Short answers, pulled from the story.
The European Civil War concept describes 19th and 20th century conflicts in Europe as one continuous civil war rather than isolated events. Historians view these struggles as segments of an overarching conflict within a supposed European society.
Some accounts argue that this period started on the 19th of July 1870 with the Franco-Prussian War or even in 1905. Other descriptions range from 1914 to 1945, thus including World War I, World War II, and many lesser conflicts of the interwar period.
The central proponents of the European Civil War were originally based at the history department of the London School of Economics. Notable figures include Dr. Robert Boyce who taught the subject as a course, Paul Preston, Anthony Adamthwaite, J. M. Roberts, and K. M. Panikkar.
The emergence of the European Union from World War II is central to the argument as competing parties within the same country or empire struggle for national control of state power. Elites in the different countries of Europe began work to create a community of nations that has since grown into the European Union after the conflict ended.
Strong distinctions in religions and political systems existed between European nations at the beginning of the period which undermine the idea that Europe formed a united civil society. There is no consensus on its application to related conflicts outside the fringes of Europe such as the Japanese invasion of China and campaigns in the Pacific theater and Southeast Asia theater of World War II.