University of Virginia Library

Shattered and Divided

At the conclusion of World War II, Germany
was physically shattered and divided, morally
isolated, and utterly dependent. Not only had
German nationalism been weakened, it seemed
as if its backbone and had been broken. If
however Germany was an "indubitable loser,"
France was a "dubious winner." The political
divisions of the 1930's, the rapid military
collapse of the French armies, liberation by an
extra-European powers left France humiliated
and unwilling to exalt the nation as the
ultimate value. Despite these humiliations, however,
French national consciousness emerged
from the war strengthened. Common misfortunes
had restored and strengthened the French
people's consciousness of a common identity.
Moreover, the existence of its colonies left the
French, unlike the Germans, on the stage of
world politics and gave it an extended field for
the reconstruction of its pride. National renovation
and what it conceived as the extension of
French culture and civilization in the third
world gave the French a sense of national
mission. Though temporarily humiliated and
shattered, France was seen by its leaders as still
a charter member of that exclusive club, the
great powers - a fact which is felt was
institutionalized by its status as a permanent
member of the UN security Council and the
4-power Council of Ministers. Like the United
Kingdom, and unlike Germany. France conceived
itself as a world power. Unlike the
United Kingdom, and like Germany, however,
defeat and liberation convinced the French that
the national strength must be based on forms of
European cooperation more intimate than heretofore
conceived. Last of all, France had within
its midst a nationalist per excellence, the man
who had striven to make the liberation French
as well as Anglo-American and who had given
what unity there was to the resistance movement
- General Charles de Gaulle.

Given these differences in national
situations and perspectives, it seems clear that
France and Germany could, and indeed, did
define their position toward the problems of
Europe and the existence of the two superpowers
in significantly different terms. In
simple form, The existence of a divided Europe
and a bipolar world gave rise to three questions:
How shall Europe be secured? How shall
Europe be restored economically and politically
in its individual parts? How shall Europe be
united?