Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Mel Brooks and Teaching European History

Mel Brooks and Teaching European History

Last updated on: December 16, 2016 at 7:23 pm by Philip Jenkins

Mel Brooks and Teaching European History 2016-12-16T19:23:37-04:00 Philip Jenkins

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I dearly love Mel Brooks as a comedian, but I do have some quarrels with him as a historian. In explaining that remark, I’ll return to the point I made recently about teaching European history to Americans, and some of the basic and quite counter-intuitive ideas you need to get across at a very early stage.

In the 1983 film To Be Or Not To Be, Mel Brooks plays a Polish vaudeville star in the months leading up to the Second World War, who performs a parody of Hitler. Hitler sings a number that begins,

I don’t want war! All I want is peace…peace…peace…!
A little piece of Poland,
A little piece of France…

The song’s point is, of course, that Hitler was an aggressive megalomaniac who wanted to grab neighboring territories for the aggrandizement of Germany, and himself. So far, so good, and so accurate. In retrospect, we also know that this military effort would be carried out with unprecedented savagery and ruthlessness.

What we miss in such a picture, though, is the sense that the notion of a European state trying to expand thus (minus the genocidal intent) was anything new to Hitler, or to Germany. Nor, viewed in the broad span of European history, were other countries any less guilty of such expansionism and aggression. Historically, European states were much more fluid than we might think, and “little pieces” of them – or very major portions of them – regularly did get detached and absorbed by other players on the board.

To make this very explicit, obviously I am saying nothing to justify any particular act of aggression, any policy of any nation. What I am saying is that we have to be very careful about the long term trends we may think we are seeing in European history.

Just to take one example, much of the rivalry between France and Germany concerned the territories of Alsace and Lorraine, which constituted a large part of the “little piece of France.” But by what right did those lands belong to one country rather than another? Not, assuredly, by the consistent will or decision of the inhabitants. For long centuries, both territories were linguistically very mixed, with sizable German-speaking populations, and both were part of the predominantly Germanic Holy Roman Empire. Their status changed from the later seventeenth century, due in large measure to the extremely aggressive policies of French king Louis XIV (1643-1715), who had a long history of unprovoked warfare and treaty violations. In 1681, for instance, Louis seized Strasbourg, not with any pretense that it was really French and wished to return it to the motherland, but rather, well, because it was on his borders and he wanted it. Although they had no option but to permit local languages, the French worked hard to impose French language, culture and (Catholic) religion.

Another great conqueror was Napoleon Bonaparte, who in many ways treated conquered lands much like the Nazis did in the 1940s. He grabbed territories from conquered states, partitioned and reorganized those kingdoms and nations, and created buffer states and protectorates. He imposed brutal fines and reparations, and seized treasures of all kinds (including works of art). Occupation by Napoleonic French forces was a dreadful and bloody experience, which provoked dedicated resistance movements. That was most famously true in Spain, the home of the original resisters who fought the “little war” – the guerrillas.

Napoleonic France did not impose anything resembling genocide, at least on foreign enemies, but in France itself, the Revolutionary Vendée campaign of 1793-96 has an excellent claim to rank as an authentic genocide.

One of the worst sufferers of Napoleonic violence was the kingdom of Prussia, the very existence of which was in serious doubt between 1806 and 1813. Napoleon’s triumphant entry into Berlin in 1806 was avenged by the Imperial German parade in Paris in 1871.

This image is in the public domain

Although the incident is forgotten by non-specialists, Napoleonic ghosts walked again in 1840, when the French government declared that its natural eastern boundaries lay on the Rhine, which would have meant annexing a lot of land and cities that we today think of as indubitably German. If these territories had been grabbed, presumably they would have been absorbed culturally into France. It was in terror of such French aggression that Mainz became one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. The 1840 proposal built logically on the natural dynamic of French policy over the previous 170 years.

That 1840 crisis had a long, long, cultural and political aftermath. To get a sense of it, just read the lengthy and informative wikipedia entry on Die Wacht am Rhein!

That persistent history of French expansionism goes far to explaining the international sense of amazement and relief at the Prussian victory over France in 1870-1871, and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. The French restored their control after 1918, and the Germans reversed that situation again in 1940; and then back to France again.

The war of 1870-71 also set other lasting precedents. Fearing attacks by French irregulars, francs-tireurs, the Germans executed many innocent civilians, much as they would in 1914.

