This collection of essays offers new insights into the aftermath of the Second World War. Rather than treating the years 1945 to 1949 as mere precursors of the Cold War, it takes them to be a crucial period in the reconstruction of European states and the re-modeling of European societies. Contributors explore key arenas, such as the revival of material production, the re-foundation of the state, its legitimacy and its monopoly of armed force, the legacies of empire, the treatment of dislocated populations and refugees, and the role of international organisations. As a result, the volume sets European reconstruction in a genuinely global framework for the first time. This supplement was edited by Mark Mazower, Jessica Reinisch, and David Feldman.