Ideas of Europe since 1914
Also by Menno Spiering ENGLISHNESS: Foreigners and Images of National Identity in Post-war Literature BRITAIN AND EUROPE NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Also by Michael Wintle THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS: Religion, Scholarship and Art RHETORIC AND REALITY IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN EUROPE UNDER THE SIGN OF LIBERALISM AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS THE IDEA OF A UNITED EUROPE SINCE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
Ideas of Europe since 1914 The Legacy of the First World War Edited by Menno Spiering Director MA in European Studies, International School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Michael Wintle Professor of History, University of Hull, UK
Selection and Editorial Matter Menno Spiering and Michael Wintle 2002 Chapters 1 11 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-98402-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-43054-3 ISBN 978-1-4039-1843-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781403918437 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ideas of Europe since 1914 : the legacy of the First World War/edited by Menno Spiering and Michael Wintle. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Europe History 1918 1945. 2. World War, 1914 1918 Psychological aspects. 3. Europe History 1945 4. Europe Social conditions 20th century. 5. Reconstruction (1914 1939) Europe. 6. World War, 1914 1918 Territorial questions. 7. Europe Intellectual life 20th century. 8. European federation. 9. National socialism. 10. Fascism. I. Spiering, M. (Menno) II. Wintle, Michael J. D720.I34 2002 940.5 dc21 2002019598 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Contents List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors vii ix x xi 1 European Identity, Europeanness and the First World War: Reflections on the Twentieth Century an Introduction 1 Menno Spiering and Michael Wintle 2 The Crisis of European Civilization After 1918 14 Jan Ifversen 3 Aristide Briand s Plan: The Seed of European Unification 32 Wim Roobol 4 Shatter Zones : The Creation and Re-creation of Europe s East 47 Peter Bugge 5 The First World War and the Challenge to Democracy in Europe 69 Philip Morgan 6 Remembering and Forgetting the First World War in Western Europe 89 Annette Becker 7 Europe on Parade: The First World War and the Changing Visual Representations of the Continent in the Twentieth Century 105 Michael Wintle 8 Europe and the Lost Generation: William Dieterle s The Last Flight 130 Neil Sinyard v
vi Contents 9 And Down We Went : Fragments of Interwar Europe Seen from the British Metropolis 142 Aleid Fokkema 10 Pacifism and the European Idea: War and Inner Conflict in the Work of Léon Werth 160 Manet van Montfrans 11 Engineering Europe: The European Idea in Interbellum Literature, the Case of Panropa 177 Menno Spiering Index 201
List of Illustrations 1.1 Erich Heckel, Man on a Plain, woodcut, 1917 2 3.1 A passage from Coudenhove-Kalergi s Paneuropa ABC, 1932 39 4.1 The new Europe on a basis of nationality, 1916 48 4.2 The middle tier of states between Germany and Russia, 1919 50 7.1 Comparison Kondratieff and events: average Kondratieff wave timings, 1789 1920, with estimates to the present 106 7.2 Statue of Europe, Natural History Museum, Vienna, 1889 108 7.3 Enough! Cartoon of Europa calling a halt to the war between Greece and Turkey, 1897 110 7.4 Like a Succubus, Africa Weighs on the Repose of Europe, 1896 111 7.5 Memorial for the World Wars, outside Sheffield City Hall 114 7.6 Cartoon of Europa sinking on the League of Nations bull, 1929 116 7.7 Euro note designs, 1999 120 7.8 New Parliament buildings, Brussels 123 7.9 European Tree sculpture, European Parliament building, Brussels 123 7.10 Léon de Pas, Europe en avant, outside the Concilium Building, Brussels 125 7.11 Britisches Rinderschlachten, cartoon by Bunte, 1997 126 10.1 Léon Werth, conscript, 1899 164 11.1 Sunrise over Europe after the First World War, Emblem of Panropa, 1932 177 11.2 Cover of Panropa, by Georg Güntsche, 1930 180 11.3 What is Atlantropa?, 1932 183 11.4 Panropa in between America and Asia, 1938 185 11.5 The First World War had only helped the yellows to extend their influence in Africa, 1938 188 11.6 Europa carried by Africa, 1938 190 vii
viii List of Illustrations 11.7 Europe is too small, 1954 192 11.8 The Europe of the nation states is a continent crammed with narrow cages, 1938 192 11.9 Either the decline of the West, or salvation by Atlantropa, 1938 194 11.10 Cover of the National Socialist Panropa novel Eurofrika, 1938 195 11.11 Cover of the last Panropa novel, Projekt Atlantropa, 1956 197
