French Politics After WWII

We often think of WWII and the battles and heroes we see in movies, we  never think of the civilians who have to rebuild and the rebuilding of France after WWII, in particular, should be studied as one the most successful post-war rebuilding efforts in history. This happened because of a few reasons. First, those in control of France prior to German occupation were lost  to the war and those who remained were excluded from rebuilding efforts due to their poor wartime records. That left a younger group of elites who were united for French Liberation. Second, France narrowly escaped being governed by the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) when Eisenhower abandoned his plan to establish this entity at the last minute. Lastly, French working class and intellectuals united to place national interest above their individual interests. This "national imperative" persists for several years and continues to override the interests of the elite few.  

 

Rebuilding France was a "bricolage," a reconstruction with a diverse range of available things, that required the coming together of diverse people and acknowledging that building a nation is  not something that happens on a 'green-field site' but rather a 'brown-field-site' where exiting materials provide valuable building blocks.