Since the First World War the spaces and zones within which submarines and aircraft have operated have been a major part of military activity. At the same time, air and sea have been associated with the visions and practices of civilian technological conquests. Both the military and civilian conquering of the depths of the sea and the 'third dimension' have been marked by the creation of myths, which show fascinating similarities and contrasts. These phenomena have been more or less explicitly determined by gender constructions and semantics as well as by discourses of nationalism, technology and modernity. The article of this volume are concerned with British and German narratives, legends and mythemes that intertwine in different ways to shape memory and practices of remembrance, through which military and civil matters, hopes and fears overlap and blend together. They address the tangible effects that the military conquest of new regions produce on civil life, and conversely also reveal the controversies contained within that which is forgotten, suppressed, and does not wish to be known about the militarization of spaces, environments and technologies. The articles bring these different aspects into focus, and on these bases they are organized into three sections: national competition, the meanings ascribed to space or spaces, and remembrance and memory politics within popular and official culture. engl.
