The Reconstruction of Western Europe 1945-1951
Economic History Series

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Language: English

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The Reconstruction of Western Europe 1945-1951
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The reconstruction of western europe 1945-1951
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· 15.6x23.4 cm · Hardback

First Published in 2005. 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. The 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.

CONTENTS List of figures viii List of tables ix Preface xv List of abbreviations and conventions xx I the crisis of 1947 1 The nature of the economic crisis 5 Domestic economic crises 7 The international economic crisis 19 The collapse of Bretton Woods 43 II the committee of european economic co-operation 56 The intentions of the Marshall Plan 56 Creating the European organization 61 The Committee of European Economic Co-operation 69 III THE EUROPEAN RECOVERY PROGRAMME 90 The economic effects of Marshall Aid 92 Marshall Aid as political leverage 113 IV FRANCE AND THE CONTROL OF GERMAN RESOURCES 126 The Monnet Plan and French and German reconstruction 126 The French and German economies in the London conference 141 V the depoliticization of the oeec 168 The constitution of the OEEC 172 The intolerable burden 180 The collapse of the OEEC 195 VI foreign trade and payments and european reconstruction 212 Multilateral and bilateral trade in Western Europe 217 The post -war pattern of Western Europe’s trade 223 VII the advent of the customs union 232 Britain and the customs union 235 France and the customs union 250 VIII payments agreements and policies in western europe, 1946–9 256 Trade and payments agreements in western Europe, 1946–9 258 One western world, or two? 278 IX devaluation and the search for a new american policy 282 X the european payments union 299 The trade liberalization programme and the American payments proposals 299 Finebel 306 Uniscan 316 The European Payments Union 320 XI the 1949 recession and the divergence of britain and little europe 335 The American recession and the British and Western European economies 339 The economic foundations of Little Europe 351 XII the schuman plan 362 Plans and realities in Western Europe’s steel industry 362 Comparative prospects of the French and German steel industries 371 The political origins of the Schuman Plan 380 The Schuman Plan and its reception 397 The European Coal and Steel Community 407 XIII towards the common market 421 The impact of trade liberalization 421 Post-war agriculture in Western Europe 435 The origins of the Common Agricultural Policy 443 XIV conclusions 462 The argument of the book 462 Reconstruction and the great boom 477 Reconstruction and integration 491 Appendix 503 Bibliography 505 Index 521
Alan S. Milward