Perception of childhood during the Balkan Wars

In the thesis titled "Perception of Childhood during the Balkan Wars," an attempt is made to disclose how the perception of childhood during the extraordinary war years was perceived politically and socially and how it transformed. The study reveals that there were substantial differences between the perception of childhood during the ordinary period and the perception of childhood during wartime. The influence of governmental actions on the perception of childhood during wartime led to the militarization of children. During the conflict, it was also observed that children took on the responsibilities of their parents and that the line between childhood and adulthood blurred. The effects of the conflict on social life have also had a negative impact on the development of children, and the war permeated their education, games, and stories. The effects of the conflict, which entered children's lives through various means, were attempted to be illustrated with examples throughout the study. The primary sources for this thesis are memoirs, biographies, and literary works, which can reflect the experiences of children more comprehensively than official documents, which do not adequately cover their experiences. In addition, an interdisciplinary approach was employed in using sources, as the study analyzes various dynamics reflecting the collective perception of childhood. In the first chapter of the thesis, the perception of childhood in the West, during the Abdülhamid II and Constitutional Monarchy II eras is described in order to comprehend the influence of administrations on the perception of childhood. The second chapter examines how the period's policies and social life are reflected in biographies and memoirs, and in the third chapter, how children are reflected in literary fiction is analyzed. As a result, it is evident that both self-narratives and fictional texts reflect the period's policies and the prevalent view of childhood.