The emergence of modern Europe

¶ … Europe

The defeat of the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) in World War II had deep and lasting effects on almost every country in the world. A new era in geopolitical struggles, economics, and political ideology came into being with the decades long tensions between the United States and Soviet Union known as the "Cold War." However, for Europe as a whole, there were both positive and negative aspects of post-war rebuilding, depending on geographical location. First and foremost, the geopolitical atmosphere of Europe changed after the war -- new countries, territories and expectations. Second, the U.S. role in Europe increased beginning with the Marshall Plan which led, in many ways, to NATO. Third, Europe was divided into two distinct political and economic camps -- the East and the West. Fourth, several economic changes dominated economic policies that are felt even today. and, finally, the most serious consequence of World War II for Europe, and one which encompassed almost every other change -- the Cold War.

Politically and culturally, most of the changes to Europe were highlighted by the Cold War. This war, not really a war at all, but an ongoing ideological conflict that had political, economic, and military complications between the Soviet Union and its allies (the Warsaw Pact Countries) and the United States and Europe (NATO). The Soviets saw the conflict as a reaction to American aggression all over the World, the West as a reaction to Stalinism and the export of communism. Most of Europe and certainly the Soviet Union, had millions dead or homeless, millions of acres of agricultural land destroyed, and an infrastructure and transportation system in shambles. The United States, however, with the exception of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, had not suffered invasion and the post-war economy was booming. A combination then of fear and economic determinism would reshape Europe in the Post-War period. This would define the next 40+ years -- a bipolar model of nations either supportive of the U.S. And policies or of the U.S.S.R.

Part 2 - the infrastructure in most of Europe was in shambles, but unlike the situation after World War I, the United States found a new determination in President Truman and his staff. Because they wanted to build up a democratic Europe, aid was put into place (the Marshall Plan) to help restore Europe to hegemony and self-sufficiency. However, because Europe was in such turmoil and there was somewhat of a power vacuum that France, England, the United States, and of course, the Soviet Union, wished to fill. Disputes between the Allied nations led to a new international balance of power between the West and the Soviets. Germany was divided into two sections; East and West, and for a time, Berlin was divided into four sectors with the United States, France, and Great Britain constituting West Berlin, the Soviets East Berlin. The immediate consequences to this division were a disaster for the German people. This, of course, was compounded by the damage created by Allied bombing and the devastation that occurred in the cities and countryside as both the Red Army converged from the East, and the British, French and Americans from the South and West. Even with U.S. aid, it took decades for Western Europe to recover, and for Eastern Europe, even longer.

The end of the Cold War came about with Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika, the realization that the U.S.S.R. could no longer economically, politically or militarily sustain itself and Eastern Europe, and the reunification of Germany with the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the "Iron Curtain." This eventually led to the formation of the European Union (EU). The EU was established on November 1, 1993 by the treaty of Maastricht. It developed a single, regionalized, market structure through a system of standardized laws that apply in each member state so that citizens, goods, capital, and services are regional rather than local. With the establishment of a common currency, the Euro, the EU is also concerned with the overall economic and fiscal health of each member country. EU banks oversee localized financial institutions, and have the legal authority to enact localized changes in order to keep currency balanced. There are also branches of the EU that focus on legal and foreign policy issues, which sometimes blend into the economic realities of globalism.

Thus, Europe at the beginning of the Cold War was divided, economically unsound, politically vulnerable, and had little or no viable infrastructure. At the end of the Cold War, the EU focuses on cooperation, economic growth, and a secondary government that is much more than a simple economic modifier.

Part 3 -- the unification of Italy and Germany was, to some, the precursor to World War II because of the creation of alliances, the build-up of arms, the competition for colonies, and the need for economic and cultural expansion. In Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi organized Italian partisans in 1848 and again in 1859. By 1861, so much of the Italian peninsula declared loyalty to a Kingdom of Italy, that a sovereign state was created sans Rome, which was still under Papal control. This ended in 1870 by established the state of the Vatican.

Germany faced liberal uprisings after 1815, and by 1848 the King of Prussia, Frederick William IV, sympathized with enough of the revolutionary demands that he promised to grant a Constitution, which happened in 1849. In 1861, though, the new King of Prussia, Wilhelm I, appointed Otto Von Bismarck as his Chief Minister. Bismarck had been one of the only two people in to vote against the Constitution in 1840. Bismarck deliberately tried to provoke a war with Austria and succeeded in 1866. Austria was quickly defeated and Bismarck worked to unite Germany under Prussian control, which happened in 1870 when Prussia and France disagreed on issues dealing with the Spanish succession. France declared war on Prussia in July 1870, and surrender by September 2nd. In 1871 King Wilhelm I was proclaimed King of all Germany, a unified country and a Second Reich.

The results of both unifications were resurgence in militarism, nationalism, economic imperialism, xenophobia, and the need to find scapegoats to blame for economic hardships. This would lead to the conflicts in World War I, and then eventually the rise of German Nazism and Italian Fascism, and thus World War II.

Part 4- the map of Europe looked quite different before and after the revolutions of 1848. This year witnessed a series of political upheavals in Europe, which history now tells us was one of the most widespread revolutionary movements in European History. However, the time was just not right for this new thinking, and within a year most of the revolutions collapsed. However, the revolutionary wave began in France, spread to most of Europe and Latin America, and affected over 50 countries with no real coordination or cooperation. The common theme was a widespread dissatisfaction with the political leadership at the time; the people, now more literate and vocal, wanted more participation in government, saw the United States and its principles of democratic government as important to emulate, and focused on the increasing divide between the owners and the workers due to the Industrial Revolution.