Call for papers: Alliances conference

The National Army Museum is holding a conference on the subject of alliances in the history of armed conflict (1642 to the present day).

The conference will take place on 24-25 March 2023. We are currently inviting proposals for papers or lightning presentations. Proposals for panels of three papers with a chair will also be considered. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, 15 January 2023.

Proposals

We welcome papers that explore the history of alliances, coalitions and partnerships in the broadest sense, from any disciplinary perspective, in connection or comparison to Britain’s armies, including the Indian Army and other land forces serving under the Crown. 

We are particularly interested in papers that take a transnational or global perspective, focus on regiments raised abroad, or consider the interaction between civilian and military groups. Papers from graduate students and early career researchers are especially encouraged.

Possible themes for papers may include:

• Formal and informal alliances, diplomacy, international relations
• Peacebuilding and humanitarian involvement
• Intelligence-sharing, training allied troops, the supply of weapons
• Scientific or medical co-operation
• Invasions and interventions, expeditionary warfare, participation in civil wars
• Overseas military bases, occupation, colonial institutions
• Political-military relations, connections to merchants, businesses or industry, and popular support
• Personal friendships, intimate relationships, family and kinship ties
• Religious or monarchical alliances
• Shared feelings of commonality, based on language, culture, heritage etc.
• Perceptions and depictions of alliances from an international to an individual level: propaganda, official communications, art and film, literature, music, social media
• Uneasy and uneven alliances, forced cooperation, and power dynamics
• Violence and the appropriation, exclusion, or oppression of marginalised groups
• Broken alliances