At long last, Lausanne gets the monograph it deserves: forthcoming with Oxford University Press in 2023, The Day the Great War Ended 24 July 1923: The Civilianization of War traces the historical routes by which Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Italy, Britain and France travelled to the same Swiss resort. Drawing on archival research in six countries, the book represents an important contribution to the study of what we have come to call the “Greater War”, as well as a reflection on how civilian populations became exposed to unprecedented violence as “a new kind of decentred warfare emerged”. “My fundamental premise,” Jay writes, “is that as war changes, so does peace, and in the period 1914-24, both war and peace took on new and, in some ways, deeply disturbing features.”

Jay brings considerable expertise and experience to this study, witnessed not only by his many related books – including The Great War and the British People (1985) and Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: the Great War in European Cultural History (1995) – but also through his role as historical adviser on the Emmy- and Peabody-winning BBC/PBS series The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (1996). The podcast was recorded on 12 January 2022.

Episode 10 – The Roads to Lausanne

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.