Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas

ISBN-13: 9781412864060 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 576 str.

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz

Opis

History and collective memories influence a nation, its culture, and institutions; hence, its domestic politics and foreign policy. That is the case in the Intermarium, the land between the Baltic and Black Seas in Eastern Europe. The area is the last unabashed rampart of Western Civilization in the East, and a point of convergence of disparate cultures.As the inheritor of the freedom and rights stemming from the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian/Ruthenian Commonwealth, the Intermarium is culturally and ideologically compatible with American national interests. It is also a gateway to both East and West. Since the Intermarium is the most stable part of the post-Soviet area, Marek Jan Chodakiewicz argues that the United States should focus on solidifying its influence there. The ongoing political and economic success of the Intermarium states under American sponsorship undermines the totalitarian enemies of freedom all over the world. As such, the area can act as a springboard to addressing the rest of the successor states, including those in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation.By reintroducing the concept of the Intermarium into intellectual discourse the author highlights the autonomous and independent nature of the area. This is a brilliant and innovative addition to European Studies and to the study of world cultures.

Spis treści

Contents

Introduction

Background

Sources and Method

Part I. Intermarium: A Brief History

1. The Origins

2. Medieval Ruthenia and the Mongols

3. The Balts, the Germans, and the Poles

4. The Commonwealth

5. The Partitions

6. World War I and the Revolution

7. Interwar

8. World War II and Liberation

Part II. The Armageddon and Its Aftermath (1939–1992)

9. An Overview

10. The First Soviet Occupation (1939–1941)

11. The Nazi Occupation (1941–1944)

12. The Second Soviet Occupation (1944–1992)

13. Transformation

14. The Liberation

Part III. Post-Soviet Continuities and Discontinuities:Domestic and Foreign Challenges

15. An Overview

16. Contemporary Politics

17. The Baltics

18. Southern and Central Intermarium

19. Lifting the "Velvet Curtain": Geopolitics andForeign Policy in the Intermarium

20. The Majorities and the Minorities

Part IV. Chain of Memory

21. An Overview

22. Landscapes and Impressions

23. False Consciousness

24. A Sample of Individual Recollections

25. National Stereotypes

26. Koniuchy: A Case Study

Conclusion

Appendix I: The Death Toll in the Intermarium during the Twentieth Century

Appendix II: Maps

Bibliography

Index

O autorze

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz