European Powers : 1900 - 1945

New York, New York, U.S.A.: New American Library - Plume, 1970. First Printing . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5 1/2" x 8. 308 Pages Indexed. Minor cover edge wear. Tight, straight book with no marks or stamps. Originally published in 1965. This is the September 1970 New American Library Edition. Illustrated throughout with maps and photographs. In 1900 Europe ruled the world, Each of its nations had suvived a century of political havoc; each appeard to have solver her internal poroblems; each had achieved a position of unprecedented strength and stability. The great imperial poowers of England, France, Germany and Italy seemed destined collectively for an era of unrivaled global strength, economically, culturally, and militarily. Yet the first years of the 20th century witnessed the onset of European disintergration, as Germany rolled mercilessly toward war, a war that was to foster a second war, a war that was to signal the collapse of empire and place lthe kiss of death upon Europe's mighty. By 1945 Europe lay in ruin - broken, powerless, her supremcacy replaced by that of the United States and the Soviet Union. In this book Glbert examines the 45 years of Europe's decline and fall, a period when civilized, democratic and industrialized nations lapsed into the barbarisms of two continental wars. And the hopes and aspirations of gentle, cultured people were swiftly, disastrously and finally dashed into tiny fragments. Includes maps and photographs to give readers a glimpse of the horrors that Europe witnessed and of the strange and often muddled men who created those horrors, or failed to stop them, until for many millions, it was too late.