European Modern History

This story in this is book is about one of the most dynamic entrepreneurs in modern French history. The book examines Pierre-François Tubeuf's contribution to the development of industry in France. The book explores the relationship between seigneurial, proto-industrial, and modern forms of capitalism in the Cévennes region of south-eastern France in the 18th century, and demonstrates the international scope of proto-industrialization. It unravels the complex problems associated with the impact of the French Revolution on the processes of modern French capitalism, and traces the responses of a wide variety of individuals, including Tubeuf and his greatest rival, the Maréchal de Castries. The book examines the epic struggle of these two powerful men for control of the rich coal mines of the region, and their legacy to succeeding generations.

This is the first study of the economic relationship between Nazi Germany and Franco's Spain, between the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Second World War. It demonstrates how, during the Spanish Civil War, the Nazi regime helped General Franco to victory, but at the same time tried to turn Spain into an economic colony. Despite the involved techniques employed by the Nazis to control German trade with Spain—and determined efforts to influence the Spanish mining industry—the Germans were never able to intimidate Franco into completely surrendering control of his national assets. The German situation was weakened in September 1939, when the war against Britain and France effectively cut Spain off from the Third Reich. This book is based on documents in German and Spanish as well as British and American archives.

The great depression of the inter-war years was the most profound shock ever to strike the world economy, and is widely held to have led directly to the collapse of parliamentary democracy in many countries. This study of Greece in the period between the two world wars, however, demonstrates that there was no simple correlation between economic and political crisis. How was an underdeveloped country such as Greece able to recover so fast from this unprecedented economic crisis? This book examines the complex processes involved, basing analysis on detailed statistical research. Recovery, like crisis, threatened prevailing notions of the relationship between state and society, and undermined traditional ruling elites.

This book examines the nature of the German economy in the 1930s and during World War II. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 he had two aims for the economy: a rapid recovery from the depths of the Great Slump and the creation of a vast economic foundation for Germany's renewed bid for world power. He wanted to turn Germany into a military superpower in the 1940s. These eleven chapters explore the tension between Hitler's vision of an armed economy and the reality of German economic and social life. The book argues that the German economy was much less crisis-ridden in 1939 than its enemies supposed, and that Hitler, far from limiting his war effort, tried to mobilise the economy for ‘total war’ from 1939 onwards. Only the poor organisation of the Nazi state and the interference of the military prevented higher levels of military output. Many of these chapters challenge the accepted view of the Third Reich. The book reflects on the issues they raise, and the ways in which the subject is changing.