1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910269348703321

Autore

Connolly James E.

Titolo

The experience of occupation in the Nord, 1914–18 : living with the enemy in First World War France / / James E. Connolly

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Manchester University Press, 2018

Manchester, UK : , : Manchester University Press, , 2018

©2018

ISBN

1-5261-1780-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 333 pages) : illustrations (black and white); digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cultural History of Modern War

Disciplina

944.20814

Soggetti

World War, 1914-1918 - Social aspects - France, Northern

World War, 1914-1918 - France, Northern

Civilians in war - France, Northern - History - 20th century

France History German occupation, 1914-1918

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Sexual misconduct -- General misconduct and popular reprisals -- Male misconduct -- Une sacree desunion? Conflict continues -- Moral borderlands: Criminality during the occupation -- Notable protests: Respectable resistance (coups de gueule polis) --  Symbolic resistance (coups de cœur) -- Active resistance (coups de poker, coups d'eclat) -- Epilogue: Liberation, remembering and forgetting.

Sommario/riassunto

This study considers the ways in which locals of the occupied Nord responded to and understood their situation across four years of German domination, focusing in particular on key behaviours adopted by locals, and the way in which such conduct was perceived. Behaviours examined include forms of complicity, misconduct, disunity, criminality, and resistance. This local case study calls into question overly-patriotic readings of this experience, and suggests a new conceptual vocabulary to help understand certain civilian behaviours under military occupation. Drawing on extensive primary documentation – from diaries and letters to posters and police reports – this book proposes that a dominant ‘occupied culture’ existed among



locals. This was a moral-patriotic framework, born of both pre-war socio-cultural norms and daily interaction with the enemy, that guided conduct and was especially concerned with what was considered acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Those who breached the limits of this occupied culture faced criticism and sometimes punishment. This study attempts to disentangle perceptions and reality, but also argues that the clear beliefs and expectations of the occupied French comprise a fascinating subject of study in their own right. They provide an insight into national and local identity, and especially the way in which locals understood their role within the wider conflict. This book will be useful to undergraduates, post-graduates and academics interested in an understudied aspect of the history of modern France, the First World War, and military occupations.