The traditional interpretation has referred to interwar Czechoslovakia as an exception in the region, like an island in an ocean of instability. This interpretation is not accurate. On the other hand, one cannot overlook the differences between interwar Czechoslovakia and many other new states created on the ruins of the dissolved empires. In this paper, I investigate the reasons for this development by focusing on the immediate postwar period (1918-1920). I argue that it was precisely the specific postwar setting that shaped the different ways in which individual societies evolved as a result of the war.

Introduction I. History politics in Central Europe Radosław Zenderowski 1. History politics today and tomorrow – an attempt at conceptualization and predictions Lukáš Vomlela 2. Politics of History in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic Krzysztof Cebul 3. History politics in Poland II. The Polish-Czech and (Polish-Czechoslovakian) relations before 1989 Rudolf Žáček 4. Czecho(Slovak)-Polish relations until 1945 Bartłomiej Dźwigała 5. The Polish-Czech relations (in the 10th-16th centuries) in historical reflections of Oskar Halecki Adam Buława 6. The Polish-Czechoslovakian relations before 1945 Dušan Janák 7. Czechoslovak-Polish Relations in 1945-1989 Jarosław Drozd 8. The relations between Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1945-1989 III. The Polish-Czech (and Polish-Czechoslovakian) relations 30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain: successes, failures, challenges Jiří Kocian 9. Czech-Polish Relations after the Fall of the Iron Curtain Antoni Dudek 10. The relations between Poland and the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic in the first years after the collapse of the communist system … Piotr Bajda 11. The Polish-Czech relations on the eve of the 30th anniversary of signing the Treaty on Friendly Neighborhood Conclusion Bibliography Authors’ biographical notes Abstracts

Author depicts the history of the Danish main base in India from its inception to the sale to English EIC. He describes its relationship with the Indian authorities, the role in business networks as well as its position in the Danish colonies net. He does not omit an important role the Danish colonies played in the sphere of mission activities, and Euro-Asian culture exchange in both spiritual and material spheres, which other central European nations took part in too. He also highlights little-known fact that the Danish once got relatively vast regions on Coromandel Coast, which they did not fail to hold until the British territorial expansion in India.

This essay aims to shed light on the ways in which several empires, states, and nationalist movements competed for political power in the Adriatic space. In particular, it analyzes the ways in which international, national, and local narratives converged in the critical political and economic space of the Adriatic Sea both before and after World War I to justify territorial appropriation. The possibility of geopolitical changes triggered by the Great War whetted the territorial appetites of the new nation-states that had established themselves on the ruins of multinational empires in 1918. At the same time, the same possibilities spurred Italian irredentist aspirations, as Italy directed its imperial policy increasingly toward the East. Hence, the phrase “Scramble for Africa,” which prompted the title of this article, can also be applied to the Adriatic space in the same period.

This article seeks to explore the ways of interpreting the historical role of Germans and Hungarians in history textbooks used in primary and secondary schools in Slovakia in the interwar period, from 1918 until 1939. Historical narratives presented in school history textbooks contribute, alongside the family, media and public life, and rituals, to forming the way young people perceive the world around them. They are also one of the main tools for the social production of stereotypes of the Other. Fearing the Other is widespread in present-day Slovakia, and although the reason for this situation has been ascribed to the recent economic and current refugee crises, this paper argues that negative responses to the Other are also partially a by-product of the ethnocentric and etatist character of history education. This approach has its roots in nineteenth century historiography, reflecting the rise of nationalism and nation-building movements that characterized the contemporary social and political context. At that time, the purpose of national historiographies was to defend the historical right of each nation to establish and maintain its own state. Historians emphasized the "golden age of the nation" to prove the historical excellence and exclusiveness of the nation and concurrently identified enemies (the Other), who were often described as an obstacle in the development of one's own nation. This perspective in history education has been present in official schooling until the present, surviving in different social and geopolitical conditions. The tense diplomatic relations Czechoslovakia had with Germany and Hungary after the end of WWI and the Paris Peace Conference and the fact that the two nations represented the most significant ethnic minorities within the borders of Czechoslovakia meant that they also became the most notable Other in historical narratives produced by Czech and Slovak historiographies of that time. The dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the establishment of Czechoslovakia, and the reconfiguration of power and ethnic relations in the newly formed state affected different levels of public life, including the educational system. Schooling had to be reorganized so that it would fit the ideological needs of the new state. A new national master narrative had to be adopted for use in the primary and secondary history education, reinforcing the Czechoslovak aspect and reinterpreting the German and Hungarian influences on the national past. The presented research is based on the study of stereotypes – generally shared impressions, images, or thoughts existing within certain groups of people about the character of a particular group of people and their representations. Stereotypes are common social phenomena; they help us in orienting ourselves in the society in which we live, and they save our time and energy when trying to establish a mental map of the world around us. In times of conflict, however, stereotyping and labeling the Other can become especially prevalent and harmful. Stereotypes presented in textbooks are examined as politically motivated efforts to present one's nation as the exceptional one, as is discussed by social identity approach focusing on the genesis of conflict between social groups. Realistic conflict theory, which analyzes intergroup rivalry, will help in explaining stereotypes in textbooks as the outcomes of the competition between two nations. The process of creating negative stereotypes about the other nation in textbooks will be viewed in the context of periods of economic or social instability, which relates to scapegoat theory providing an explanation for the correlation between times of relative social or economic despair and prejudice towards outgroups. The article seeks to prove that the motivations behind state-produced prejudices against the members of other nations are driven by the need to present one's own group (the nation) superior to the Other, which has been a reaction to the competition between the two groups, economic frustration or social crises. The article employs

This article deals with the European minorities in the period between the two world wars and with their final expulsion from nation-states at the end of World War II. First, the tensions which arose between the organised minorities and the successor states of the Habsburg Monarchy are accounted for primarily by the argument that the various minorities located within the successor states had already undergone a comprehensive processes of nationalisation within the Habsburg Empire. Therefore they were able to resist assimilation by the political elites of the new titular nations (Czechs, Poles, Rumanians, Serbs). A second topic is that of the use made of the minorities issue by Adolf Hitler to help achieve his expansionist aims. The minorities issue was central to the international destabilisation of interwar Europe. Finally, the mass expulsion of minorities (above all, Germans) after the end of the war is explained by strategic considerations on the part of the Allied powers as well as involving the nation-state regimes. It is argued, against a commonly held view, that German atrocities during the period of occupation had little to do with the decision to expel most ethnic Germans from their territories of settlement in Poland, Czechoslo-vakia and Yugoslavia. The article shows that it is necessary to treat national minorities in the first half of the twentieth century as a single phenomenon which shares similar features across the various nation-states of East-Central Europe. "The breakup of Yugoslavia was simply the last act of a long play. But the plot of that play – the disaggregation of peoples and the Triumph of ethnonationalism in modern Europe – is rarely recognised, and so a story whose significance is comparable to the spread of democracy or capitalism remains largely unknown and unappreciated." (Jerry Z. Muller 2008).

The replacement of Austria-Hungary by series of new nations in 1918 is a key event in the historical reflections in Central Europe. This thesis deals with the bilateral relations between two ‘new born’ states - Hungary and Czechoslovakia.This thesis pays special attention the topic of the foreign policy of Hungary, by exploring the perceptions, motives, and the decisions that the government of Budapest and its different political bodies expressed in regard to the Czechoslovak Republic. This thesis aims to challenge the mainstream historiography, which portrays the Budapest-Prague relations between the two World Wars through the prism of the territorial dispute over Slovakia and Ruthenia, two Hungarian provinces that were annexed by Czechoslovakia in 1918–1919. This research confirms that the Hungarian elites and the governmental circles were indeed unsatisfied with the loss of these two regions. However, the historiography has over-estimated the impact of territorial dispute on the practical and every day political attitudes and the decision making process in Budapest. This thesis claims that the Hungarian government tended to avoid open conflicts with Prague, considering that Czechoslovakia was more populous, industrialized, militarized and had more international alliances than Hungary. Analyzing primary sources mainly in Hungarian, and Czech, but also in Slovak, French and English, found both in the archives in Budapest and Prague and in published versions, this thesis argues that the government of Hungary seriously considered developing political, economic and international cooperation with Prague in the middle years of the Interwar. This thesis is organized into five parts. The opening part deals with the sources and the historiography. Part 2 examines the Hungarian policy on Czechoslovakia in 1918–1921. Part 3 tackles the Budapest-Prague relations between 1922 and 1930. Part 4 portrays the connections of the Hungarian democratic opposition with Prague in 1919–1932. Part 5 uncovers the changes of the foreign policy of Hungary towards Czechoslovakia in 1931–1936.

This bibliography attempts to present the publications on the history of the Cold War published after 1989, the beginning of the „archival revolution” in the former Soviet bloc countries. While this first edition is still far from complete, it collects a huge number of books, articles and book chapters on the topic and it is the most extensive such bibliography so far, almost 600 pages in length. An enlarged and updated edition will be completed in 2018.