Dark Continent Chapter Summary

“Although it has often been stated that the nations of Western Europe were far superior to the rest of the world at the same time of their initial contacts, this, in fact, is not true.”

During the 20th century different regions and countries of the extra European world –Japan, China, India, the Middle East and Latin America- have been invested by profound transformations, that in part went to aliment the tensions that later would have brought to the second world war, and in part determined the beginning of the process of decolonization .

Changes were happening all over Europe between World War I and World War II, and the book Europe in the Era of Two World Wars highlights a lot of them. Volker Berghahn, the author, discusses how violence escalated all across Europe during this time frame. The book digs into the desires and upsets of countries like Germany, Britain, France, and Russia, during war times more than others I have read do. Economies of each country and the escalading violence are the main focuses of the book. In the following review of Berghahn’s work, Europe in the Era of Two World Wars, I will highlight why the author is qualified to write the book, and survey the strengths and weakness of the information he provided.

In the early 1900’s, the entirety of Europe was divided into various alliances and powers, most notably the Triple Alliance (Germany, Astro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and the United Kingdom), which ultimately fell into a hellish firestorm of mustard gas and trench warfare in 1914 that left 18 million dead and Europe’s economies and production decimated manyfold (DBQ Project, Various – Document D). The destruction of the turn-of-the-century nations and Empires that slaughtered over people stems from a chronological progression of ambitious Imperialism, extreme Nationalism, and rapid Militarism.

Europe at the time experienced a division into different social groups or concentration camps, these divisions factored into the destabilization internationally. The Journal article found in the University of Michigan library said that “ It was Eastern Europe versus the rest of the world.” Internally, Europe was having troubles with the native populations, the social parties and their government parties which worried the entire European continent. The journal stated that there would be no success as long as eastern Europe remains paralyzed by the interior wars and outside oppression.

Before I elaborate my positive perspectives, it is necessary to look at Reich’s viewpoints. Albeit his slight gloom attitude toward the growing sense of powerlessness among citizens, I like how he expounds the arguments in a clear structure. He examines the powerless characteristic through three fundamental roles of citizens—as workers, consumers, and voters. But again, there are emerging choices I would like to point out that can decelerate the powerlessness.

Since the dawn of human civilization, individuals have been constantly immersed in conflict with each other. Whether these conflicts stemmed from socio-economic inequalities, political disputes, property rights, religious disagreements, or any other contentious matter, the creation of human governments has necessarily been to handle, organize, and resolve conflicts between people within communities in the least destructive manner possible. Governments act as a formal instrument through which individuals in a society can agree upon shared rules, solve problems, and engage in cooperative behavior, and it helps avoid the severe repercussions resulting from revolutionary social upheaval. The purpose of government – as spelled out in the Preamble of the Constitution – is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” While countless forms of government have sprung up over the centuries, only one has been resilient enough and has had the pervasive influence necessary to stand the test of time: democracy. While there are many different types of democracies, this paper will focus on liberal democracy specifically. A liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy that operates under the paradigm of classical liberalism. According to the Center for Research on Globalization, liberal democracy is defined as:

By the early 1990s, Soviet domination in Eastern Europe had ended. A number of individuals played a part in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Understanding the role that each played is an important part of understanding the process that changed European politics and geography.

This Europe, which dragged the unsuspecting world into two recent global wars, sleeps when the day arrives; and the continent which opened the way for the independent and international states to settle their martial gait over minuscule parcels of land rests in peace. Thus, the writer closes his eyes and allows this tapering pennant to wind and travel the corners of his resurrected corpse. The white sheets which wrap his corpulent body, nevertheless, impart on his countenance their innocent sedative colour.

The rise of the West refers to a period of time when Western Europe rose to power due to many environmental, political, and social factors. Many historians attribute the Rise of the West to the time period of 1450 to 1850. This power surge of Western Europe has been attributed to the global dominance of Western Europe and America in the 21 century. The interesting aspect regarding the Rise of the West is how Western Europe developed so differently from other parts of the world, leading it to be the superpower of the world. Over the past 50 years, the idea of the rise of the West has been closely re-examined. Prior to the 1950s, historians believed that the rise of the West occurred because it was destined to; because Europe is the best and

This essay will explore the rise of the West through examination of the evolution of European civilization. The theories and works of numerous authors, regarding how and why the Great Divergence occurred, will be considered; mainly the role of government, technological development and culture. Ultimately, it will be clear that the struggle for power in Europe led to a shift in the culture of Europe, which eventually led to the rulers that were vying for power making decisions that benefited their subjects rather than the government or church. Thus, the Great Divergence can be linked to the contrasting ideologies of the West and those of

‘dark ages’ no progress? Regression he argues that there are things and events that happened which form Europe as it is today …

As Mark Mazower notes in his Dark Continent text the tale of democracy in the twentieth century, was not one of, an inevitable victory, but rather one “of narrow squeaks and unexpected twists,”.( Preface, Kindle Location 116). This paper will examine important events of the era that factored into the ideological fight for supremacy. While also highlighting examples that show that Europeans largely have not always been incredibly enthusiastic about democracy.

Looking back at the world in the past few hundred years, it would have been difficult to imagine that one day, majority of Western Europe would come to dominate the world in global economy (Landes, European Exceptionalism: A Different Path, 1998). Frank (2001) described the process of which the western society

Lindqvist believes that the Holocaust shared many of the same beliefs and philosophies of European global expansionism. While the Western world wants genocide to have begun and ended with Nazism, Lindqvist confronts readers to look beyond the holocaust and understand the bigger part of Europe within world affairs. In the end, Lindqvist states “It is not knowledge we lack. What is missing is the courage to understand what we know and draw conclusions” (172). Exterminate All the Brutes is a unique book full of valuable theories, concepts and personal elements that catch people’s attention and force them to think about Europe’s role in the world differently. Lindquist’s journey into the heart of darkness is essentially an expedition into the heart of Europe’s imperial laws, designed to withdraw the world of inferior races and make space for their superior