1. Europe at war’s end
Postwar Europe

2. A paradox and a puzzle
Europe experiences destruction on a scale far greater than World War I
60 million dead
Large numbers uprooted or displaced
Huge swaths of the continent ravaged
Cities bombed & destroyed
Land ruined
Manufacturing and agricultural capacity curtailed…

3. Nevertheless: Europe manages to emerge from WWII into
a half century of relative peace and
in some places (the west), unprecedented affluence
A continent which had been the epi-centre of two word wars ends up
Politically more unified
With large areas in which war is unthinkable
A large number of countries, now EU member-states
How and why was this possible?

4. Possible explanations:
Planning for postwar period
Construction of new international institutions
New elán
Spirit of cooperation among resistance fighters
Determination not to go back to dirty ’30s
US involvement
Cold War & the way in which it defined & limited choices and options

5. However, Not all wartime plans are implemented or turn out as intended
Treatment of Germany very different than originally intended in Morganthau Plan or JCS 1047
UN does not operate as intended
New elán & spirit of cooperation often dissipate – both domestically & in international politics
Outbreak of Cold War frames different choices & opportunities for visionaries and pragmatics
These make a difference

6. Dealing with Germany
Division into occupation zones, but no intention to partition
French & Soviet demands for reparations
Intent to de-nazify
But immediate problem – providing food & shelter not only for local populations but large numbers of people displaced by boundary shifts and ‘ethnic cleansing’ going on in Eastern Europe

7. Allied powers:
Increasingly divided, with Americans & British & to a lesser extent French on one side, Soviets on the other
End up providing aid rather than extracting reparations
Forced to work through German bureaucracy
Unable or unwilling to carry out de-Nazification as thoroughly as planned
Nuremberg Trials net a few leaders
End up licensing parties in two separate zones and in short order, two Germanies

8. West Germany British & American & later French zones merged
Province re-established, with new boundaries
Parties whose leaders were free (or freer) of Nazi connections licensed:
Social Democrats (SPD)
Christian Democrats (CDU) – built on the base of the Catholic Party (Zentrum)
Free Democrats (FDP)
Invited to draw up a new constitution
End up dominating politics in Federal Republic of Germany through the 1980s

9. Soviet Zone Increasingly separate –
Though free movement via Berlin until construction of Berlin Wall in 1961
Socialists and Communists unified in Socialist Unity Party (SED)
Soviet-style party-state system established

10. Central and Eastern Europe:
Territories occupied by Red Army
Socialist & Communist Parties encouraged to join in popular front governments
Often with Communists in key ministries, e.g.
Interior – controlling the police
Agriculture – controlling land distribution
Unification of Socialists & Communists encouraged -- e.g. Poland, E. Germany..
Opponents marginalized or arrested
Sometimes elections rigged…
Communist governments entrenched by 1948

11. Western Europe
Where possible, previous systems re-established, governments in exile return
politics resumes, albeit with different coalitions in office
e.g. Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway…
In France & Italy, new constitutions are drafted
In both instances, previous regimes discredited and toppled

12. France
3rd Republic terminated with invasion, occupation, establishment of the Vichy Republic in south
Liberation in summer 1944
Collaborators punished
Constitutional debate among
Resistance forces, especially
Communists (27%)
Socialists (~25%)
MRP (Christian Democrats, also 25%)
General De Gaulle – leader of the Free French Army & head of provisional government

13. The debate: De Gaulle favours a presidential republic:
in his view, the French people need a president who can be above politics & formulate what the people want
Parties favour a return to a parliamentary or assembly-dominated regime
Parties win, at least temporarily:
4th Republic established, with some attempt to provide stronger cabinets
De Gaulle resigns & retires from politics
Consensus which made a tripartite coalition possible breaks down:
Communists expelled from government in 1947
Socialists split with MRP over state support for Catholic schools (early 1950s)

14. Italy Mussolini toppled in 1943 Germany occupies
Liberation in slow degrees,
At war’s end, a new configuration of political forces:
RK Church casts its lot with democracy
Allows the formation of a Christian Democratic Party
Initially, tripartite coalition of Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats

15. 1948 Constitution Series of compromises With outbreak of the Cold War
position of the Church recognized,
along with positive goals – full employment – of Socialists and Communists
Explicitly anti-Fascist
Yet bureaucracy & judiciary were not purged
With outbreak of the Cold War
Communists and Socialists leave coalition
Italy governed by a series of Christian Democratic-led multiparty coalitions, average duration of one year
Communists excluded at national level until 1990s

16. Netherlands:
As elsewhere, war experience facilitates communication among rivals groups & determination to bring about change
Break down divisions among Catholics, Calvinists, Socialists -- - historically separate
Once war is over, old divisions reassert themselves, but greater willingness to cooperate between Catholics & Socialists…parties ally in postwar reconstruction & building of welfare state

17. Bottom line:
In Western Europe, basis laid for re-establishment of liberal democracy
In Central & Eastern Europe, imposition of Communist party-state systems,
Division of Europe (Churchill’s iron curtain) facilitates reconstruction, institution-building & politics of affluence which would ensue
But economic reconstruction as important as political reconstruction or restoration