糖心TV

Reader in Modern European History Director of the Global History and Culture Centre Room: Room 3.79, third floor of the Faculty of Arts Building Phone: +44 (0)24 76523316 (x23316) Email: p.purseigle@warwick.ac.uk Office Hours: Monday, 11-12pm (MS Teams) / Friday, 11-12pm (In person)

Academic Profile

I graduated in Political Studies (Sciences Po) from the Institut d鈥橢tudes Politiques, Lyon and in Modern History from the University of Toulouse. A former Lavoisier Research Fellow at the Maison Fran莽aise d鈥橭xford, I also studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at Pembroke College, Oxford.

I started my career in higher education as a Junior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Toulouse. I subsequently taught a range of European and World History papers at the University of Oxford. I was also Visiting Lecturer (Ma卯tre de conf茅rences) at the Institut d鈥橢tudes Politiques in Paris and Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Birmingham.

Between 2013 and 2016, I was Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Centre for War Studies at Trinity College Dublin and at Yale University, where I also taught the comparative history of the First World War.

My research and teaching agenda have been driven by a strong commitment to the comparative and interdisciplinary study of warfare and urban catastrophes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. My work to date has mainly focused on the European and global history of the First World War and on the urban experience of modern warfare. From the local to the transnational, it combines different scales of analysis and engages with a range of disciplinary perspectives. My research is now explicitly interdisciplinary and lies at the intersection of urban history and critical disaster studies. I am now writing a global history of urban disasters for Bloomsbury Academic. My other book project is a history of the reconstruction of devastated cities in interwar Europe and framed as a case-study in urban resilience.

A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, I am also a co-founder and past President of the and a former Editor-in-Chief of First World War Studies. I serve as Director of 糖心TV's Global History and Culture CentreLink opens in a new window and I am a Thematic Fellow of the University's Institute for Global Sustainable DevelopmentLink opens in a new window. I am also an affiliate member of the School of Law's Centre for Constitutions in ContextLink opens in a new window.

 
Academic Career

• 2022-2023: Francqui Chair, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
• Spring 2023: Fellow, Brussels Institute of Advanced Studies
• Aug 2022-Present: Reader in Modern Continental European History, University of 糖心TV
• Fall 2019: Visiting Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies, CY University
• Fall 2014: Marcel Bataillon Visiting Chair in French Historiography, Universidad Nacional Aut贸noma de M茅xico
• Sept 2013-Aug 2022: Associate Professor in Modern Continental European History, University of 糖心TV
• Jan 2013-Dec 2015:鈥� Marie Curie Research Fellow, Yale University (2013-2014) / Trinity College, Dublin (2015-2016)
• 2009-2012: Lecturer / Senior Lecturer, School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham
• 2007-2009: Lecturer, Department of French Studies, University of Birmingham
• 2007: Senior Research Scholar, Modern European History Research Centre & Tutor in Modern History, University of Oxford
• 2005-2006: Stipendiary Lecturer in Modern History, Jesus College, Oxford
• 2003-2005: Tutor in Modern History, University of Oxford
• 2002-2003: Lavoisier Research Fellow, Maison Fran莽aise d鈥橭xford & Visiting Research Scholar, Modern History Faculty, University of Oxford
• 1998-2002:鈥� Junior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Toulouse II

Education

• 2006: European Doctorate in History, University of Toulouse II - Jean Jaur猫s, (summa cum laude)
• 2003-2005: Besse Research Scholar, Pembroke College, University of Oxford
• 2002-2003: Maison Fran莽aise d鈥橭xford
• 1999: University of California, Berkeley (EAP Scholarship)
• 1998: M.A. (DEA) in Modern History with starred distinction, University of Toulouse鈥� II - Jean Jaur猫s
• 1996: B.A. in Political Studies, Institut d鈥橢tudes Politiques de Lyon

Next talk

• "Floods, Fires, and Urban Resilience in the English-speaking World", Urban History Association Conference, Los Angeles, 11 October 2025 - with Lionel Frost (Monash University)

