Economic history of Europe

The history of Europe in the twentieth century can be compared to a large jigsaw puzzle. The picture that will finally emerge will show wars, uneasy peace, crises, depression, nation-ideologies, and power blocs. The pieces of political history will not form the picture alone without the pieces of economic history, yet their similarities will confuse many.
This volume isolates economic history, but its framework follows and illuminates political history. The editors focus on the major industrial countries-Britain, France,Germany, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, Italy-between World War I
and the mid-1950's.
Through public documents-speeches, legislation, international agreements, official inquiries--the reader of this volume can follow the postwar crisis, with inflation, war debt, chaos in eastern Europe, attempts at land reform and fiscal reform. The story continues into the recovery and stagnation of the late 1920's, Soviet economic policy, the Depression, and the emergence of the economics of Fascism. The final sections deal with World War II and the new Europe that emerged from it.