Contemporary Europe A History

by Wilkinson, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780131841765
• ISBN10: 0131841769
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-30
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This classic volume presents a comprehensive survey of European political, cultural, and economic history from 1914 to 1994. Authors James Wilkinson and H. Stuart Hughes focus on common problems and mutual differences that unite the different regions of the Continent- including Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and Central and Western Europe- from the eve of the First World War to the end of the Cold War.

Table of Contents

Europe in 1914

The First World War

The Russian Revolution and Its Consequences

The Settlement of 1919-1923

Technology and Society: Between Old and New

The Years of Stability, 1924-1929

The High Culture of the 1920s

The Great Depression, 1929-1935

The Fascist Regimes

The Stalinist System

European Civilization in Crisis

The Road to Catastrophe, 1935-1939

The Second World War

Eastern Europe: The Years of Revolution, 1945-1949

Western Europe: The Years of Recovery, 1945-1949

Cultural Reconstruction, 1945-1965

The Cold War, 1947-1953

The Loss of Colonial Empire

A New Equilibrium, 1953-1960

Achieving Prosperity, 1960-1968

A Decade of Disillusionment, 1968-1979

The Cold War Ends, 1980-1991

Toward a New Europe, 1991-

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

In preparing the tenth edition of this book, I have once again attempted to respect both the structure and the tone of earlier editions and to make additions and emendations in such a manner as to retain the harmony of the whole. Those features that gave Contemporary Europea distinctive character in its earlier editions--its treatment of Europe as a single unit, including Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean nations as well as the West; its use of political history as a unifying structure; its extended treatment of cultural developments--have been retained. With the end of the Cold War and the growing European membership of both NATO and the European Union, such an integrated approach seems even more pertinent than before. The principal changes in this tenth edition are an expanded final chapter, now including the five years from 1997 through 2002; less extensive revisions of earlier chapters, especially those dealing with the Cold War; and a thoroughgoing revision of the bibliographies at the end of each chapter to take account of recent scholarship. To accommodate the new text while still keeping the length of the book as a whole within the overall limit of 600 pages, I have further reduced the narrative devoted to military events in Chapters 2 and 13. The personal perspective that I bring to the task of revision has been shaped by a half dozen years of residence (and dozens of shorter trips) in both Western and Eastern Europe since 1962, during which I witnessed some of the events described here. For their hospitality and help in deciphering current events, I am especially indebted to Gabriella Bagnato, Laurence Coutrot, Jacques Lautman, Ida Calabi Limentani, Dominique Moisi, Diana Pinto, Wolff-Dietrich Webler, and Mechta Scholz-Webler, among others. The following reviewers provided invaluable insight: Dr. John Powell, Cliona Murphy, Chris Waters, and Charles E. Endress. Melissa Stockdale offered essential bibliographic advice. Prassede, to whom the book is dedicated, knows how much she has contributed in support and editorial insight both to this and to past revisions. After the euphoric hopes of 1989, the challenges of dealing with political and economic reconstruction in Eastern Europe and meeting the ambitious goals of the European Union have sobered many Europeans. The events of September 11, 2001 have further highlighted the vulnerability of industrialized nations to terrorism, and brought the challenge of coordinating Europe's response with that of the United States. At the same time the pressures of a global economy are forcing a reexamination of the price Europeans are willing to pay for the lessening of their economic and cultural autonomy. Despite these challenges, however, it is clear that the Europe as a whole is moving toward progressively greater integration--of which the successful launch of the euro in January 2002 is but one example--another measure of the old continent's capacity for renewal. James Wilkinson