Preface This book is one of the outcomes of an international research project which began in 1997. Michael Wintle of Hull University and Peter Bugge of Aarhus University had for some time been discussing a joint undertaking to examine the experience of Europe in the twentieth century in the light of the impact of the First World War, using the concept of European identity as a central analytical tool. They were subsequently joined by colleagues from Hull and Aarhus Universities, and by Menno Spiering and others from Amsterdam University. This international group met on various occasions and began to evolve a set of research questions and a plan for a series of studies on the topic. An application was made to the British Academy s International Research Collaboration Scheme in 1998, and a generous grant in two tranches supported the project with travel and other costs, principally for a symposium which was held near the University of Hull at Burton Agnes Hall in East Yorkshire in April 2000. Some of the papers delivered there formed the first drafts of some of the chapters of this volume; all were thoroughly rewritten in the light of our deliberations, and several more were commissioned for the version published here. We are very grateful to the British Academy for its award, which made the project possible, and to the Hon. Mrs S. Cunliffe Lister of Burton Agnes Hall for permission to use part of the Hall premises for the symposium. Subsequently the Universities of Amsterdam and Hull contributed funds for some translation and other costs, for which our thanks are also due. Dr Peter Bugge has played a central role in this project from the start; only the heavy burden of other commitments obliged him to stand down, modestly as ever, from joint-editing this volume. We would also like to thank all the contributors both to the book and to the research programme for their patience, perseverance and collegiality. MENNO SPIERING MICHAEL WINTLE ix
Acknowledgements The illustrations in this volume were reproduced by courtesy of the British Museum (jacket illustration and Figure 1.1); Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen (Figure 7.6); Photo European Parliament, Brussels (Figures 7.7,7.8,7.9); Les Editions Viviane Hamy, Paris (Figure 10.1); Atlantropa Archiv, Deutsches Museum, Munich (Figures 11.1 and 11.3 11.9); Dölling & Galitz Verlag, Hamburg (Figures 11.2 and 11.10). Every effort has been made to trace all copyright-holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. Chapters 3 and 10 were translated by Jane Hedley-Prole. x
Notes on the Contributors Annette Becker holds a Chair in Modern History at the University of Paris-X Nanterre, and recently has been attached to the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Princeton. She is the Co-Director of the Research Centre of the Historial de la Grande Guerre, and has published the following books: Les Monuments aux morts, mémoire de la Grande Guerre (1988); La Guerre et la foi, de la mort à la mémoire, 1914 1930 (1994); English translation, War and Faith: The Religious Imagination in France, 1914 1930 (1998); Croire, Historial de la Grande Guerre (1996); Oubliés de la Grande Guerre, populations occupées, déportés civils, prisonniers de guerre (1998); La Grande Guerre (1998), with Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau; Italian translation published 1999; Combattants et civils du Nord, 1914 1918 (1998) (ed.); 14 18, Retrouver la guerre, with Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau (2000); Italian, American and British translations forthcoming; France and World War I (forthcoming), with Leonard Smith and Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau. Peter Bugge is Associate Professor of Czech and European Studies and Head of Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Aarhus (DK). His research interests lie in Czech history, politics and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the history of the idea of Europe, discourses on Central and Eastern Europe, and European identity. His publications include: Czech Nation-Building, National Self-Perception and Politics 1780 1914 (1994); The Nation Supreme: The Idea of Europe 1914 1945, in K. Wilson and J. van der Dussen (eds), The History of the Idea of Europe (1995); The Use of the Middle: Mitteleuropa vs. Strední Evropa, European Review of History, vol. 6, no. 1 (1999); Longing or Belonging? Czech Perceptions of Europe in the Interwar Years and Today, Yearbook of European Studies, 11 (1999); Home at Last? Czech Views of Joining the European Union, in N. Parker and B. Armstrong (eds), Margins in European Integration (2000). Aleid Fokkema is a Senior Lecturer in the English Department at Utrecht University. She has worked extensively on postcolonialism and postmodernism, and her research is concerned with identity and the idea of the metropolis. Her publications include: Postmodern Characters: xi
