Post-WWII Europe

Destruction of WWII

Context for Recovery

• Widespread poverty and food rationing
• Revenge violence against fascists and collaborators
• German Expulsion
• Fear of Communist Revolution

The Economic Miracle

Germany's Recovery

The Welfare State and Mixed Economies

• Led by Jean Monnet of France and Erhard in Germany
• Nationalized large utilities, banks, and heavy industries
• Coalition between Christian Democrats and Socialists expanded social services
• Old Age Pensions, Universal Health Care, Higher Education, Unemployment Insurance

The Great Leveling

Economic Stagflation

• 1970s Energy Crisis caused by conflict in Middle East
• OPEC - oil cartel, set supply levels and controlled prices
• Conservative Governments dismantled welfare state, adopted programs of austerity

European Integration

Schuman Plan

The pooling of coal and steel production should immediately provide for the setting up of common foundations for economic development as a first step in the federation of Europe, and will change the destinies of those regions which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have been the most constant victims...The solidarity in production thus established will make it plain that any war between France and Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.

Earliest Forms of Integration

• Marshall Plan created the Org. for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC)
• European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

The Original Six

European Economic Community

Goals of Economic Cooperation

• Reduce tariffs and duties
• Coordinate agricultural and industrial production for peaceful uses
• Tie economies of Europe together so that war is unattractive

French and German Leadership

European Union

European Union

• Schengen Agreement allows passport-free movement of people in 1995
• Euro introduced as common currency in 1999
• First peacekeeping forces deployed in the Balkans in 2003

Political Trends

Green Parties

The French National Front