Les accords Blum-Byrnes. La modernisation de la France et la guerre froide

The Blum-Byrnes agreements, France's modernization and the Cold War, Irwin M. Wall. The financial agreements signed on 1946 May 28 between France and the United States are sometimes viewed as a step in the « alienation » of national independence, a premise to the Cold War. American archives allow that interpretation to be changed. Far from being a one-way negotiation, the Blum-Byrnes agreements reflected the context of 1946. On the French side, economic modernization was the main concern, along with strategic considerations. For the Americans, financial aid was part of a policy applied to other countries, including the USSR, previously to the Marshall plan. Disappointing for both sides, the agreements were in no way an episod of American interference in French affairs.Wall Irwin M. Les accords Blum-Byrnes. La modernisation de la France et la guerre froide. In: Vingtième Siècle, revue d'histoire, n°13, janvier-mars 1987. Dossier : Nouvelles lectures de la guerre froide. pp. 45-62