet strategy
The prewar armed forces and war plans in the region
The Baltic region in the strategy and diplomacy of the “Big
Three” Allies
Frictions of coalition warfare, both German and Soviet.
Air operations
Ground operations
Naval operations
The Finno-Russian War
The German and Soviet occupations of the Baltics
The Holocaust in the Baltic States
The Postwar conflicts (resistance movements) in the 1940s
The conference will be organised by scholars from the Estonian National Defence College and the Baltic Defence College. It will take place in Tartu in January 14-15, 2012.
How to Apply:
We expect proposals from researchers as well as young academics from various academic backgrounds. Presentation should not exceed 30 minutes. The conference language is English, however, exceptions may-be made for Russian-speakers.
Abstracts (500 words, in English) should be submitted along with an academic CV by September 15, 2011 to the organisers via email: Tartu2012@ksk.edu.ee
Selected candidates will be contacted by the end of September, 2011.
Participants are asked to hand in their paper’s final version to the organisers by December 15, 2011.
A publication of the conference papers is planned.
There are no registration costs. Accommodation and catering costs for speakers will be covered by the host.
Organisers: Kaarel Piirimäe PhD, James S. Corum PhD