Maintaining Neutrality in Modern Europe: A Military History of the Age of Total War (War, Conflict and Genocide Studies)

Maintaining Neutrality in Modern Europe examines how states and societies have actively navigated the contested space between belligerence and alliance from the nineteenth century to today, revealing neutrality as a deliberate, emotionally charged political strategy rather than passive non-involvement. Through eight compelling chapters featuring European case studies - the Netherlands and Switzerland during the World Wars, Belgium under German occupation, and the German Bund's role in post-1815 security - the collection challenges the prevailing assumption that neutrality is simply the absence of a choice.Instead, its contributors demonstrate that non-alignment was an active, continuously contested, and emotionally charged political strategy.The volume makes two significant interventions. First, it bridges the largely separate literatures of diplomatic and military history on the one hand and international relations scholarship on "hedging" on the other, arguing for cross-fertilisation