Flashpoints

Europe: A Peninsula of “Borderlands”

With its many nations, Europe is a peninsula of borderlands with multiple boundaries where language, culture and politics collide. More than 100 million people died from “war, genocide, purges, planned starvation,” and other causes in Europe between 1914 and 1945. Its geography of mountains, forests, plains, huge rivers and marshes makes the peninsula impossible to conquer. This means weaker nations endure. Yet across Europe’s history, the same war between the same enemies – such as today’s allies England and France – took place repeatedly. These wars barely altered national borders until the Soviet Union’s takeover of Eastern Europe after World War II.

The French-German borderlands run from the North Sea to the Alps. Turkey and Central Europe divide along the borderlands of the Balkans, which hold many conflict-sparking “flashpoints.” The Pyrenees divide Spain and Portugal from Europe’s mainland.

The great issue facing Europe is whether war as an instrument of state policy has become obsolete or could flare up again. At peace, Europe as a whole is a potent economic engine; its combined GDP exceeds that of...