The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945-51 (University Paperbacks)

This paperback edition has now been reissued, alongside Alan Milward's new book The European Rescue of the Nation State . This paperback edition has now been reissued, alongside Alan Milward's new book The European Rescue of the Nation State BOOK COVER......Page 1 HALF-TITLE......Page 2 TITLE......Page 3 COPYRIGHT......Page 4 CONTENTS......Page 5 FIGURES......Page 8 TABLES......Page 9 PREFACE......Page 13 ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS......Page 17 I THE CRISIS OF 1947......Page 19 THE NATURE OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS......Page 22 DOMESTIC ECONOMIC CRISES......Page 24 THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CRISIS......Page 32 THE COLLAPSE OF BRETTON WOODS......Page 51 THE INTENTIONS OF THE MARSHALL PLAN......Page 61 CREATING THE EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION......Page 65 THE COMMITTEE OF EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION......Page 71 III THE EUROPEAN RECOVERY PROGRAMME......Page 87 THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF MARSHALL AID......Page 89 MARSHALL AID AS POLITICAL LEVERAGE......Page 104 THE MONNET PLAN AND FRENCH AND GERMAN RECONSTRUCTION......Page 114 THE FRENCH AND GERMAN ECONOMIES IN THE LONDON CONFERENCE......Page 125 V THE DEPOLITICIZATION OF THE OEEC......Page 146 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE OEEC......Page 149 THE INTOLERABLE BURDEN......Page 155 THE COLLAPSE OF THE OEEC......Page 167 VI FOREIGN TRADE AND PAYMENTS AND EUROPEAN RECONSTRUCTION......Page 180 MULTILATERAL AND BILATERAL TRADE IN WESTERN EUROPE......Page 184 THE POST-WAR PATTERN OF WESTERN EUROPE’S TRADE......Page 188 VII THE ADVENT OF THE CUSTOMS UNION......Page 196 BRITAIN AND THE CUSTOMS UNION......Page 198 FRANCE AND THE CUSTOMS UNION......Page 210 VIII PAYMENTS AGREEMENTS AND POLICIES IN WESTERN EUROPE 1946–9......Page 215 TRADE AND PAYMENTS AGREEMENTS IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1946–9......Page 216 ONE WESTERN WORLD, OR TWO?......Page 232 IX DEVALUATION AND THE SEARCH FOR A NEW AMERICAN POLICY......Page 235 THE TRADE LIBERALIZATION PROGRAMME AND THE AMERICAN PAYMENTS PROPOSALS......Page 248 FINEBEL......Page 253 UNISCAN......Page 261 THE EUROPEAN PAYMENTS UNION......Page 264 XI THE 1949 RECESSION AND THE DIVERGENCE OF BRITAIN AND LITTLE EUROPE......Page 276 THE AMERICAN RECESSION AND THE BRITISH AND WESTERN EUROPEAN ECONOMIES......Page 278 THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS OF LITTLE EUROPE......Page 287 PLANS AND REALITIES IN WESTERN EUROPE’S STEEL INDUSTRY......Page 297 COMPARATIVE PROSPECTS OF THE FRENCH AND GERMAN STEEL INDUSTRIES......Page 304 THE POLITICAL ORIGINS OF THE SCHUMAN PLAN......Page 311 THE SCHUMAN PLAN AND ITS RECEPTION......Page 323 THE EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY......Page 332 THE IMPACT OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION......Page 343 POST-WAR AGRICULTURE IN WESTERN EUROPE......Page 354 THE ORIGINS OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY......Page 359 THE ARGUMENT OF THE BOOK......Page 374 RECONSTRUCTION AND THE GREAT BOOM......Page 384 RECONSTRUCTION AND INTEGRATION......Page 395 METHOD OF REFERRING TO DOCUMENTS......Page 404 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS AND STATISTICAL SOURCES......Page 406 NON-OFFICIAL AND SECONDARY PUBLICATIONS......Page 410 WORKS PUBLISHED SINCE THE COMPLETION OF THE HARDBACK EDITION......Page 416 INDEX......Page 418 The remarkable success and duration of the economic and political reconstruction of Western Europe after the Second World War have exercised a generation of historians. Few could have predicted, in 1945, that the shattered nations of Western Europe were on the brink of one of the most prosperous and creditable periods of their history; but the explanations given for the significance of individual nation-states' success have been contradictory.In this comprehensive survey Professor Milward has drawn on newly-released archival sources from six countries, and material from eleven more, to provide an analysis of the European reconstruction and the origins of the Great Boom. He argues that success came about partly because Western Europe created its own pattern of institutionalized, economic interdependence which allowed the separate domestic plans of individual countries to flourish; and he is also able to analyse the relationship of the greater and lesser states in this new pattern.The new archival evidence provided in the book overturns widely-held views about the nature and effects of individual aspects of the settlements such as Marshall Aid, the OEEC, the European Payments Union, the Schuman Plan and Bretton Woods. Te role of the Marshall Plan, for example, is challenged in a sustained comparison between the professed objectives of policy and the underlying realities of both policy and economic results, which has fundamental implications for our diplomatic, economic and political understanding of the period.Professor Milward's text is refreshingly clear and fully documented with tables, annotated footnotes and bibliography. It is the first comprehensive study of a subject which is the focus of much academic research, and a major work of scholarship which sets new standards for the interpretation of the immediate post-war years. `This is an indispensable book for anyone who wishes to be able to discuss intelligently the reshaping of Europe after the war.' |I Times Higher Education Supplement