The Little Dictators by Antony Polonsky - Assignment Example

The Little Dictators by Antony Polonsky In his book “The Little Dictators” first published in 1975, Antony Polonsky focuses on history of Eastern Europe, mainly in the period between WWI and WWII. He discusses historical events and more importantly, historical processes that occurred in six Eastern European countries- Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria and Romania. The book, according to the author himself, is written in a language that is “as simple as possible.” Polonsky clearly demonstrates that the politics and economics of Eastern Europe in a crucial era between World wars are not as complicated as many other experts would say. Although the mentioned period in history is by many standards turbulent, with Great Depression, rise of fascism and Nazi movement in Germany and development of Soviet Russia, for peoples of Eastern Europe that same period is a simple struggle for prosperity and a time to mold new countries that were a consequence of World War I. Bloody WWI ended one era in European history. When it ended the monarchies of Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey seized to exist and gave way to a score of new countries in the European East. Those new nations differed in many ways. Some, like Czechoslovakia, were to some extent industrialized and developed. Others, and especially Bulgaria were on the opposite end of the spectrum. There was no religious unity in the region- Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia were Catholic, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia predominantly Orthodox. Finally, in a political sense, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria were monarchies and Poland and Czechoslovakia republics. All those would prove to be serious obstacles in two decades that followed the formation of new countries. Polonsky, while acknowledging these differences, emphasizes the importance of serfdom in economic development of Eastern Europe. Before WWI the areas that would become new nations were highly agricultural with distinct differences between landlords and serfs. The system that existed for centuries prior was in many ways a tradition that persisted even after serfdom was abolished in Russia, Prussia and Austria in the mid-19th century. The boundary between wealthy landowners and poor peasantry was very sharply drawn and there was no crossing over. In those circumstances, the middle class was non-existent and it only began forming when new states needed people to run governmental offices. All six countries Polonsky talks about tried to undo the consequences of serfdom through land reforms that, in the end, did not work. Peasants still stayed the largest social group – 78% in Romania, 80% in Bulgaria, 75% in Yugoslavia and 65% in Poland(Polonsky, page 8). Then, the Great Depression came and crushed down a little prosperity Eastern Europe enjoyed in years before. Being mostly agricultural and highly dependent on exporting food, eastern European countries were facing a great threat. Food prices tumbled down, export numbers dwindled, forcing governments of east Europe to borrow money at high interest rates and dig deeper into debt and financial troubles. Simultaneously, the very same problems troubled the rest of Europe and opened a path to the rise of extreme ideas like fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. For many in eastern Europe, fascism at the time, “seemed to be the philosophy of the future- an efficient and orderly means of modernizing a backward country”(Polonsky, pg 24). Out of that sentiment and fueled by Hitler’s claims, came the notion that Jews are to blame for all the troubles European east was facing. There were around 6 million Jews in Eastern Europe at the time mostly in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. They were perceived as wealthy, in key positions of power and in possession of most money for trading and lending. Moreover, Jews were seen as “a demonic force, the embodiment of both international communism and capitalism whose mere existence posed a threat to national existence” (Polonsky, page 15). Soon after the world would witness the Holocaust, carried not only by Hitler, but, also, by his satellite governments in Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and others. Merely 20 years after inception of new countries of Eastern Europe, the world was preparing for another war. It proved to be the war that would affect the region profoundly. The rise of Germany meant reshaping the map once again. Germans overran Eastern Europe, changed political scenery completely. Some of the areas were directly governed by the Germans, in some countries new governments favoring Nazis were installed, some areas seized to exist, new ones were created. The attempt to create new nations in the European east failed miserably. It failed, says Polonsky, because new nations had deep class divisions and no political tradition. After 1918, the region saw some signs of progress. Unfortunately, that was all erased by Great Depression which exposed all the problems in the area and diminished any prospect of better days. Instead, eastern Europe was thrown into the whirlwind of a war. After it was all said and done, the countries of Europe’s east got a new master, one that will run them remotely through little dictators of the Soviet Era. In the end, the idea of creating a zone in Europe that would serve as a “cordon sanitaire” against the Russian communism failed miserably too. The very zone became the sphere of influence for the Soviet Union and remained that for the next 45 years. Serbs settled into the Balkans region of Southeastern Europe in the late 6th century during the great migration of the Slavs. That time was marked by chaos and constant fighting among successors of the Roman Empire that de facto fell some hundred years before that. In their early days Serbs acted as paid soldiers called into the Byzantine Empire to help defend its territory from numerous invaders. After successful campaign against the Avars in the region of Dalmatia, the Serbs received some land from the Emperor in Constantinople and started their first states of which Rascia was the most prominent one. In the 9th century Serbs were converted into Christianity. For the most part, next three centuries were a time of little Serbian states with little in common except the name. Those little states had little power and made very little contribution to the development of Serbia. That all changed with Nemanjicdynasty , established by Stefan Nemanja in 1166. The dynasty stayed in power for the next 200 years and produced 11 rulers of Serbia that now was stronger and unified. As Tim Judah says in his book “The Serbs”, “Before the Nemanjic era, the Serbs were a collection of loosely organized tribes.”(Judah, page 17). The culmination of the Nemanjic dynasty came with Tsar Dusan the Mighty, who seized a moment of weakness in Byzantine Empire and created Serbian state that stretched from the Danube in the north to Peloponnesus in the south. His empire, however lasted only 34 years and was overrun by the Ottoman Turks after the Kosovo Battle of 1389. The same era was also marked by a great prosperity of Serbian Orthodox Church. Under St. Sava, one of sons of Nemanjic dynasty founder Stefan the orthodox church gained its autonomy from Constantinople, great churches and monasteries were built across Kosovo, Central Serbia and other parts where Serbs lived. What is more important, the Church survived and carried the national identity of Serbs through almost 500 years of Turkish rule. The Battle of Kosovo fought in 1389, as well as the battle of Maritsa in 1371, marked the end of sovereign Serbian state and the beginning of an era in which Serbs will suffer under the Turks who ruled with a strong hand and little mercy. Serbian resentment was building up and it finally exploded in 1804 when Karadjordje led the first uprising against the Ottomans. Since this one was unsuccessful , the Serbs mustered another one in 1815. This uprising brought some results and, consequently, the Turks were forced to leave. The last Turkish soldier left in 1867, and Serbia received full international recognition as an independent state at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. The aforementioned period was, at the same time, a period of cultural and political renaissance of Serbs. In the years between 1878 and the WWI Serbia was ruled by dynasties of Karadjordjevic and Obrenovic. With overall political and economic circumstances in the Balkans being very fragile and unpredictable, Serbia was plunged into the Balkan wars of 1912 and soon after was actively participating in the WWI on the side of allies. Emerging as victorious and at the same time devastated and decimated Serbia embraced the idea of founding a state of southern Slavs that at the end of WWI was formed under the name of Yugoslavia. The history of Serbs never lacked excitement and suffering. Tim Judah in his book “The Serbs” recognizes that clearly and accurately. He draws effective parallels between the parts of Serbian history that were mentioned in this paper and parts that came after. This especially was successfully done by Judah when he explains the reasons of the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990’s. Everything that was mentioned here in this paper played a role in the war that occurred two decades ago. The heroes and ghosts of the past came alive once again at that time. The unfortunate true is that those heroes and ghosts were used in a wrong way which, in turn, rendered the Serbs to be, for the first time in their history, aggressors and oppressors. Read More