Description: Taking a transnational perspective on demobilization this study demonstrates that the experience of mass industrial war generated remarkably similar pressures within both the defeated and victorious countries. Using as examples the important provincial centres of Munich and Manchester, it examines the experiences of European urban-dwellers from the last year of the war until the early 1920s, showing how peace could bring unexpected difficulties to economies and societies that had rapidly and fully adapted to the demands of industrial world war.
Review Quotes: 'The Ordeal of Peace is a monument to careful scholarship... Seipp has produced an admirable work that not only broadens our understanding of demobilization, but also shows the promising possibilities for transnational comparisons of urban experiences in war or peace.' Urban History 'This book is thoroughly researched and makes use of a wide variety of archival and published sources... Seipp's perspective on the ways that wartime institutions and cultures influenced the post-war years is a welcome addition to the field of First World War studies and deserves a wide readership.' European History Quarterly