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Abstract

The Great War formally ended with the signing of the armistice on 11 November 1918. However, the war was more than a military conflict, and the cessation of military hostilities on the Western Front did not mean that life in formerly belligerent societies immediately returned to normal. Indeed, in many parts of Europe, the cessation of the formal war was the cue for a series of regional paramilitary conflicts and scholars now question to what extent the war ‘ended’ in 1918.1 The university was a microcosm of wartime change, equally invested in the military, cultural, and political wars. Such was the intensity of the changes to both university life and academic practice in wartime that the mere cessation of formal hostilities could not be expected to return the situation to 1914 and peace. Here too, the war would continue.

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© 2015 Tomás Irish

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Irish, T. (2015). Returning to Normal?. In: The University at War, 1914–25. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137409461_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137409461_8

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-40946-1

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