Germany after World War II

Germany
By the late 1960s, West Germany had become a significant economic power in Western Europe. Even so, the country still faced certain political problems. Access to West Berlin and relations with East Germany, the Soviet Union, and other communist countries posed difficult foreign policy challenges.

Ostpolitik. After his election in 1969, Chancellor Willy Brandt, a member of the liberal Social Democratic Party, tried to meet these challenges. Brandt believed that West Germany had to remain firmly allied with the rest of Western Europe and the United States. At the same time, however, he concluded that tensions between his country and the communist countries of Eastern Europe had to be reduced. Brandt’s effort to improve relations between East and West, known as Ostpolitik (German for “Eastern Policy”) resulted in West German treaties with the Soviet Union and Poland in 1970. Ostpolitik eventually led to the mutual recognition ot East and West Germany in 1973, and ultimately to the Helsinki Accords in 1975 (see page 609).

In 1974, Helmut Schmidt became chancellor of West Germany after Brandt resigned following the revelation that a member of his staff was an East German spy. Schmidt admired and continued Brandt’s Ostpolitik. He also pursued closer economic and political cooperation with Western Europe. In the early 1980s, however, the recession hit the West German economy. For the first time since the early postwar period,
West Germans faced the prospect ot rising unemployment coupled with widespread inflation.

Helmut Kohl. As in both Britain and France, economic troubles led to political change in the early 1980s. In 1982 the Christian Democrats regained control of the government after more than a dozen years out of power. Helmut Kohl, the new chancellor, charged that Schmidt and the Social Democrats had brought on the recession through high levels of government spending. The conservative Kohl promised to return the country to prosperity through policies similar to those of Prime Minister Thatcher in Britain and President Reagan in the United States.

Chancellor Kohl also made changes in West German foreign policy. He strongly reaffirmed West Germany’s commitment to the NATO alliance, though he criticized the deployment of American intermediate-range nuclear missiles in West Germany. Kohl worked to improve relations between West Germany and the United States. This relationship remained generally strong into the 1990s, although the reunification of Germany early in the decade created new anxieties among some of Germany’s neighbors in Europe.

Reunification. The reunification of Germany was perhaps Kohl’s greatest challenge. The process of reunification began almost immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Talks involving the two Germanies and the four victorious Allies of World War 11 Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States set October 1990 as reunification. Two months later Helmut Kohl, benefiting from the goodwill created by this significant change, was elected as chancellor of a reunified Germany.

Although initially seen as a hero, Kohl soon began to lose popularity. By the summer of 1991, unemployment was widespread in former East Germany, and much of the promised investment and reindustrialization was yet to be seen. Germans in the western part of the country also became disillusioned as the enormous costs of reunification became apparent. The reintegration of East Germany became an increasing burden on the German economy through the mid-1990s. Helmut Kohl, however, remained in office until 1998, when he was defeated in September by Gerhard Schroeder and his Social Democratic Party. Schroeder pledged to reduce unemployment and stimulate the economy.

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Northern Europe after World War II

Northern Europe
The smaller but still highly developed nations of northern Europe enjoyed a general period of prosperity during the late 1900s. The small principalities of Monaco and Liechtenstein managed to maintain their sovereignty,^ while Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands worked to foster European unity.

Denmark, Iceland, and Norway, members of the NATO alliance, contributed vitally to Western Europe’s defense during the Cold War. Despite a sometimes heated dispute with Britain over fishing rights, the island nation of Iceland played a key role in the protection of the Atlantic shipping lanes. So did Norway, which benefited greatly from the discovery and development of North Sea oil in the 1980s.

Although Finland, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland maintained good relations with the rest of Western Europe, each country remained neutral throughout the Cold War. Recession in the early 1990s, however, offered a strong incentive for these countries to strengthen political and economic ties with Western Europe. Finland, Sweden, and Austria all chose to join the new European Union, while Swiss voters narrowly decided to maintain their country’s traditional neutrality. On the domestic front, Sweden implemented free-enterprise reforms, steering away from its socialist policies of the past.

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European Cooperation after World War II

European Cooperation
The spirit of cooperation among the nations of Western Europe that had developed in the years after World War II continued to grow during the later part of the 1900s. Formal institutions, such as NATO and the European Economic Community, grew in both strength and membership. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe left the structure and purpose of some of these organizations open to question. At the same time, however, it opened the possibility of an even wider union of European nations.

European Cooperation

The Helsinki Accords. In 1975, representatives of 35 nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, met in Helsinki, Finland, to discuss the topics of security and cooperation in Europe. The meeting resulted in a series of agreements known as the Helsinki Accords. These agreements specified ways of improving economic and technological cooperation between East and West, endorsing the use of peaceful means rather than force to settle disputes between nations. The accords also settled a major Cold War issue by recognizing the legitimacy of certain boundaries in Eastern Europe that were established after World War II but were disputed by some countries. Perhaps the most important part of the accords, however, concerned the protection of human rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of worship. The Helsinki Accords called on all nations to respect the basic human rights of their citizens.

Although the Helsinki Accords provided for no real means of enforcement, they proved to be an important symbolic step. By showing little interest in complying with the human rights aspects of the accords, the Soviets and other Communist bloc countries undermined their own credibility in the international community. The accords also formed an important foundation for the democratic movement that ultimately swept across Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, following the collapse of communism, European nations worked to reaffirm their commitment to the principles set forth in the Helsinki Accords.

NATO. Although the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remained the cornerstone of Western European security as the 1900s drew to a close, its policies and future role increasingly came into question. Friction between Greece and Turkey, both members of NATO, led to Greece’s withdrawal from the alliance in 1974. Greece eventually rejoined, but its relations with other NATO countries remained strained. The deployment of American nuclear weapons in Europe during the Cold War proved especially controversial. Some member countries refused to allow American nuclear weapons on their soil; others expressed serious reservations. At the same time, the United States demanded that other members agree to take on a larger share of the burden of defending Europe.

NATO

NATO’s future grew increasingly uncertain following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. With the military threat from the Eastern bloc diminished, NATO seemed to many people to have outlived its usefulness. Others pointed out that threats to European security still existed, and that NATO provided a framework to deal with problems like containing the civil war in the countries of what had been Yugoslavia, or a possible revival of Russian military power. Many countries of Eastern Europe sought to join NATO. Critics argued that any expansion of NATO eastward would require a burdensome commitment from current members and might provoke Russian hostility. In 1997, despite Russian objections, NATO leaders agreed to invite Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to join the alliance.

From EEC to EU. The late 1990s saw the evolution of the European Economic Community (EEC) into the even more closely knit European Union (EU). A general expansion of the EEC preceded this transformation.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the EEC grew from 6 members to 12. After lengthy negotiations, Britain finally joined in 1973. Ireland and Denmark also joined in that year. In 1981 Greece became a full member, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986. In the early 1990s, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined.

As the EEC grew, it made headway toward setting common practices for its members in taxation, credit, and labor and monetary policies. In 1993 the EEC countries implemented the Maastricht Treaty, creating the European Union (EU). Under the terms of the treaty, they dropped trade barriers among themselves, agreed to pursue closer cooperation in defense and foreign relations, and accepted the idea of a common currency.

The implementation of the Maastricht Treaty had not come easily, however, and many problems remained unresolved in the mid-1990s. Several members of the EEC worried that the EU would undermine their sovereignty. British leaders in particular voiced misgivings. In Denmark, voters barely chose to ratify the Maastricht Treaty, but in Norway they rejected membership in the EU. As the century drew to a close, the future of the EU remained unclear. Aligning the economies of Western Europe was proving especially difficult, and the EU remained divided over whether or not to admit Turkey and various Eastern European countries. The nations of Western Europe had nonetheless achieved a real degree of unity in a century marked by two world wars.

