The treaties concluded with defeated countries after the First World War created a new order in Europe, known as the Versailles system. The consequences for Central Europe were acute: the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy ceased to exist, but could the new dispensation provide prosperity and security for the Danubian region? Did the successor states depend for their survival on the Great Powers or the untried League of Nations, or could they combine in a novel form of regional integration? Professor Magda m's work, based on pioneering research in European and American archives, addresses this intricate set of problems. She looks at how the uneven application of self-determination, and the legacies of old European diplomacy and traditional power politics, deprived the 'lands between' of a settlement which could enjoy consensus. This is a study of states with overlapping claims to territory, rival designs for achieving economic prosperity, and, crucially, different interpretations of their past history. By examining the inception, the troubled life and the tragic unravelling of the Versailles system, these sixteen papers help us understand the dynamics that shaped this region between the world wars.
