Conveners: Christopher Dillon (King’s College London), Christina von Hodenberg (GHIL), Steven Schouten (University of Amsterdam), Kim Wünschmann (LMU München)

Venue: German Historical Institute London

The German Revolution of 1918-19 marks a historical turning point at which, following the catastrophe of the Great War, soldiers and civilians rose up to overthrow the German Empire’s political and military leadership. The approaching centenary offers a timely occasion to re-evaluate its contested history and memory by focussing on the socio-cultural realm of expectations, experiences and responses.

This international conference, sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, seeks to explore the subjective dimension of the revolutionary events. By focusing on the practices and agency of ordinary protagonists, its fresh approach will register the revolution’s popular mobilization and societal penetration, its destruction of inherited patterns of authority, and its contested legacy for the Weimar republican project.

Conference programme (PDF file)

Conference report (PDF file), published in: GHIL Bulletin 41 (2019), Vol 1