Unraveling Algol: US, Europe, and the Creation of a Programming Language by David Nofre, University of Amsterdam, is an interesting account of the early history of Algol.
The convention wisdom that what evolved was Algol vs. Fortran is deeply questionable.
The underlying difficulty, a familiar one in semantic integration circles, was a universal programming language versus a diversity of programming languages.
Can you guess who won?
Can you guess where I would put my money in a repeat of a universal solution vs. diverse solutions?
Where is your money riding?