In the early hours of Sunday, June 22 1941, a massive Grande Armée of four and a half million troops supported by an advanced Airforce and artillery crossed the Soviet frontier in one of the greatest military campaigns in recorded history. Nazi Germany had just invaded Soviet Union breaking a non-aggression pact, signed between the two regimes two years earlier. The code name of the invasion was "Unternehmen Barbarossa" (Operation Barbarossa) named after the medieval German Emperor warrior and conqueror Friedrich Barbarossa von Hohenstaufen.
The German invasion was part of Hitler's geopolitical agenda to colonize Soviet Union and create living space (Lebensraum) for the German Volk. This was the beginning of one of the most tragic conflicts in world history that caused nearly forty million deaths from both sides and an enormous destruction not only inside the Russian and Ukrainian plains but across the entire European continent.
We should keep in mind that the German-Soviet conflict (the Great Patriotic War as the Russians called it) was just one part of the Second World War. I don't mention here the Western Front, the Balkans, the North African campaign, the South East Asian and Far East or the war in the Pacific. Few times the world encountered the barbarity that was unleashed during that period of history not only in the German-Russian front but
The German invasion was part of Hitler's geopolitical agenda to colonize Soviet Union and create living space (Lebensraum) for the German Volk. This was the beginning of one of the most tragic conflicts in world history that caused nearly forty million deaths from both sides and an enormous destruction not only inside the Russian and Ukrainian plains but across the entire European continent.
We should keep in mind that the German-Soviet conflict (the Great Patriotic War as the Russians called it) was just one part of the Second World War. I don't mention here the Western Front, the Balkans, the North African campaign, the South East Asian and Far East or the war in the Pacific. Few times the world encountered the barbarity that was unleashed during that period of history not only in the German-Russian front but
across the entire planet. Soviet Union contributed the most to the Allied victory in Europe but it was a triumph that came at a prize: the Cold War that followed would keep the world partitioned and the people of Eastern Europe "hostages" of another totalitarian system for the following forty five years.
Out of this human debasement and wholesale destruction, came a period of economic reconstruction but perhaps the greatest achievement of the post-war Europeans was the gradual formation of the European Union. The majority of the people in Europe still think locally but the federal ideals are gaining ground. Voices for European Federalism are increasing in numbers and volume across the continent. Europeans are dedicated to create a social economic democratic multistate, where quality of living for all citizens and market forces learn to coexist.
European Union is far from heaven on earth but people and politicians realize the necessity for unity. First, the continent has more than three thousand years of wars, genocides, religious pogroms, ethnic cleansings, plague, tyrannies and revolutions that kept this tiny part of the planet fragmented. Second, comes the realization that if Europeans don't unite, they will continue to be the playground of other superpowers like Russia and USA and now China. However they also realize that if they become a unified Federation they will also be one of the world's major superpowers. It seems that European Unification is a matter of time. But how about the rest of the planet? A World Federation is not an impossible Utopia. We just need to change a few basic perceptions about ourselves and our surrounding world before the politicians follow. We have to remember that politicians reflect their citizenry. "Show me a politician and I will tell you about her/his constituents."
Out of this human debasement and wholesale destruction, came a period of economic reconstruction but perhaps the greatest achievement of the post-war Europeans was the gradual formation of the European Union. The majority of the people in Europe still think locally but the federal ideals are gaining ground. Voices for European Federalism are increasing in numbers and volume across the continent. Europeans are dedicated to create a social economic democratic multistate, where quality of living for all citizens and market forces learn to coexist.
European Union is far from heaven on earth but people and politicians realize the necessity for unity. First, the continent has more than three thousand years of wars, genocides, religious pogroms, ethnic cleansings, plague, tyrannies and revolutions that kept this tiny part of the planet fragmented. Second, comes the realization that if Europeans don't unite, they will continue to be the playground of other superpowers like Russia and USA and now China. However they also realize that if they become a unified Federation they will also be one of the world's major superpowers. It seems that European Unification is a matter of time. But how about the rest of the planet? A World Federation is not an impossible Utopia. We just need to change a few basic perceptions about ourselves and our surrounding world before the politicians follow. We have to remember that politicians reflect their citizenry. "Show me a politician and I will tell you about her/his constituents."
Georg Kønstantin Awgérinos
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