Overcoming The Aggressor

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

This is a subproject of Prof. Dr. Thomas Maissen's grant at the Heidelberg University funded by the Daimler-Benz Foundation.

All European nations define their character and independence by the way they deal with historical aggressors. Since these are often revered as military heroes in neighboring countries, such historical images have invariably harbored a great deal of potential for conflict. A consortium working on an interdisciplinary basis and with a pan-European perspective analyzes the interpretations both of foreign aggressors and of those from one’s own country.

In almost all countries of Europe, political contemplation of times past remains focused on foreign aggressors and the victims within one’s own nation. In this context, the violence inflicted on other nations by an aggressor from one’s own state is often suppressed. Even in Germany, responsibility for attacks on other countries and for genocide did not immediately become a fundamental narrative in public awareness after the end of the Second World War in 1945.

It was only much later that the warfare of the First World War and the treatment of the colonies entered public awareness. The differing interpretations of the Napoleonic wars are likewise paradigmatic for Europe: In 2015, France prevented the minting of Belgian coins in commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo, which for other nations played an important role in the wars of liberation. The aim of the funded project is to investigate the lasting effects and current depictions of key historical actors in Europe in their bilateral and multilateral perception.
AcronymOTA
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/08/2431/07/26

Collaborative partners

  • University of Heidelberg (lead)
  • Ruhr-Universität Bochum
  • Centre for Advanced Study
  • University of Bologna
  • Institute of Contemporary History

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