The story of European Unification is fascinating. In 1950, two sworn enemies-France and Germany-decide to seek reconciliation and European federal unity. As a first step, they created the European Coal and Steel Community together with Italy and the Benelux countries. The fathers of this new Europe were visionary persons, but do today`s students and scholars know who Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi or Willem Beyen were and what they stood for? The division of Europe between a Soviet dominated East and a Euro-Atlantic West is no more. This volume not only tells a success story, it also clarifies why, after more than sixty years, the Germans lack the solidarity and the French the political vision to turn the Euro-crisis into true progress towards unity. Against the background of Europe`s long and turbulent history, this book will also show why it is so difficult to overcome nationalism and to practice the virtue of solidarity so central to the Christian source of Europe as a civilization. This reprint is now part of Footprints of the 20th Century-Third Edition series. (Series: Footprints of the 20th Century-Third Edition, Vol. 4) [Subject: European Law, International Law, Legal History, International Relations]