Violence and Propaganda in European Civil Wars: Dimensions of Conflict, 1917–1949, edited by Yiannis Kokosalakis and Francisco J. Leira-Castiñeira, offers an innovative perspective on the most significant civil conflicts in Europe during the first half of the twentieth century, approached from an interdisciplinary and comparative standpoint.

Recently published, this volume brings together an international team of historians and social scientists to examine violence in civil war contexts as a complex phenomenon, shaped by structural, ideological, social and personal factors. In contrast to approaches that privilege either micro-level explanations or overly general interpretations, the work seeks to understand violence as a multidimensional reality, moulded by specific historical circumstances and mechanisms of dehumanising propaganda.

The book is structured into three sections. The first explores contextual issues — such as the role of ideology and social dynamics — that influenced the use of violence. The following two sections present case studies of six European civil wars that are universally recognised as such: Russia, Finland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Greece.

With a plural methodological approach and a strong commitment to comparative historical analysis, Violence and Propaganda in European Civil Wars stands as an essential reference for those researching contemporary European history, internal armed conflicts, political violence, and international relations.

Specialist reviewers have already highlighted the relevance of the volume. Lisa A. Kirschenbaum of West Chester University has praised its “nuanced and multidisciplinary examination of the relationship between dehumanising propaganda and the brutal realities of European civil wars.” Meanwhile, Martin Conway (University of Oxford) has described it as “an ambitious and important work that analyses the ideological, political and social factors that generated cultures of extreme violence.”

This book not only enriches academic debate on European civil wars, but also invites reflection on the logics of violence in a continent that, for decades, was the scene of fratricidal conflict.

Palgrave Macmillan has just published a groundbreaking collective volume that expands and deepens our understanding of one of the most traumatic and complex phenomena of 20th-century Europe: violence during civil wars. Under the title Patterns of Violence Behind the Lines in Europe’s Civil Wars, this book, edited by Francisco J. Leira-Castiñeira (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) and John Sakkas (University of the Aegean), offers a rich comparative perspective on the patterns of violence suffered by civilians during internal conflicts in countries such as Russia, Ireland, France, and Spain.

Most studies on armed conflict tend to focus on the battlefield, on military clashes, and on combatants. This book, however, offers an urgent and alternative perspective: it explores what happens in the rearguard, where the line between civilian and military breaks down, and where violence is often exercised with equal or even greater intensity—frequently out of sight and with no limits.

This volume approaches political violence from a multidimensional perspective, examining both victims and perpetrators. Who exercises violence when the state collapses? What mechanisms justify repression, punishment, or the annihilation of the “other”? What role do gender, political identity, or territorial control play?

The book is structured in two complementary sections:

• The first part analyses how violence was produced and exercised in the rearguard during civil wars. This section investigates the logic behind extrajudicial punishments, looting, denunciations, local purges, and targeted assassinations—forms of violence often absent from official narratives.

• The second part focuses on violence by and against women, a dimension frequently overlooked. Through case studies, it shows how women were not only passive victims, but also participants, informants, or combatants. This approach allows for a critical rethinking of gender-based violence in war contexts.
  
  

As historian Jay Winter (Yale University) notes in his endorsement of the book, “this collection of essays is about the multiple ways international war bled into civil war in the period 1914–50. Both forms of armed conflict bred a pathological condition with us still: the targeting of civilians became not just collateral damage, but a tool to destroy or cow a people into submission. A tract for the times, with disturbing echoes of today’s violent world.”

For Joanna Bourke (Birkbeck College), the book stands out for its comparative ambition: “An ambitious account of the nature of violence in civil wars, paying attention to regional variation and gender – a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in how ordinary people negotiate violence.”

Patterns of Violence Behind the Lines in Europe’s Civil Wars is not only a book about the past. In today’s world—marked by internal conflicts, state repression, and political polarisation—it offers crucial tools to understand the social and psychological dynamics of civil violence. Its comparative and transnational approach encourages us to view Europe not as a collection of isolated national stories, but as a space shaped by shared experiences — and common traumas.

For scholars of contemporary history, violence studies, political sociology, or gender, this volume offers a powerful combination of empirical depth, analytical clarity, and narrative sensitivity that makes it an essential reference.