by Martin Holmes (Author)
This
book examines European history and politics between two very well-known
but flawed treaties: The Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of
Maastricht.
Taking the Treaty of Versailles, signed
following World War I, as a starting point, the volume argues that while
it was well-intentioned to the point of being utopian, it was also
totally impractical, rearranging the map of Europe in a way which led to
the tragic descent into conflict and barbarism in World War II. The
volume then moves through the post war period, the outcome of the war
producing the uneasy stability of a Cold War divided continent, and with
the establishment of NATO in 1949, the process of European integration
ushered in the era of cooperation. Under the influence of Charles de
Gaulle, the newly created European Community acted as an association of
sovereign states led by France and Germany, spurring economic growth and
encouraging other countries to apply to join. After de Gaulle’s
retirement in 1969, this approach was progressively abandoned in favour
of a federal model of integration in which member states transferred
their sovereignty to the institutions of what became the European Union.
Europe was to be transformed from a continent to a country. The book
concludes by analysing the Maastricht treaty, which enshrined this
process, as being as fatally flawed as the Versailles Treaty and charts
the post-Maastricht slow decline of the European Union giving way to
widespread Euroscepticism.
From the Treaty of
Versailles to the Treaty of Maastricht will appeal to researchers and
students alike interested in European history, politics and World War I
and II.
