There is no single volume that shines a light on Asia's collective involvement in the First World War, and the impact that war had on its societies. Moreover, no volume in any language explores the experiences Asian countries shared as they became embroiled, with divergent results, in the war and its repercussions. Asia and the Great War moves beyond the national or even international level by presenting a 'shared' history from non-national and transnational perspectives. Asian involvements make the Great War not only a true 'world' war but also a 'great' war. The war generated forces that would transform Asia both internally and externally. Asian involvement in the First World War is a unique chapter in both Asian and world history, with Asian participation transforming the meaning and implications of the broader conflict. Asia and the Great War also takes steps to recover memories of the war and re-evaluate the war in its Asian contexts. Asia's part in the war and the part the war played in the collective development of Asia represent the first steps of the long journey to full national independence and international recognition. This volume aims to bring the Great War more fully into Asian history and the people of Asia into the international history of the war, in the hope that the shared history could lay the groundwork for a shared future.

The First World War did not end in Central Europe in November 1918. The armistices marked the creation of the Second Polish Republic and the first shot of the Central European Civil War which raged from 1918 to 1921. The fallen German, Russian, and Austrian Empires left in their wake lands with peoples of mixed nationalities and ethnicities. These lands soon became battle grounds and the ethno-political violence that ensued forced those living within them to decide on their national identity. Civil War in Central Europe seeks to challenge previous notions that such conflicts which occurred between the First and Second World Wars were isolated incidents and argues that they should be considered as part of a European war; a war which transformed Poland into a nation.

The Italian Empire and the Great War brings an imperial and colonial perspective to the Italian experience of the First World War. Italy's decision for war in 1915 is contextualised in light of Italian imperial ambitions from the late nineteenth century onwards, and its conquest of Libya in 1911-12. The Italian empire was conceived both in conventional terms as a system of settlement or exploitation colonies under Italian sovereignty, and as an informal global empire of emigrants; both were mobilised in support of the war in 1915-18. The war was designed to bring about 'a greater Italy' both literally and metaphorically. In pursuit of global status, Italy endeavoured to fight a global war, sending troops to the Balkans, Russia, and the Middle East, though with limited results. Italy's newest colony, Libya, was also a theatre of the Italian war effort, as the anticolonial resistance there linked up with the Ottoman Empire, Germany, and Austria to undermine Italian rule. Italian race theories underpinned this expansionism: Vanda Wilcox examines how Italian constructions of whiteness and racial superiority informed a colonial approach to military occupation in Europe as well as the conduct of its campaigns in Africa. After the war, Italy's fate at the Peace Conference is examined in an imperial framework to show that the 'mutilated victory' was an imperial as well as a national sentiment. Events in Paris are analysed alongside the military occupations in the Balkans and Asia Minor as well as the efforts to resolve the conflicts in Libya, to assess the rhetoric and reality of Italian imperialism.