Germany And The European East In The Twentieth Century

How did German society perceive the European East during the short twentieth century? What were the mental maps Germans constructed as their images of the European East? How did these images alter over time due to changing political systems and to what extent did those mental perceptions influence political action and the relationship between Germany and Eastern Europe?Tackling questions such as these, this book looks at the complicated relationship between Germany and the European East. Politically significant, this relationship was often fraught with tension, always delicate and never easy. The book looks at the social, cultural and political contexts that shaped the German image of the East during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the Federal Republic. In addition, it charts the mental maps that German society constructed with respect to single constituent parts of Eastern Europe, such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Baltic States and the Soviet Union.The contributors consider how the relationship was transformed from one of hostility to one more conciliatory in character by the end of the twentieth century.

Twentieth-Century Europe: A Brief History presents readers with a concise and accessible survey of the most significant themes and political events that shaped European history in the 20th and 21st centuries. Features updates that include a new chapter that reviews major political and economic trends since 1989 and an extensively revised chapter that emphasizes the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since World War II Organized into brief chapters that are suitable for traditional courses or for classes in non-traditional courses that allow for additional material selected by the professor Includes the addition of a variety of supplemental materials such as chronological timelines, maps, and illustrations

This volume brings together a diverse group of scholars from North America and Europe to explore the history and memory of Germany’s fateful push for power in the Balkans during the era of the two world wars and the long postwar period. Each chapter focuses on one or more of four interrelated themes: war, empire, (forced) migration, and memory. The first section, “War and Empire in the Balkans,” explores Germany’s quest for empire in Southeast Europe during the first half of the century, a goal that was pursued by economic and military means. The book’s second section, “Aftershocks and Memories of War,” focuses on entangled German-Balkan histories that were shaped by, or a direct legacy of, Germany’s exceptionally destructive push for power in Southeast Europe during World War II. German-Balkan Entangled Histories in the Twentieth Century expands and enriches the neglected topic of Germany’s continued entanglements with the Balkans in the era of the world wars, the Cold War, and today.

Germany in the 20th century endured two world wars, a failed democracy, Hitler's dictatorship, the Holocaust, and a country divided for 40 years. But it has also boasted a strong welfare state, affluence, liberalization and globalization, a successful democracy, and the longest period of peace in European history. In this award-winning volume of German history, Ulrich Herbert analyzes the trajectory of German politics and culture during a century ofextremes.

The editors present a collection of 23 historical papers exploring relationships between "the Germans" (necessarily adopting different senses of the term for different periods or different topics) and their immediate neighbors to the East. The eras discussed range from the Middle Ages to European integration. Examples of specific topics addressed include the Teutonic order in the development of the political culture of Northeastern Europe during the Middle ages, Teutonic-Balt relations in the chronicles of the Baltic Crusades, the emergence of Polenliteratur in 18th century Germany, German colonization in the Banat and Transylvania in the 18th century, changing meanings of "German" in Habsburg Central Europe, German military occupation and culture on the Eastern Front in Word War I, interwar Poland and the problem of Polish-speaking Germans, the implementation of Nazi racial policy in occupied Poland, Austro-Czechoslovak relations and the post-war expulsion of the Germans, and narratives of the lost German East in Cold War West Germany.

In terms of major events, the 20th century influences nations, regions, and peoples in profound and all-inclusive ways. It was a century of earth-shaking, contradictory events — great evil, genocide, and destruction on massive scales on the one hand, and, at the same time, inventions, discoveries, and political/social improvements which have improved the lives of billions of people. Most of the inventors and scientists, and, in too many cases, the worst tyrants, were Europeans. The pages within guide the reader on this exciting, often bloody, and yet hope-filled journey. Edgar B. Schick, Ph.D. Arthur Drea has written a compelling and readable primer of the utmost intellectual value to history students and the general public alike for a course in European History of the Twentieth Century. He achieves this desired effect with exactitude and concision, which match his course’s focus on just over one hundred years of causation leading to the contemporary state of European society and economy. Indeed, every tributary stream of events of this social, political, and economic type is seamlessly channeled into the main course of Drea’s explanation and analysis with the flawless timing that characterizes narrative history at its best. Edwin L. Hetfield, Jr., Ph.D.

Covering all key Eastern European states and their history right up to the collapse of communism, this second edition of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century – And After is a comprehensive political history of Eastern Europe taking in the whole of the century and the geographical area. Focusing on the attempt to create and maintain a functioning democracy, this new edition now: examines events in Bosnia and Herzegovina includes a new consideration of the evolution of the region since the revolutions of 1989–91 surveys the development of a market economy analyzes the realignment of Eastern Europe towards the West details the emergence of organized crime discusses each state individually includes an up-to-date bibliography. Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century – And After provides an accessible introduction to this key area which is invaluable to students of modern and political history.