活動報告

2015.07.30

2015年度第3回GHCセミナー The 3rd GHC Seminar 2015(Jul. 21)

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2015年7月21日(火)、社会科学高等研究院、プリンストン大学からの研究者をお迎えし、第3回のGHCセミナーが開催された。報告者と報告題目は次の通りである。

Larissa Zakharova (EHESS), "Telegraph Connecting or Sharing the World? Tool of Communication as Means of Space Conquest (Europe, Russia, Middle East and Far East, 1870-1920s)"

②Sheldon Garon (Princeton), "On the Transnational Destruction of Cities:
What Japan and the U.S. Learned from the Bombing of Britain and Germany in World War II"

ザハロヴァ氏は、まず、1837年にイギリスで初めて電信機の特許が取得されて以後、陸や海底に電信線が敷設され、世界各地に電信網が広がってゆく様子とその利用方法について概観した。次いで、1870年から第一次大戦までの時期に注目し、地方官、私企業と中央官僚の間での電信システムを用いた中央集権化をめぐるせめぎあいについて、オスマン帝国、イギリス、ロシアなどを例にとって説明した。さらに、20世紀の前半のソ連で、帝政崩壊後一旦寸断された電信線がどのような経緯を経て再敷設されたか、ソ連の電信網には西洋諸国のそれと比べてどのような特徴があるのかなどの点を論じた。

ギャロン氏は、はじめに、第一次大戦直後に公にされたGiulio Douhetの『制空権』以後、前線の兵士ではなく、銃後の一般市民、特に女性や子供を空から攻撃することが戦争を早く終わらせるとの考え方が力を持つようになったことを述べ、日本軍が1940年8月に実行した重慶爆撃をその先駆的な例として紹介した。その後、戦争の当事者間で相互に学習・模倣を重ねる中で、ドイツによるイギリス空爆、イギリス、アメリカによるドイツ空爆、さらにはアメリカによる日本空爆とそれらへの対応が実行に移されたことを多くのスライドを使って具体的に説明した。さらに、これらの証拠から日本特殊論が誤りであること、また空爆が必ずしも日本降伏を早めたとは言えないことなどにも言及した。

それぞれの報告の後では、聴衆からいくつもの質問やコメントが出され、興味深い議論が展開された。二つの報告はともに信頼の置けるグローバルヒストリー研究の好例として、参照されるに値するだろう。

(文責 羽田 正)

With researchrs  from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (École des hautes études en sciences sociales, or EHESS) and Princeton University invited as guests, the third GHC seminar was held on Tuesday, July 21, 2015. The researchers and their lecture titles are as follows:

  1. Larissa Zakharova (EHESS), “Telegraph Connecting or Sharing the World? Tool of Communication as Means of Space Conquest (Europe, Russia, Middle East and Far East, 1870-1920s)”
  1. Sheldon Garon (Princeton), “On the Transnational Destruction of Cities:What Japan and the US Learned from the Bombing of Britain and Germany in World War II “

Professor Zakharova first provided an overview on how telegraph lines have been laid on land and seabed and the telegraph network has been expanded throughout the world since 1837 when a telegraph instrument was first patented in the United Kingdom. Then, focusing on the period between 1870 and before World War I, she took countries such as the Ottoman Empire, the United Kingdom, and Russia as examples to explain the conflict the local government officials, private companies, and central government officials had over centralization through the use of telegraph system. She also discussed subjects such as what circumstances in the Soviet Union during the first half of the 20th century led the telegraph lines once disconnected after the collapse of the empire to be re-laid and how the telegraph network of the Soviet Union is characterized compared to that of Western countries.

Professor Garon first described how the idea of attacking the general public—women and children in particular—at the homefront from the sky to end the war quickly gained popularity since Command of the Air by Giulio Douhet was published immediately after the First World War, and introduced the Chongqing bombing by the Japanese army in August 1940 as its pioneering example. Then, using many slides, he explained in detail how Germany’s air strikes against the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom and the United States’ air strikes against Germany, the United States’ air strikes against Japan, and defenses on those were subsequently executed as the countries involved in the war learned and imitated from each other. He also mentioned that we cannot necessarily deem based on these evidences that the theories of Japanese uniqueness are wrong or that the air strikes in fact expedited Japan’s surrender.

After each lecture, a number of questions and comments were raised from the audience, unfolding interesting discussions. These two lectures are both worth referencing as good examples of credible global history study.

(Masashi HANEDA)

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