SUMMARY:

This essay argues that Russia’s war against Ukraine prompts European historians to revisit some of their assumptions. This includes clarifying the notion of democracy, which is often taken for granted, and reassessing many concepts of Europe as defined and sustained by various communication networks. Last but not least, it is important to differentiate European history from both national and global histories. This entails a deconstruction of the established mental maps with their embedded separations between Western European and Eastern European history.