The legacy of the First World War and the post-war order continues to be as contested today as it was when the guns finally fell silent in 1918. For many, the war was “the great seminal catastrophe of the 20th century”, as the American diplomat George F. Kennan put it. For others, the conflict offered a chance to throw off the yoke of foreign domination. The famous Russian poet Anna Akhmatova declared that the twentieth century only truly began in 1914, whereas British novelist H.G. Wells called the conflict “the war to end all wars”.

In the course of this conference, renowned scholars and thinkers from ten states will offer a reappraisal of the peace treaties devised in the suburbs of Paris in 1919, which, to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s mind, were meant “to make the world safe for democracy”. In retrospect, these peace settlements created only a fragile order, constantly challenged by crises of parliamentary government, emerging dictatorships and territorial disputes. At a time of momentous change in and beyond Europe, the conference aims to re-examine the political dynamics of the interwar era in order to identify history’s lessons on how a new Europe might be built and a sustainable international order achieved.

Programme

16:30 Registration

17.00 Opening

Building a new Europe in the 21st century: What lessons can political leaders draw from the interwar years?

Christian Schmidt, Frmr. Federal Minister, Member of the German Bundestag, Fürth
Werner Weidenfeld, Professor of Political Science, Director CAP, Munich
Kurt Hager, Federal Ministry for the Interior of the Republic of Austria
Moderator: Ulrich Schlie, Andrássy University, Budapest