Workshop seeking to encourage a comparative discussion on dissolution of several European empires, with a greater emphasis on those which unravelled in the aftermath of post-1945 European decolonization.

Contested Imperial Endings

In the twentieth century, the dissolution of several European empires occurred in the context of armed conflicts, whether major conflagrations such as the First World War or the counterinsurgency wars in colonial spaces. Some of these imperial break-ups were sudden, happening after military defeats, such as the capitulation of the German and Habsburg empires in 1918, or as the culmination of protracted colonial wars which proved to be deeply divisive among the metropolitan publics, such as the Algerian war of independence or the decolonization wars in Portuguese-speaking Africa. The circumstances surrounding some of the major political decisions which involved capitulations or negotiated agreements with nationalist movements may have been quite different, but there were significant similarities as well. In all these cases, a sense of wounded pride or deep resentment surfaced in the discussions that followed the political settlements that allowed for the surrender of territory.

Accusations of ‘scuttle’, ‘abandonment’, ‘neglect’, ‘irresponsibility’, or even ‘treason’, came to the fore in several debates, poisoning political discussions for quite some time. The myth of the ‘stab in the back’, which emerged after the German and Austrian collapse of 1918, and was also present in several debates in European metropoles after 1945, influenced conspiracy theories that shaped debates in the following years, with echoes that reach the present day.

Based on an ongoing research project that assesses metropolitan reactions to the conduct of the Portuguese military in East Timor in 1975, a workshop under the auspices of the Institute of Contemporary History and the Portuguese Commission of Military History, will be held in Lisbon in September 2025, seeking to encourage a comparative discussion on some of these themes in various contexts, with a greater emphasis (but not exclusively) on those which unravelled in the aftermath of post-1945 European decolonization.

>> Detailed programme (PDF)

Call for papers

We welcome papers which may highlight:

• The language and images which permeated debates in several countries (United Kingdon, France, Belgium, the Netherlands).
• The role of public opinion and the media.
• The undertaking of inquiry commissions into aspects of decolonization/imperial retreat.
• Attempts to bring charges against individuals (politicians, military) in courts of law.
• The consequences experienced by those targeted by the accusations (i.e., in their political and professional careers, or even on a more violent level).

Please send your abstract (max. 300 words) until 30 May 12 June to projetodectil@gmail.com.
The organizing committee will reply until 15 June.

English will be the working language.
Presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes.

The expected outcome of the workshop is the submission of a dossier/special issue to an international peer-reviewed journal.

>> Download the Call for Papers (PDF) <<

Organisers:

Institute of Contemporary History, NOVA University Lisbon
Portuguese Commission of Military History

The event is part of the FCT research project DecTiL — Auditing Decolonization in Timor-Leste, 1974-82: the Riscado Report (doi.org/10.54499/2023.10636.25ABR)