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Causes of World War II & International Conflicts

International Conflicts
By early August 1914 most of Europe was at war. In time, other countries all over the world joined the conflict. On one side were the Allies, which included Britain, France, Russia, and the United States. On the other side were the Central Powers, which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

Causes of World War II
The Great War, as it was called at the time, was a new kind of war. For the first time deadly weapons such as machine guns, tanks, and poison gas were used.

More than 8 million soldiers from several countries lost their lives.

On November 11,1918, Germany signed an armistice (AR»muh»stuhs), or agreement to stop fighting. In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles (ver«SY) brought an end to the war.
In the 1920s and 1930s most countries of the world suffered through a period of economic hard times called the Great Depression. Things were especially bad in Germany. The German people wanted a strong leader who would make Germany a powerful country again.

Adolf Hitler quickly took control of Germany as a dictator. He told the Germans that their political and economic troubles were the fault of the Jewish people. Hitler passed laws taking away the rights and property of Jewish citizens.

During this time, Germany, Italy, and Japan began building empires. At first, European leaders did little to stop this.

They did not want to risk starting another world war. This policy of not opposing the takeovers by Germany, Italy, and Japan became known as appeasement.

As Germany continued to attack and conquer its neighbors, it became clear that appeasement would not work. Once again many countries of the world entered into war. During World War II the Allies  Britain, France, the Soviet Union (formerly Russia), and the United States faced the Axis Powers Germany, Italy, and Japan.
War quickly spread through Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. The United States entered the war when Japan attacked a United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 1941. Over time, the Allies began to get ahead. On May 7,1945, Germany surrendered, ending the war in Europe. On August 6,1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima (hir»uh»SHEE»muh), Japan.

Two days later a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (nah»guh»SAH»kee), Japan. The Japanese surrendered soon after.

After the war ended, the terrible effects of Hitler's time of rule became clear. Under his command European Jews had been shipped to prison camps and killed. This mass killing of the Jewish people is known as the Holocaust. In addition to 6 million Jews, Hitler ordered the killing of 6 million others.

- What two twentieth-century conflicts affected the entire world?
- What is main causes of world war II

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Southern Europe after World War II

Southern Europe
During the 1970s and 1980s, the nations of southern Europe underwent major political changes. Italy, once one of the more stable European nations, experienced almost constant political turmoil. At the same time, Spain, Portugal, and Greece returned to democratic forms of government.

Italy. The world economic recession of the early 1970s hit Italy especially hard. For much of the decade, unemployment levels soared and inflation was rampant. During the same period, the country’s political system experienced a great deal of turmoil. None of the more than 14 political parties could gain a majority in the Italian parliament, so governments had to be formed through coalitions. Since few of these coalitions lasted very long, little could be done to lessen the country’s severe political and economic problems. Late in the decade, Italy experienced a wave of terrorism. These acts of terrorism only added to Italy’s problems.

Italy’s situation improved greatly during the 1980s. By the mid-1980s, the power of the terrorist cells had largely been broken. The economy took off after the introduction of a number of free-enterprise reforms.

By 1994, Italy ranked eighth among all industrialized nations and fourth among the countries of the European Economic Community. Its economy, however, remained burdened by a huge national debt. Moreover, a marked social division existed between Italy’s prosperous, industrialized north and the poor, mostly rural south.

In the mid-1990s, however, Italy continued to face serious political instability. Corruption scandals, particularly some that involved organized crime, racked the government. By 1997, the implementation of reforms, begun in 1994 concerning the allotment of seats in parliament, had lent Italy at least some measure of stability.

Spain. During the 1970s, Spain made the transition from dictatorship to democracy. On the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, Juan Carlos became king. Juan Carlos immediately set about the task of returning Spain to democracy. In 1977, Spain held its first free elections in more than 40 years. In those elections, moderate political parties led by socialists won the majority of the seats in the Cortes, or parliament. Spain’s new democracy was not yet secure, however. In 1981 a group of army officers tried to seize control of the government. Although the attempt failed, it demonstrated the fragility of democratic government.

