Gas Attack! The Strange New Temporality of Warfare After WWII

Location

Wedgewood Conference Center, Room 4094

Presentation Type

Presentation

Start Date

23-9-2014 2:00 PM

Description

Having witnessed the introduction of poison gas and airplanes during WWI, European post-war societies agreed that future warfare would be decided by gas attacks against Europe’s cities. War as aero-chemical warfare would be fought along “ghostly frontlines” (Walter Benjamin) that could materialize out of nowhere at any moment anywhere in Europe. This presentation analyzes how interwar Germany and other European societies responded to this strange new temporality of warfare, of a war that might always already be in the process of occurring, a wartime that could no longer be clearly distinguished from a time of peace.

Comments

Featured Presentation*

*This event is sponsored through the generosity of the Max Kade Foundation.

Convocation Credit: Academic Lecture

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Sep 23rd, 2:00 PM

Gas Attack! The Strange New Temporality of Warfare After WWII

Wedgewood Conference Center, Room 4094

Having witnessed the introduction of poison gas and airplanes during WWI, European post-war societies agreed that future warfare would be decided by gas attacks against Europe’s cities. War as aero-chemical warfare would be fought along “ghostly frontlines” (Walter Benjamin) that could materialize out of nowhere at any moment anywhere in Europe. This presentation analyzes how interwar Germany and other European societies responded to this strange new temporality of warfare, of a war that might always already be in the process of occurring, a wartime that could no longer be clearly distinguished from a time of peace.