AcknowledgementsIntroductionRevival After The First World War: Rebuild, Remember, Repair, Reform Luc Verpoest, Leen Engelen, Rajesh Heynickx, Jan Schmidt, Pieter Uyttenhove & Pieter Verstraete
PART ONE — REBUILD
Catastrophe and Reconstruction in Western Europe: The Urban Aftermath of the First World War Pierre Purseigle
Reflections on Leuven as Martyred City and the Realignment of Propinquity Richard Plunz
Making Good Farmers by Making Better Farms: Farmstead Architecture and Social Engineering in Belgium After the Great War Dries Claeys & Yves Segers
“C’est la beauté de l’ensemble qu’il faut viser.” Notes on Changing Heritage Values of Belgian Post-World War I Reconstruction Townscapes Maarten Liefooghe
Rebuilding, Recovery, Reconceptualization: Modern architecture and the First World War Volker M. Welter
PART TWO — REMEMBER
Reclaiming the Ordinary: Civilians Face the Post-war World Tammy M. Proctor
Expressing Grief and Gratitude in an Unsettled Time Temporary First World War Memorials in Belgium Leen Engelen & Marjan Sterckx
Remembering the War on the British Stage: From Resistance to Reconstruction Helen E. M. Brooks
A War to Learn From: Commemorative Practices in Belgian Schools After World War l Kaat Wils PART THREE — REPAIR
High Expectations and Silenced Realities: The Re-education of Belgian Disabled Soldiers of the Great War, 1914–1921 Pieter Verstraete and Marisa De Picker
Back to work: Riccardo Galeazzi’s Work for the Mutilated Veterans of the Great War, Between German Model and Italian Approach Simonetta Polenghi
Competition over Care: The Campaign for a New Medical Campus at the University of Leuven in the 1920s Joris Vandendriessche
PART FOUR — REFORM
An Argentine Witness of the Occupation and Reconstruction of Belgium: The Writings of Roberto J. Payró (1918-1922) María Inés Tato
The New Post-war Order from the Perspective of the Spanish Struggle for Regeneration (1918-1923) Carolina García Sanz
The Act of Giving: Political Instability and the Reform(ation) of Humanitarian Responses to Violence in Portugal in the Aftermath of the First World War Ana Paula Pires
Reconstruction, Reform and Peace in Europe after the First World War John Horne
Bibliography List of Contributors

In the months and years immediately following the First World War, the many (European) countries that had formed its battleground were confronted with daunting challenges. These challenges varied according to the countries' earlier role and degree of involvement in the war but were without exception enormous. The contributors to this book analyse how this was not only a matter of rebuilding ravaged cities and destroyed infrastructure, but also of repairing people’s damaged bodies and upended daily lives, and rethinking and reforming societal, economic and political structures. These processes took place against the backdrop of mass mourning and remembrance, political violence and economic crisis. At the same time, the post-war tabula rasa offered many opportunities for innovation in various areas of society, from social and political reform to architectural design. The wide scope of post-war recovery and revival is reflected in the different sections of this book: rebuild, remember, repair, and reform. It offers insights into post-war revival in Western European countries such as Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, as well as into how their efforts were perceived outside of Europe, for instance in Argentina and the United States.

Luc Verpoest is emeritus professor of architectural history and conservation at KU Leuven. Leen Engelen is historian of media and visual culture at LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven and Antwerp University. Rajesh Heynickx is intellectual historian at KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture. Jan Schmidt is historian of modern and contemporary Japan at KU Leuven, focusing on political and media history. Pieter Uyttenhove is associate professor of history and theory of urbanism at Ghent University. Pieter Verstraete is associate professor of history of education at KU Leuven.