'Total war', it is often argued, began with the levée en masse of the French Revolution; the first time that a modern nation state called on all of its citizens, not just the able bodied young men, to play a role in defending the nation in time of war. Scholars working on the cluster have expertise in the two total wars of the twentieth century, and woek to investigate the multiple ways that the First and Second World Wars shaped the lives of millions around the world, civilians and combatants alike.
