European Federalism the Two Films

European Federalism

The two films that this author chose both represent examples of humanity who are dealing with desperate times caused by the implosion of the previous world order and the birth pangs of a new one. Regardless of time, the human desire for peace is a common theme. Ironically, both of these representations also deal with the dirty reality represented by the universality of violent revolution and civil conflict represented in the wake of the Great War and the eclipse of European world dominance. The tumultuous period launched in the wake of the Great War set the template for world led directly to the federal efforts

The first film is Dr. Zhivago based upon the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak. The novel is named for poet and physician Yuri Zhivago. The novel and film detail Zhivago's life his efforts to survive World War One, the 1917 October Revolution and the Russian Civil War. The second is A Farewell to Arms, a semi-autobiographical account of the War by Ernest Hemingway. The story is the first hand account of American Frederic Henry who has volunteered as a Lieutenant in the Italian Army ambulance corps. The story works on two levels. First, it concerns the doomed romance between of Henry British nurse, Catherine Barkley. Secondly, it also contrasts the efforts to find meaning in personal tragedy against the impersonal destruction of World War I. Both of the above films represent the enduring cultural impact of the greatest war in history until its time.

After World War I, the countries in Europe, especially the defeated ones such as Germany, Austria, Hungary and Russia all experienced revolutionary conflict and even civil war. While technically a victor, Italy had a very difficult situation both economically and politically with most Italians feeling disappointed at the rewards that they received at the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919.

In the wake of the Great War, over production and investment disequilibrium reigned in European markets and led directly to Black Thursday and the New York Stock Market's crash of 1929. The Great Depression droned on, expanding social uncertainty and fueling the rise and expansion of the extremes of Communism and Fascism. These extreme utopias caused the death of the infant democracies that flowered only briefly in post war Europe.

In Italy, Mussolini exploited the state of confusion and malaise to seize power. From this cradle, Fascism emerged into the world. In Germany, it morphed into Nazism, a more virulent and transformed fascism feeding upon race mysticism as well as extreme nationalism and dictatorship. Both countries took this highway to the Hell of World War II. During this second installment of Great War, European countries groaned under the Fascist boot heel and fought back under native partisan movements in the underground resistance.

Ironically, the European Federal movement was midwifed by Italian political theorist Alberto Spineless. After the Second World War, the people of Europe wanted human rights, an end to despotism against both and human freedom and dignity.

The Union of European Federalists was formed in December of 1946. In the wake of two world wars, theorists such as Spineless were convinced that Federalism in Europe would save Europe by transcending nationalism much as the multinational Resistance had in World War II. In this movement, Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats resisted Fascisim in a united front. Spinelli and contemporary E. Rossi wrote the Ventone Manifesto, encouraging a federation of European States to make way for the European Union body. Union of European Federalist concluded that the existing political system could not creatre the new Europe. Federalist advocates thought that Europe integration was a process of building for the politics of a new Europe.