“Morale” on the Home Front: Its Transnational Construction and Destruction, 1914-1945 (Lecture by Prof. Sheldon GARON)

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Although few could define it, “civilian morale” emerged as one of the 20th century’s deadliest discourses. In its name, millions of civilians were bombed and starved, as warring nations sought to “break the morale” of the enemy’s civil population in Europe and East Asia by air raids and food blockades. How did it become “normal” to win wars by attacking cities and civilian morale? From World War I through World War II, ideas and practices relating to morale circulated rapidly around the world. Key transnational developments include the British and German blockades of 1914-18, the rise of “morale reports,” aerial bombardment, and America’s “Operation Starvation” against Japan.

Lecturer
Sheldon GARON (Invited Professor, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo; Professor, Princeton University)

Moderator
Michael FACIUS (Associate Professor, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo)