A unified Germany is both too big to be a ‘normal’ European country, and too small to conquer the entire continent. Its power must be dissolved in a supranational structure – which will be all the more powerful by having Germany at its centre.
That’s solving a problem by turning it into a paradox.
It could be a shorthand definition of the European Union. But the EU, which grew out of the European Coal and Steel Community (°1951), was not the first such proposal.Here’s an extraordinary suggestion to prevent future conflict in Europe, proposed shortly after the end of the First World War. The 1920 map, in German, envisions a new Europe with lasting peace (Das neue Europa mit dem daurenden Frieden), via the means of political unification of Central Europe (Die Unionisierung Mitteleuropas).
The bulk of the European mainland would be united in a unitary state, governed from Vienna, renamed Unionshauptstadt Sankt Stephan (Union Capital St. Stephen). In this Union, there would be no place for ‘traditional’ member states as they had emerged from history, or could be construed by linguistic, ethnic or religious affiliation. It would do away with the traditional states of Europe. Instead, it would be sliced as a pie into 24 straight-bordered cantons radiating from the capital, all purposely ignoring the continent’s variety of languages, religions and peoples.
Proposed flag for the Union – also radial.
This European Union would exclude Scandinavia, Ireland and the UK, Spain and Portugal, most of Italy (to be transformed into a Papal State) and the Russian Empire.
Also independent: Bulgaria, Greece (including Sicily and the southern tip of Italy) and a Serbian-Albanian Empire. The three entry points to the Mediterranean would be turned into neutral zones: Suez, Gibraltar-Ceuta and Constantinople (including the Dardanelles). Palestine would be turned into a Hebrew Empire.So, where does this fantastic map come from? The author is a P.A.M., tentatively identified as P.A. Maas, the son of Otto Maas, the Vienna-based printer of the 24-page pamphlet in which the map appears.
The pamphlet offers…
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