The Global First World War: African, East Asian, Latin American and Iberian Mediators

249 Pages·2021·7.807 MB·English

by  Ana Paula Pires (editor), María Inés Tato (editor), Jan Schmidt (editor)

The Global First World War
This book deals with the multiple impacts of the First World War on societies
in South Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, usually largely overlooked
by the historiography on the confict. Due to the lesser intensity of their
military involvement in the war (neutrals or latecomers), these countries or
regions were considered “peripheral” as a topic of research. However, in the
last two decades, the advances of global history recovered their importance
as active wartime actors and that of their experiences.
This book will reconstruct some experiences and representations of the
war that these societies built during and after the confict from the prism
of mediators between the war fought in the battlefelds and their homes, as
well as the local appropriations and resignifcations of their experiences and
testimonies.
Ana Paula Pires holds a PhD degree in History from NOVA University of
Lisbon. She is an assistant professor at the University of the Azores and
a researcher at HTC-CFE at NOVA University of Lisbon. Pires was a
postdoctoral student at Stanford University (2016–2019) and a Remarque
Fellow at the University of New York (2019). Her main topics of research
are the economic and social history of the First World War, particularly its
impact on Portugal and Africa. She is currently working on humanitarian
mobilisation in Portugal during the war. She is the author of A Grande
Guerra no Parlamento  (2018), Portugal e a I Guerra Mundial, A República
e a Economia de Guerra (2011), and co-editor of Guerras del siglo XX,
Experiencias y representaciones en perspectiva global (2019) and There
came a time . . . Essays on the Great War in Africa (2018). She is Section
Editor for Portugal of 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopaedia of
the First World War.
Jan Schmidt holds a PhD degree in History of Japan from Ruhr University
Bochum and an MA degree in Medieval and Modern History as well as in
Japanese Studies from Heidelberg University. He is Associate Professor of
Japanese Studies (Modern History) in the Faculty of Arts of KU Leuven
and has worked as Lecturer in Modern History of Japan at Ruhr University
Bochum. He has published extensively on the First World War in Japan
and East Asia and became an editor for East Asia in the article section
of the 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World
War. He is the author of Nach dem Krieg ist vor dem Krieg. Medialisierte
Erfahrungen des Ersten Weltkriegs und Nachkriegsdiskurse in Japan (1914–
1919) (forthcoming, 2021) and co-editor of The East Asian Dimension of
the First World War: Global Entanglements and Japan, China and Korea,
1914–1919 (2020).
María Inés Tato holds a PhD degree in History from the University of Buenos
Aires (UBA). She is a researcher at the National Scientifc and Technical
Research Council – Argentina (CONICET) at the Institute of Argentine and
American History “Dr Emilio Ravignani”, UBA/CONICET and founder
and coordinator of the Group of Historical War Studies (GEHiGue) at that
Institute. She is Professor at the UBA and the Master in War History – Superior
War College – Army Faculty – National Defense University (UNDEF). Her
current research area is the impact of First World War on Argentina and
the Falklands/Malvinas War. She is the author of La trinchera austral. La
sociedad argentina ante la Primera Guerra Mundial (2017) and co-editor of
Las grandes guerras del siglo XX y la comunidad española de Buenos Aires
(2015), La Gran Guerra en América Latina. Una historia conectada (2018),
Guerras del siglo XX. Experiencias y representaciones en perspectiva global
(2019) and La cuestión Malvinas en la Argentina del siglo XX. Una historia
social y cultural (2020).

