Captivity as Ideological Pressure: The Irish Brigade, Muslim POWs, and the Politics of Belonging in German Camps, 1914–1918

This article examines German attempts to mobilize political and religious identities among prisoners of war during the First World War, focusing on recruitment to the Irish Brigade and propaganda directed at Asian and North African prisoners in camps such as Wünsdorf and Zossen. Rather than measuring ideological success, it argues that captivity altered the conditions under which political persuasion operated. Under confinement, surveillance and administrative dependency, ideological appeals shaped participation, refusal and social visibility in ways distinct from conventional political mobilization. The article argues that prisoner-of-war camps became sites for managing politically significant identities within multinational imperial armies.