Covers the role of fascism, communism and nationalism and their importance in 20th-century Eastern Europe. Each chapter begins with documents typical of a certain people's nationalism in four time periods: 1900-1914, 1918-1939, the Communist period and the recent post-Communist period.

Nationalism in Eastern Europe offers a thorough application of theories of nationalism in an analysis of the recent national revivals and conflicts in Eastern Europe. The book discusses both microsociological theories from social psychology and economics and macrosociological theories from sociology and political science. In a comprehensive comparative analysis these theories are applied to the late-Twentieth-century experiences of Estonia, Moldova, Croatia and the former Czechoslovakia. In doing so, the authors arrive at generalizable explanations of both the prevalence and the potential fatality of nationalism.

Peoples of Eastern Europe -- Ethnicity on the edge of extinction -- Linguistic nationalism -- Nationality struggles : from idea to movement -- Insurgent nationalism : Serbia and Poland -- Cursed are the peacemakers : 1848 in East Central Europe -- The reform that made the monarchy unreformable : the 1867 compromise -- 1878 Berlin Congress : Europe's new ethno-nation states -- The origins of National Socialism : fin de siecle Hungary and Bohemia -- Liberalism's heirs and enemies : socialism vs. nationalism -- Peasant utopias : villages of yesterday and societies of tomorrow -- 1919 : a new Europe and its old problems -- The failure of national self-determination -- Fascism takes root : Iron Guard and Arrow Cross -- East Europe's anti-fascism -- Hitler's war and its East European enemies -- What Dante did not see : the Holocaust in Eastern Europe -- People's democracy : early postwar Eastern Europe -- Cold War and Stalinism -- Destalinization : Hungary's revolution -- National paths to communism : the 1960s -- 1968 and the Soviet bloc : reform communism -- Real existing socialism : life in the Soviet bloc -- The unraveling of communism -- 1989 -- East Europe explodes : the wars of Yugoslav succession -- East Europe joins Europe.

A reference work covering twentieth-century events in Eastern Europe. Includes a comprehensive timeline and biographical sketches of prominent individuals in each nation.

"Why is Eastern Europe still different from Western Europe, more than a quarter-century after the collapse of Communism? A History of Eastern Europe 1918 to the Present shows how the roots of this difference are based in Eastern Europe's tortured 20th century. Eastern Europe emerged in 1918 as the 'lands between', new states whose weakness vis-à-vis Germany and Soviet Russia soon became obvious. The region was the main killing-field of the Second World War, which visited unimaginable horrors on its inhabitants before their 'liberation' by the Soviets in 1945. The imposition of Communist dictatorships on the region, ironically, only deepened Eastern Europe's backwardness. Even in the post-Communist period, its problems continue to make it a fertile breeding-ground for nationalism and political extremism. A History of Eastern Europe 1918 to the Present explores the comparative backwardness of Eastern Europe and how this has driven strategies of modernisation; it looks at the ways in which the region has served as a giant test-tube for political experimentation and, in particular, at the enduring strength of nationalism, which since 1989 has re-emerged more virulent than ever. Complete with a useful chronology, maps and a helpful glossary, this book in the essential textbook for any student of 20th-century Eastern Europe"--