Latest talks

• "The First World War as urban disaster", War Beyond Words Conference, All Souls College, Oxford, 29 May 2025
• "Towards a global history of urban catastrophes. War, disasters, and urban resilience in the early twentieth century", Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, 18 September 2024
• "La Grande Guerre : une catastrophe urbaine. Ce que les sciences sociales du d茅sastre apportent 脿 l鈥檋istoire des conflits.", Seminar paper, ENS Paris-Saclay, 27 November 2023
• "War, policymaking, and the discipline of history. Three lessons of the First World War", Inaugural Lecture, College of Europe, Bruges, 20 September 2023
• 鈥淲ar and urban catastrophes: responses from history and practice鈥�, Francqui Chair Inaugural Lecture, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 12 June 2023
• 鈥淔rom war literature to literate war. What periodicals tell us about the First World War鈥�, Ghent University 鈥� VU Brussels, Brussels, 15 May 2023

 
Publications

Single-Authored / Co-Authored Books

• P. Purseigle, Global History in 15 Disasters. Urban catastrophes and reconstruction since the 18^th century, Bloomsbury Academic (under contract)
• P. Purseigle, Mobilisation, Sacrifice et Citoyennet茅. Des communaut茅s locales face 脿 la guerre moderne. Angleterre 鈥� France, 1900-1918, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2013, 450p. ISBN: 978-2-251-44470-3

• G. Vaughan, C. Berthez猫ne, P. Purseigle, J. Vincent, Le Monde Britannique, 1815-1931, Paris, Editions Belin, 2010. ISBN: 978-2-7011-5410-7

Edited Books

• P. Purseigle, A. R. Seipp, eds., Oxford Handbook of the First World War, New York 鈥� Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2025 (forthcoming). ISBN: 978-0-1999-4685-3
• N. Martin, T. Haughton, P. Purseigle, eds., Aftermath: Legacies and Memories of War in Europe, 1918-1945-1989, Farnham, Ashgate, 2014, 254p. ISBN 978-1-4094-4428-2
• P. Purseigle, ed., Warfare and Belligerence. Perspectives in First World War Studies, Boston 鈥� Leiden, Brill, 2005, 420p. ISBN: 978 90 04 14352 4
• J. Macleod, P. Purseigle, eds., Uncovered fields. Perspectives in First World War Studies, Boston 鈥� Leiden, Brill, 2004, 302p. ISBN: 978 90 04 13264 1

Edited Peer-Reviewed Journal Issues

• Guest editor, 鈥淢arianne in War and Peace, 1913-1923. The French Republic in the era of the First World War鈥�, French History, Volume 35, Issue 4, December 2021. ISSN 0269-1191
• Co-editor with O. Compagnon, 芦 G茅ographies de la Premi猫re Guerre mondiale 禄, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 71/1, Janvier - Mars 2016. ISSN : 0395-2649
• Co-editor with R. Boyce, S. Jansen, M. Scot, 芦 Historiographies 茅trang猫res de la Premi猫re Guerre mondiale 禄, Histoire@Politique, n掳22, janvier-avril 2014.
• Co-editor with C. Berthez猫ne, 芦 D茅clin et r茅silience du lib茅ralisme britannique 禄, special issue of Vingti猫me Si猫cle. Revue d鈥檋istoire, 120, Octobre 2013

• Co-editor of 鈥淕uerres et changement social鈥�, special issue of Histoire et Soci茅t茅s. Revue europ茅enne d鈥檋istoire sociale, n掳8, October 2003. This volume addresses the problematic relations between military conflicts and social change, wartime state and local social policies, the urban experience of war, women鈥檚 work in World War I, literary and cinematographic representations of warfare as well as the memory of both World Wars and the Holocaust.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• 鈥溾��, First World War Studies, Volume 14, Issue 1, March 2024, p.71-89.
• 鈥�, English Historical Review, vol. 138, Issue 593, August 2023, p. 773鈥�805
• 鈥淟a Cit茅 de demain. French urbanists in war and reconstruction, 1914-1928鈥�, French History,vol. 35, Issue 4, December 2021, p. 505鈥�531
• 鈥淢arianne en guerre, 1913鈥�1923: the French Republic in the era of the Great War鈥�, French History, vol. 35, Issue 4, December 2021, p. 427鈥�430
  
