The European Civil War is a term of historical argumentation in the form of an overarching construct tying a series of 19th and 20th century conflicts between sovereign nations in the now partially unified continent of Europe.
Some historians argue the period that started with the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and ended with World War II constituted an era they term the European Civil War, that notably included both world wars and many lesser wars. The earlier wars are regarded as causes for the wars that followed.
The term seeks to explain the rapid decline of Europe's global hegemony and the emergence of the European Union. By this self-mutilation, it is argued, Europe lost its position in the world, its hegemony, and caused itself to be divided into two spheres of influence: one "Western", and one Soviet.
Read more about European Civil War: Comparative Application of The 'European Civil War' Concept, The Supporting Case, The Opposing Case
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“At Hayes’ General Store, west of the cemetery, hangs an old army rifle, used by a discouraged Civil War veteran to end his earthly troubles. The grocer took the rifle as payment ‘on account.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Unsophisticated and confiding, they are easily led into every vice, and humanity weeps over the ruin thus remorselessly inflicted upon them by their European civilizers.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)