‘Claiming the Skies: The Politics and Practices of Sovereignty in Global Aviation, 1920s–1940s’

Dr. Andreas Greiner – German Historical Institue, Washington

By the late 1930s, more than 100,000 kilometres of intercontinental air routes spanned the globe, linking nearly every continent. This talk examines the emergence of global commercial airline networks in the interwar and early postwar years. As aircraft technology matured in the 1920s and 1930s, Europe’s imperial governments sponsored airline companies to connect metropoles with distant colonies. Because the legal principle of air sovereignty granted states control over their airspace, international aviation could only expand through bilateral negotiations over flyover and landing rights. These negotiations, conducted both among rival empires and between imperial powers and independent states, quickly became sites of conflict. They were marked by obstruction, enforced cooperation, and security concerns. The presentation argues that the rise of intercontinental aviation after the First World War transformed the sky from an unregulated void into a diplomatic arena, compelling states to renegotiate power and influence within an increasingly interconnected world and a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape.