Europe, 1945 to the Present

by Winks, Robin W.; Talbott, John E.

• ISBN13: 9780195156928
• ISBN10: 0195156927
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This forthcoming volume will join Oxford University Press's successful series of compact, accessible, and insightful guides covering the general history of Europe from ancient times to the present. Each book in the series offers a clear outline of political history alongside discussions of social and cultural issues; an authoritative narrative that takes the latest historical interpretations into account; support for many different lecture and discussion formats; and chapter summaries, an end-of-book chronology, detailed maps, numerous illustrations, and text boxes with primary source excerpts.

Table of Contents

Maps and Boxes	vii
Preface	ix
Europe in a Bipolar World	1	(24)
A Continent in Ruins	1	(3)
The Cold War Breaks Out	4	(4)
The United States Pursues a Policy of Containment	8	(7)
Restlessness in the Soviet Bloc, 1948--1968	15	(5)
Did a Nuclear Balance Create a Nuclear Peace?	20	(2)
Summary	22	(3)
The Loss of European Empire	25	(23)
The Vasco da Gama Era	25	(1)
The French War in Indochina	26	(4)
The French War in Algeria	30	(6)
Britain Leaves India	36	(2)
The Netherlands Yields in Indonesia	38	(1)
Oil Transforms the Middle East	39	(3)
The Creation of Israel---The Suez Crisis---Arab-Israeli Conflicts
The Scramble for Africa	42	(3)
Exploiting the Congo---Violence Wracks the Congo
Peaceful Transitions from European Rule	45	(1)
Summary	46	(2)
Western Europe	48	(24)
Britain from Postwar Social Reform Through the Thatcher Revolution to Tony Blair's New Labour Party	48	(5)
France from Defeat in World War II to Leadership of the European Union	53	(4)
Germany from Disunion to Reunification	57	(4)
Italy Pursues Political Stability	61	(2)
The Vatican Faces the Winds of Change
The Low Countries, Spain, and Greece	63	(1)
Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Icelanders, and Finns: Similarity and Difference Among the Scandinavians	64	(1)
Toward a European Union	65	(5)
Summary	70	(2)
The Collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union	72	(17)
The Decline of Marxist Ideology	72	(5)
The Soviet Thaw	77	(1)
The Soviet Quagmire in Afghanistan	78	(2)
The Gorbachev Era	80	(2)
The Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Bloc	82	(3)
The End of the Soviet Union	85	(2)
The Disintegration of Yugoslavia	87	(1)
Summary	88	(1)
Arts and Sciences	89	(29)
The Revolution in Physics	89	(4)
The Revolution in Biology	93	(4)
Modern and Postmodern Architecture	97	(4)
After Modern Art	101	(2)
History, Fiction, Film, and Social Criticism After 1945	103	(8)
Popular Music from 45 RPM to I-Pod	111	(3)
Postmodern Literary Theory	114	(2)
Summary	116	(2)
Europe Since 9/11	118	(30)
Globalization	118	(9)
9/11	127	(5)
The War in Afghanistan	132	(2)
The Crisis over Iraq	134	(7)
The Iraq War---Al Qaeda Strikes in Europe
The Enlargement of the European Union	141	(4)
Europe's Demographic Prospects	145	(1)
Summary	146	(2)
Suggested Readings	148	(15)
Index	163