Non-violent uses of arms
Histories and dynamics of peace and conflict
On November 19 and 20, 2026, the annual conference of the German Association for Historical Peace and Conflict Studies (AKHF) will take place, organized in collaboration with the Cologne Center for Advanced Studies in International History and Law at the University of Cologne and funded by the Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung. The conference examines the nonviolent use of weapons in both domestic and international conflicts since the late 19th century. The term “non-violent use” refers to any use that does not cause physical harm. How has the non-violent use of weapons contributed to the escalation of conflicts? In which conflict situations has this approach been presented as a means of securing peace? Examining these questions contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of weapons in peace and conflict dynamics. Weapons are very prominent in many fields of historical research, yet they themselves play a surprisingly marginal role as a object of historical inquiry. The conference encourages the exploration of an approach that analyzes the use and impact of weapons as a socially constructed process in which political, social, and technological factors interact. For further information, please contact daniel.stahl[at]fau.de.
Program
Thursday, November 19, 2026
12:30 am – 1:30 pm
Welcome
Fabian Klose (CHL, Universität zu Köln)
Introduction
Daniel Stahl (Universität zu Köln)
Non-violent uses of arms. Approaches and questions
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Panel 1: Imperial Expansion
Chair: Anke Fischer-Kattner (Universität der Bundeswehr München)
Leon Biela (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)
Weimar’s Peaceful Weapons: Warships as Instruments of Public Diplomacy in the German Navy’s Foreign Port Visits
Kerrin Langer (Technische Universität Dortmund)
Measuring, Comparing, Deterring – Battleships, Practices of Naval Force Comparisons, and the First Cold War, 1889-1914
Felix Brahm (Universität Münster)
Symbols of Power. Guns and anti-colonial Resistance in East-Africa
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm Coffee Break
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Panel 2: Foreign Rule
Chair: Susanne Schregel (Universität zu Köln)
Mathias Foit (University of Padua)
Schützenfeste and Jahrtausendfeiern. The Symbolic Meaning of Shooting in the Occupied Rhineland
Cosmin-Stefan Dogaru (University of Bucharest)
Displays of Authority Without Direct Combat: Armed Patrols and Checkpoints in Occupied Bucharest during the First World War
Ana Catarina Pinho (Nova University of Lisbon)
Instrumental Images. Visualizing Armament and Censorship under the Portuguese Colonial War
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Dinner Buffet
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Keynote
Joseph A. Maiolo (King’s College London)
Arms races in the 20th Century and their implications for peace
Chair: Arvid Schors (CHL, Universität zu Köln)
8:30 pm Reception
Friday, November 20, 2026
9:30 am – 12:00 am
Panel 3: International Conflicts
Chair: Fabian Klose (CHL, Universität zu Köln)
Emre Eldem and Duygu Yayla Eldem (Galatasaray University)
Fighting Without Fire: Turkish-Greek Aegean Dogfights as Non-Violent Uses of Arms
Christoph Laucht (Swansea University)
Peace Through War Games? NATO Command Post Exercises as a Communication Tool in the Late Cold War
Constantin M. März (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen)
Non-use as a nuclear doctrine? „Mutual assured destruction“ and its myth as the specter of conservative counter-armament at the end of détente
Daria Vilkova (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv)
From Peace Dividend to Strategic Vulnerability: Ukraine’s Denuclearization and the Changing Symbolism of Arms
12:00 am – 1:30 pm Lunch Buffet
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Panel 4: Social Conflicts
Chair: Till Kössler (Universität zu Köln)
Dagmar Ellerbrock (Technische Universität Dresden)
Fun, Honor, Disparagement: The Volatile Emotional Economy of Non-Violent Arms Use in Doing Masculinity, 1830–1914
Róbert Károly Szabó (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
Mock Battles and Wooden Rifles: The Non-violent Uses of Arms in Hungarian Secondary School Paramilitary Training
Roxane Bonnardel Mira (University of Padua)
Peaceful war souvenirs? Shifting attitudes towards guns collected from the front in France between 1918 and the 1930s
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Final Discussion
Chair: Arvid Schors (CHL, Universität zu Köln)
Unterstützt und gefördert wird die Veranstaltung von der Deutschen Stiftung Friedensforschung