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The Bundeswehr, the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was one of the strongestarmies in NATO during the Cold War, is currently in serious crisis. After the reunification of Germany, thenumber of soldiers was quickly reduced and the defence spending dropped to 1.2 percent of the GDP. In2004, the doctrine of using the Bundeswehr changed too. It was concluded that there was no risk of anattack on the German territory, so general conscription was abandoned and the supplies of weapons andammunition needed for mobilization were liquidated. The army was to specialise in peace and stabilisationmissions in endangered areas of the world. However, at present, Germany has far fewer soldiers on missionsthan, for example, France and Great Britain, and it consistently refrains from joining missions during which itis likely to participate in real combat operations. At present, the German army does not have a single brigadecapable of taking part in a combat, and a small number of Luftwaffe airplanes and helicopters are technicallysound, including Marine vessels. The situation of the Bundeswehr is complicated by the widespread pacifismin German society and the resulting lack of trust in, and aversion to the military.

In today's world, we can point to many international disputes and interstate conflicts fueled by past events. Historical resentments or memories of past suffering or fame are often used to justify political, economic and even territorial demands. Inter-state disputes and historical conflicts should be understood as evidence of political and social tensions related to active, serious differences in the assessment of the common past. The book explains the role of such conflicts in international relations and suggests ways of classifying them. It presents examples of the internationally relevant instrumentalisation of history from different regions of the world and outlines ways of overcoming them.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- The Second Great War, 1917-1923 -- History of Conflicts -- The Central European Civil War, 1918-1921. -- How the Habsburg Monarchy, Austria and Hungary Were Drawn into the Russian October Revolution Between 1917 and 1919 -- 'The Red Scare' in Yugoslavia: The Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Beginning of the Yugoslav Anti-Communism 1919-1921 -- Internationalism or National Separatism. The Relationship Between Košice Social Democracy and Czechoslovakia 1918-1919 -- Charades at Versailles: Poland and the Ukraine at the Paris Peace Conferences -- History of Ideas -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Woodrow Wilson on the Self-Determination of Nations -- Between Nation and Empire: The Post-Habsburg Adriatic Question and the Fascist Idea of Europe 1919-1922 -- Modernism and War. The Idea of Regeneration in European Art and Architecture after the First World War -- Territorial History -- Cuius Regio Eius Natio. Arguments to Legitimise Territorial Claims Against Austria -- The Options for a Negotiated Peace in the Danube Region: Hungary and Neighbouring Countries after the 1918 Aster Revolution -- The Dynamic of Post-War Political Structures in Multi-Ethnic Regions: Transylvania at the End of 1918 -- New Beginnings in Romanian Political Life after the First World War -- The Vulnerability of a Small Post-Colonial State: Georgia's International Prospects in 1918 -- Economic and Social History -- East-Central Europe after the First World War: Fiscal and Monetary Policies in a Time of Economic Transformation -- Between Social and Economic Crisis, Between Revisionism and Political Radicalisation: Bulgaria after the First World War 1918/19-1923 -- 'Peasants Wait for Them with Hope': The Civil War in Belarus 1918-1922 -- The Years of 1918-1923 as a Transformative Period of Jewish Politics -- Psychological Consequences of War -- Slovak Politics and Society on the Brink of 1918-1919 -- Unprocessed Trauma. Polish Medicine in the Face of Psychiatric Injury in the Era of the Great War -- Women's Fight for Civil, Social and Political Rights in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland -- History of Memory -- The Creation of New Politics of Memory as a Consequence of a State's Rebirth: A Case Study of Poland in the First Postwar Years -- The Non-Overshadowed Experiences of the Great War and Their Manifestations in Lithuania, 1914-1926 -- Did the Great War End? Memory and Memorialization of the First World War in Romania -- Appendices -- Timeline of military and diplomatic events in Europe, 1914-1924 -- Timeline of political events in Central and Eastern Europe, 1917-1923 -- Image Credits -- Contributors -- Index of places -- Index of persons

In today's world, we can point to many international disputes and interstate conflicts fueled by past events. Historical resentments or memories of past suffering or fame are often used to justify political, economic and even territorial demands. Inter-state disputes and historical conflicts should be understood as evidence of political and social tensions related to active, serious differences in the assessment of the common past. The book explains the role of such conflicts in international relations and suggests ways of classifying them. It presents examples of the internationally relevant instrumentalisation of history from different regions of the world and outlines ways of overcoming them.