The Heritage of Twentieth Century Conflicts

Dear Colleagues,

Advancements in military technology during the twentieth century have reshaped the nature of armed conflict from one primarily fought on the surfaces of land and sea to one that is fought under water, in the air, as well as in extra-terrestrial and cyber space. Not only did the nature of offensive and defensive armor undergo rapid development at unprecedented speed, the very nature of conflict changed in this period. Large battle formations gave way to small tactical groups; formal armies now face groups of guerrillas and insurgents that melt into the general population.

Derived from these developments are tangible aspects that are now the heritage of such conflict.

The centenary of World War I has seen a burgeoning of research into aspects of history and associated heritage. While most of the heritage and archaeology research work has focused on the battlefields in Flanders and France, there is much scope for research in other parts of the globe. Unlike previous conflicts, World War I was truly global, with military action in Europe, Africa and

Oceania, and naval action in almost all the Earth’s oceans.

The heritage and archaeology of World War II has also received a great deal of attention in both archaeological and cultural heritage research, with the documentation and investigation of battle fields, military installations, as well as ship and aircraft wrecks. The global nature of both wars, as well as the ubiquity of sites and objects associated with these events, lend themselves to a plethora of investigations carried out by researchers from many countries using a range of tools, from traditional surveys to LIDAR.

Of course, conflict heritage is not limited to these periods. While World War I was touted as ‘the war that ends all wars,’ the end of World War II in Europe and the Pacific made no such claims. Indeed, armed conflict continued on almost all continents: Angola, Cambodia, Cuba, the Falklands, India-Pakistan, Iraq, Korea, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Vietnam. The list continues.

Aside from ‘hot wars’, there was the Cold War, with all its manifestations from the Berlin Wall to the various delivery mechanisms of mutually assured annihilation. Additionally, while armed conflict was initially the prerogative of nation states, the second part of the twentieth century saw extensive evidence of guerrilla warfare, insurgencies and terrorism. Beyond this, there were instances of civil unrest, such as the urban riots following the deaths of Rodney King and most recently George Floyd. On a local level, warring factions were separated by walls, be it Belfast or Gaza.

The heritage of late twentieth century conflict extends well beyond the sites and objects associated with the pursuits of military and military-style operations. Cultural heritage sites themselves came under attack due to ideological differences between the originators of that heritage and the perpetrators of destruction.

Once the campaigns were over, some countries celebrated their victories with memorials and trophy collections, displaying their own historic military hardware in war museums, on public display in parks, and as museum ships. All communities mourned their dead, interred in war cemeteries at home or in countries far from their own.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a global perspective on The Heritage of Twentieth Century Conflicts. This Issue would like to see papers that consider one or more of the following aspects.

Documenting, managing or interpreting:

• Sites, battlefields, or defensive landscapes associated with military campaigns;
• Sites and installations associated with the Cold War;
• Sites and landscapes associated with the heritage of guerrilla warfare;
• Examples of ideologically motivated destruction of cultural heritage, including their reconstruction;
• The heritage of domestic and international terrorism;
• The heritage of urban and civil unrest;
• Sites associated with ethnic cleansing;
• Mass graves;
• Memorials and commemorative monuments;
• Collection and return (where it occurred) or war trophies;
• Military equipment, both in museum collections and on public display;
• Warships and aircraft on public display;
• Submerged warships and aircraft of all conflicts;
• Civilian objects that reflect public responses to war efforts (e.g., posters, bonds, commemorative pins, air raid shelters etc.).

Prof. Dr. Dirk H.R. Spennemann
Guest Editor

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