Introduction: Central Europe and the new international order

This introduction explores the entangled history of the Habsburg successor states and the new international order of 1919. It argues that Central Europe formed a key laboratory for tools and practices of supranational governance, thereby reframing a historiography long focused on national histories. It presents four new frameworks for analysing the interplay of nationalization and internationalization. The first concerns legacies of empire, and suggests new directions for studies of the afterlives of Habsburg rule. The second focuses on the benefits of a regional approach that moves beyond the framework of individual states. The third involves an integrated history of the interwar order in Europe that encompasses different fields of international activity and coordination. And the fourth reexamines the history of sovereignty, supranational governance, and European integration.