The Resistance in Western Europe, 1940-1945

Olivier Wieviorka is professor of history at the École normale supérieure de Paris-Saclay. His books in English include The French Resistance (2016), also translated by Jane Marie Todd.Robert O. Paxton is Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Columbia University. His books include Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order (Columbia, revised edition, 2001).Jane Marie Todd (1957¿2021) translated more than ninety books for university presses and art museums, including Claude Lévi-Strauss¿s We Are All Cannibals (Columbia, 2016).

The Resistance in Western Europe, 1940-1945 is a sweeping analytical history of the underground anti-Nazi forces during World War II. Examining clandestine organizations in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy, Olivier Wieviorka sheds new light on the factors that shaped the resistance and its place in the grand scheme of Anglo-American military strategy. While national actors played a leading role in fomenting resistance, British and American intelligence services and propaganda as well as financial, material, and logistical support were crucial to its activities and growth. Wieviorka illuminates the policies of governments in exile and resistance actors regarding cooperation with the British and Americans, pointing to the persistence of national self-interest and long-standing historical tensions. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources and bringing together the political, diplomatic, and military dimensions of the conflict, this book is the first account of the resistance on a continental scale and from a trans-European perspective.

Foreword, by Robert O. PaxtonList of MapsList of AbbreviationsPrelude: A Glowing Picture1. Reinventing a Coalition2. Set Europe Ablaze!3. Internecine Struggles4. Ententes Cordiales?5. Legitimacy at Stake6. The Dual Shock of 1941 and Its Consequences7. Coming of Age8. Developments9. Compulsory Labor: An Opportunity or a Curse?10. Mixed Results11. Taking Up Arms12. Propaganda13. Cadres14. Minor Maneuvers, Major Policies15. Italian Complexities16. Planning for Liberation17. Plans and Instructions18. Political Liberation19. Action!20. Peripheries21. Order or Chaos?EpilogueAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex