Research Associate for the Project “The Hidden Weapon. Blockade in the Era of the Two World Wars (BLOCKADE)” European Research Council project § 28 Subsection 3 HmbHG (2 positions)

Duties include academic services in the project named above. Research associates may also pursue independent research and further academic qualifications. They may also pursue doctoral studies outside of working duties.

• actively participate in the research and outreach activities of BLOCKADE
• contribute to the research and financial reporting to the funding body
• actively participate in the project’s workshops, seminars and conferences as well as in organizing and hosting those events taking place in Hamburg.
• contribute to data collection (qualitative and quantitative primary souces) for the central database located in Amsterdam

BLOCKADE (ERC Synergy Grant #101166983) explores the blockades in the era of the First and Second World Wars, including their preparation and their aftermaths. In these total wars, the Allies imposed a global blockade on their enemies, and the Central and Axis powers responded with blockades of their own. Over a period of six years, the BLOCKADE team, based in Trondheim, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Freiburg, will analyse the impact of blockades on households, states, corporations and the international order; on the development of political and military strategy; on how the wars were prepared, experienced and remembered; and on how peace was made. BLOCKADE sets out to prove that these blockades are crucial to understanding not only the way the world wars were fought but also their globality and totality, their immediate effects and their long-term global repercussions. More information can be found on the project website www.blockades.eu.

The two PhD researchers will focus within the research dimension ‘Globalisation, Strategy and Violence’ on one of two work-packages from the theme ‘Resistance//Vulnerability’. These work packages are two of five positions across the four BLOCKADE locations that will investigate the themes of resilience and vulnerability, that is, exploring the impact of blockades on economic, strategic and social vulnerabilities and the corresponding ability of societies and individuals to prepare for or adapt to shocks caused by blockade from different angles.

1. Strategy: Decision-making in Europe. This work-package will determine how decision-makers learned from the blockades of the First World War and adapted to new strategic situations. This includes identifying the vulnerabilities of the enemy prior to 1939 and responding to the perceived (in)vulnerabilities during the war. The WP will focus on preparations for and the execution of the largely forgotten Allied blockade of Axis Europe, 1939-1945. It will assess the British and Americanperceptions of the blockade’s effectiveness on Germany and/or Italy, and consequent policy shifts.
2. The Colonial and Imperial Context of Blockade. This work-package will focus on the involvement of sub-Saharan Africa in blockade in the Second World War. It will investigate British imperial policy, which necessitated naval and aerial patrols of vast areas of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to implement blockade on the Axis, secure communications with and supplies from Africa, the Middle East and Asia (such as oil and rubber), and defend against submarine raids on merchant shipping. The WP will determine the specific resilience as well as unique vulnerabilities that arose in colonial and imperial contexts.