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

This book brings together world-renowned scholars from all over Europe to analyse 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 and integrates the changes that followed 1989 into a more substantial historical perspective.

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 such as borders, states, empires, democracy, justice, markets and 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.

“Europe's Postwar Periods excels at challenging the narrative of modern European history … The innovative approach of this book makes it a must-read for those looking to dissect the past in an unconventional way-to see postwar periods for what they were, and most important, for what they were not.” —H-War

“A truly innovative and European perspective that sheds a new and stimulating light on 20th European history, its specificity, creativity and openness by rereading it through the present lens and analysing the changes following WWI and WWII from the changes following 1989.” —Etienne Francois, Professor of History, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany