Peter Speiser | University of Westminster (original) (raw)

Talks by Peter Speiser

Papers by Peter Speiser

From humble beginnings, Soho developed into a fashionable centre for London’s nobility in the eig... more From humble beginnings, Soho developed into a fashionable centre for London’s nobility in the eighteenth century. This same area was to become a poverty-stricken Victorian hub of cheap lodging houses, the Soho of the devastating cholera outbreak of 1854. A new focus on business and manufacturing transformed Soho in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the 1960s, Carnaby Street became the fashion and retail centre of the world. The nightclubs of Soho played host to the Teddies, Mods, Rockers, Punks and New Romantics of post-war British youth culture.Complete with illustrations evoking the life and times of Soho, this new history explores the people and places that brought the area to worldwide fame.

Briten in Westfalen 1945-2017, 2019

Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold... more Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold War ally against the Soviet Union. Successive London governments, though faced with bitter public and military opposition, tasked the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) to serve as a protecting force while strengthening West German integration into the Western defense structure. Peter Speiser charts the BAOR's fraught transformation from occupier to ally by looking at the charged nexus where British troops and their families interacted with Germany's civilian population. Examining the relationship on many levels, Speiser ranges from how British mass media representations of Germany influenced BAOR troops to initiatives taken by the Army to improve relations. He also weighs German perceptions, surveying clashes between soldiers and civilians and comparing the popularity of the British services with that of the other occupying powers. As Speiser shows, the BAOR's presence did no...

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter illustrates the attempts by the administration in London and on the ground in German... more This chapter illustrates the attempts by the administration in London and on the ground in Germany to influence the BAOR and use it as a tool to tie the Federal Republic into the Western system of defense. These include the use of the BAOR to strengthen the Konrad Adenauer government, to promote British values, and to control Germany at a time of increasing independence of the young Federal Republic. To a larger extent, it also involves mitigating problems created by the presence of the BAOR. The chapter also explores the crucial period of the mid-1950s, when German sovereignty fundamentally changed both Anglo-German relations in general along with the position of the BAOR in Germany.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter focuses on the German perspective of relations with the BAOR. It studies the changin... more This chapter focuses on the German perspective of relations with the BAOR. It studies the changing expectations of and demands by the German civilian population, as well as federal and Land (state) administrations during a period of fundamental changes in Anglo-German relations. The chapter looks at attempts to use the BAOR in order to undermine German cooperation with the West, as well as German efforts to counter these threats, all within economic, political, and social contexts. When considering the occupation forces of the Western powers, the problems created by the presence of American troops have been highlighted by John Willoughby. His work focuses on the threat to US authority in Germany posed by the disorderly behavior of American troops and the resulting initiatives that prevented a deterioration of relations in the period between 1945 and 1948.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter analyzes the portrayal of Germany and its people in Britain in order to shed light o... more This chapter analyzes the portrayal of Germany and its people in Britain in order to shed light on the views that would have influenced young Britons joining the BAOR. The focus is on media that are likely to have been encountered by young British men, such as the British press, nonfictional and fictional literature, and war films. The chapter also considers the impact of Germany's economic recovery on British opinion. With regard to cultural and more personal relations between the BAOR and the Germans, a number of relevant publications point to factors that potentially influenced the view of the general British public toward Germany and that of individual soldiers stationed in Germany.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter traces the development of the BAOR in Germany during the Cold War in terms of size a... more This chapter traces the development of the BAOR in Germany during the Cold War in terms of size and organization, before analyzing its role in British policy toward Germany. When considering British occupation policy and the German reaction to it, both British and German publications cover the period between 1945 and 1949 generally in far more detail than they do the first half of the 1950s. The chapter also examines the broader context of the Cold War, British military strategy, and the BAOR's role. Despite the obvious importance of Anglo-German relations in the context of the making of postwar Europe, the coverage of the bilateral political and cultural cooperation between 1948 and 1957 is relatively sketchy and has only recently begun to attract wider scholarly attention.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold... more Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold War ally against the Soviet Union. Successive London governments, though often faced with bitter public and military opposition, tasked the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) to serve as a protecting force while strengthening West German integration into the Western defense structure. This book charts the BAOR's fraught transformation from occupier to ally by looking at the charged nexus where British troops and their families interacted with Germany's civilian population. Examining the relationship on many levels, the book ranges from how British mass media representations of Germany influenced BAOR troops to initiatives taken by the Army to improve relations. It also weighs German perceptions, surveying clashes between soldiers and civilians and comparing the popularity of the British services with that of the other occupying powers. As the book shows, the BAOR's presence di...

