Dr Pierre Purseigle is Director of the Centre for First World War Studies as well as chair of the International Society for First World War Studies, the largest international network of academic historians of the conflict.
Pierre’s research to date has focused on the comparative history of the First World War and especially on the experience of the French, British, and Belgian populations. His work examines social mobilisation in Britain and France, and how civil societies mobilised their resources in support of – or in opposition to – the war effort. As part of this Pierre has researched and published on topics as varied as wartime social mobilisation, the experience of refugees and pictorial humour.
As part of Pierre’s work on social mobilisation, he is currently writing on the process of nationalisation and political mobilisation in Britain and France in the early Twentieth Century, examining the reconstruction of belligerent societies after the conflict.
This work has stressed the role played by local identities and enables us to identify these patterns in contemporary issues. By examining the post-war stabilisation of countries following the First World War, Pierre’s work is able to shed light on the ramifications of war in a contemporary world.