Europe: The Inevitability of the Imperial

The conventional story of the European Union is essentially false. It is not really true that major European states learned from the Second World War that cooperation is preferable to confrontation. What actually happened was that European powers lost imperial wars, in Europe in 1945 and elsewhere thereafter, opening the possibility to a post-imperial order inside Europe. Today, the false history stands in the way of future endeavour. The myth of origin allowed Europeans not to think about their own imperial history; the cost of that convenience has been a failure to confront the imperialism of Europe’s rivals. A better origin story would also be a better strategy for survival and prosperity.

Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder holds the inaugural Temerty Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He is also a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the head of the academic advisory council of Ukrainian History Global Initiative.

A scholar of the history of Central Europe, Ukraine, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust, Snyder speaks five and reads ten European languages. He is the author or editor of twenty books published in forty languages. Snyder writes for the press on Ukraine, the U.S, authoritarianism, digital politics, health, and education. He has also appeared in documentaries, on television, and as an expert witness before several parliaments. He has received state orders and decorations as well as honorary doctorates.

His work has inspired demonstrations, sculpture, posters, punk rock, rap, film, theater, and an opera.

Ort und Zeit

Bern, Dienstag, 24. November 2026, 18.30 Uhr. Türöffnung um 18.00 Uhr

Aula der Universität Bern, Hauptgebäude

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Die Veranstaltung findet auf Englisch statt.

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