Winner of the 2010 George Louis Beer Prize of the American Historical
Association.
The struggle between Hungary and Romania for control of Transylvania
seems at first sight a side-show in the story of the Nazi New Order and
the Second World War. These allies of the Third Reich spent much of the
war arguing bitterly over Transylvania's future, and Germany and Italy
were drawn into their dispute to prevent it from spiraling into a
regional war. But precisely as a result of this interaction, the story
of the Transylvanian Question offers a new way into the history of how
state leaders and national elites have interpreted what "Europe" means.
Tucked into the folds of the Transylvanian Question's bizarre genealogy
is a secret that no one ever tried to keep, but that has remained a
secret nonetheless: small states matter. The perspective of small states
puts the struggle for mastery among its Great Powers into a new
perspective.