The psychological effects of war have impacted combatants and non-combatants throughout history. Yet, it is only over the past thirty years that the study of historical trauma has received sustained and in-depth scholarly attention. Despite the significant development in this area of research over the past three decades, many underexplored and overlooked areas of study remain outstanding in order to fully comprehend how warfare has damaged human bodies and psyches. As we enter what leading trauma scholar Mark Micale labels the ‘second generation’ of research into historical trauma, this conference aims to benefit scholars aiming to reveal and articulate hitherto overlooked, hidden or repressed forms of war-related trauma.
Please join the Military Welfare History Network at the University of Birmingham on Thur 6 – Fri 7 November 2025 for the second event in its ‘The Military Communities’ Medical Welfare and Care History conference series. Funded by the Wellcome Trust through the Society for the Social History of Medicine. Keynotes will be given by Emeritus Prof Michael Roper (Essex University) and Dr Owen Rees (Birmingham Newman University) on trauma in the both the modern period and antiquity.
We request submissions to militarywelfarehistory@gmail.