The Inverted Mirror - Mythologizing the Enemy in France and Germany, 1898-1914 (Hardcover, Illustrated Ed)

It is hard to imagine nowadays that, for many years, France and Germany considered each other as "arch enemies." And yet, for well over a century, these two countries waged verbal and ultimately violent wars against each other. This study explores a particularly virulent phase during which each of these two nations projected certain assumptions about national character onto the other - distorted images, motivated by antipathy, fear, and envy, which contributed to the growing hostility between the two countries in the years before the First World War. Most remarkably, as the author discovered, the qualities each country ascribed to its chief adversary appeared to be exaggerated or negative versions of precisely those qualities that it perceived to be lacking or inadequate in itself. Moreover, banishing undesirable traits and projecting them onto another people was also an essential step in the consolidation of national identity. As such, it established a pattern that has become all too familiar to students of nationalism and xenophobia in recent decades. This study shows that antagonism between states is not a fact of nature but socially constructed.

General

Imprint:	Berghahn Books, Incorporated
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Contemporary European History
Release date:	November 2004
Authors:	Michael Nolan
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 14mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	154
Edition:	Illustrated Ed
ISBN-13:	978-1-57181-669-6
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > General Books > History > European history > General Books > History > World history > From 1900 > General
LSN:	1-57181-669-0
Barcode:	9781571816696

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