The reconstruction of nations
Subtitle: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999
By: Timothy Snyder.
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 367
Subjects: Europe, Eastern -- History -- 20th century
Description: "In this pioneering book, Timothy Snyder traces the emergence of Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Belarusian nationhood from the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569 to the enlargement of NATO in 1999. He provides original explanations for the atrocities of the twentieth century and the first scholarly account of the Ukrainian-Polish ethnic cleansings of the 1940s.

Yet he begins with the principles of toleration that prevailed in much of early modern eastern Europe and concludes with the peaceful resolution of national tensions in the region since 1989.".

"Snyder then follows transformed national ideas onto the new terrains presented by national independence after the revolutions of 1989. He reviews the threats to European security that arose in the early 1990s with the threats of breakaway minorities, provocations from Moscow, and popular fears of ethnic cleansing.

Finally, he examines how a bold Polish eastern policy facilitated the peaceful end of Soviet rule in the region, prevented national disagreements from spilling into international conflict, and hastened European integration. After 1989, a Polish geopolitical vision channeled national interests toward peace."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-349) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:  Part I The Contested Lithuanian-Belarusian Fatherland; title: 1 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1569-1863), I5; title: 2 Lithuania! My Fatherland! (1863-1914), 31; title: 3 The First World War and the Wilno Question (1914-1939), 52; title: 4 The Second World War and the Vilnius Question (1939-1945), 73; title: 5 Epilogue: Soviet Lithuanian Vilnius (1945-1991), 90; title: Part II The Embattled Ukrainian Borderland; title: 6 Early Modern Ukraine (1569-1914), I05; title: 7 Galicia and Volhynia at the Margin (1914-1939), 133; title: 8 The Ethnic Cleansing of Western Ukraine (1939-1945), 154; title: 9 The Ethnic Cleansing of Southeastern Poland (1945-1947), I79; title: 10 Epilogue: Communism and Cleansed Memories (1947-1981), 202 Part III The Reconstructed Polish Homeland; title: 11 Patriotic Oppositions and State Interests (1945-1989), 217; title: 12 The Normative Nation-State (1989-1991), 232; title: 13 European Standards and Polish Interests (1992-1993), 256; title: 14 Envoi: Returns to Europe, 277; title: Abbreviations, 294; title: Archives, 295; title: Document Collections, 296; title: Notes, 299; title: Acknowledgments, 350; title: Index, 355.