A lot of smart people are discussing the current refugee crisis stemming from the Syrian Civil War. Much of this commentary is critical of European states and asserts that Europe should look to a kinder gentler past when refugees were treated with dignity. One of these commentators is Emily Bazelon of the New York Times.Continue reading “Refugee History in 20th Century Europe: A Brief Primer”
Category Archives: Europe
Fiscal Military States in Early Modern Europe
According to Nicholas Henshall, historians have long misinterpreted the term “absolutism.” The term “absolutism” emerged after the fall of the ancien regime and came to describe “a highly centralized and despotic government ruled by an all-powerful monarch authority extended to all parts of the realm and was not subjected to any constitutional, aristocratic, or legalContinue reading “Fiscal Military States in Early Modern Europe”
Night Will Fall
Night Will Fall is a 2014 documentary that examines World War II film crews from the three Allied powers who captured the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and killing centers. The chilling footage captured by these film crews was meant to be part of documentary film overseen by Sidney Berstein, but the contingencies of the ColdContinue reading “Night Will Fall”
For the Soul of Mankind – Review
In Melvin Leffler’s book For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War, the author identifies five key moments of the Cold War and seeks to understand why American and Soviet leaders were unable to bridge their differences. By focusing on individual leaders, Leffler explores the backgrounds and experiencesContinue reading “For the Soul of Mankind – Review”
Review – Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia by Gabriel Gorodetsky
Gabriel Gorodetsky’s study Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia examines the foreign policy of the Soviet Union from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939 to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. In this study, Gorodetsky asserts that Stalin’s foreign and military policy were non-ideological and based on realpolitikContinue reading “Review – Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia by Gabriel Gorodetsky”
Douglas I. Bell 