ABSTRACT
Maynard Keynes argued that the attempt to keep Germany in a condition of economic inferiority compared to France and Great Britain would obstruct economic development in Europe and lay the bases for a new war. One of the best-known attempts to react to the perceived decline of European civilisation was no doubt the Pan-Europa movement founded by the Austrian count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. The boundaries of a unified Europe should be Portugal to the west and Poland to the east, whereas Great Britain and Russia would be excluded as they "politically form other parts of the world". The project of uniting peoples based on their belonging to Europe, historical and cultural level, implied a harsh criticism of the new-born League of Nations. The League of Nations was thus useless and detrimental to the interests of Europe, which "is entitled to its own Monroe doctrine and can protest against the interference of foreign powers in affairs that are exclusively its own".
