Dr Nir Arielli

Lecturer in History

Institute of Humanities & Creative Arts

Contact Details

email: n.arielli@worc.ac.uk

tel: Room: Bredon 135


Nir Arielli is an historian of modern Europe and the Middle East with particular interests in international relations, empire and (more recently) the social and transnational history of war. His doctoral thesis examined Fascist Italy's policy towards, and ambitions regarding, the Middle East. It won the 2009 British International History Group Thesis Prize and formed the basis of a monograph that was published in 2010 by Palgrave Macmillan.

Nir’s current research seeks to develop a comparative understanding of foreign war volunteers in modern conflicts. The case studies that he is examining include the international volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the Yugoslav Wars (1991-1995) and the Arab-Israeli conflict (1948 – the present). He is also co-editing a volume on transnational mercenaries, adventurers and volunteers in modern wars.

Teaching Interests

Nir teaches a broad range of topics, and is responsible for introductory modules on nineteenth and twentieth century European history, as well as specialist modules on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Transnational Soldiers in Modern Wars. He is interested to supervise research students in the following areas:
National and transnational mobilization for war
The Arab-Israeli conflict
International relations in Europe and the Middle East, 1919-1939
Fascist Italy

Professional Bodies

Publications

Books
Fascist Italy and the Middle East, 1933-40 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
[In progress] with Bruce Collins (eds), Transnational Soldiers: Foreign Military Enlistment in the Modern Era (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

Articles
[Forthcoming] ‘Induced to volunteer? The predicament of Jewish communists in Palestine and the Spanish Civil War’, Journal of Contemporary History, 46 (2011)
‘“Haifa is still burning”: Italian, German and French air raids on Palestine during the Second World War’, Middle Eastern Studies, 46, no. 3 (2010), pp. 331-47
‘Italian Involvement in the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936-39’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 35, no. 2 (2008), pp. 187 – 204
La politica dell’Italia fascista nei confronti degli arabi palestinesi, 1935-40’, Mondo Contemporaneo, 2, no. 1 (2006), pp. 5 – 65

Qualifications

PhD (Leeds)
MA (Jerusalem)
BA (Jerusalem)