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Yes the “European Civil War” issue is a non issue. It might hold sway from here on out if the EU were to ever split into warring factions, but even then it's a stretch. World War II was the continuation of World War I, which was a war over colonial empires and spheres of influence. That pretty much eliminates the criteria for it being a civil war.
… pretty much eliminates the criteria for it being a civil war.
Cannot, however, discount the family feud factor… given that all of the rulers in pre-WWI Europe were related by blood, marriage, or both (to good Queen Victoria).
This is an idea that just does not hold water no matter how attractive it is too revisionist and postmodern historians.
Very true.
The whole idea of a European civil war presupposes that there was a community of spirit in Europe in which peace was considered the norm and that the peoples of Europe saw themselves as somehow being united into one polity. This is just not so. The peoples of Europe see themselves as distinct from one another and the only tie that could bind is a common religion and that has not been exactly the case since the end of the 16th century. Peace is far from being the norm in Europe in fact, peace has been the exception rather than the rule until the last 50 years or so.This idea of civil war is just as ridiculous as the idea that inter-asian wars are civil in nature, yet I don't see anyone proposing this. If one were the case then wouldnt the other also hold true?
Cannot, however, discount the family feud factor… given that all of the rulers in pre-WWI Europe were related by blood, marriage, or both (to good Queen Victoria).
What do blodd ties have to do with anything? Intermarriage among the nobility was done purely for political reasons. Have you ever heard of the Wiily-Nicky telegrams between the Kaiser and Czar in the days and weeks before the outbreak of war in 1914? The saying may be blodd is thicker than water but European politics has proven that false many times. National identity has proven the stronger determinant time and again.
