War in Peace Paramilitary Violence in Europe after the Great War

The First World War did not end in November 1918. In Russia and Eastern Europe it finished up to a year earlier, and both there and elsewhere in Europe it triggered conflicts that lasted down to 1923. Paramilitary formations were prominent in this continuation of the war. They had some features of formal military organizations, but were used in opposition to the regular military as an instrument of revolution or as an adjunct or substitute for military forces when these were unable by themselves to put down a revolution (whether class or national). Paramilitary violence thus arose in different contexts. It was an important aspect of the violence unleashed by class revolution in Russia. It structured the counter-revolution in central and Eastern Europe, including Finland and Italy, which reacted against a mythic version of Bolshevik class violence in the name of order and authority. It also shaped the struggles over borders and ethnicity in the new states that replaced the multi-national empires of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Turkey. It was prominent on all sides in the wars for Irish independence. In many cases, paramilitary violence was charged with political significance and acquired a long-lasting symbolism and influence.

War in Peace explores the differences and similarities between these various kinds of paramilitary violence within one volume for the first time. It thereby contributes to our understanding of the difficult transitions from war to peace. It also helps to re-situate the Great War in a longer-term context and to explain its enduring impact.

Robert Gerwarth was born in Berlin and educated at Oxford where he also held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. He has been Professor of Modern History at University College Dublin and Director of UCD's Centre for War Studies since 2009. He is the author of several monographs and edited books on modern European history, most recently of a biography on Reinhard Heydrich.


John Horne was educated in Australia and Britain, and has taught modern European history for many years at Trinity College Dublin. He has published extensively on French history and on the comparative and transnational history of the Great War. He is a member of the board of the Centre for Research at the Historial de la Grande Guerre, Peronne, a founder member of EurohistXX, the research consortium in contemporary European history, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

1. Paramilitarism in Europe after the Great War: An Introduction, Robert Gerwarth and John Horne
Part I: Revolution and Counter-Revolution
2. Revolution and Counter-Revolution: The Syndrome of Violence in Russia's Civil Wars, 1918-1920, William Rosenberg
3. Bolshevism as Fantasy: Fear of Revolution and Counter-Revolutionary Violence, 1917-23, Robert Gerwarth and John Horne
4. Fighting the Red Beast: Counterrevolutionary Violence in the Defeated States of Central Europe, Robert Gerwarth
5. Revolution, Civil War, and Terror in Finland in 1918, Marko Tikka and Pertty Haapala
6. Paramilitary Violence in Italy: the Rationale of Fascism and the Origins of Totalitarianism, Emilio Gentile
Part II: Nations, Borderlands, and Ethnic Violence
7. Bands of Nation Builders? Insurgency and Ideology in the Ukrainian Civil War, Serhy Yekelchyk
8. Turning Citizens into Soldiers: Baltic Paramilitary Movements after the Great War, Tomas Balkelis
9. Paramilitary Violence in the Balkans: Origins and Legacies, John Paul Newman
10. Paramilitary Violence in the Collapsing Ottoman Empire, Ugur Umit Ungor
11. Soldiers to Civilians, Civilians to Soldiers: Poland and Ireland after the First World War, Julia Eichenberg
12. The British Culture of Paramilitary Violence in the Irish War of Independence, Anne Dolan
13. Defending Victory: Paramilitary Politics in France, 1918-26. A Counter-example, John Horne