Jewish Communities in the Eastern War Zone

This talk by Dr Alexander Watson will examine the experience of Jewish communities that were caught up in the Eastern War Zone between the Central Powers and the Russian Empire. This talk is the second in a series of three lectures marking the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. Watson's current research project is a new history of the First World War. Entitled Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918, the book tells the story of the twentieth century's first 'total conflict' from the perspectives of its instigators and losers. Presenting a mass of new archival research, it explains why Central Europeans fought so hard for so long, and explores how the conflagration changed them. It tells how the war destroyed individuals, their societies and states, ultimately bequeathing a legacy of suffering, bitterness and unredeemed sacrifice which paved the way for the twentieth century's later horrors. The book will be published by Penguin Press, UK and Basic Books, US