• “Before we can move forward, we must come to some kind of terms with 1945, with

what it represents. A start would be the recognition that 1945, with its devastation,

displacement, and horror, was the result not just of a few madmen and their befuddled

followers, not just of ‘others,” but of humanity as a whole and of out culture as a

whole” (Eksteins, 13).

What is Europe now? A rubble heap, a charnel house, a breeding ground of pestilence and hate” –Winston Churchill

Hiroshima: the pictures they didn’t want anyone to see

“Winners have no shame, no matter how they win” –Machiavelli.

“our historical sense is derived in turn from two directions: from the buildup that were the events of the pre-1945 past, with its inherent notions of

agency and cause, and from the confusions of our own end-of-century, end-of-millennium present, with its immediacy and contradiction” (Eksteins, x).

Pre-WWII Build-Up

Post WWI effects: • introduction of total war/cult of the offensive• Russian Revolution • Economic Disaster with Great Depression• League of Nations• Rise of dictators and fascist states• Dissatisfied Germany

“Europe After the Rain” –Max Ernst

Europe 1919-1929

“a radically new government, based on socialism and one-party dictatorship, came to power in a great European state, maintained power, and eagerly encouraged worldwide

revolution.”

The Rise

The Rise of Dictators!

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

Originally a Marxist. By 1909 he was

convinced that a national rather than an international revolution was necessary.

Mussolini Was Hitler’s Role Model

Inter-War Years: Conflict and Cooperation

Road to WWII

• Treaty of Versailles• Great Depression• Russian Revolution

http://www.worldology.com/Europe/europe_history_md.htm

Picasso’s “Guernica”