Europe's Troubled Peace

1945 to the Present

Buchanan, Tom

Blackwell History of Europe

2. Edition January 2012
332 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-0-470-65578-8

John Wiley & Sons

Sample Chapter

Short Description

This revised edition offers an integrated overview of the history of Europe, now extended to cover the period from the end of World War II to the present. The book reflects on the wider process of decolonization as it affects European countries dealing with issues of immigration, ethnic tension, and changing ideas about the very nature of European culture and society. A new final chapter assesses the role of Europe within the wider contemporary world, the financial crisis and the related crisis in European integration, the impact of the "War on Terror" on Europe, and the redefinition of Europe following EU enlargement.

Further versions

This revised second edition now extends to the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, covering the financial crisis and the related crisis in European integration, the impact of the "War on Terror" on Europe, and the redefinition of Europe following EU enlargement.
* Thoroughly revised and expanded, this integrated history of Europe now covers the end of the Second World War up to the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century
* Includes new sections on immigration and ethnicity in Europe after the Cold War, and the role of historical memory in contemporary Europe
* A final new chapter assesses the role of Europe within the wider world of the twenty-first century, the financial crisis and the related crisis in European integration, the impact of the "War on Terror" on Europe, and the redefinition of Europe following EU enlargement
* Covers the history of central and eastern Europe in depth, as well as that of Western Europe
* Discusses in detail the impact of the Cold War across the continent

Table of Contents
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Europe's Troubles
1. The War and its Legacy
2. Europe between the Powers, 1945-1953
3. Restoration, Reconstruction and Revolution: Europe, 1945-1950
4. Consolidating Western Europe, 1950-1963
5. Western Europe in the 1960s
6. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, from 1953 to the 1970s
7. Western Europe in the 1970s: Downturn and Détente
8. Western Europe in the 1980s: The Era of Thatcher, Mitterrand and Kohl
9. European Integration: From Rome to Maastricht, 1957-1992
10. The Fall of the Communist Regimes: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1980-1991
11. Europe after the Cold War
12. Europe in the new millennium

Tom Buchanan is Reader in Modern History & Politics at Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education, where he is Director of Studies in History and Politics. He has published extensively on the relationship between Britain and the Spanish Civil War. He is currently completing a major book on China and the British Left, 1925-1976. His other research interests include the history of Amnesty International.

T. Buchanan, University of Oxford, UK