Europe's Long Century: 1900-Present

Society, Politics, and Culture

Prof Spencer M. Di Scala

The twentieth century has been interpreted as a short century marked by extremes. According to this view, the century lasted only from 1914 to 1989 or 1991. These dates coincide with the rise and fall of communism that came to power in Russia in 1917 and ended with the fall of the Berlin wall (1989) or that of the Soviet Union (1991). Thus, the concept of a short century is unduly influenced by a Cold War perspective. In Europe's Long Century, Spencer Di Scala presents an alternative view that will be more helpful to undergraduate history students in the twenty-first-century: namely, that twentieth century Europe was actually a "long" century lasting approximately from 1900 to 2000 with patterns and antecedents discernible before the century began and that continue to be elaborated today.

Europe's Long Century: 1900-Present

Society, Politics, and Culture

Prof Spencer M. Di Scala

Description

The twentieth century has been interpreted as a short century marked by extremes. According to this view, the century lasted only from 1914 to 1989 or 1991. These dates coincide with the rise and fall of communism that came to power in Russia in 1917 and ended with the fall of the Berlin wall (1989) or that of the Soviet Union (1991). Thus, the concept of a short century is unduly influenced by a Cold War perspective. In Europe's Long Century, Spencer Di Scala presents an alternative view that will be more helpful to undergraduate history students in the twenty-first-century: namely, that twentieth century Europe was actually a "long" century lasting approximately from 1900 to 2000 with patterns and antecedents discernible before the century began and that continue to be elaborated today.

Comprehensive, current, and affordable, Europe's Long Century integrates the histories of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Balkans that are often neglected in similar treatments. It also thoroughly covers the role of science in shaping modern European life, and the book's "biographical sketches" profile the lives of important--though not always well known--people who influenced Europe's long century.

Europe's Long Century: 1900-Present

Society, Politics, and Culture

Prof Spencer M. Di Scala

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Maps
List of Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS EUROPE?

Europe as a Cultural Conception
The Idea of Europe and Christianity
The European Ideal Becomes Secularized
Hegemony versus Consensus
The Ideal of Unity between the Two World Wars
The European Concept during the Late Twentieth Century
A Post-Cold War Perspective

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

PART ONE: THE EUROPEAN AGE

1. DECEMBER 14, 1900

The Twentieth Century: Science and Ideology
European Society
Changing Cultural and Political Outlooks

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Anna Kuliscioff Cofounder of Italian Socialism
Max Planck An Upright German

2. THE DEMOCRACIES AND THEIR DILEMMAS

Britain: Accommodation and Militancy
France Muddles Through
Italian Democracy in the Making

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Emmeline Pankhurst "Votes for Women!"
Jean-Joseph-Marie-Auguste Jaurès Martyr

3. THE AUTHORITARIAN STATES

The German Empire: Greater Prussia
"That Ramshackle Realm": Austria-Hungary
Imperial Russia: "Institutions Are of No Importance"

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht of Hohenzollern Failure
Karl Lueger Mayor of Vienna

4. FOREIGN POLICIES

Britain: Managing Decline
World Policy (Weltpolitik)
France's Lost Provinces
Showdown in the Balkans
Italy Searches for Security

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Théophile Delcassé Warrior Diplomat
Francis Joseph of Hapsburg Unlucky

5. EUROPEAN PERIPHERIES

Scandinavia: An Ideal Unity
Different Roads: The Low Countries
The Making of a Conservative: Switzerland
The Iberian States
Southeastern Europe

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Niels Henrik David Bohr "Uncle Nick"
Émile Vandervelde Evolutionary Socialist

PART TWO: END OF HEGEMONY

6. WORLD WAR

Imperialism and Diplomacy: From Crisis to Crisis
History of a History: Causes of World War I
Combat!
The Home Fronts
The War Ends

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley A Casualty of War
Erich Maria Remarque "But now, for the first time, people learned what it was really like"

7. WAR'S IMMEDIATE IMPACT: RUSSIAN AND OTHER REVOLUTIONS

War and the Russian Revolutions

The German Revolution
End of the War in Germany
The Struggle for Power
Foundation of the Weimar Republic
Revolution in Austria
The Hungarian Revolution
Continuous Rebellion: Artists and Scientists

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov A Sealed Train
Rosa Luxemburg Marxist Martyr

8. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE

The Paris Peace Conference
The Territorial Consequences
Economic Consequences
The Moral Consequences
The League of Nations

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Georges Clemenceau Tiger
Sidney Sonnino Failed Diplomatist

9. HARD LANDINGS: FROM CRISIS TO FALSE PROSPERITY

Britain: Back to 1914
France's Quest for Security
Italy: From "Red Biennium" to Fascism
Weimar's Three Original Sins
The USSR: The Crisis of NEP

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
John Maynard Keynes Savior of Capitalism
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini Young Rebel

PART THREE: AN AGE OF DICTATORS

10. THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES

The Great Depression
British Democracy
Troubled France
Scandinavia: Toward Social Democracy
Marking Time: The Low Countries and Switzerland

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
James Ramsay MacDonald Labour's "Nonperson" Prime Minister
Léon Blum Popular Front

11. THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY IN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE

The Victors of the Versailles Settlement
The Versailles Settlement's Losers
The Aegean and the Adriatic

Iberia

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Josef Klemens Pilsudski Polish Dictator
Thomas Garrigue Masaryk European Democrat

12. MUSSOLINI'S FASCISM

Fascist Practice
Fascist Ideology

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Edmondo Rossoni Fascist Labor
Margherita Sarfatti "Dictator of the Figurative Arts"

13. STALIN'S COMMUNISM

Communist Ideology
Communist Practice

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin Communist Theoretician
Alexandra Mikhaylovna Kollontai "Red Rose of the Revolution"

14. THE NAZI ASSAULT ON WEIMAR

Weimar's Crumbling Support
Ascent of the Nazi Party
The Collapse of Weimar
Installing the Dictatorship

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Adolf Hitler Down and Out in Vienna
Franz von Papen Politico

15. HITLER'S NAZISM

Foundations of Nazism
Kristallnacht
Nazi Theory and Practice
Everyday Life

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Gertrud Scholtz-Klink Unrepentant!
Hermann Goering Nazi Chieftain

16. INTERWAR SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Society
Entertainment and High Culture
Technology and Society
Pure Science: Revolution and Travail

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Ettore Majorana The Enduring Mystery
Lise Meitner The Role of Insight

17. DIPLOMACY BETWEEN THE WARS: THE COLLAPSE OF PEACE

The Continent in the 1920s
Correcting Versailles
The Hitler Revolution
From Crisis to Crisis
A New War

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Gustav Stresemann Fulfillment
Aristide Briand Man of Peace, "Father of Europe"

18. THE GERMAN TIDE OVER EUROPE

Confrontation
German Successes
The Home Fronts

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian Panzer General
Maurice Gustave Gamelin Historical Footnote

19. INSIDE HITLER'S EUROPE: MILITARY OCCUPATION AND GENOCIDE

Short and Long-Term Aims
Military Occupation in the East
Military Occupation in the West
The Holocaust
Genocide

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Heinrich Himmler "Architect of Genocide"
Primo Levi 174517

20. HOW THE WAR WAS WON

Weapons
Battles
Resistance
The Future
Ideology: Nationalism's Handmaiden?

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Erwin Rommel The Desert Fox
Bernard Law Montgomery Hero of El Alamein

[End Volume 1 / Begin Volume 2]

PART FOUR: DUAL EUROPE

21. MAKING POSTWAR EUROPE

Soviet Dominance in the East
The West: American Influence
The Cold War

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Klement Gottwald Stalinist
Josip Broz Tito Communist Nationalist

22. ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND POLITICAL STABILIZATION IN THE WEST

Defense Mechanisms
Economic Integration
The Community: New Europe's Core
Associated Countries

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Jean Monnet Cognac and Europe
Konrad Adenauer Senior Statesman

23. FAILURE OF EFTA AND EXPANSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

EFTA
Characteristics of the Seven
The Disappearing Periphery

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
James Harold Wilson Reluctant European
Kurt Waldheim Austria in the Dock

24. DECOLONIZATION

Origins of Decolonization
Death by War
Failed Transformations

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Frantz Fanon Language, Peasants, and Revolution

