European history

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• SOURCE: Associated Press
  9/1/2022
  

  Poland Seeking $1.3 Trillion in World War II Reparations from Germany

  The Polish government referenced a recently completed report documenting the costs to Poland of war, and argued that reconciliation between the nations could best be served by a payment. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/1/2022
  

  The Danger of Encouraging Americans to Inform on Each Other

  by Christine Adams

  Governors like Virginia's Glenn Youngkin are repeating a tactic of despots throughout history: encouraging the public to denounce individuals to the authorities. Whether its witches or teachers, this is a formula for intimidation and conformity. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/1/2022
  

  Review: What Took Freud So Long to See the Danger of Remaining in Occupied Austria?

  by Patrick Blanchfield

  "If Freud himself, so attuned to the dark undercurrents of human behavior and so critical of our wishful illusions, proved unable to think clearly even as his country became unrecognizable around him and as nightmare after nightmare became real, what are our chances now?"

• 
• 7/8/2022
  

  Cassandra Calls from the Age of Metternich

  by Niels Eichhorn

  The European reaction against the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars shows the insecurity of liberty. 

• 
• SOURCE: iNews
  6/16/2022
  

  The Secret of Successful Royal Marriage? History Says it's a Mistress

  by Kate Lister

  The transactional nature of royal marriages meant that bonds of affection or attraction between parties was an afterthought, making royal paramours (for kings, at least) commonplace. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/12/2022
  

  Do Europe's Ex-Royals Have Anything to Offer in the 21st Century?

  "They are royal but not royal, monarchs without thrones, caught between the past and the future. A surprising number of them have gone into politics. What do their countries want from them?"

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/26/2022
  

  What Happens When Kids Get Their History from Video Games?

  Bret Devereaux is trying to lead fellow historians to understand the influence a number of popular strategy games have for students understanding of both historical fact and the "mechanics" of historical change. 

• 
• 3/27/2022
  

  Brexit and European War Mark Another Chapter in the Saga of Reinventing Britishness

  by Dominic Selwood

  The good news for Brits struggling with national identity in the wake of Brexit and under the threat of war? Britishness has been a constantly negotiated and evolving idea for centuries. 

• 
• 3/20/2022
  

  Can Volodymyr Zelensky Follow the Footsteps of 19th Century Hungarian Liberal Lajos Kossuth?

  by Tim Roberts

  In 1851, Hungarian liberal and anti-imperialist Lajos Kossuth caused a sensation with an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to Congress for aid. What will the effects of Ukrainian President Zelensky's appeal be? 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  3/14/2022
  

  How Four Interwar American Journalists Saw the Rise of European Totalitarianism

  by Karin Wulf

  Deborah Cohen's new book looks to the stories of four American journalists to understand what the world saw clearly about the rise of Hitler and Stalin and what they missed. 

• 
• SOURCE: Salon
  3/1/2022
  

  Too Much Reality: Putin's Invasion Inevitably Surfaces Europe's Dark Past

  by Jim Sleeper

  Responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine can't turn away from the possibility of mass atrocity like those visited on Eastern European Jews and resistance fighters by Nazis and Stalinists. 

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  2/24/2022
  

  Mary Elise Sarotte on the Buildup to the Ukraine Invasion

  The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) professor discusses the post-Cold War paths of Ukraine and Russia as the context for this week's invasion, and argues that reviving lapsed treaties on intermediate nuclear forces and troop levels in Europe could support a cease-fire. 

• 
• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  2/21/2022
  

  Why Putin is Outfoxing the West

  by Walter Russell Mead

  Containing Russia's ambitions isn't impossible, but requires both acknowledging Putin's imperial goals and developing a coherent strategy beyond defusing each successive crisis and moving on. 

• 
• SOURCE: Boston Review
  2/23/2022
  

  The Beginnings of Queer Citizenship in West Germany

  by Samuel Clowes Huneke

  An emerging gay activist culture in West Berlin in the 1970s made substantial gains in building cultural spaces and expanding tolerance, but struggled to build political solidarity out of sexual identity amid other social divisions.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  1/28/2022
  

  Timothy Snyder on Russia's Likely Intentions in Ukraine

  Historian Timothy Snyder describes a pattern of provocation behind Russia's claims to Ukraine with David Remnick on the New Yorker Radio Hour podcast. 

• 
• 1/23/2022
  

  Antisemitism is Toxic and Persistent. It's Not Inevitable

  by Ralph Seliger

  International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27) follows an armed hostage incident at a Texas synagogue. The author reflects on moments when societies have chosen to embrace or reject antisemitism at moments of crisis and concludes that while the risk to Jews today is real, it is not inevitable.

• 
• SOURCE: Jacobin
  12/21/2021
  

  Tyler Stovall Was a Groundbreaking Historian of Modern France, Colonialism, Race and Empire

  by Michael G. Vann

  "Tyler Stovall should be remembered as a scholar who firmly believed that the writing and teaching of history was a political act. Throughout his vibrant career, he used pathbreaking research, critical analysis, and engaging lectures as weapons in the fight for social justice."

• 
• 12/5/2021
  

  On Writing The Bright Ages

  by David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele

  The authors of a new book reconsidering the history of the medieval world describe how the project came about and how the work of writing history benefits by collaboration.

• 
• SOURCE: Public Books
  9/21/2021
  

  Fin de Siecle Vienna: Art and Culture in Schorske's Century

  by Thomas Bender

  Carl Schorske's work on 19th Century Vienna was a masterwork of intellectual history that incorporated interdisciplinary approaches to politics and culture to model new approaches to scholarship in the humanities. A colleague traces his intellectual development.

• 
• SOURCE: Cabinet
  9/9/2021
  

  Melcher's Ghosts

  by Monica Black

  "Denazification prompted less soul-searching than resentment and anxiety among the German population. People worried that their prior affiliations and involvement in everything from war crimes to far less nefarious acts—like having obtained property illegally during the Nazi years—would be revealed."