In Europe (123 page)
Authors: Geert Mak
Treaty of Rome
: treaty which established the
European Union
, signed on 25 March, 1957 by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Treaty of Versailles
: peace treaty, signed in 1919, which officially ended the
First World War
. It re-divided the territories of the defeated nations, included a ‘war guilt’ clause and reparation terms which Germany considered severe, and created the League of Nations.
Trotsky
,
Leon
, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (1879–1940): communist revolutionary and politician. A leader in the
October Revolution
and founder of the Red Army, he lost to
Stalin
in a power struggle to succeed
Lenin
. Was exiled from the Soviet Union and settled in Mexico where he was assassinated.
Truman
,
Harry S.
(1884–1972): Democratic statesman and President of the United States 1945–53. In 1948 he introduced the Marshall Plan which provided financial, economic and technical assistance to rebuild the war-shattered allied countries of Europe. Also established the
NATO
mililtary alliance in 1949.
Walesa
,
Lech
(b.1943): Polish politician, President of Poland (1990—5). Chairman of Communist Poland's first independent trade union,
Solidarity
, he was a key figure in establishing the first non-communist government in the Soviet Bloc. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.
Warsaw Pact
: treaty signed in 1955 which established a mutual defence organisation composed of the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. Created following the integration of West Germany into
NATO
in the same year and lasted throughout the
Cold War
.
Wehrmacht
(‘defence force’): name given to the armed forces of
Nazi
Germany. The Wehrmacht was abolished in 1945 at the end of the
Second World War
.
Weizsäcker
,
Carl Friedrich von
(b. 1912): German physicist and philosopher, son of the German diplomat Ernst von Weizsäcker, and brother of former German President Richard von Weizsäcker. During the
Second World War
, he was a member of the team that worked on the development of an atom bomb for
Nazi
Germany.
Wende
(‘change’ or ‘turning point’): term used to refer to the collapse of the communist system, signified by the breach in the Berlin Wall by the East Germans in November 1989.
Wessi
: used in a similar way to
Ossi
as a colloquial term for a person from the former West Germany.
Wilhelm II
, known as Kaizer Wilhelm (1859—1941): last German Emperor and King of Prussia 1888—1918. Supported Austria-Hungary following the assassination of his close friend
Franz Ferdinand
in a conflict which developed into the
First World War
. Abdicated in 1918 and went into exile in the Netherlands.
Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich
, (b.1931): Russian statesman and first President of the Russian Federation 1991—99. Employed ‘shock therapy’ reforms with the massive privatisation of state-run enterprises to introduce democracy and a market-based economy. Resigned in 1999 and was succeeded by Vladimir Putin.
Translation copyright © 2007 by Sam Garrett
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in the Netherlands as
In Europa
by Uitgeverij Atlas, Amsterdam, copyright © 2004 by Geert Mak. This translation originally published in Great Britain by Harvill Secker, an imprint of Random House Group Ltd., London. This translation published by arrangement with Harvill Secker, an imprint of Random House Group Ltd., London.
Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mak, Geert.
[In Europa. English]
In Europe: travels through the twentieth century / Geert Mak.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-49609-6
1. Europe—History—20th century. 2. Europe— Description and travel. 3. Mak, Geert—Travel—Europe. 4. Journalists—Netherlands—Diaries. 5. Historians— Netherlands—Diaries. I. Title.
D424M3513 2007 940.5—dc22 2007009260
Maps by Peter Palm, Berlin, Germany
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