![]() ![]() The author is very effective in contrasting western and eastern Europe, where the death and devastation were orders of magnitude greater, based on the underlying conditions and particular ferocity of the combat in the East. ![]() Savage Continent has some obvious strengths. ![]() However difficult to digest, Lowe’s description paints a gritty, realistic portrait of life in Europe in the immediate postwar period. Lowe does this in a manner which is inclusive, never trivializing such horrors as the Holocaust while effectively covering perhaps lesser-known events of chaos and violence which pale in comparison. The author spares no details in his stark descriptions of postwar Europe, and some of them-the horrendous number of rapes committed by soldiers of all armies civilian casualties and collateral damage violence to women and children and atrocities of all types and motivations-are particularly tragic and difficult to imagine. While it is beyond the scope of this review to catalog all of the horrors discussed by Lowe, suffice it to say that he offers a grim depictionof European devastation that includes damage to cities and infrastructure, loss of life, population displacement, famine, moral depravity, and violence. Many of these “wars within wars” were ugly, brutal affairs that mirrored the ferocity, if not the scale, of the broader world war. The final sections are entitled “Ethnic Cleansing” and “Civil War.” The former deals with the multiple expulsions of whole populations that occurred within the continent both during and after the war, while the latter details the more localized internal conflicts that took place within the greater context of World War II. Vengeance is one of the author’s recurring themes, and has repercussions that echo in the Europe of today. ![]() It leads to the second section, “Vengeance,” in which victims of all manner and type seek justice or retribution against their tormentors-primarily the Nazi regime, its constituents and collaborators, as well as ordinary German citizens who were targeted both inside and outside the Reich’s borders. “The Legacy of War” concentrates on the physical as well as psychological impacts of the war across the continent, and is a difficult yet engrossing read. xvii) along four broad themes, each given its own section of the book. Lowe organizes his attempt “to describe chaos” (p. This is evidenced by the author’s continued reference to decades-old issues which “remain controversial to this day” or are “still politically sensitive.” Thus, the portrait of postwar Europe painted by Lowe remains critical to any modern-day understanding of the continent. Many of the destructive forces at work continued long after the war, some relevant even seventy years later. His primary contention is that for most of Europe, the war did not end with Germany’s surrender in May 1945. Reminiscent of recent works such as Timothy Snyder’s excellent Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2012) and the opening chapters of Tony Judt’s comprehensive Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2006), Lowe adopts a broad, continent-wide scope to describe the chaos and instability within Europe between the years 1945 and 1949. Indeed, the title Savage Continent refers to Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, not during its conduct. Keith Lowe provides a stark contrast to this image in a harrowing yet well-crafted book that shows an alternate view to an overly optimistic characterization of VE Day, particularly as seen from the West. The seventieth anniversary of VE Day this past spring may bring to mind visions of victory, peace, and new beginnings. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Gordon Satellite Campus) Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II. ![]()
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