The two world wars had the most significant impact on the development of European identity in the twentieth century.' Discuss

However throughout the twentieth century Europe once again evolved due to the world wars, which gave birth to a ‘European idea,’ this description though has had to manifest itself to adapt and incorporate new definitions of being European as the century progressed, for with altering the geography by creating new nation states and declaring independence to others, such as Norway in 1907, and Finland in 1917, as well as the recreation of Poland in 1919 challenges to the identity of Europe have emerged.

Therefore this shows that, as Miller suggested, historical aspects alter the perception of identity. A common history aligns the people within the nation to correspond to one another, each seeking for a common goal, and thus using nostalgia to embrace the collective. As Jeffery Richards suggests in Films and British national identity, “As the millennium looms, Britain is undergoing a crisis of national identity…the questioning of traditional institutions and general sense of spiritual malaise infecting all generations.” In this sense Richards suggests that national identity is an aspect of culture which can be adapted and lost if not corresponded to, his belief is that using memorabilia such as war mementos outline a nations nostalgia for unification and their want to embrace a common identity.

The world wars are one of the most significant factors in shaping this identity; the shared experiences left Europeans feeling closer through this common heritage, and united the west against the pull of communism. The devastation they left behind created a want for this destruction to never be felt again and to help build each other up, therefore Europe pulled together by after 1945 creating the European Economic Community, 1958-86, which evolved to becoming the European Union in 1992 through a want of inter-dependence. The 1951 European Coal and Steel Community were founded through this reliance upon one another founded after the wars. These wars were a massive shock of devastation that shook Europe in such a way that to ensure this never happened

“It appears too as a vast symbol of futility, a conflict in which immense effort and sacrifice were misdirected and wasted, achieving nothing” therefore bodies were founded, and treaties were signed to give countries the object to talk over problems, and through inter-dependence would not be able to go to war with one another;        

“In the decades after 1914, Europeans were only rarely conscious of the historical fate that was overtaking them. They continued to live their lives (as Europeans), absorbed in national and ideological struggles and in the maintenance and extension of their cultural heritage.”

These wars threatened the nature of being European and as such drew its citizens closer to protecting it, as Amin Maalouf states in On Identity “It can happen that some incident fortunate or unfortunate accident, even a chance encounter, influences our sense of identity more strongly than ancient affiliation.” Thus the impact of the wars brought about a change in identifying one another based upon a new sense of recognition.

The wars altered the diversity of nations, the second world war saw Hitler’s persecution of Jews lead to mass extermination, and as this was discovered a new breed of acceptance emerged after the war, such as with the embracement of black’s in America through the helping in the war effort and the acceptance of women and their movements, such as universal suffrage in the UK ‘as women over thirty were enfranchised in 1918, and those between twenty-one and thirty in 1928.’ For incorporating and accepting those diverse from oneself it led to a widening of a common identity through recognizable characteristics.

“We customarily take gender, ethnicity, and class as given parameters and boundaries within which we create our own social identities.”

Therefore to understand issues on identity and how they affect and are affected by social, political and ethnic divisions to gain insights into the communicative processes by which they arise, However communication and language cannot be judges as the most significant aspect of identity alone, for in accordance to Ernest Barker’s National Character, religion, law and government and education all take shape in creating a national character. For a common character has ‘a material basis within a spiritual structure’ and as such a European identity is a belief in one another being part of a common culture, thus culture, as it is a formation over time, as Eric Hobsbawm suggests in Invented Traditions, correlates to the wars which are a shared historical feature of all European countries.

However as Richards suggests, “There are three possible directions national character could take, ... first, there could be a continued descent in to individualism, … The second possibility is the completion of the Americanisation of the world, a process which began at the beginning of the century…The third possibility-a return to the pre-existing idea of national identity.”

For the wars brought about an integration and dependence on America through the Dawes and Young Plans as well as Marshall aid in 1949, as well as between the wars, the Wall Street Crash in 1929 affected the entirety of Europe. For the build up throughout the wars of Americanisation over Europe dominated the identity of its citizens through another significant impact, the Cold War, which spanned 1945-1991 ripping a divide throughout east and west Europe and leaving a shadow of communism ruling behind the iron curtain of the USSR. This impact came through the political aspects of European identity changing due to the nature of the wars,

“In the aftermath of the first world war fascist dictators emerged in Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain and, for a time during the Second World War, some of its occupied territories.” These roots began after the French Revolution, but emerged once again after the disruption of the First World War, this impact was great, as before the war Mussolini had been on the far left, supporting neutrality, but fell out over the intervention in war with other socialists. These impacts through the wars affected the political turmoil of Europe and with the intervention of American politics and diplomacy Americanisation held court over Europe. However to counteract this, and the economic reliance on America the European Community was founded to provide free trade, incentives and access to European resources.

However the cold war was also had a surmountable effect on European change, following ‘geopolitical upheavals of 1989-91 the balance of power which had existed since 1945 in Europe, was upset. Marking the end of the post-war era’ Thus the wars had a significant impact lasting throughout the twentieth century, this impact led nations such as France and Germany in to forming a union which would bring stability and, after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 allow to bring the eastern European countries up to date through modernisation and so incorporate them in to the ‘European ideal’ therefore this common European identity will be shared through the embracing and acknowledgement of a shared history, although turbulent it allows for a deeper recognition of one another’s turmoil and history and provides the citizens with a shared experience as well as a shared will to avoid conflict. Thereby the world wars were extremely significant in provoking a reaction to embrace a European culture, and through nostalgia, such as films and television series such as Dads Army as Richards suggests, nostalgia towards the war will provoke this identity in to re-emerging.