Other challenges to Spain’s new democracy included the questions of Basque separatism and of economic development. The Basque people, who possess a distinct language and culture and inhabit a region in Spain’s mountainous northwest, have long sought independence from Spain. In 1980, they won self-government within Spain, but some remained unsatisfied. The Basque separatist group, ETA, demanded complete independence and resorted to the use of terrorism throughout the 1980s.

Spain also faced the same economic problems that confronted many other European nations: high levels of unemployment and inflation. One way in which Spanish leaders sought to improve the economy was through trade. In 1986, Spain joined the European Economic Community. Although the issue of Basque separatism lingered and economic problems persisted, in the mid-1990s Spain remained democratic and numbered among the leading economic powers of Western Europe.

Portugal. Like its Spanish neighbor, Portugal also made the transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1900s. Ironically, the process began with a military coup. In 1974, army officers led by General

Antonio de Spinola ousted the dictator Marcello Caetano. Spinola quickly granted independence to most of Portugal’s remaining colonies, including Angola and Mozambique. Spinola then resigned, after calling for elections. Portugal grappled with serious economic and political instability over the next several years. In 1986, Portugal joined the European Economic Community. At the same time, the government introduced a series of free-enterprise reforms. These measures helped spur economic growth and reinforce the stability of Portugal’s democracy into the 1990s.

Greece. During the late 1900s, Greece entered a period of political uncertainty. From 1967 to 1974, a repressive military junta ruled Greece. Its interference in the affairs of Cyprus led to its downfall. In 1974, Greek voters chose to make Greece a republic rather than restore the monarchy. In 1981 they elected a socialist government, which implemented various social reforms. Although a more conservative government in the 1990s promised closer cooperation with the West, Greece remained at odds with many Western governments.

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France after World War II

France after World War II

After Charles de Gaulle resigned in 1969, his prime minister, Georges Pompidou, replaced him as president. Although the two men had worked together for many years, they viewed French interests differently. De Gaulle saw France as a major player on the world stage. In contrast, Pompidou believed that France should limit its overseas involvement and focus instead on domestic issues.

Pompidou and Giscard d’Estaing. Pompidou believed that changes in the international situation had made de Gaulle’s nationalist approach to foreign affairs impractical. A more realistic strategy, Pompidou argued, would seek close cooperative relations with traditional allies. He, therefore, worked to strengthen ties with the United States and ended French opposition to British membership in the European Economic Community, or EEC. Within the EEC, Pompidou pursued Cooperation rather than French leadership.

Pompidou focused on domestic issues for much of his time in office. He introduced several social programs, which he hoped would ease the problems that had given rise to the political upheavals of the late 1960s. He also embarked on an ambitious plan to renovate much of Paris, which was not only France’s capital but a major tourist attraction. Pompidou had to curtail many of his plans, however, in the face of an economic crisis that was largely brought on by the OPEC oil embargo and price increases of 1973.

On Pompidou’s sudden death in 1974, Valery Giscard d’Estaing became president. Giscard d’Estaing wanted to improve French standing abroad and encourage social change at home. He continued Pompidou’s foreign policy, moving toward fuller cooperation with other countries. On the domestic front, he reduced state controls in the economy. However, high rates of unemployment and inflation undermined Giscard d’Estaing’s plans for social change, making his programs virtually impossible to implement.

From Mitterrand to Chirac. Disappointed with Giscard d’Estaing’s failure to fulfill his promises of prosperity and social change, in 1981 French voters elected a socialist president, Francois Mitterrand. Mitterrand faced severe economic problems, including high inflation, growing trade deficits, and rising unemployment. In contrast to Margaret Thatcher in Britain, Mitterrand sought to bolster his country’s economy by expanding the government’s role. Several industries and banks were nationalized, and taxes were raised for people with high incomes. Mitterrand expanded government programs for the unemployed. In the wake of further economic reversals in the mid- 1980s, however, Mitterrand was forced to pursue a more conservative approach to economics.

