The peace treaties represented an almost impossible attempt to solve the problems caused by a murderous world war. In The Lights that Failed: European International History 1919-1933, part of the Oxford History of Modern Europe series, Steiner challenges the common assumption that the Treaty of Versailles led to the opening of a second European war. In a radically original way, this book characterizes the 1920s not as a frustrated prelude to a second global conflict but as a fascinating decade in its own right, when politicians and diplomats strove to re-assemble a viable European order. Steiner examines the efforts that failed but also those which gave hope for future promise, many of which are usually underestimated, if not ignored. She shows that an equilibrium was achieved, attained between a partial American withdrawal from Europe and the self-imposed constraints which the Soviet system imposed on exporting revolution. The stabilization painfully achieved in Europe reached it fragile limits after 1925, even prior to the financial crises that engulfed the continent. The hinge years between the great crash of 1929 and Hitler's achievement of power in 1933 devastatingly altered the balance between nationalism and internationalism. This wide-ranging study helps us grasp the decisive stages in this process. In a second volume, The Triumph of the Night Steiner will examine the immediate lead up to the Second World War and its early years.
Reviews
...indisputably the most detailed and authoritative single-volume account of European international history in the fifteen years following the end of the First World War...[the work] affirms Zara Steiner's status as the pre-eminent historian of inter-war international affairs. * Martin Conway, EHR 494 *
Zara Steiner has produced a splendid volume, chock full of detail and with many thought-provoking insights. It will remain a classic for many years to come. For those studying international business history it will serve as an excellent background reference manual to the period...If one were to ask for more it would be the second volume in the same vein. * Derek H. Aldcroft, Business History *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199226863
Author Zara Steiner
Format Paperback
Page Count 956
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1165g
Dimensions(mm) 215mm * 137mm * 48mm