Book Review: Danubian Federation
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205501000416 |
| Date | 01 December 1955 |
| Published date | 01 December 1955 |
| Author | Jan Smerek |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
300
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
sulted
in many
fields,
the
opposite
has
happened
as
regards
the
liberties
of
the
individual.
One
of
the
most
revealing
chapters
is
that
dealing
with
the
struggle
of
the
Communist regimes
against
the
churches.
To
put
it
concisely,
the
Russian bear
uses
his
teeth
in
a
head-on
encounter
with
the
Roman
Catholic
Church,
in which
he
sees
a
rival to
his
own
plans
for
world
domination.
As
for
the
Protes-
tants,
a
few slaps
with
his
paws
are
sufficient
to
keep
them
in
order,
while
the
Orthodox
Church
he
sweeps
off
its
balance
in
a
brotherly
embrace.
The
book
gives
a
lucid
account
of
the
various methods
by
which
the
Communists
consolidated
their
power in each
of
the
four
satellite
Danubian
states-Rumania,
Bulgaria,
Hungary
and
Czechoslovakia-and
proceeds
to
deal
with
the
violent
purges
which
have
shaken
them
all
in
turn.
One
chapter
deals
with
the
attempt
to
collectivize
the
peasantry
and
another
with
the
incorporation
of
the
workers into
the
Communist
system.
Al-
though
he
excludes
Yugoslavia
and
Austria
from
the
scope
of
his
book,
the author
in
his
summing
up
speculates
as
to
the
probable
influence
these
two
countries
are
likely
to
have
on
the
future
of
south
eastern
Europe.
Mr.
Shepherd
is
a
little
too
fond
of
metaphor,
although he
uses
it
forcefully
in
many instances.
The
fact
that
the
book
contains
not
a
single
map
is
unfortunate,
for the
author
himself
admits
that
the
geography
of
central Europe
is
unfamiliar
to
most
people
as
it
was
to
himself
before
1945.
The
University
of
British
Columbia,
Vancouver,
B.C.
A.
W.
WAINMAN
DANUBIAN
FEDERATION.
By
Lt.
Col.
F.
0.
Miksche.
1953.
(England:
Kenion
Press.
39pp.)
Fourteen
ethnical groups
live
in
the
central
European
area
between
the
Baltic
and
the
Aegean
seas.
Long
before
the
second
world
war,
the
Germans
adopted
the
Drang
nach
Osten
policy.
Then
too,
the
Russians
have
driven
in
all
directions, in-
cluding
into
the
Carpathian
region,
during
their
traditional
ex-
pansionism.
From
this
geopolitical
situation
only
one
conclusion
can
be
drawn:
the
area
should
be
politically
and
economically
united.
This
book
deals
with
this
problem.
The
author's
contribu-
tion
is
not
a
constructive
one.
The
so-called
mistakes
of
the
past
which
have
made
central
European
unity
difficult
or
impossible
are
historically
incompletely
treated
in
the
book.
It
is
a
matter
of
fact
that
in
the
former
Habsburg
monarchy,
of
which
Colonel
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