Twentieth-century Europe : unity and division / P.M.H. Bell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bell, P. M. H. (Philip Michael Hett), 1930-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Europe--History--20th century.

Europe.

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 302 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Hodder Arnold ; New York : Distributed in the United States of America by Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

Beginning with the fundamental question 'what is Europe?', this exceptionally lucid new history of the continent from 1900 to 2004 opens up a whole range of fresh perspectives. It sets out to examine the proposition that the idea of European unity makes sense when there is more that unites Europe than divides it, and to ask when that has been true during the past hundred years. It has been written in the belief that the current British discussion on European integration concentrates too heavily on immediate issues like the euro and the constitution, and lacks the vital dimension of historical perspective. As events of the last decade of the twentieth century have demonstrated graphically, Europe's history is as much about the destinies and competing claims of the smaller as of the larger states.

Contents:

Introduction: What is Europe? A historical perspective 1

Part 1 Europe Before 1914

Chapter 1 The land of lost content 13

Chapter 2 The diversity of Europe: contrasts and divisions 33

Part 2 The First World War and the Destruction of Europe, 1914-1918

Chapter 3 The tragic mystery of 1914 43

Chapter 4 The Great War and the end of the old Europe 57

Part 3 The Illusion of Peace and the Europe of the -Isms, 1919-1939

Chapter 5 Europe survives, 1919-1929 79

Chapter 6 Dangers and disasters, 1929-1939 101

Part 4 The Second World War, 1939-1945

Chapter 7 The initial triumphs of Germany, 1939-1942 125

Chapter 8 The Allied victory and the division of Europe, 1942-1945 137

Part 5 The Great Divide: West and East, 1945-1989

Chapter 9 Western Europe, 1945-1961 149

Chapter 10 Eastern Europe, 1945-1961 169

Chapter 11 The development of Western Europe, 1961-1989 183

Chapter 12 Eastern Europe, 1961-1989 203

Part 6 Europe in Our Own Time

Chapter 13 East meets West? 1990-1999 217

Chapter 14 A new Europe? But what Europe? 2000-2004 243.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-289) and index.

ISBN:

0340740558

OCLC:

67874122

Publisher Number:

9780340740552