Jean Monnet Early Years World War I World War II European Coal

Monnet was born in Cognac, France, into a family of cognac merchants. At the age of sixteen, he abandoned his university-entrance examinations part way through and moved to London where he spent two years studying business and English. Subsequently, he travelled widely — Scandinavia, Russia, Egypt, Canada, the United States — for the family business.

2 World War I

In 1914, Monnet was excused from military duty for health reasons but he set to making himself useful in other ways, namely by tackling the looming problem of organizing supplies, which the Allies were unable to resolve and which could have compromised the outcome of the conflict. Monnet believed that the only path that would lead to an Allied victory lay in the merging of France and England's war efforts and he proposed a plan that would co-ordinate war resources. The French government agreed upon its implementation.

Due to his success in the war efforts, Monnet, at the age of thirty-one, was named Secretary General of the League of NationsThe League of Nations was an international organization founded after the First World War with goals of reducing armaments, settling disputes between countries and maintaining living conditions, but The League proved incapable of preventing aggression by upon its creation in 1919 by French premier Clémenceau and British statesman BalfourArthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour ( 25 July, 1848 March 19, 1930) was a British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Early Life The eldest son of James Maitland Balfour of Whittingehame, Haddingtonshire, and of Lady Blanche Gascoyne.

Soon disillusioned with the League because of its laborious unanimous decision-making processes, Monnet resigned in 1923 in order to devote himself to managing the family business, which was experiencing difficulties. Later, as an international financier, he proved to be instrumental in the economic recovery of several CentralHistorical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. There are no physical landmarks that would commonly be seen as its borders. Rather, it is a concept of shared history, in op and Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is, by convention, a region defined geographically as that part of Europe covering the eastern part of the continent. Generally this means that it lies between the Ural and Caucasus mountains and the western border of Russia, or alternativean nations, helping to stabilise the PolishThe Republic of Poland a country in Central Europe, lies between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) t zlotySee all Polish coins and banknotes Zloty (literally meaning "golden", plural: zlote or zlotych depending on the number) is the Polish currency unit. ISO 4217 currency code: PLN Exchange rate (09/2004): 1 USD 3. 55 PLN; 1 Euro 4. 35 PLN Exchange rate (11/2 in 1927 and the Romanian leuThe Romanian leu (plural: lei ISO 4217 code ROL) is the national currency of Romania. One leu is subdivided into 100 bani (singular: ban . The leu was established in 1880, following the founding of the National Bank of Romania. Before 1940, when Moldova w in 1928. In 1929, his experience in international finance led him to found and co-manage the Bancamerica-Blair, a bank in San Francisco. From 1934 to 1936, at the invitation of Chiang Kai-shek, Monnet lived in China, assisting with the reorganization of the Chinese railway network.

3 World War II

In December, 1939, Jean Monnet was sent to London to oversee the collectivization of the two countries' war production capacities. When the French government fell in June 1940, Monnet's influence inspired de Gaulle and Churchill to accept a plan for a union of France and the United Kingdom to enable the two countries to stand up to Nazism.

In August 1940, Jean Monnet was sent to the United States by the British government as a member of the British Supply Council, in order to negotiate the purchase of war supplies. Soon after his arrival in Washington, he became an advisor to President Roosevelt. Convinced that America could serve as "the great arsenal of democracy" he persuaded the president to launch a massive arms production program to supply the Allies with military material. Shortly thereafter, in 1941, Roosevelt, with Churchill's agreement, launched the Victory Program, which represented the entry After the war, the British economist John Maynard Keynes was to say that through his co-ordinating Monnet had probably shortened World War II by one year.

In 1943, Monnet became a member of the National Liberation Committee, the French government in exile in Algiers. During a meeting on August 5, 1943, Monnet declared to the Committee:

"There will be no peace in Europe, if the states are reconstituted on the basis of national sovereignty... The countries of Europe are too small to guarantee their peoples the necessary prosperity and social development. The European states must constitute themselves into a federation..."

4 European Coal and Steel Community

Following liberation, Monnet proposed a "global plan for modernization and economic development" to the French government. Appointed Planning Commissioner by de Gaulle, he oversaw the revitalization of the French economy. It was from this position that, in 1949, Monnet realized that the friction between Germany and France for control of the Ruhr, the important coal and steel region, was rising to dangerous levels, presaging a possible return to hostilities as had happened after the First World War. Monnet and his associates conceived the idea of a European Community. On 9 May 1950, with the agreement of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of West Germany, French Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Schuman made a declaration in the name of the French government. This declaration, prepared by Monnet for Schuman, proposed integration of the French and German coal and steel industries under joint control, a so-called High Authority, and open to the other countries of Europe. Schuman declared:

"Through the consolidation of basic production and the institution of a new High Authority, whose decisions will bind France, Germany and the other countries that join, this proposal represents the first concrete step towards a European federation, imperative for the preservation of peace." [1]

Shortly thereafter, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands responded favorably, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was born. Britain was invited to participate, but it refused on grounds of national sovereignty. In 1952, Jean Monnet became the first president of the High Authority.

5 Common Market

In 1955, Monnet founded the Action Committee for the United States of Europe in order to revive European construction following the failure of the European Defense Community (EDC). It brought political parties and European trade unions together to become a driving force behind the initiatives which laid the foundation for the European Union as it eventually emerged: first the European Economic Community (EEC) (1958) (known commonly as the "Common Market"), which was established by the Treaty of Rome of 1957; later the European Community (1967) with its corresponding bodies, the European Commission and the European Council of Ministers, British membership in the Community (1973), the European Council (1974), the European Monetary System (1979), and the European Parliament (1979). This process reflected Monnet's belief in a gradualist approach for constructing European unity.

After retiring to his home in Houjarray, Monnet wrote his memoirs. He died in 1979 at the age of ninety-one. His ashes were interred in the Panthéon.

In 1953 he received the Karlspreis (engl.: Charlemagne Award) an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.

6 Quotes

"There is no future for the people of Europe other than in union." — Jean Monnet
"[Monnet was] someone with a pragmatic view of Europe's need to escape its historical parochialism." — Dean Acheson

7 See also

History of the European Union

8 Reference

Jean Monnet: The First Statesman of Interdependence by Francois Duchene (1994); BooksEnthsiast.com

9 External links

Monnet, Jean Monnet, Jean

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