The best single volume overview is this page-turner, which embraces Vienna and Paris, for math, science, philosophy, literature and art at the turn of the 20th century:
The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought
Are people's historic perspectives really that cartoonishly small-minded?
The early 20th century was a flashpoint where rising powers decided who would become the global superpower.
Agree or not about antisemitism and nationalism, both of those were enormously popular, mainstream things. It wasn't weird or fringe to adopt an national ideology character used by those things. So much of Europe (centered around Germany) acting on those views isn't the cause of their downfall—on the contrary, they were convinced (and these were not dumb people who couldn't see patterns) that such things would strengthen their people and their homes.
So obviously that isn't what "screwed it all up". What screwed it all up was the existence of other rising powers and the timing of it all. Their rise was threatened by a strong Germany. This is all completely mundane, predictable global politics.
The rest, about who was "evil" and "the bad guys" is almost entirely fiction written by the victors—also, coincidentally, completely mundane and predictable.
Clarifying that I misread who this was a response to. I thought you were talking about Germany and the area around it, and in specific with the last part of your comment, referring to Germany.
mikhailfranco|1 year ago
The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought
William R. Everdell
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/244346.The_First_Moderns
starfezzy|1 year ago
The early 20th century was a flashpoint where rising powers decided who would become the global superpower.
Agree or not about antisemitism and nationalism, both of those were enormously popular, mainstream things. It wasn't weird or fringe to adopt an national ideology character used by those things. So much of Europe (centered around Germany) acting on those views isn't the cause of their downfall—on the contrary, they were convinced (and these were not dumb people who couldn't see patterns) that such things would strengthen their people and their homes.
So obviously that isn't what "screwed it all up". What screwed it all up was the existence of other rising powers and the timing of it all. Their rise was threatened by a strong Germany. This is all completely mundane, predictable global politics.
The rest, about who was "evil" and "the bad guys" is almost entirely fiction written by the victors—also, coincidentally, completely mundane and predictable.
starfezzy|1 year ago