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  • © 2019

European Police Forces and Law Enforcement in the First World War

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Extends recent attention on modern policing history to World War One
  • Offers a global history of European and extra European police forces involved in the conflict, taking a wide geographical and chronological perspective
  • Analyses underlying transformations in police organisation, identity and practices across the period

Part of the book series: World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence (WHCCV)

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Table of contents (23 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxix
  2. Policing in Wartime: Without Any Disruption? General Introduction

    • Jonas Campion, Laurent López, Guillaume Payen
    Pages 1-13
  3. Policing Far from the War? The Empires and the Neutrals

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 181-181

About this book

This book offers a global history of civilian, military and gendarmerie-style policing around the First World War. Whilst many aspects of the Great War have been revisited in light of the centenary, and in spite of the recent growth of modern policing history, the role and fate of police forces in the conflict has been largely forgotten. Yet the war affected all European and extra-European police forces. Despite their diversity, all were confronted with transnational factors and forms of disorder, and suffered generally from mass-conscription. During the conflict, societies and states were faced with a crisis situation of unprecedented magnitude with mass mechanised killing on the battle field, and starvation, occupation, destruction, and in some cases even revolution, on the home front. Based on a wide geographical and chronological scope – from the late nineteenth century to the interwar years – this collection of essays explores the policing of European belligerent countries, alongside their empires, and neutral countries. The book’s approach crosses traditional boundaries between neutral and belligerent nations, centres and peripheries, and frontline and rear areas. It focuses on the involvement and wartime transformations of these law-enforcement forces, thus highlighting underlying changes in police organisation, identity and practices across this period.


Editors and Affiliations

  • Institute of Historical Research of Septentrion (UMR CNRS 8529), Lille University, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France

    Jonas Campion

  • Defence Historical Service, Vincennes, France

    Laurent López

  • Centre d’histoire du XIXe siècle (EA 3550)/Department of History, Sorbonne University, Paris, France

    Guillaume Payen

About the editors

Jonas Campion is Visiting Lecturer at UCLouvain, Belgium, Assistant Lecturer at the University of Lille, France, and Researcher at the IRHIS institute, France.

Laurent López is Research and Teaching Fellow at the French Defence History Service, Vincennes, France.

Guillaume Payen is Lecturer at Sorbonne University and Researcher at the Centre d’Histoire du XIXè Siècle, France.


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access