Economies of Military Welfare: Conversations between Past and Present

In this post Paul Huddie of University College Dublin presents a summary of the 2024 international conference of the Military Welfare History Network, which was supported by the EHS Initiatives and Conference Fund.

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On Friday 21 June 2024, the Military Welfare History Network hosted its third international conference at the University of Leeds, with the theme of ‘Economies of Military Welfare: Conversations between Past and Present.’ The MWHN provides a networking and dissemination platform for scholars who are active in military welfare history. The network seeks to bring together scholars in this unique yet diverse area of research to promote their research, expand their networks and develop collaborations. This event was made possible through the generous support of the Economic History Society, through the Initiatives and Conference Fund.

Specifically, this event discussed a multitude of topics relative to the Economies of Military Welfare, which included:

• state and non-state benefits and provisions
• representations of military welfare recipients’ domestic economies of military welfare
• emotional economies of military welfare
• mobilising and demobilising military welfare provision
• military welfare economies in international perspective
• race and racial ‘othering’
• exclusions from military welfare provision.

The welfare of soldiers and their families, both provision and neglect, is a theme relevant to wars throughout history. Understanding the role of economies – financial, emotional and social – in the success or failure of past military welfare systems is crucial for identifying how societies can structure and improve these systems today.

As the levels of conflict grew in the twentieth century, the welfare of soldiers and their families became an ever-increasing priority for the state systems which fund and direct the military. However, in the context of tightening budgets, the ability of states to address this identified need often proved to be incompatible with other state priorities. Indeed, these priorities have often been determined by the post-war political context, rather than the outcome of the conflict itself. Whilst recent history points to a greater societal emphasis on welfare provision for ex-combatants, this is an area of concern that is as old as war itself, and which can be located within all combatant nations.

Where state support has been limited, it has left those in need of support without. This has often resulted in military communities, or sections of them seeking private support, to obtain the welfare that states and governments are unwilling or unable to deliver. Foremost among these alternative providers are charities and philanthropic organisations. Thus, veteran support was located and continues to be located in a ‘mixed economy of welfare,’ where state and private welfare co-exist.

The welfare systems developed for military communities have come to embrace different aspects of support: financial, emotional and rehabilitative, and developments in this last field have often been adopted for civilian use by the state. Yet despite this relationship, civilian groups can resent what they perceive to be preferential treatment for veterans, whilst the latter group can feel let down by the levels of government provision. This in turn can cause further challenges, as the development of an alternative veteran welfare economy can elicit contradictory reactions from its clients; for some communities, it can affirm an exalted status, but for others it can engender a sense of marginalisation from the mainstream.

The organising committee for this conference comprised:

• Prof Jessica Meyer
• Nick Baliey (PhD Candidate)
• Izzy Hollinghurst (PhD Candidate)
• Lizzie Hinchcliffe (MA in Social and Cultural History)
• Alex Massetti (MA in War Studies)

To find out more about the Military Welfare History Network, its origins, aims, scope and activities, please visit its website: https://militarywelfarehistory.com/.

The Network will host its fifth international conference 18-20 June 2026, at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. For more information please visit: https://militarywelfarehistory.com/2026-conference/

To contact the author:

Dr Paul Huddie

militarywelfarehistory@gmail.com

University College Dublin and Co-ordinator, Military Welfare History Network