Publisher's Synopsis
This volume analyses and debates some of the important issues of the European economy in the interwar period against the uncertain international political and economic background of the period. Topics covered include the legacy of the peace settlements, inflation, trade and reconstruction, international lending, depression and recovery, the position of eastern and central Europe and the progress of the peripheral nations. - - The interwar period witnessed the political and economic disintegration of Europe. While war and depression were partly responsible for the loss of EuropeÆs former pre-eminence, the author contends that the legacy of the peace settlement and the postwar policy mistakes of the allied powers also had an important bearing on EuropeÆs decline. The peace treaties raised more problems than they solved, while the Allies failed to devise an adequate programme of economic and financial reconstruction to ensure the viability of the new Europe. Hence, national sovereignty rather than cooperation dominated the scene which weakened the already divided continent and left it vulnerable to the designs of a predator power.
