Europe's Postwar Periods - 1989, 1945, 1918: Writing History Backwards

Description

This book brings together world-renowned scholars from the UK, Ireland, Germany, France and elsewhere across mainland Europe to provide a multi-authored history of 20th-century Europe from the present to the past. It analyses how successive Europes have been constructed in the wake of the key conflicts of the period: the Cold War and the two World Wars. By regressively tracing Europe's path back to these pivotal moments as part of a unique methodology, Europe's Postwar Periods - 1989, 1945, 1918 reveals the defining characteristics of these postwar periods more clearly and at the same time integrates the changes that followed 1989 into a more substantial historical perspective. Martin Conway and the author team address the crucial themes in recent European history on a chapter-by-chapter basis that gives comprehensive coverage to the whole of the European region for topics like: * Borders * States * Empires * Democracy * Justice * Markets * Futures The volume highlights the fact that Europe was made less by wars than is commonly thought, and more by the nature of the settlements – international, national, political, economic and social – that followed the two World Wars and the Cold War. It is an important, innovative text for all students and scholars of 20th-century European history.