European University Institute Library

Fire and blood, the European civil war 1914-1945, Enzo Traverso ; translated by David Fernbach

eng

Includes bibliographical references

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

Fire and blood

bibliography

929155310

Enzo Traverso ; translated by David Fernbach

the European civil war 1914-1945

Fire and Blood looks at the European crisis of the two world wars as a single historical sequence: the age of the European Civil War (1914✹1945). Its overture was played out in the trenches of the Great War; its coda on a ruined continent. It opened with conventional declarations of war and finished with unconditional surrender. Proclamations of national unity led to eventual devastation, with entire countries torn to pieces. During these three decades of deepening conflicts, a classical interstate conflict morphed into a global civil war, abandoning rules of engagement and fought by irreducible enemies rather than legitimate adversaries, each seeking the annihilation of its opponents. It was a time of both unchained passions and industrial, rationalized massacre. Utilizing multiple sources, Enzo Traverso depicts the dialectic of this era of wars, revolutions and genocides. Rejecting commonplace notions of totalitarian evil, he rediscovers the feelings and reinterprets the ideas of an age of intellectual and political commitment when Europe shaped world history with its own collapse.--, Provided by Publisher

Part I. Paths to action -- Commencement -- The anatomy of civil war -- War against civilians -- Judging the enemy -- Part II. Cultures of war -- Eruption -- Imaginaries of violence -- The criticism of weapons -- The antinomies of anti-fascism