After the First World War, the Allies occupied the whole Rhineland region, and maintained their armed presence through 1930. The French constituted by far the largest part of the Allied presence. In 1923, citing German non-payment of war reparations, French forces additionally occupied the Ruhr region, and some hundreds of Germans were killed resisting them. The fact that the French deployed colonial and African troops in that occupation was viewed as an ultimate racial insult. Although those events are not well remembered by Anglo-American historians, the Ruhr occupation was an enormous trauma for Germany. More than anything else, the humiliation convinced even moderate Germans that a war of revenge against France would be fully justified. It is useful to think of later Nazi policies in the west as demanding revenge for 1923, rather than for the larger loss in 1918.

The question of “who started it” is not easily resolved. Nor, even if we could determine that question, does that justify later acts of tit-for-tat violence and oppression.

That record must be taken into account when we spend so much time trying to explain the phenomenon of Hitler, and speculating how the world might have been different if he had been strangled at birth. It is highly likely that at some time in the 1930s, a conservative nationalist regime would have taken power in Germany, and its first goal would have been to avenge itself on France, and to absorb much of Poland. The anti-Semitic fanaticism might or might not have been present, but the aggression and militaristic focus would have been similar to what actually occurred, Hitler or not. Perhaps that imaginary nationalist Germany would have won, perhaps not.

If things had gone very slightly differently in our own timeline, the Germans could easily have failed in their 1940 invasion of France. Their original war plans were probably doomed from the start, and would have ended up with something very much like a 1914 trench warfare situation. In that eventuality, France’s much-mocked Maginot Line would have been extremely useful. Hitler himself guesstimated that conquering France might take a million German lives, rather than the thirty thousand or so who actually perished.

Hitler was anything but a strategic mastermind. Later in the war, the British high command vetoed any attempt to assassinate him, because he was worth so much more to the Allied war effort alive than dead.

So much for all those ethical debates about killing the baby Hitler and preventing World War II.

After 1945, the French were again granted an occupation zone straddling the Rhine. It almost seemed as if this centuries-long revenge cycle would last indefinitely, until the European unification movement took hold from the 1950s onwards. Which is why that project remains so critically important, especially to older Europeans with any historical awareness.

There is no Platonic ideal of European states and maps. At some points in the story, Poland (say) is a mighty kingdom, and at others it is partitioned between other neighbors, and vanishes from the map altogether. To say that every nation and ethnic group, every linguistic group, deserves its own nation-state is an excellent manifestation of Romantic thought, by which every People (Volk) has its Language (Sprache), and it needs its Nation (Staat). But that is a mystical and metaphysical theory, with no necessary application in the real world. If that theory ever made sense, it ceased to do so when ethnic groups and languages became so intertwined that it was futile (and bloody) to determine who exactly deserved to rule which set of fields and hills.

Europeans, incidentally, are very good at inventing historical reasons why those particular configurations of states and kingdoms have existed since the mists of antiquity, and why their existence is justified by long successions of battles and heroes, saints and scholars, and noble deeds generally. Often, those efforts involve attempts to discern the will of God in such political matters. European thinkers have to be good at such cultural work and creative anachronism: after all, they have been pursuing these efforts for many centuries.

In reality, Europe has no natural states existing from time immemorial. Some states have been longer lived than others, but in no case are their borders timeless or inevitable. And in very few cases are these nations ethnically or linguistically homogeneous. Very often, sizable minorities exist and have existed, and these wish to secede, often to join neighboring states.

If matters had gone slightly differently in the 1860s and 1870s, Bavaria might be an independent country today, while an independent Denmark could easily have disappeared into the German Empire in 1870-71. If either of those events had come to pass, presumably we would today regard that reality as natural and eternal. There had always been a Bavaria and always would be, while Denmark was a distant and romantic name from the Middle Ages.

Europe’s nations are neither natural nor eternal. They come and go, they change their size and shape, and repeatedly, they have gained or lost some “pieces.”

As historians, our main task is never to assume that the situation we see at any given moment must always have existed. Usually, it is startlingly new.

Previous Post

December 10, 2016

The Problems of Writing Biography (Part 3 - Evidence and Imagination)

Next Post

December 13, 2016 A Very Nazi Christmas

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who walked with God and was taken to heaven without dying?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Elijah Moses Enoch