Frontiers of Violence
Conflict and Identity in Ulster and Upper Silesia, 1918-1922
Dr Tim Wilson
Oxford University Press, 2010
In the years after the First World War both Ulster and Upper Silesia saw violent conflicts over self-determination. The violence in Upper Silesia was more intense both in the numbers killed and in the forms it took. Acts of violation such as rape or mutilation were noticeably more common in Upper Silesia than in Ulster.
Examining the nature of communal boundaries, Timothy Wilson explains the profound contrasts in these experiences of plebeian violence. In Ulster the rival communities were divided by religion, but shared a common language. In Upper Silesia, the rival sides were united in religion-92 per cent of the local population being Catholic-but ostensibly divided on linguistic grounds between German and Polish speakers. In practice, language in Upper Silesia proved a far more porous boundary than did religion in Ulster. Language could not always be taken as a straightforward indication of national loyalties.
At a local level, boundaries mattered because without them there could not be any sense of security. In Ulster, where communal identities were already clearly staked out, militants tended to concentrate on the limited task of boundary maintenance. In Upper Silesia, where national identities were so unclear, they focused upon boundary creation. This was a task that required more ‘transgressive’ violence. Hence atrocity was more widely practised in Upper Silesia because it could, and did, act as a polarizing force.
Frontiers of Violence was nominated by Oxford University Press for the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize. It attracted the following reviews:
An important contribution to the historiography of inter-communal conflict.
- Robert Gerwarth, Times Literary Supplement
A uniquely important event in the development of modern Irish historiography… It deserves to be widely discussed in Ireland, Poland, Germany and elsewhere.
- Matthew Kelly, The Irish Review
.. Frontiers of Violence breaks new ground – insufficiently followed up as yet – by putting Irish popular violence into an international comparative context.
Marc Mulholland, The Princeton History of Modern Ireland
The strength of T. K. Wilson’s very fine book lies in its original thematic approach of comparing Ulster and Upper Silesia as sites of violent conflict in postwar Europe… it certainly suggests many avenues of future comparative explorations.
- Terence Dooley, The American Historical Review
This fine study… advances our understanding of the nature of communal violence… What impresses most about this study is its forensic rigor, its attention to detail, and its balance.
- David R. C. Hudson, Journal of British Studies
His set of questions constitutes a step forward in the methodology of writing the history of political and ethnic violence, and his research is excellent… the book is an important one.
- Hunt Tooley,English Historical Review
Unquestionably an important contribution to the understanding of Silesia’s history from a European perspective.
Krzysztof Siwek, Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka
The growing body of literature on post-World War 1 conflicts in former imperial frontier zones has been enriched by an important volume… a brief review cannot do justice to the subtlety of Wilson’s book, which is an original, well-researched and fascinating contribution to the historiography of disputed borderlands.
- Alexander V. Prusin, The Journal of Modern History
This book is a fascinating comparison of communal conflict in two borderlands in Europe in the aftermath of the First World War and has much to say about the character of nationalist and ethnic conflict.
- John Dorney, The Irish Story
A major contribution to the historical understanding of the role of violence in political conflicts.
- Philippe Cauvet, Nations and Nationalism
This work will remain a pioneering comparative history of everyday life in Europe’s violent peripharies in the aftermath of World War 1.
- Peter Polak-Springer, H-Poland
A good example of comparative history.
- Bruno Cabanes, The Cambridge History of the First World War, Vol. One
A major contribution to the history of violence.
Julia Eichenberg, Irish Historical Studies
- Daniel S. Chard (author of Nixon’s War at Home), https://shepherd.com/best-books/the-history-of-terrorism-and-counterterrorism