Cataclysms
A History of the Twentieth Century from Europe’s Edge
Publication Year: 2008
Influenced by continental historical, legal, and social thought, Dan Diner views the totality of world history evolving from an Eastern and Southeastern European angle. A work of great synthesis, Cataclysms chronicles twentieth century history as a “universal civil war” between a succession of conflicting dualisms such as freedom and equality, race and class, capitalism and communism, liberalism and fascism, East and West.
Diner’s interpretation rotates around cataclysmic events in the transformation from multinational empires into nation states, accompanied by social revolution and “ethnic cleansing,” situating the Holocaust at the core of the century’s predicament. Unlike other Eurocentric interpretations of the last century, Diner also highlights the emerging pivotal importance of the United States and the impact of decolonization on the process of European integration.
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
Contents
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pp. vii-viii
Introduction
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pp. 3-10
"This narrative unavoidably contains omissions; no historical presentation located beyond mere chronological recollection can avoid the hazards of selection. For the historian, the abundance of material that reality offers necessitates a reduction of..."
1 Interpretations: Two Varieties of Universal Civil War
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pp. 11-58
"On 10 November 1942, shortly after the landing of American troops on the shores of the North African coast, Ernst Jünger noted in his diary that through his entanglement in current events, he felt like someone caught less in a world war, more in a 'universal civil war'—a Weltbürgerkrieg. The intensity of the struggle at work here was of an entirely different nature than what..."
2 Conversions: Nation and Revolution
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pp. 59-105
"From the war had sprung revolution, and not just the Russian insurgency. The Great War was the progenitor of all those looked as if it were hurtling toward radical transformation. In Berlin, the Spartacus League staged an uprising. In Vienna, all signs..."
3 Regimes: Democracy and Dictatorship
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pp. 106-152
"The twenty-seventh of March 1930 is a fateful date in modern German history. It marks the resignation of the last parliamentary cabinet of the Great Coaltion..."
4 Cataclysms: Genocide and Memory
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pp. 153-198
"In the less-than-happy chronicle of Turkish-Greek relations, 15 May 1919 is an especially grim day. On this day, Greek troops landed in Smyra, on the western coast of Asia Minor. Furnished with a mandate from the Supreme..."
5 Dualisms: Decolonization and the Cold War
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pp. 199-250
"On 21 February 1947—a late Friday afternoon, just before closing-time—Loy Henderson, head of the newly established Office for Near Eastern and African Affiars in the U.S. State Department, received an urgent telephone call from the..."
Acknowledgments
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pp. 251-252
"This book is obliged to many. When it saw light in German in the year 1999, it was by and large the outcome of my teaching on the twentieth century at the history departments of the universities of Essen and of Tel Aviv in the mid-1990s. To a wider audience the subject matter was presented during my stay as a visiting..."
Notes
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pp. 253-301
Index
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pp. 303-322
E-ISBN-13: 9780299223533
Print-ISBN-13: 9780299223502
Publication Year: 2008
