Organisation
Coordination: Zorann Petrovici (Universidad Pontificia Comillas / Universidad Nebrija), Nina Régis (Casa de Velázquez)
Organising Committee: Alejandro Acosta López (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Laura Branciforte (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Berta Lillo Gutiérrez (Universidad de Alicante), David G. Miguel Vidales (Universidad de Valladolid), Nicolas Stassar (Freie Universität, Berlin), Beatriz Valverde Contreras (Universidade de Coimbra)
Scientific Committe: Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau (EHESS, Paris), Arnd Bauerkämper (Freie Universität, Berlin), Annette Becker (Université Paris-Nanterre), Cédric Cotter (ICRC, Geneva), Sebastien Farré (Université de Genève), David Marcilhacy (Sorbonne Université), José Antonio Montero Jiménez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Antonio Manuel Moral Roncal (Universidad de Alcalá de Henares)
Dates and venues
From 15 to 17 April 2026
- Casa de Velázquez | C/ Paul Guinard, 3. Ciudad Universitaria. Madrid
- General Archive of the Palace | C/ de Bailén, Centro. Madrid
- Nebrija University | C/ de Sta. Cruz de Marcenado, 27, Centro. Madrid
Registration
Online or in-person participation, subject to availability.
Registration required here before April 10
Presentation and topics
Building on the dynamic initiated during a workshop held in 2024, this conference seeks to gather separate initiatives and to bring together specialists to address historiographical gaps concerning Spanish actions during the war. As few studies go beyond 1918, the conference examine these actions from a global perspective in the context of the 1920s by comparing them with the actions of other institutions and neutral countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, the Vatican and the ICRC.
This initiative is based on the conviction that this approach will produce more inspiring, relevant and compelling research for understanding the connections between institutions across multiple countries and sources written in multiple languages. This is especially promising given the rich archives produced by the Spanish monarchy during the war, which have recently been included by the UNESCO in its «Memory of the World» Programme.
The conference will also provide an opportunity to broaden the disciplinary, geographical and temporal scope of First World War Studies. The aim is to develop an integrative perspective on humanitarian action and ‘transnational neutrality’, examining the humanitarian challenges faced by neutral countries and institutions that were literally caught in the crossfire on different fronts.