Yet Germany has dealt with Vergangenheitsbewältigung better than any state in history certainly much better than Japan or the Soviet Union/Russia. But Germany’s neighbours have not forgotten Germany’s role in both World Wars and hence the burden of history weighs more heavily on German shoulders than for any other nation in Europe. Germany was at the centre of both failed experiments and was unable to achieve a peaceful unification as a democratic state until 1990. The socialist and labour movements seized the opportunity to make considerable advances but so too did communism and fascism. The aristocracy was overthrown or its role greatly diminished. What is incontestable, however, is the number of advances in science, technology and medicine, as well as the revolutionary changes in social behaviour that occurred as a result of the 1914-18 conflict. Responsibility for the Great War remains hotly debated today with very different dimensions of the war accentuated by the various combatants. As Europe reflects on the titanic struggle of 1914-18 it is important to recall the advances made since 1945 through European integration and redouble efforts to combat nationalist and extremist forces. This system has brought many benefits to Europeans but in recent years the system has been under challenge by the rise of Euroscepticism, populism and nationalism. Die Stunde Null was the backdrop to the revolutionary ideas of the EU’s ‘founding fathers,’ statesmen such as Robert Schuman, Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet who developed the novel idea of a community of states establishing a political system based on sharing sovereignty. The difference was that the second major internecine war in Europe in a generation led to a profound change in political thinking, at least in Western Europe, about how states should conduct their relations. ➢ Recent articles, publications and information on our European offices.Īfter both wars Europe was exhausted and devastated. It took the Second World War to bring about sufficient political forces to embark on a revolutionary new approach to inter-state relations. The balance of power approach to international relations was broken but not shattered. Diplomatic alliances and promises made during the First World War, especially in the Middle East, also came back to haunt Europeans a century later. The First World War destroyed empires, created numerous new nation-states, encouraged independence movements in Europe’s colonies, forced the United States to become a world power and led directly to Soviet communism and the rise of Hitler. When Europeans commemorate the Great War of 1914-18 this summer they should be reflecting not only on the diplomatic blunders and the enormous waste of lives but also the beginning of a new approach to international relations epitomised by the EU. The EU has provided the essential infrastructure to deal with ‘the German Question’ – the role of the largest and most powerful state in Europe. The Changes resulting from the First World War.
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