ABSTRACT
Within two decades of 1940 the events of that spring already seemed to belong to another era. 2 This last bout in а decades-long European conflict was separated from the postwar era Ьу the global conflagration of 1941-45 and Ьу the Cold War confrontation oftwo vast superpowers, each ofwhich overshadowed the participants in the "last European war" (to borrow the tide ofJohn Lukacs' history оfitЗ). Ву the end ofthe 1950s, with Germany divided between East and West and with West Germany and France firmly engaged оп the path of reconciliation and cooperation, the likelihood of renewed conflict between these historic enemies had receded.
