Raymond James Sontag

Raymond James Sontag (1897–1972) was an American historian of European diplomacy of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Life

He was born on October 2, 1897. He received his B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois in 1920 and 1921, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1924.

He died on October 27, 1972.

In A Broken World 1919–1939 (1972) Sontag moves far beyond diplomacy/Versailles/Hitler themes and instead looks at Europe in terms of technology—with caused social tensions—and nationalism, which caused conflict between ethnic groups. In the east authoritarian rulers relied on a violent intense nationalism to gain and maintain power, suppress minorities, and stop reform. Everywhere the non-Communist left found it hard to reconcile nationalism and social progress. There was increasing discontinuity as the escalating crises baffled statesmen.