ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between war and social change in Europe since the Wars of the French Revolution. It shows that the field has been further enriched by scholarly interest in the cultural history of war, a phenomenon largely dating from the 1990s. These interrelated fields of inquiry have allowed scholars to move beyond state-centered conceptions of war and to understand the interrelationship between armed conflict and social change. Four related but distinct themes from the war that were particularly important from the perspective of social change, are discussed. First, for ordinary Europeans, the normative experience of the Second World War was not combat, but rather occupation. Second, the war created solidarities in wartime society that had not previously existed. Third, the years of 1939-1945 saw the terrible radicalization of war against civilians. Finally, the war's effects lingered in popular memory for a very long time, arguably until the present moment.