Under Mitterrand, France once again adopted an assertive foreign policy. French troops were especially active in Africa, frequently operating in support of former French colonies. For example, France assisted Chad in its border war with Libya during the 1980s. France also made major military contributions to multinational peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and Bosnia and participated in the international coalition against Iraq in 1990 and 1991.

Although Mitterrand had moved away from traditional socialist policies by the 1990s, support for his Socialist Party’s policies wavered when Mitterrand’s popularity waned. In 1993 Mitterrand’s party lost significant ground in midterm elections. Economic problems, such as unemployment and recession, persisted. The immigration of Arabs from North Africa into France was an increasing source of substantial social tension. Many people voiced concern about France’s ability to balance the economic and political power of a reunified Germany. A deep sense of uncertainty over the future afflicted France in the mid-1990s.

In 1995, French voters elected a new president. They chose Jacques Chirac, mayor of Paris and a member of the conservative Gaullist Party, or RPR. Chirac promised reforms and a fresh approach to France’s economic problems. Chirac’s government, however, soon encountered difficulties, including disruptive protests by various groups of laborers, farmers, and truckers who feared the loss of jobs and income as France dropped barriers to trade with its European neighbors. Chirac provoked controversy abroad by ordering a new round of nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific during 1996, though he stopped the testing after international protests. In 1997, Chirac’s political future appeared uncertain as to his party- suffered a setback at the polls.

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Great Britain after World War II

Europe

During the late 1900s, many countries in Western Europe tried to consolidate the economic gains in the early postwar period. Other countries made political advances, turning from dictatorships and military governments toward democracy. Although progress was far from smooth, Western Europe generally made significant strides toward political and economic integration.

Great Britain

By the mid-1960s, Britain's postwar recovery seemed uncertain. By the end of the decade, the country faced severe economic problems and had decided to pull back from significant defense commitments overseas. Outdated factories, low productivity, and worker apathy made it difficult for Britain to compete with other industrial nations. The economy came under even greater stress as the government raised taxes and increased borrowing. The 1980s would witness a turnaround for British productivity, but unemployment and inflation would continue.

Margaret Thatcher. In a decisive victory in the general election of 1979, Britain's Conservative Party came to power. The party's leader, Margaret Thatcher, became prime minister, the first woman to hold that office. She argued that the government regulated business and industry too closely and taxed the British people too heavily. She planned to start Britain on the road back to prosperity by substantially reducing the government's role in the economy.

Over the next few years, Thatcher began to implement her ideas. She oversaw cuts in social spending, including the complete elimination of some programs. Her opponents charged that Thatcher's real intention was to dismantle the welfare state completely. Thatcher pressed ahead nonetheless, leading successful efforts to reduce taxes and to ease government regulation of business. She also began to privatize Britain's many government-owned industries. Not least, Thatcher managed finally to break the overwhelming influence that Britain's labor unions had exercised over the economy since the 1970s.

Aided by the development of new oil fields in the North Sea, the economy had begun to rebound by the mid-1980s, most notably in southern England. The country's northern areas did not fare as well, however. In this predominantly industrial region, unemployment remained very high. This was partly the result of a general shift in Britain's economy, like in the United States, from heavy industry to services. Although Thatcher pointed to an overall improvement in the economy, critics charged that her policies favored the wealthy and created an unequal society.

Thatcher brought a strict, no-nonsense approach to Britain's foreign policy as well as to economic affairs. In 1982 she ordered British troops and naval forces to retake the Falklands after Argentina invaded the British-held islands in the South Atlantic. Maintaining strong ties with the United States represented a consistent theme of Thatcher's approach to foreign policy. In 1990 she played an essential role in forming the international coalition that ultimately forced Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait in 1991.

