This volume is the result of an academic initiative organized by the Center for International Historical Studies of the University of Barcelona (CEHI-UB) in April 2012, with the purpose of bringing Military History to the center of the attention of university and historiographical debate. This choice is based on the idea that, too often, Military History is considered a technical discipline, only intended for experts. On the contrary, we think that - on the one hand - this research field constitutes an unavoidable tool for the interpretation of the historical processes of contemporaneity, and that - on the other - Military History is among the most interesting research fields because of its intrinsic interdisciplinarity. On the basis of these considerations, the congress and the resulting book propose the analysis of some of the main war processes of the twentieth century, from a perspective that could situate them in the wider background defined by the conflicts themselves. The book gathers the contributions of Professors Fortunato Minniti (University of Roma Tre, Rome), Giuseppe Conti (University La Sapienza, Rome), Joan Villarroya (University of Barcelona), Allan R. Millett (University of New Orleans) and Antoni Segura i Mas (University of Barcelona), respectively about World War I, war intelligence, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the asymmetric conflicts ranging from the Cold War to more recent examples.
About the Author: With a BA in Political Science and a PhD in Contemporary History, Dr. Paola Lo Cascio (Rome, Italy, 1975) is currently Professor in the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Barcelona and Researcher at the CEHI-UB. Her research interests include the history of Catalan nationalism, the Spanish Civil War, the Franco regime and Spanish transition to democracy. With a BA in History and a PhD in Contemporary History, Dr. Alberto Pellegrini (Vicenza, Italy, 1975) is currently Professor in the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Barcelona and Researcher at the CEHI-UB. His areas of interest include the history of Spanish Francoism and the Spanish Civil War, history of World War II and political and military history after 1945. With a BA in Philosophy and Literature and a PhD in Contemporary History (Barcelona, Spain, 1952), Dr. Antoni Segura i Mas is currently Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Barcelona and Director of the CEHI-UB, as well as director of the journal indice Historico Espanol, and an advisory member of the European Institute of Mediterranean (IEMED). Dr. Segura specializes in international current history, Spanish contemporary history (Francoism, transition to democracy, Basque Country and Catalonia) and in conflict analysis, especially in the Islamic world.