The first fifty years of Europe’s twentieth century were racked by violence, bloodshed and extraordinary political, economic, and socio-cultural changes. Between 1914 and 1918, an estimated 37 million people perished on Europe’s battlefields. The Old Regime, too, crumbled beneath the weight of four years of unyielding industrial warfare and, in Eastern Europe, revolutionary upheavals. Amidst the ashes of the old Europe, a number of contending visions for a new social and political order began to appear. Comparatively older ideologies, such as Communism in Russia, as well as newer ones, such as Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany, emerged as challengers to Liberal Democracy. By 1939, Europe’s destiny lay anxiously in the crosshairs between these three diametrically opposed contenders.
The purpose of this Open Access digital anthology is to explore the political, economic, social, and cultural upheavals which took place in Europe between the two world wars. In particular, we analyze the origins and consequences of the Great War, the collapse of Europe’s multi-national empires and the births of new democracies and — in the case of Russia, Italy, Germany, and Spain — dictatorships, the collapse of postwar international law and order, and, finally, the disastrous lurch into the catastrophes of the Second World War and the Holocaust. In addition to studying the history of Europe’s interwar crisis, this collaboratively-written anthology will seek to highlight, as well as stimulate a much-needed public discussion of, the various parallels between developments during the 1920s and 1930s and today’s international community.
In carrying out these objectives, our anthology has been divided into three chapters, each exploring a specific question in regard to the origins, and consequences, of Europe’s interwar crisis. Chapter 1 explores the various (dis)continuities between Europe’s long nineteenth century and the interwar years. The second chapter analyzes the reasons behind liberal democracy’s decline and the mass appeal of dictatorship during the 1920s and 1930s. Lastly, Chapter 3 examines the establishment, and breakdown, of the Versailles Settlement during the interwar decades. In the Conclusion, we will attempt to answer an important, and increasingly urgent, question: Are we living in another “interwar crisis”?
Since we are writing for a broader, general audience, we invite our readers to interact with the volume’s content by sharing its chapters and resources via their social media accounts and publishing their commentary on each of our sub-chapters. In partnering with our readership in these ways, we hope both to build a bridge between Academia and members of the general public and, perhaps most importantly, stimulate a broader, more meaningful engagement with these increasingly important topics and themes.