At the end of WWII, Europe was damaged beyond repair, they would be better off starting a new continent instead of trying to fix it. The war had effect on integration of Western Europe into larger framework that became the foundation of the present EU. After the division of communism and democracy had caused an iron curtain in Eastern Europe, Western Europe was determined to form an alliance with economic unity. Europe has agreed to eliminate tariffs between themselves and set a common external tariff on imports from the rest of the world. Thus, the different views that shaped Europe were post-war economic recovery problems, military issues and the desire of each country to protect their separate, national interests.
By creating economic communities of shared sovereignty in matters of coal and steel production, and trade another war in Europe would be unthinkable. First of all, the ancient rivalries and prejudices had to be put aside and a new spirit of cooperation had to take their place. The Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift were two examples of how allied nations worked together to help. Sandy, the leader of the British European Movement, reports to Winston Churchill that the idea of Franco-German partnership had been badly received in France (doc.2) He mentions that France strongly opposed to cooperate with Germany; it is evident that they still had feared from the war that the new Europe would become an enlarged German Empire. It was necessary to eliminate that obnoxious pride that pervaded each and every European country since the about the time of the Industrial Revolution. For example, Schulman believed the best approach in creating a strong economic market in Europe requires a complete unity with the elimination of any residue of hatred between the nations (doc. 5) Inviting Germany into constructing a new Europe would create a positive externality. McMillan, UK’s finance minister, believes the UK will benefit greater from favouring the trade route with its Commonwealth system rather than joining the EEC (doc.7) As a finance minister, he was more in favour of the country’s economic well-being rather than building a unified European community. Some incidents required some countries to favour their economic benefit before considering joining the union.
The Eastern Europe had fallen to the darkness of the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain; this chaos was the order of the day. Some leaders such as Churchill wanted to use United States as a model to structure a new Europe in order to recover from the World War and give power to smaller nations (doc.1). On the other hand, a Soviet foreign minister Vyshinsky was clearly against the democratic movement of Western Europe and the Marshall plan which could trigger unfortunate events for the Soviets (doc.3) A soviet propaganda depicts the U.S. government implementing a form of capitalist approach in Europe, seizing everything under control (doc.4) This form of propaganda shows the Soviet Union felt threatened by the presence of a growing democratic union of their neighbours. A newly-structured Europe brought attention to the foreign countries, yet not all of them replied back with a positive attitude.
The fundamental goal of the Union remains the same today: to create an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe. Europe needed definitely a new global identity. It needed to reinvent itself and join as one, or rather setting their differences aside and working towards a greater, stronger and healthier European society. Adenauer writes in his book “the great majority of our people have realized that nations cannot continue to live exclusively according to their own desires and inclinations.” (doc.6) Coming from West Germany, he wanted a merged, democratic Europe with the presence of diverse culture and equality. Also, Lynch, the Prime Minister of of Irish Parliament stated the importance of sense of nationality (doc.10) He believed that each countries should be defended and embraced by their own community. Thatcher of Britain delivered his speech regarding the unity of European nations on the Single European Act (doc.12) As Europe became more united throughout the century, he did not want a “standardized European personality”, but a union with strong diversity of culture and tradition.
The aftermath of WWII left the people in Europe hopeless. Suspicion was rampant, especially to countries like Germany and Italy who had just been defeated and had their dictators disposed of. However, the goal of the early countries of the European Union still stands today. What made the formation of this union possible was bridging the gaps of political division and passing the original treaties and establishing various forms of European integration. The present day Europe is well-known for their common currency and easy transportation; it is safe to say that Europe is well ahead of other continents in forming this form of economic and political structure.