ABSTRACT

International contributors from the fields of political science, cultural studies, history, and literature grapple with both the local and global impact of World War I on marginal communities in China, Syria, Europe, Russia, and the Caribbean. Readers can uncover the neglected stories of this World War I as contributors draw particular attention to features of the war that are underrepresented such as Chinese contingent labor, East Prussian deportees, remittances from Syrian immigrants in the New World to struggling relatives in the Ottoman Empire, the war effort from Serbia to Martinique, and other war experiences. By redirecting focus away from the traditional areas of historical examination, such as battles on the Western Front and military strategy, this collection of chapters, international and interdisciplinary in nature, illustrates the war’s omnipresence throughout the world, in particular its effect on less studied peoples and regions. The primary objective of this volume is to examine World War I through the lens of its forgotten participants, neglected stories, and underrepresented peoples.

chapter 1|30 pages

Forgotten prisoners of the tsar

East Prussian deportees in Russia during World War I

chapter 2|20 pages

The forgotten front?

Serbia, memory, and World War I

chapter 3|24 pages

From George Tom in Cleveland, Ohio, to his father Tannous Gergis, Mt. Lebanon, Syria

Remittances as transnational relief during World War I

chapter 7|19 pages

Between Scylla and Charybdis

Chinese laborers under the French-American supervision in France during World War I