Leadership changes. With a downturn in the British economy during the late 1980s, Thatcher began to lose popularity. Even her support within the Conservative Party began to weaken. Her situation became critical following her implementation of the so-called poll tax. This tax, which replaced property taxes as the source of funds for local government, charged all taxpayers the same rate, or percentage, regardless of their income level. The tax proved highly unpopular with the British people. Many Conservatives realized that they would have to reverse the tax if their party was to win the next election. Thatcher, however, continued to support the poll tax as the fairest and efficient way of financing local government.

As Thatcher's popularity continued to fall, her opponents in the Conservative Party challenged her leadership. Convinced by her closest advisers that she could not win the fight for the party's administration, she stepped down in November 1990. More than a decade after first taking office, Margaret Thatcher had served longer than any British prime minister in this century when she left.

In her place, the Conservatives chose John Major, a leading member of Thatcher's cabinet. Major was generally considered more moderate than Thatcher in many of his views, especially on a closer union with Europe. Still, he shared Thatcher's belief in free-enterprise economics and her support for incredibly close relations with the United States. Major was a strong supporter of the United States in the Persian Gulf crisis of 1991. During his term of office, Britain's economy began to pick up once again.

After nearly 18 years of a Conservative government, however, the British electorate decided on a change, prompted by scandals and incompetence in the government. In 1997 the Labour Party, led by the young moderate Tony Blair, won control of the government for the first time since 1979. Although Labour promised several changes, they did not propose to restore the British welfare state to the level it had reached in the 1970s. Many of Thatcher's political and economic ideas had taken hold. Several challenges faced Blair nonetheless. Among them was the lingering problem of Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland. After creating the independent Republic of Ireland in 1922, Northern Ireland had remained part of Britain. Many people hoped that the old antagonism between Britain and Ireland would finally diminish, but new disagreements soon emerged. Over the years, the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland gained control of the government and dominated the country's economy. The lack of political power and the limited economic opportunities among Northern Ireland's Catholic minority increasingly produced resentment and ultimately erupted in violence.

In the late 1960s, Catholics in Northern Ireland began to demonstrate an end to discrimination in employment and housing. At first peaceful, these demonstrations soon turned violent. To keep the peace, in 1969, the British government sent troops to Northern Ireland, and the Catholics saw these troops as representatives of a foreign power. This stationing of soldiers in Northern Ireland became a permanent policy. Large numbers of British troops remained garrisoned there into the mid-1990s.

Throughout the 1970s, the violence in Northern Ireland escalated as Catholic and Protestant extremists alike took advantage of the situation. Assassinations, car bombings, and attacks on British troops became an almost daily occurrence. The most active extremist group was the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Almost entirely Catholic, the IRA wanted to drive the British out of the north and unite Ireland. The IRA took its "war of liberation" far beyond Irish borders, bombing public sites in several British cities and attacking British soldiers in other parts of Europe.

In addition to taking solid military measures, the British government tried to end the violence in Northern Ireland through political means. Progress came in the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, which gave the Republic of Ireland a voice in the affairs of Northern Ireland. In time, however, both Catholics and Protestants denounced the agreement. In the early 1990s, generally improving relations between Britain and the Republic of Ireland combined with growing pressure from Europe and the United States brought new hope for a settlement in Northern Ireland. In 1993 the British and Irish prime ministers jointly pledged their commitment to self-determination in Northern Ireland. The IRA declared a cease-fire the following year, but the British insisted that the IRA would have to disarm before talks could begin. The IRA refused and, in 1996, renewed its campaign of terror. Peace talks resumed, however, following the Labour Party's victory in the British elections of 1997. A breakthrough seemed to come with the Good Friday peace accords, signed in 1998. Hopes were high that a lasting peace might soon become a reality.

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