MACMILLAN Forging Europe: Industrial Organisation in France, 1940–1952 (Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World)

This book is a detailed and original look at the radical reorganisation of French heavy industry in the turbulent period between the establishment of the Vichy regime in 1940 and the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the forerunner to the European Union, in 1952.  By studying institutions ranging from Vichy’s Organisation Committees to Jean Monnet’s Commissariat Général du Plan (CGP), Luc-André Brunet challenges existing narratives and reveals significant continuities from Vichy to post-war initiatives such as the Monnet Plan and the ECSC.  Based on extensive multi-archival research, this book sheds important new light on economic collaboration and resistance in Vichy, the post-war revival of the French economy, and the origins of European integration. Review “The book has amply demonstrated the central thesis of Vichy’s transitional influence, not out of ideological adherence but sheer necessity. This is a work that is worth reading.” (Michael B. Miller, H-France Review, Vol. 19 (216), October, 2019) “The author provides nuanced analysis and detailed coverage that will prove of considerable interest to scholars of France’s wartime economic history. … This work provides a valuable insight into the workings of a significant, and long neglected, aspect of France’s wartime past.” (Thomas Beaumont, French History, Vol. 33 (2), 2019) Review “With this sophisticated, insightful, persuasive analysis of the various legacies (people, institutions, practices) that Vichy’s New Industrial Order bequeathed to France's postwar planning, Luc-André Brunet casts new light on the peculiar mix of continuity and change that shaped Europe's reconstruction, on the technocratic culture that engineered European integration, and on long-term trends in Franco-German industrial interconnectedness.” (Federico Romero, Professor of History of Post-War European Cooperation and Integration, European University Institute, Florence, Italy) “Well-written, clearly argued and founded on extensive primary research, this is an important book. It locates French post-war economic organisation, industrial leadership and relations with Europe in a timeframe that stretches across the war and occupation. It demonstrates the long-term influence of institutions and practices that originated under the Vichy regime.  Brunet’s work will be of interest to a wide range of scholars – including those who work on the history of modern capitalism and the integration of Europe, as well as those with a more specific focus on France in, and around, the Second World War.” (Richard Vinen, Professor of History, King's College London, UK) “Based on recently uncovered records of the organization committees for the coal and steel industries set up under Vichy, Brunet offers new evidence of the links between Vichy and the Fourth Republic. His excellent book presents a convincing challenge to the widespread belief that European integration emerged from the resistance to Nazi Germany’s domination of Europe.” (Frances Lynch, Reader in History, University of Westminster, UK) Review   From the Back Cover This book is a detailed and original look at the radical reorganisation of French heavy industry in the turbulent period between the establishment of the Vichy regime in 1940 and the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the forerunner to the European Union, in 1952.  By studying institutions ranging from Vichy’s Organisation Committees to Jean Monnet’s Commissariat Général du Plan (CGP), Luc-André Brunet challenges existing narratives and reveals significant continuities from Vichy to post-war initiatives such as the Monnet Plan and the ECSC.  Based on extensive multi-archival research, this book sheds important new light on economic collaboration and resistance in Vichy, the post-war revival of the French economy, and the origins of European integration. About the