In June 2021, the Foundation is publishing the 21st issue of its Debates and Documents Collection, available in open access.In this historical essay on the construction of Europe, Gilles Grin, Director of the Foundation, reviews two centuries of the continent’s history (1815 to 2021). He shows the low point reached by Europe in 1945. The birth, developments and limits of the European Community, which became the European Union, are then presented. In the end, the process of European construction initiated in the aftermath of the Second World War represents the revolution of a continent that was able to break with the historical fatality of the incessant internal wars of the past.
