TY - JOUR
T1 - The Catastrophe of the Present and that of the Future
T2 - Expectations Towards European States from the Great War to the Great Depression
AU - Richter, Klaus
PY - 2023/3/3
Y1 - 2023/3/3
N2 - To understand the mindset that obstructed the paths out of the interwar crisis, we need to reconstruct widely held expectations towards the future of states. To examine how such expectations changed, diverged, and competed, the article investigates the work of inquiry committees, ranging from British and German committees engaged in post-war economic planning to the League of Nation’s Commission of Enquiry for European Union of the early 1930s. The article concludes that the interwar crisis can only be understood if we put the Great War and the Great Depression into a common frame. The war changed expectations, but not as drastically as we would instinctively assume. The expectation of an order of expanding, integrating blocs was challenged by the emergence of new ‘smalls states’ but survived. It was shattered when efforts to overcome the economic slump failed, leading to a broader acceptance of territorial revisionism across Europe than hitherto assumed.
AB - To understand the mindset that obstructed the paths out of the interwar crisis, we need to reconstruct widely held expectations towards the future of states. To examine how such expectations changed, diverged, and competed, the article investigates the work of inquiry committees, ranging from British and German committees engaged in post-war economic planning to the League of Nation’s Commission of Enquiry for European Union of the early 1930s. The article concludes that the interwar crisis can only be understood if we put the Great War and the Great Depression into a common frame. The war changed expectations, but not as drastically as we would instinctively assume. The expectation of an order of expanding, integrating blocs was challenged by the emergence of new ‘smalls states’ but survived. It was shattered when efforts to overcome the economic slump failed, leading to a broader acceptance of territorial revisionism across Europe than hitherto assumed.
U2 - 10.1017/S096077732200100X
DO - 10.1017/S096077732200100X
M3 - Article
SN - 0960-7773
JO - Contemporary European History
JF - Contemporary European History
ER -