| This thesis challenges the predominant narrative that European integration was predominantly a process that took place after 1945. The effects of the Franco-German Armistice of June 1940 are examined, most importantly the consequent reorientation of French economic and geopolitical strategies. The Armistice caused Great Britain to turn from the European continent towards the United States, while France was forced, by both economic and political considerations, to engage in more intensive cooperation with Germany. This economic cooperation was supported by the institutions of the French state during the war, whose staff and priorities would be predominantly maintained in the postwar period and contribute to the construction of the European Coal and Steel Community, the precursor to the European Union. The decisive orientation of France towards Europe and the Franco-German economic cooperation that would form the basis of the EU can thus be traced beyond 1945 to the summer of 1940. |