• 鈥淐ontroversy: War Culture鈥�, 1914-1918 Online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, , Jan 2020
• 芦 G茅ographies de la mobilisation et territoires de la bellig茅rance pendant la Premi猫re Guerre mondiale 禄 (with O. Compagnon) 鈥� Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 71/1, Janvier - Mars 2016, p. 37-64. ISSN : 0395-2649
• 芦 脡crire l鈥檋istoire du D茅luge. Histoire et exp茅rience britannique de la Grande Guerre. 禄, Histoire@Politique, n掳22, janvier-avril 2014. ISSN 1954-3670
• 鈥淭he First World War and the Transformations of the State鈥�, International Affairs, 90: 2 (March 2014), 249-264. ISSN: 1468-2346. Published in in Revista Universitaria de Histora Militar, June 2014. ISSN: 2254-6111
• 芦 禄, Vingti猫me Si猫cle. Revue d鈥檋istoire, 120, Octobre 2013, 27-42. ISSN: 0294-1759. Published in Portuguese in Ler Hist贸ria, 66, 2014. ISSN: 0870-6182
• 鈥淎 very French debate: The 1914-18 鈥榳ar culture鈥�, Journal of War and Culture Studies, 1, 1, 2008, 9-14. ISSN: 17526272
• 鈥淥n the Road to 鈥楾otal War鈥�. Exile and Resettlement in Western Europe, 1914-1918.鈥�, Contemporary European History, 16, 4 (November 2007), 427-444. ISSN: 0960-7773
• 芦 La guerre au miroir de l鈥檋umour : le dessin de presse en France et en Grande-Bretagne durant la Premi猫re Guerre mondiale. 禄, in Histoire et Soci茅t茅. Revue europ茅enne d鈥檋istoire sociale, n掳1, Janvier - Mars 2002, pp.124-137. ISBN: 2-9520178-2-4 ISSN: 1633-2784
• 鈥淢irroring societies at war: pictorial humour in the British and French popular press during the Great War.鈥�, in Journal of European Studies, Vol.31, 3/4, n掳123, 2001, 289-328. ISSN: 0047-2441
• 芦 1914-1918 : Les ressorts locaux des mobilisations nationales : 茅tude compar茅e Angleterre-France 禄, in Annales du Midi, Tome 112, n掳232, Octobre - D茅cembre 2000, pp.463-482. ISSN: 0003-4398

Selected Book Chapters

• 鈥淩efugees and the emergence of a transnational home front鈥�, in H. Strachan, ed., The British Home Front, 1914-1918, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022, 314-332. ISBN: 9781316515495
• 鈥淐atastrophe and reconstruction in Western Europe: the urban aftermath of the First World War鈥�, in L. Verpoest, L. Engeelen, et al., eds., Revival after the Great War: Repair, Rebuild, Remember, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 2021, 34-51. ISBN: 9789461663542
• "Las geograf铆as de la guerra y de la beligerancia en la era de la Primera Guerra Mundial", in O. Compagnon, C. Foulard, G. Martin, M.I. Tato, eds. Am茅rica Latina y la Primera Guerre mundial, Mexico City, CEMCA, 2018, 20-41. IBSN: 978211521377
• 鈥淕ranitsy patriotizma. Geografiya i etika mobilizatsii vo Frantsii v period Pervoy mirovoy voyny鈥� // Kultury patriotizma v period Pervoy mirovoy voyny. Sankt-Peterburg, 2018 (in print)
• 鈥淓l significado de reconstrucci贸n en la Europa de entreguerras鈥�, in J. Rodrigo, M. Alonso Ibarra, D. Alegre Lorenz, eds., Teatros de lo b茅lico: experiencias de guerra y posguerra en las sociedades europeas (1895-1953), Zaragoza, Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza, 2018 (forthcoming)
• 鈥淰iol锚ncia e de solidariedade. Experi锚ncias urbanas da Primeira Guerra Mundial鈥�, in M. F. Rollo and A. P. Pires, eds., As Cidades e as Guerras, Lisbon (forthcoming)
• 鈥淯rban Geography of the World at War鈥�, in L. Van Ypersele, N. Wouters, eds., War and Fatherland. Nations, Identities and the First World War, London, Bloomsbury, 2018, pp. 235-253. ISBN: 978-1-3500-3643-7
• 鈥溾��, in N. Martin, T. Haughton, P. Purseigle eds., Aftermath: Legacies and Memories of War in Europe, 1918-1945-1989, Farnham, Ashgate, 2014. ISBN 978-1-4094-4428-2
• 鈥淏etween participation and victimization. WWI urban mobilization in comparative perspective鈥�, in F. Lenger, ed., Kollektive Gewalt in der Stadt: Europa 1890-1939, Munich, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, July 2013. ISBN-13: 978-3486718584
• 鈥淗omefronts: The Mobilization of Resources鈥� in R. Chickering, D. Showalter, H. van de Ven, The Cambridge History of War. Vol. 4. War and the Modern World, 1850-2005, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 257-284. ISBN-13: 9780521875776
• 鈥溾�榃ither the local?鈥� Nationalization, modernization, and the mobilization of urban communities in England and France, c.1900-1918鈥�, in O. Zimmer, W. Whyte, eds., Nationalism and the Reshaping of Urban Communities in Europe, 1848-1914, London, Palgrave, 2011, pp. 182-203. ISBN-13: 978-0230246287
• 鈥淲arfare and Belligerence. Approaches to the First World War鈥�, in P. Purseigle, ed., Warfare and Belligerence. Perspectives in First World War Studies., Boston 鈥� Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers, 2005, 1-37. ISBN: 978900414352 4

 
Undergraduate Teaching

• How Did We Get to Where We Are Today? A Political History of the Contemporary World (HI2K1)Link opens in a new window

Doctoral Supervision

Ongoing

• Aidan Diable, The Materialisation of Ideas in the Suburbs of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Liverpool, UK, and Melbourne, Australia, Joint PhD 糖心TV-Monash, Co-supervised with Kate Murphy and Lionel Frost (Monash University)
• Xianxian Dai, China's Emotional Objects: Sites and Memorials of the First Opium War, Co-supervised with Song-Chuan Chen
• Leonie Bausch, Hierarchies of Gender, Nation, and Race: Sexual Encounters in the French Zone of Occupation in Post-War Germany, 1945-1955, M4C Doctoral training partnership, Co-supervised with Elizabeth Harvey (Nottingham)

 Completed

• Emanuele Podda, Emile Giraud and the development of French internationalist and constitutional thought (1922-1960), M4C Doctoral training partnership, Co-supervised with Daniel Hucker (Nottingham). Successfully defended July 2025.
• Camille Mah茅, Children鈥檚 experiences of occupation and post-war demobilization in Western Europe: France, Germany, Italy (1940-1949) - Joint PhD, co-supervised with Prof. Guillaume Piketty, Institut d鈥橢tudes Politiques, Paris. 糖心TV History full studentship 鈥� Contrat doctoral, Sciences Po. Successfully defended December 2021.
• Rebecca Crites, The continuation of war by other means: domestic violence in Britain, 1914-1936, AHRC Studentship 鈥� Successfully defended January 2017

I am interested to hear from potential postgraduate students interested in urban history and disaster studies, in the European and global history of the First World War, on the comparative history of Britain and France, and on twentieth-Century European History.

Latest Externally Funded Projects

• UKRI-AHRC CDP (with the Imperial War Museum) 2025-2029 - 拢115,680
  • Lithographs of the First World War: printmaking, propaganda and mobilisation

• Paris Seine Excellence Initiative 2018-2019 鈥� Visiting Professorship: 鈧�75,600

  • The cities rise again. Urban recovery and reconstruction in the age of catastrophe, 1900-1939
    

• EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sk艂odowska-Curie Programme 2016-2018 - 鈧�183,455
  • 鈥淏rothers in Wounds: Italy's Disabled Veterans in Transnational Perspective (1917-1939)鈥�
  • Fellow: Dr Martina Salvante

 

Click to access my ORCID profile