A Fragmented World: Cooperation, Conflict, and Conquest in Interwar Central East Europe
A Fragmented World: Cooperation, Conflict, and Conquest in Interwar Central East Europe

Summary/Abstract: In the aftermath of the Great War, national revolutions turned Central East Europe into a puzzle of independent nation-states. Two decades later, all those ”heirs” of the former multinational empires of the region hopelessly witnessed the collapse of the Versailles peace settlements, the misery of war, and there after successively experienced two different types of totalitarianism. From 1918 up to 1938 the region represented the most unstable part of the continent, a fragmented world dominated by deep insecurity, permanent suspicion, and exaggerated claims from all parts. The present paper focuses on the twisted road of the independent nation-states of Central East Europe from a promising future to a common tragedy. Its first aim is to find an answer to two basic ques tions: 1) why regional co-operation as a proper solution to all unresolved problems and tension was not accepted?, 2) are the historical actors of the region innocent victims of Nazi aggression, or the tragedy of the war is the final consequence of their politi cal and economic deeds as well? The first part of this paper, which is a short overview of the first decisive decade of 1918-1929, will present in general lines the impact of the Versailles peace settlements on the evolution of the region, the way in which it shaped not only borders but also the political decisions of the moment. 1918 represented a national revolution that resolved, in a formal sense, the national question but with quite different consequences. The issue of regional co-operation and Danubian confederate projects will be discussed on the second part. Different perspectives and visions on the region, including German Mitteleuropa, French L’Europe Centrale, as well as Czechoslovak, Hungarian, and Polish plans will come under scrutiny. My intention is to underline the fact that the traumatic history of the region between the two world wars was shaped not only by geopolitics and vested interests, that the ”artisans” of the failure of regional co-operation, not to mention federal or confederal projects as a way to regulate diplomatic relations and offer a base for reconciliation efforts, are, first of all, the ”little powers” of Central East Europe. At the end, the paper will reconsider the expansion of Nazi Germany towards East, a region where, due to remnant tensions among the small nation-states and within staled societies, Hitler exploited the absence of any kind of resistance and collective security system. What facilitated the task of Nazi Germany when it comes to include some of the states into Lebensraum, transform others into satellites and/or un conditional allies, and thus impose its vision on the region makes my attention.

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