The experience of occupation in the Nord, 1914-18 Living with the enemy in First World War France

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Manchester University Press 2018
• Series: Cultural History of Modern War
• Subjects: Belgium; collaboration; complicity; criminality; culture; disunity; France; Lille; misconduct; Nord (French department); occupation; Prefect (France); resistance; Roubaix; thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DD Western Europe::1DDF France; thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999::3MPB Early 20th century c 1900 to c 1950::3MPBF c 1910 to c 1919::3MPBFB c 1914 to c 1918 (World War One period); thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWR Specific wars and campaigns::NHWR5 First World War; Tourcoing
• Online Access: Open Access: DOAB: description of the publication; Open Access: DOAB, download the publication

 "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. "