Edward R. Tannenbaum

French Scholarship in Modern European History: New Developments since 1945

FRANCE was demobilized and technically at peace from July 1940 to August 1944. French historians, however, were isolated from the world outside occupied Europe. The Vichy regime and the German occupation authorities enforced certain specific policies that limited historical scholarship, such as censorship of books and the press, occasional interference in university administrative policy, and sporadic deportations. In addition, many scholarly journals suspended publication (though the Revue historique continued to appear on a reduced scale), travel within the country was often difficult, and funds and facilities for research were limited. A few noteworthy general works were published during this period, but numerous scholars, because of their isolation, became preoccupied with local history of various kinds. During the Allied reconquest of Europe several million books and manuscripts were lost when libraries and archives in northern and northeastern France were wholly or partially destroyed.2 Many of the gaps were filled, however, by 1948. The National Library restored a large number of damaged manuscripts, the Sorbonne contributed thousands of books to start a new library at the University of Caen, and an organization created by the Allied ministers of education replaced many English books and periodicals. By 1949 most of the prewar French journals were appearing again. Those that did not resume publication were replaced by new ones of an increasingly diversified nature, ranging in emphasis from political and institutional