The stability of postwar Europe is usually depicted as resulting from solid Franco-German collaboration but, during the Cold War, there were significant stresses on the relationship. Europe was the buffer zone between the US and Russia, and the Americans wanted the continent to have a European Army, or at least strong national militaries, to counter the Soviet threat. France, however, was distracted by war in Indo-China, wary of a rearmed Germany and insulted by American pressure. In 1951 Alexander Werth laid out these problems in the magazine and showed how Charles de Gaulle had again read the mood of France and decided to dig in his heels.
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