xii Notes on the Contributors A Study of Characterization in British and American Postmodern Fiction (1991); Abandoning the Postmodern? The Case of Peter Ackroyd, in T. D haen and H. Bertens (eds), British Postmodern Fiction (1993); Caribbean Sublime: On Transport, in A.J. Arnold (ed.), A History of Literature in the Caribbean, Vol. 3 (1997); On the (False) Idea of Exile: Derek Walcott and Grace Nichols, in T. D haen (ed.), (Un)Writing Empire (1998); Why Do You Write in English? The Postcolonial Question, in T. Hoenselaars and M. Buning (eds), English and the Other Languages (1999); The Author: Postmodernism s Stock Character, in P. Franssen and T. Hoenselaars (eds), The Author as Character (1999). Jan Ifversen is Associate Professor of European Studies and Director of Studies at the Centre for European Cultural Studies, University of Aarhus (DK). His main research interests are in the history of European democracy and nationalism, the history of modern key concepts of European self-presentation, and theories of conceptual history. He has published articles in English and Danish on such themes as nationalism, conceptual history, European civilization and globalization, and the following books: (with Anne Knudsen) Hjem til Europa (Coming Home to Europe) (1992); Om magt, demokrati og diskurs (On Power, Democracy and Discourse) (1997). Manet van Montfrans is a Lecturer in the Department of European Studies of the University of Amsterdam. Her current research focuses on the perception of the First and Second World Wars in French literary prose, and the renewed interest in regional and rural matters in contemporary European novels. Her recent publications include: Georges Perec. La Contrainte du réel (1999); Travailler pour la patrie: Gustave Lanson, Yearbook of European Studies, 12 (1999); The Theme of the Second World War in French Literature, in Peggy Alderse Baas-Budlowitz and Willem Alderse Baas (eds), Coming to Terms with the Second World War (2000); Georges Perec: Copier, créer, d un cabinet d amateur à l autre, Etudes Romanes, 46 (2000). Philip Morgan is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary European History in the Department of History, University of Hull, where he has taught since 1976. His main research interests are in European fascism between the two World Wars. He has written Italian Fascism, 1919 1945 (1995), and several research articles on Italian Fascism and on the history of the political idea of Europe. He has recently completed a new monograph, Fascism in Europe, 1919 1945.
Notes on the Contributors xiii Wim Roobol held a Chair of Modern European History in the University of Amsterdam, where from 1985 to 2000 he led the Department of European Studies. Originally a specialist in Russian history, he has published extensively on the history of political ideas and of international relations, including numerous articles on the idea of Europe, and (with H. Beliën), Europa in de Wereld (Europe in the World) (1993). Neil Sinyard is a Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Hull. His research interests lie in British and American cinema, film adaptations of literature and European influences on Hollywood during its heyday. He has published twenty books on the cinema, including: Journey down Sunset Boulevard: The Films of Billy Wilder (1979); Filming Literature: The Art of Screen Adaptation (1986); The Films of Alfred Hitchcock (1986 and 1994); The Films of Woody Allen (1987); Silent Movies (1990); The Films of Nicolas Roeg (1991); Children in the Movies (1992); Jack Clayton (2000). Menno Spiering is a Lecturer in the Department of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam, Director of the MA in European Studies Programme of the International School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Amsterdam, and executive editor of European Studies: A Journal of European Culture History and Politics. His publications include: Englishness: Images of National Identity in Post-war Literature (1993); National Identity and European Unity, in M. Wintle (ed.), Culture and Identity in Europe (1996); The Future of National Identity in the European Union, in National Identities, vol. 1, no. 2 (1999); The Englishness of English Literature and Literary History, Yearbook of European Studies, 12 (1999). Michael Wintle studied at Cambridge and Ghent Universities, and now holds a Chair of European History at the University of Hull (UK) where he has taught since 1980. His current research interests are in European identity and especially the visual representation of Europe, cultural aspects of European integration, European industrialization, and the modern social and economic history of the Low Countries. He has recently organized international conferences on European identity, on European colonialism, and on Image into Identity. He has published widely on these subjects, including the following recent books: The Exchange of Ideas: Religion, Scholarship and Art (1994); Rhetoric and Reality in Environmental Policy (1994); Culture and Identity in Europe (1996); Under the Sign of Liberalism (1997); An Economic and Social History of the Netherlands (2000); The Idea of a United Europe (2000).