Postwar - A History of Europe Since 1945 (Tony Judt, 2005)

This book is remarkably useful.

I am captivated by European history in general - but never had much of an interest in anything following WWII.  I think this is because I lived through most of this history - it didn't seem as exotic or interesting.  What a mistaken view.

Judt gave me all sorts of information and ideas.  This book - 900 pages - is so thoroughly dog-eared that I'm going to have to go through it and fix things as best I can before returning it to the library.  (That is, after I buy a copy so I can put those dog-ears into my own copy.)

There are so many things going on - and much of this is helpful in interpreting European developments (including, among others, today's headlines about the troubles in the Euro-zone).

1.  When read about in the context of the post-war doings, I'm struck with the thought that the extent of the 20th century carnage in Europe was even greater than I've imagined.  No wonder Europeans were not interested in going back to war, focused on economic union, etc.  Especially with the US providing a security blanket and the USSR (not to mention Germany itself) providing a common threat.  The 30-year war (1914-1945) was devastating, beyond belief.

2.  As part of the carnage - minority populations within states often had been exterminated, migrated away, swapped with other states - the diversity within the European states was a fraction of what had existed in 1900.  What an odd thought - this probably assisted stability in the immediate postwar years  Exceptions:  states like Yugoslavia and elsewhere in the Balkans, where at-odds populations still clustered together.  (Of course new minorities (Islamic) have since arrived throughout Europe.)

3.  The extent of collaboration with the Nazis was much greater than the official narratives suggested.  France, the Netherlands, Norway - go through the list - if collaborators were disqualified, the countries couldn't have operated post-war.  There was conscious forgetting - necessary to move forward.  But created backlashes later, slowly leading to generally-helpful public recognition of what went on.  This story is still unfolding.

4.  Particularly true (and necessary) in Germany itself - conscious forgetting ruled the day.  Former Nazis or Nazi sympathizers continued to run the country for the most part, with a few surviving Nazi opponents also involved.

(I will say it's difficult to be terribly judgmental as to the collaborators - who can say what that situation was like?  Pushing back was generally futile, not to mention dangerous to one's health - and to the health of one's family and townspeople.  How did people cope??)

5.  Germany's economic importance to postwar Europe was recognized immediately - accompanied by continuing fear of Germany, and fear that it would backslide into aggression.  No one admitted it publicly, but both East and West ended up preferring the split Germany that emerged.

6.  The social bargain in England - Beveridge plan - seeking security and peace at home through the state taking over functions - predictable difficult results - then Thatcherism - backlash - now facing a welfare state expense load with less dynamic economy, culture of dependence and entitlement.

The people that endured wars and rebuilt Europe in miraculous manner - now seem entirely drained of initiative.

7.  A version of the England story all over Europe - interesting implications for the US as we debate how far to go with the welfare state.

8.  The various pacts that led to the European Union.  Bribing farmers to reach a deal (especially in France) - a critical problem even today.  Diminishing voter interest nowadays - too disconnected from Brussels bureaucrats.  Concerns about common currency for weak countries expressed from the very beginning (coming home to roost now).

9.  Communism hanging on in the East - just an amazing set of stories.  How could countries be frozen in time like this?  (I say this, yet there are frozen-in-time, backward dictatorships all over the world, to this day.)

10.  Communism finally unmasked even to its sympathizers - easy to see why no one believes in it (except on college campuses). The fall of Communism - almost unbelievable to recall how a terrifying power structure basically dropped overnight like the proverbial house of cards. 

11.  Owning up to what happened with the Jews seemed to be particularly difficult - many countries tried to fold the Jewish extermination into the larger national stories of mistreatment at Nazi hands (which stories were indeed quite awful in their own right).  But the Jewish extermination was truly different both qualitatively and quantitatively - and often assisted (or even led) by local populations rather than the Nazis.  Very belated recognition; I think this helps explain why the topic receives so much attention today - to the point of overload for some - it was hidden/ignored for so long.

The amazingly quick economic recovery; the end of European wars; notwithstanding plenty of problems and challenges, the post-war story is pretty impressive.

Judt is extremely readable - and covering this much territory over so many years had to be a daunting task.  I feel he is pretty balanced, though I don't know the subject matter well enough to judge.  He does take several gratuitous shots at GW Bush toward the end of the narrative which probably illuminates his politics. 

I liked this, a lot.