On 24 January 2025, the workshop “New Perspectives on Gun History: EU-GUNS Meets LINKING ARMS” was held at Sala MoHu, Palazzo Luzzatto Dina (Padua). The event brought together scholars from the University of Padua and research groups based in Vienna and Prague, fostering an interdisciplinary and transnational dialogue on the history of firearms, arms production, circulation, and regulation in Europe and beyond.

The morning session was dedicated to presentations by the Vienna/Prague group, introduced by Rosamund Johnston with an overview of the Linking Arms project. Papers explored topics ranging from Austrian arms production in the 1950s and Cold War arms exports, to Czechoslovak weapons in Southern African liberation movements and the transformation of military institutions in socialist Czechoslovakia. The session was chaired by Andrea Azzarelli.

In the afternoon, the Padua group presented research connected to the ERC project EU-GUNS, introduced by Matteo Millan. Contributions examined gun control, civilian armament, and state regulation in different European contexts between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Britain, France, Germany, and Spain. The session was chaired by Lorenzo Pera.

The workshop concluded with a final discussion on shared research questions and prospects for future collaboration between the two projects. Overall, the event provided a valuable platform for comparative perspectives and methodological exchange on the social, political, and cultural history of guns.

Foto: Big gun, 7/30/23 – Public domain weapon photo