The Struggle for Europe

The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945-2002

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"William Hitchcock's sweeping new survey fills a critical gap in the writing on postwar Europe. The Struggle for Europe starts by assessing the impact of World War II on European politics and society and the foundations of Europe's extraordinary economic recovery. It explores the roles of the United States and the Soviet Union in shaping the postwar settlement and shows how Europeans often resisted and defied superpower dictates. In examining Cold War politics between 1945 and 1989, Hitchcock reveals the serious challenges mounted to the super-powers by such European leaders as Charles de Gaulle, Willy Brandt, and Margaret Thatcher. The book examines the fall of Communism as an ideology and lays out the long-term factors that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Concluding chapters show that Europe has made great strides in fulfilling the promise of economic and political union but has yet to overcome the troubling legacy of racial, ethnic, and national antagonism."--BOOK JACKET.