The Shadow of Colonialism on Europe's Modern Past

Scholars have generally assumed the objects of colonialism to have been non-European peoples, especially those living in Africa and Asia. Acknowledging the significance of current historiographical debates about different colonial experiences, this book breaks new ground in investigating the extent [...]
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Scholars have generally assumed the objects of colonialism to have been non-European peoples, especially those living in Africa and Asia. Acknowledging the significance of current historiographical debates about different colonial experiences, this book breaks new ground in investigating the extent to which European peoples living in Europe were also subjected to colonialism. The image of the shadow, with its connotations of darkness, distortion, and elasticity, highlights the pervasive, yet uneven, influence of the ideologies and practices of colonialism across the European continent and its consequences for the lives of ordinary Europeans in peripheral regions. This shadow reached its height in the century between the 1860s and 1960s, as nation-states were consolidated and colonial empires expanded and then contracted. The chapters of this volume explore this phenomenon in case studies featuring Ireland, southern Italy, Schleswig, Alsace, Poland, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Hungary.