ABSTRACT
In 1890, Europe enjoyed an influence, self-confidence and affluence unparalleled in its history. In its political institutions, in its forms of economic organization, in its culture and in its technological progress, Europe appeared to have put behind it the upheavals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which had resulted in war, revolution and ideological conflict – forces that had come together in spectacularly destructive fashion during the French Revolution. By 1890 the leading European powers had also managed to establish a hegemony over much of the rest of the world through the enlargement of empire, the extension of military influence and the creation of new markets. Small wonder that many Europeans began to regard their civilization as blessed and destined for a great future. In the words of Gordon Martel, the world had become ‘European’, and the continent’s inhabitants had every expectation that the ensuing century would be theirs.1 Admittedly, there were dissenting voices. Notable was the Swiss historian and philosopher Jacob Burckhardt, who was deeply sceptical about notions of historical progress and who presciently feared that the twentieth century would belong to demagogues.2 It should additionally be remembered that a majority of Europe’s citizens, especially those in central and eastern states, were governed by autocratic or semi-autocratic governments, and did not share in the material wealth conspicuously enjoyed by the bourgeoisie of northern countries. As Richard Vinen observes, ‘it is easy to forget that the mass of Europe’s population spent the summer of 1914 in back-breaking labour, preparing to get the harvest in.’3 Yet this does not detract from the general point: in 1890, Europe was at the peak of its powers and the height of its self-belief. In 1945, the picture was very different. The photographs and films
taken at the end of World War Two reveal a ravaged continent of broken buildings, bomb craters, human corpses, dead animals, food queues, orphaned children, displaced persons and concentration camp victims.
Evoking and reflecting on such images, Tony Judt writes, ‘everyone and everything – with the notable exception of the well-fed Allied occupation forces – seems worn out, without resources, exhausted.’4
Shortly after liberation from Nazism, Europe suffered further indignity as it was overcome by a Cold War in which the two superpowers, the USA and USSR, asserted their primacy. It is frequently said that the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 was a physical and painful reminder of how far Europe’s influence had declined since the late nineteenth century.5 Its construction seemed to bear out Churchill’s gloomy prediction in 1946 that the peoples of Europe would forever scan ‘the dark horizons for the approach of some new peril, tyranny or terror’.6