Routledge Studies in First World War History
Series Editor: John Bourne
The University of Birmingham, UK
The First World War is a subject of perennial interest to historians and is often
regarded as a watershed event, marking the end of the nineteenth century
and the beginning of the ‘modern’ industrial world. The sheer scale of the
confict and massive loss of life means that it is constantly being assessed and
reassessed to examine its lasting military, political, sociological, industrial,
cultural and economic impact. Refecting the latest international scholarly
research, the Routledge Studies in First World War History series provides
a unique platform for the publication of monographs on all aspects of the
Great War. Whilst the main thrust of the series is on the military aspects of
the confict, other related areas (including cultural, visual, literary, political
and social) are also addressed. Books published are aimed primarily at a
post-graduate academic audience, furthering exciting recent interpretations
of the war, whilst still being accessible enough to appeal to a wider audience
of educated lay readers.
The Ottoman Army and the First World War
Mesut Uyar
Renegotiating First World War Memory
The British and American Legions, 1938–1946
Ashley Garber
Spain and Argentina in the First World War
Transnational Neutralities
Maximiliano Fuentes Codera
The Global First World War
African, East Asian, Latin American and Iberian Mediators
Edited by Ana Paula Pires, Jan Schmidt and María Inés Tato
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
history/series/WWI
The Global First World War
African, East Asian, Latin American
and Iberian Mediators
Edited by Ana Paula Pires,
Jan Schmidt and María Inés Tato
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Ana Paula Pires, Jan
Schmidt and María Inés Tato; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Ana Paula Pires, Jan Schmidt and María Inés Tato
to be identifed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-36734-135-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-36775-178-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-42932-411-6 (ebk)
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Contents
Editors and contributors ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction: the global First World War and its mediators 1
ANA PAULA PIRES, MARÍA INÉS TATO, AND JAN SCHMIDT
1 Chinese workers on the Western Front and their
extraordinary artistic and personal journey 13
XU GUOQI
2 The impact of the First World War on Japan’s foreign
book market 31
MAJ HARTMANN
3 Mediating enmity: the propaganda war in Latin America,
1914–1919 49
STEFAN RINKE
4 Reporting the war in British Africa 73
ANNE SAMSON
5 Coverage of the First World War in regional Mexican press:
an analysis of El Informador in Guadalajara 92
GUILLEMETTE MARTIN
6 All about national survival: Chinese intellectuals’
understanding of war during the interwar period, 1914–1937 111
KWONG CHI MAN
viii Contents
7 Not a secondary experience: the First World War in
Japanese mass media, ministerial bureaucracy publications,
elementary schools, and department stores 135
JAN SCHMIDT
8 An Argentine reporter in the European trenches: Lieut. Col.
Emilio Kinkelin’s war chronicles 164
MARÍA INÉS TATO AND LUIS ESTEBAN DALLA FONTANA
9 Covert wars in Spain (1914–1918): belligerent agency and
local impacts 186
CAROLINA GARCÍA SANZ
10 Portuguese humanitarian eforts during the First World War 206
ANA PAULA PIRES AND RITA NUNES
Index 228
Editors and contributors
About the editors
Ana Paula Pires holds a PhD degree in History from NOVA University of
Lisbon. She is an assistant professor at the University of the Azores and a
researcher at HTC-CFE at NOVA University of Lisbon. Pires was a post-
doctoral student at Stanford University (2016–2019) and a Remarque
Fellow at the University of New York (2019). Her main topics of research
are the economic and social history of the First World War, particularly
its impact on Portugal and Africa. She is currently working on humani-
tarian mobilisation in Portugal during the war. She is the author of A
Grande Guerra no Parlamento  (2018), Portugal e a I Guerra Mundial.
A República e a Economia de Guerra (2011), and co-editor of Guer-
ras del siglo XX. Experiencias y representaciones en perspectiva global
(2019) and There came a time . . . Essays on the Great War in Africa
(2018). She is Section Editor for Portugal of 1914–1918-Online. Interna-
tional Encyclopaedia of the First World War.
Jan Schmidt holds a PhD degree in History of Japan from Ruhr University
Bochum and an MA degree in Medieval and Modern History as well as
in Japanese Studies from Heidelberg University. He is Associate Profes-
sor of Japanese Studies (Modern History) in the Faculty of Arts of KU
Leuven and has earlier worked as Lecturer in Modern History of Japan
at Ruhr University Bochum. He has published extensively on the First
World War in Japan and East Asia and became an editor for East Asia in
the article section of the 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia
of the First World War. He is the author of Nach dem Krieg ist vor dem
Krieg. Medialisierte Erfahrungen des Ersten Weltkriegs und Nachkriegs-
diskurse in Japan (1914–1919) (forthcoming, 2021) and co-editor of The
East Asian Dimension of the First World War: Global Entanglements
and Japan, China and Korea, 1914–1919 (2020).
María Inés Tato holds a PhD degree in History from the University of
Buenos Aires (UBA). She is a researcher at the National Scientifc and