From humble beginnings, Soho developed into a fashionable centre for London’s nobility in the eig... more From humble beginnings, Soho developed into a fashionable centre for London’s nobility in the eighteenth century. This same area was to become a poverty-stricken Victorian hub of cheap lodging houses, the Soho of the devastating cholera outbreak of 1854. A new focus on business and manufacturing transformed Soho in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the 1960s, Carnaby Street became the fashion and retail centre of the world. The nightclubs of Soho played host to the Teddies, Mods, Rockers, Punks and New Romantics of post-war British youth culture.Complete with illustrations evoking the life and times of Soho, this new history explores the people and places that brought the area to worldwide fame.

Briten in Westfalen 1945-2017, 2019

Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold... more Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold War ally against the Soviet Union. Successive London governments, though faced with bitter public and military opposition, tasked the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) to serve as a protecting force while strengthening West German integration into the Western defense structure. Peter Speiser charts the BAOR's fraught transformation from occupier to ally by looking at the charged nexus where British troops and their families interacted with Germany's civilian population. Examining the relationship on many levels, Speiser ranges from how British mass media representations of Germany influenced BAOR troops to initiatives taken by the Army to improve relations. He also weighs German perceptions, surveying clashes between soldiers and civilians and comparing the popularity of the British services with that of the other occupying powers. As Speiser shows, the BAOR's presence did no...

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter illustrates the attempts by the administration in London and on the ground in German... more This chapter illustrates the attempts by the administration in London and on the ground in Germany to influence the BAOR and use it as a tool to tie the Federal Republic into the Western system of defense. These include the use of the BAOR to strengthen the Konrad Adenauer government, to promote British values, and to control Germany at a time of increasing independence of the young Federal Republic. To a larger extent, it also involves mitigating problems created by the presence of the BAOR. The chapter also explores the crucial period of the mid-1950s, when German sovereignty fundamentally changed both Anglo-German relations in general along with the position of the BAOR in Germany.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter focuses on the German perspective of relations with the BAOR. It studies the changin... more This chapter focuses on the German perspective of relations with the BAOR. It studies the changing expectations of and demands by the German civilian population, as well as federal and Land (state) administrations during a period of fundamental changes in Anglo-German relations. The chapter looks at attempts to use the BAOR in order to undermine German cooperation with the West, as well as German efforts to counter these threats, all within economic, political, and social contexts. When considering the occupation forces of the Western powers, the problems created by the presence of American troops have been highlighted by John Willoughby. His work focuses on the threat to US authority in Germany posed by the disorderly behavior of American troops and the resulting initiatives that prevented a deterioration of relations in the period between 1945 and 1948.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter analyzes the portrayal of Germany and its people in Britain in order to shed light o... more This chapter analyzes the portrayal of Germany and its people in Britain in order to shed light on the views that would have influenced young Britons joining the BAOR. The focus is on media that are likely to have been encountered by young British men, such as the British press, nonfictional and fictional literature, and war films. The chapter also considers the impact of Germany's economic recovery on British opinion. With regard to cultural and more personal relations between the BAOR and the Germans, a number of relevant publications point to factors that potentially influenced the view of the general British public toward Germany and that of individual soldiers stationed in Germany.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

This chapter traces the development of the BAOR in Germany during the Cold War in terms of size a... more This chapter traces the development of the BAOR in Germany during the Cold War in terms of size and organization, before analyzing its role in British policy toward Germany. When considering British occupation policy and the German reaction to it, both British and German publications cover the period between 1945 and 1949 generally in far more detail than they do the first half of the 1950s. The chapter also examines the broader context of the Cold War, British military strategy, and the BAOR's role. Despite the obvious importance of Anglo-German relations in the context of the making of postwar Europe, the coverage of the bilateral political and cultural cooperation between 1948 and 1957 is relatively sketchy and has only recently begun to attract wider scholarly attention.

University of Illinois Press, 2017

Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold... more Between 1945 and 1957, West Germany made a dizzying pivot from Nazi bastion to Britain's Cold War ally against the Soviet Union. Successive London governments, though often faced with bitter public and military opposition, tasked the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) to serve as a protecting force while strengthening West German integration into the Western defense structure. This book charts the BAOR's fraught transformation from occupier to ally by looking at the charged nexus where British troops and their families interacted with Germany's civilian population. Examining the relationship on many levels, the book ranges from how British mass media representations of Germany influenced BAOR troops to initiatives taken by the Army to improve relations. It also weighs German perceptions, surveying clashes between soldiers and civilians and comparing the popularity of the British services with that of the other occupying powers. As the book shows, the BAOR's presence di...