"Let travellers cross seas and deserts merely to measure the height of a mountain, to describe the cataract of a river, but what advantage can accrue to a philosopher from such accounts, who is desirous of understanding the human heart, who seeks to know the men of every country, who desires to discover those differences which result from climate, religion, education, prejudice, and partiality?.... "Confucius observes that it is the duty of the learned to unite society more closely, and to persuade men to become citizens of the world."-OLIVER GOLDSMITH: The Citizen of the World (1760). PREFACE THIS book is written with a twofold purpose. It endeavours to give an account of the "New Europe" which will enable the general reader to understand the changes which have taken place as a result of the war, and the problems which confront Europe at the present time. At the same time it is one of a series of four books which together will form a course in geography suitable for secondary and day continuation schools. This course has been planned in the belief that the chief aims of teaching geography are to show the relations between man and his environment, and to train young people to be intelligent citizens. The writer is convinced that an intelligent citizen must be so educated as to have a knowledge of the various peoples and their problems, together with an attitude of mind characterised both by goodwill to the peoples and a desire to find a just solution to the problems with which his state may be concerned. Hence the guiding principle in the writing of these books has been to help the readers to a sympathetic understanding of the lives of the peoples of our own and other countries. In this book it has been convenient to deal with the environment—that is, the physical geography-of each of the larger regions of Europe in turn, and then to describe the social, economic, and political life of each of the |