Collective memory of a historical event does not depend on its contemporary and historiographical significance alone. Germany’s selective memory of the Eastern Front is a case in point. It has been influenced by four developments. The problem of the prisoners of war that had remained in the Soviet Union, the ‘returnees’, and the veterans underlined the importance of the Eastern Front among the West German public. The Stalingrad myth, in particular, had a decisive influence on an image of war (in the East), according to which the Germans considered themselves first and foremost victims of that war. The critical discussion of the war and its nexus with the Holocaust after 1970 led to a turning point wherein the victims of the Germans became the focus of remembrance in West Germany. In the socialist satellite state of East Germany, the heroization of the Red Army was a characteristic feature of public war memories. Commemorations of the Eastern Front changed again in unified Germany after the Cold War – from the early years of Russia’s rapprochement to the dramatic deterioration of the German-Russian relationship.

In every human relationship there is a tension, or perhaps better say a dynamic, between what is and what is desired by the parties involved, and in this the relations between medieval kings and the upper nobility were no different. When these factors coincided, the relationship tended to work well; when they did not, it could break down. To understand how this relationship played out between medieval English kings and their nobilities, we first need to understand how the structure of that relationship evolved. We can then examine how it manifested itself in areas such as the king’s role in maintaining the nobility, in service and cooperation between kings and his nobles, the interplay of ideas of wealth and power, favouritism, political instability and in some cases the removal of monarchs.

This chapter describes German and Soviet strategies for the year 1942 and covers operations from May 1942 to March 1943. These includes the Soviet offensive towards Kharkiv, German preliminary operations such as the conquering of Sevastopol and the Kerch peninsula, but also operations on other sections of the Eastern Front like Soviet offensives against Rzhev and the German operation ‘Whirlwind’. However, the focus is on the German summer offensive and the Battle of Stalingrad. By linking these events to the operations along the eastern front as well as decisions and events outside the eastern theatre, the chapter argues that Germany’s failure in 1942 was a consequence of Allied superiority in men and material, but also of a German leadership that underestimated Soviet warfare capabilities. The German command wanted to achieve too many objectives with too few resources in too short a period of time. This failure was part of a larger turn of the tide in the war, that finally led to the Axis defeat.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

History is a product of the time in which it is written. This should not surprise us since each generation has its own interpretation of the past, which is easily impacted by the events of the present. Writing the history of the Nazi-Soviet War in the 2020s against the backdrop of resurgent warfare in Eastern Europe – war that draws so directly from interpretations (many of which are disputed) of the period 1941–1945 – makes our task unusually complex but all the more important. The temptation to use and abuse history is nothing new, but amid an active information war the value of first-rate scholarship and established expertise cannot be overestimated. To that end, I am deeply appreciative for the time and support of so many leading scholars.

The urban systems of Germany and Switzerland were characterised by the federal structure of the political system, whereas Vienna clearly was the primate city for the Habsburg territories until 1918. Urban growth was unbalanced, showing in the over-proportional growth of ‘central places’ and the rise of ‘new’ cities close to coal and iron. Despite the plutocratic nature of urban governance in German and Austrian cities, municipal government reacted to the challenges of urbanisation and industrialisation and developed a professionalised service administration catering for the basic needs of urban residents.

After 1918 German, Austrian and Swiss cities saw a very innovative period with social housing ranking high on the agenda, particularly in ‘Red Vienna’. The Great Depression and National Socialism terminated this reform period, leaving massively destroyed urban landscapes in Germany and Austria after 1945. After the Second World War, the decades until the mid-1970s were dominated by a robust economic boom, urban reconstruction and mass motorisation, whereas the period after the oil crisis saw a questioning of former engineering and planning approaches and a new appreciation of heritage.

Cities are not a mere backdrop to historical events; rather, they stimulate a range of felt experiences, defined as the way we feel in and about places and the felt relationships we have to and within them. Cities provoke emotional responses, foster emotional attachments, shape emotional communities and the norms that govern them, and influence how and why decisions about the urban are made. This chapter examines the role of felt experiences in urban history scholarship and calls for more engagement with the emotional dimensions inherent in people–place relations. To achieve this, the chapter examines three foundational themes within urban history: experiencing, planning and remembering through the lens of the felt and the emotional.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Urban historians have become increasingly attentive to the various flows of peoples, resources and ideas that connected and at times disconnected urban spaces worldwide. This chapter on the history of urban revolutions, rebellions and riots draws on these debates. It aims to make sense of the way in which local occurrences of violence and discontent turned into events of national or transnational significance in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. As globally entangled sites of capitalist accumulation, knowledge production and migration, European cities played a pre-eminent role in the diffusion of protests and the emergence of new forms of insurgent citizenship. In order to explore this role, the chapter highlights four ‘transnational circuits’ that impacted on urban repertoires of contention: 1) activist networks, 2) mass media, 3) the circulation of expert knowledge, and 4) (post-)colonial migration. Attending to the way that different political conflicts were or were not embedded in such transnational circuits, it points to similarities and simultaneities, as well as differences and disconnections between urban agencies in Europe and beyond.

This chapter presents eleven buildings that are connected to important aspects of urban life between 1850 and the present, a period that is characterised by enormous energy wealth based on fossil fuels. These include icons of urban culture, such as the Crystal Palace in London, the Paris Opera House and the Bilbao Guggenheim as well as structures for housing, transport and industrial production, including a Glasgow tenement, a Moscow panel block, London’s St Pancras railway station and the Turbine Factory in Berlin. The chapter will discuss the impact of these buildings: as models for architectural design; as catalysers for urban plans and the politics behind them; and as symbols for radically different forms of modern urban life during nineteenth-century industrialisation, mid-twentieth-century modernisation, and late twentieth-century urban regeneration.

Food has been central to many critical public health issues in European cities. Although the steady increase in the quantity and variety of food in the late nineteenth century had a positive impact on urban health, many old food-related health concerns persisted and new ones emerged. Market forces alone seemed unable to bring about the necessary changes, and therefore cities were gradually vested with new powers to ensure that enough nutritious and safe food would be available. This chapter looks at the emergence and development of municipal infrastructure for urban food security, as well as its subsequent partial dismantling. It first focuses on municipal actions to inspect and monitor the quality and safety of food sold in cities. Then it explores the changing role of municipalities in the retail and processing of foodstuffs by looking at municipal market halls and slaughterhouses. A key theme pervading the whole chapter is the movement of reform ideas across Europe and the ways in which these transnational ideas intersected with national and local politics.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.