The Recovery and the Reinvention of Europe after WWII

Reminiscent of the cultural campaign of the French Revolutionaries of 1789, the multi-media extravaganza orchestrated after WWII by the governments of Western Europe, in collaboration with the United States, re-established Europe as the center of Civilization and the vanguard of world history.  In this paper I will explore The Recovery as the foundational event that was defined, enacted and broadcast between 1948 and 1952, and that allowed for this much-needed re-narration of Europe's past, present, and future. Focusing primarily on the liberal tale of origins sifted from the rubble in West Germany, I will briefly discuss the "new age of Enlightenment" and the "invisible revolution" conjured in France to demonstrate the peculiarities of national recoveries as well as their commonalities, since both were essential to the successful resurrection of Europe made possible by The Recovery.