Mitteleuropa Emerges

Abstract

The ‘creation’ of Mitteleuropa, as Naumann would have it, was a two-fold process. War and blockade dictated certain basic readjustments and demanded prompt action from those responsible for short-range decisions. Beyond this area of immediate reaction and response was a broader sphere of movement where decisions could be made with greater deliberation and more opportunity for creative formulation. At the same time, this wider range was an area where pre-war forces and interests, though diverted or dented by the force of events, found a chance to adjust to new conditions and to reassess their strength under new circumstances. The Mitteleuropa concepts of the war years thus grew out of new conditions and perspectives, but were strongly influenced by continuing pre-war interests and ideas. The pace of our narrative now slackens appreciably to permit a full analysis of the German and Austro-Hungarian scene during the war years, a brief era of German history when Mitteleuropa was a compelling vision and when there was possibility of its realization.