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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The League of Nations provided a framework for the preservation of empire and great power leadership in the postwar world through a program that Mazower labels “imperial internationalism.” In its moral guise, however, the League sought to defend the integrity of small nations against encroachment by larger, more powerful states. Representatives of small nations portrayed their postwar ambitions in these moral terms. They claimed that by virtue of their smallness, their national interests corresponded exactly to the new values of cooperation and transparency.
This paper describes how one small Central European nation, Czechoslovakia, combined a moral vocabulary of self-determination with the pretension of becoming a colonial power by fashioning a program of imperial internationalism for small states. In the weeks leading to the Paris Peace Conference, pamphlets and newspaper articles in the Czech press advocated that Germany’s former colonies be awarded to the new country as League of Nations mandates. As understood by an influential class of intellectuals, professionals, and statesmen, postwar security in Europe depended on a strong Czechoslovakia, something impossible without access to the oceans and overseas territories. I argue that this middle-class campaign for Czechoslovak colonies aimed to win recognition from great powers abroad and legitimacy for Czech rule over new territories and minority peoples at home. By adopting a new and surprising perspective on the League’s mandate system, this project seeks to integrate small nations into the broader history of empire and European colonialism.
Information on participating / attending:
Date:
06/29/2015 17:00 - 06/29/2015 18:30
Event venue:
Vortragssaal, Gisonenweg 5-7
35037 Marburg
Hessen
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, Students
Email address:
Relevance:
regional
Subject areas:
History / archaeology, Social studies
Types of events:
Presentation / colloquium / lecture
Entry:
06/26/2015
Sender/author:
Antje Coburger M.A.
Department:
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event51340
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