Voluntary Organisations, the Red Cross, and the Features of Humanitarian Reconstruction in Western Europe after the World Wars

This book explores the ways in which non-government organisations have contributed to the

reconstruction of, and care for populations in, Western European countries including but

not limited to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom in the aftermath

of the World Wars.

Historical research on voluntary or non-government organisations and their contribution

to the reconstruction of states, communities and humanitarian assistance to civilian

populations following conflicts, epidemics and disasters through the twentieth century has

generally focused on non-Western European countries, except for Second World War II.

The historiography suggests that it is mostly in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and

Africa that natural or man-made disasters have occurred and that these places have been the

focus for humanitarian assistance. Rather, the humanitarian enterprise is viewed through

the binary of the Global North/Global South, those who save and those who are saved. The

chapters in this volume investigate how the Red Cross movement – the League of Red Cross

Societies, the International Committee of Red Cross and individual national societies – and

other voluntary organisations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and a range of other international

and local non-government bodies have contributed to reconstruction in these

countries at both national and local levels following times of crises such as wars, civilian

upheavals and disasters.

This book will appeal to scholars and students of history, humanitarian studies, international

relations and social sciences. The chapters in this book were originally published as

special issues in European Review of History – Revue européenne d'histoire.