25. STALINISM AND "ACTUALLY EXISTING SOCIALISM"

Guiding Principles
The East European Revolution
Stalinism in Eastern Europe
"Actually Existing Socialism" in the USSR

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Georgi Dimitrov Master in Ideology
Ana Rabinovici Pauker Communist Nonperson

26. DE-STALINIZATION AND DESTABILIZATION

Stalin's Successors
Destabilization in Eastern Europe
Khrushchev's Dilemma
Restricted Decentralization

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Nikita Sergeievich Khrushchev Peasant Wit
Alexander Dubcek Brief Spring

27. THE SHIFTING ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE WEST

Economic Quandaries
The Thatcher Era in Britain
Mitterrand's "Unintended Revolution"
Italy's Triple Revolution
Keeping the Balance in Germany
Meeting the Challenge

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher No Interpreter Needed
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand "A Very Good Dancer"

28. CULTURAL CHANGE AND EXTREMISM IN THE WEST

Expanding Opportunities and Growing Protest
Discontent in the West
The 1968 Revolts
Terrorism and Society
Growth of Feminism
Return to Normalcy
The Greens

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Mara Cagol Co-Founder, Red Brigades
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand e Beauvoir, Philosopher-Feminist

29. CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

Scandinavian Social Democracy
Central Europe
The Lesser-Developed Countries
European Union: The Acceleration of History

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Joerg Haider Embarrassment or Admonition?
Andreas Papandreou Democratic Fighter

30. EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY

Postwar Society
Discontent in the West
The Changing Family
Immigration

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
John XXIII "The Good Pope"
Boris Pasternak Doctor Zhivago

31. CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

Science and Technology
European Culture
Euromarxism

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Jean-Paul Sartre Model of an Intellectual
Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braucich Outrageous!

32. STAGNATION AND FAILED REFORM IN THE EAST

Stagnation in the Soviet Union
Beginning the End: Poland
Mikhail Gorbachev's Failed Revolution

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov "Our Regime Resembles A Cancer Cell"
Nicolae Ceausescu Gigantomania

33. THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM

Why the Dominoes Fell
The Process of Collapse I: Implosion
The Process of Collapse II: Explosion
The Process of Collapse III: Russia versus the Soviet Union

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Václav Havel Velvet Revolution
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin Maverick

34. EUROPE IN A GLOBAL AGE: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

The New Germany
The New Russia
The Balkan and Southeastern Hot Spots
Unfinished Business
The European Union's March
The Larger East European Economies and the EU
What Is Europe?

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Europe's Long Century: 1900-Present

Society, Politics, and Culture

Prof Spencer M. Di Scala

Author Information

Spencer Di Scala is Professor of History and past graduate program director at University of Massachusetts Boston. He is the author of several books, including Italy from Revolution to Republic (2009), European Political Thought: 1815-1989 (1998), Italian Socialism Between Politics and History (1996), and Renewing Italian Socialism: Nenni to Craxi (OUP, 1988).

Europe's Long Century: 1900-Present

Society, Politics, and Culture

Prof Spencer M. Di Scala

Reviews and Awards

"In Europe's Long Century, Spencer Di Scala persuasively argues that the last hundred years of European history was not a 'short century,' one marked only by the rise and fall of communism. A longer history was unfolding. The trends and main issues we are coping with today have deep roots: science and its dilemmas, migrations, ethnic and religious conflicts, and the hopes and disillusions of an integrated Europe in a multipolar world. Di Scala has written an innovative, comprehensive, and courageous book. After reading it, we know more of our history and more of ourselves."--Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister of Italy and Professor Emeritus at the European University Institute of Florence

"Europe's Long Century is in the front ranks of modern European textbooks. It is accessible and engaging, and is the product of substantial research and reflection. This book delves into geographic and thematic corners of the continent that are often neglected. And while comprehensive in its coverage, it manages to remain concise."--John Cox, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

"Europe's Long Century is a well-written survey that nicely balances relevant themes and countries/regions covered. It gives students the necessary tools for doing further research. Each chapter is clear and concise, written in straightforward language. This will be a real asset for students and instructors alike."--David A. Messenger, University of Wyoming