The lecture will probe a thesis in comparative imperial history: whether deep historical similarities help explain why Germany and Russia became totalitarian regimes, unleashing unprecedented violence upon the planet. Both countries shared an unusual history: the attempt to make nation state and empire coincide. Arguably, efforts to turn a variety of peoples – Czechs were supposed to be Germans and Ukrainians Russians for instance – into unified nations created explosive energies, but also challenges to legitimacy in a time of supposed national self-determination. Hannah Arendt called these unusually predatory edifices, perennially feeling threats from all directions within and without, “continental empires.” Empire (Reich) was the central organizing concept of all German states attempted after 1806, including the Weimar Republic, and including all the space of the old Reich, but Germany was forced to break with its imperial tradition after 1945. Russia, however, did not, to the contrary. Precisely because of Russia‘s supposed central role in destroying the German Reich – the epitome of historical evil – the legacy of a virtuous and necessary Russian Empire survives into our day.
Das DHI Warschau, das Collegium Carolinum und das Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa laden in Zusammenarbeit mit dem American Center - U.S. Embassy Prague herzlich zum englischsprachigen Vortrag ein:
Prof. John Connelly (UC Berkeley): The Problem of Continental Imperialism: German and Russian Empires in Comparative Perspective
Montag, 3. April 2023, 17.00 Uhr
American Center, Tržiště 13, 1. Stock,
Praha 1 - Malá Strana
