The power of non-powers

The main focus of the project 'The power of non-powers: An archival analysis of the reaction to, and influence of, the Benelux nations on American financial intervention in Europe and its role in early Cold War European security strategy (1948-1960)' is how American military financial intervention affected and reflected US views on the European integration movement in the early years of the Cold War and how the WEU signatories vie-wed American military financial intervention in Europe, i.e.  how it influenced European strategic planning and the early movement towards European integration. The project thereby contributes to the ongoing effort to unify the historiographies of the history of the Cold War and the history of European integration, while also contributing to the fields of 20th-century US and European transnational history. The project’s originality lies in the use of the WEU archives themselves. Several of the files, namely those dealing with arms and finances, have yet to be analysed at all, let alone in the innovative ways proposed by this project, thereby greatly increasing the likelihood of uncovering completely new findings and insights.