Call for Papers

The Eigth International Conference Frühe Neuzeit Interdisziplinär
Rethinking Europe: War and Peace in the Early Modern German Lands

March 8-10, 2018, Washington University in St. Louis

Gerhild Williams (Washington University)
Sigrun Haude (University of Cincinnati)
Christian Schneider (Washington University)

Co-Sponsors: Washington University in St. Louis
The American Friends of the Herzog August Bibliothek (AFHAB) The Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, Germany

Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), the Eighth International Conference sponsored by FNI takes as its theme, Rethinking Europe: War and Peace in the Early Modern German Lands. The Thirty Years’ War will be the prism through which we will look back at the Reformation and forward toward developments in the decades that followed. We will (re)consider the position and significance of the Thirty Years’ War in the context of Reformation history. For example, do events in the sixteenth century look different in light of the war’s eruption and resolution? How does this event fit into the larger century of armed conflict in Europe, e.g., the reforming movements, the “Long Turkish War,” the changing balance of power around the Baltic.

At the same time, peaceful periods and the desire for peace also figured prominently in this conflict-ridden age. Between the Fall of Constantinople (1453) and the Siege of Vienna (1683), Europe made its way into the modern world. We will ponder the role and shape of religion, politics, economics, law, art, gender, theological and philosophical thinking, literature, and music in this age of war and peace that has often been characterized as the foundation of modern Europe.

We propose to look at war and peace from the sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, and, in the process, to review the research of the past years and explore the historical, social, economic, literary, and artistic dimensions with the multi-disciplinary approach for which the FNI is known.

Topics include:

Current Research on War and Peace

New directions in Military History

The Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War

Popular History and War/Peace Experiences (Autobiographical Accounts)

Material Objects, Cultural Transfer, and War

Victim narratives: Captives, Jews, Slaves, etc.

War and Peace as Media events

Cities in War

Gender in/and War

Discourses of War and Peace in Literature

War, Peace, and the Development of Law and Diplomacy

War, Technology, and Innovation

War, Science, and Knowledge

Realities after the Treaties were Signed

New Turns and the War

Material and Environmental Consequences of War

Queries can be addressed to gerhildwilliams@wustl.edu, sigrun.haude@uc.edu, or christianschneider@wustl.edu.

Download a PDF of the Call for Papers here.