Postwar Europe - A Very Short Introduction

The Second World War was the most destructive conflict in history. This Very Short Introduction explores the conditions in Europe at the end of the war, how political life took shape, how European societies and economies were rebuilt, the Cold War, the course and consequences of the end of empire, and European cultural life.

List of contents

• The End of the Second World War in Europe


• Life after Death: Societies of Survivors


• New Politics - East and West


• Building New Societies


• From Scarcity to Plenty


• The Cold War, Nationalism and the Transformation of European Politics


• Postwar Europe and the 'Third World'


• Postwar Cultures


• When Did the Postwar Era End?

About the author

Richard Bessel is Emeritus Professor of History at York. He is the author of numerous books including Life in the Third Reich (2001) and Germany after the First World War (1993). Alongside Claudia B. Haake, Bessel co-edited Removing Peoples: Forced Removal in the Modern World (2011).

Summary

The Second World War was the most destructive conflict in history. This Very Short Introduction explores the conditions in Europe at the end of the war, how political life took shape, how European societies and economies were rebuilt, the Cold War, the course and consequences of the end of empire, and European cultural life.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Bessel, Richard (Professor of Twentieth Century Hi Bessel, Bessel Richard
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 28.08.2025
• EAN: 9780198851660
• ISBN: 978-0-19-885166-0
• No. of pages: 176
• Series: Very Short Introductions
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, Social and cultural history, The Cold War, Cold wars and proxy conflicts, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / General