The period from 1948 to 1953 was a phase of high intensity in Cold War history and decisively shaped the future of the European continent. Analyse the events in Europe in this period and their meaning for European integration.

Résumé du document

After World War II, Europe was destroyed and two superpowers emerged; the United States and the USSR. The United States was the only state to have the atomic bomb and used the massive weapon against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and the USSR was important because of the fight against Nazi Germany. The Red Army liberated the east part of Europe and the US army liberated the west part of Europe. After the end of the War, tension increased between the two former allies. USSR refused to withdraw the soldiers from Europe and start to constitute a glacis with those countries, in order to protect its own borders. In 1947, According to the Truman Doctrine of the Containment, the United States perceived the expansion of the USSR as a threat for Europe and created the Marshall Plan.

Extraits

[...] The first step of the preparation of a common defense was the signature of the Brussel Treaty, in 1948 between Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and the United-Kingdom. But this self-defense organization was not enough to face the challenges from the Soviet Union, the participation of the United States was necessary. This lead to the North Atlantic Treaty, signed on 4th April by the five members of the Brussel Treaty; the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. By the integration of their army under an American commandment, these countries recognized the predominance of the United-States.[3] The explosion of the first Russian Atomic bomb, in September 1949, was a shock for American politicians. [...]

[...] (West Germany joined in 1949).[2] It was the beginning of European integration. An event, one of the major crises of the Cold War that made the separation in Europe deeper, is Blockade of West Berlin. West Berlin was an enclave in the Eastern Europe, under soviet domination. To protest against the monetary reforms lead by France, United Kingdom and the United States tried to replace the Reichsmark by the DeutschMark in the West part of Germany, but Stalin decided to stop the traffic between West- Berlin and West Germany. [...]

[...] After 1953, the separation became more formal with the improvement of the Iron Curtain and the building of the Wall in Berlin in 1961. But this was made possible only because of the consequences of the Marshall Plan, the different alliance pacts, the first crisis of Berlin, etc. The period has lead to the beginning of European integration. At the beginning, it just involved the ‘little Europe'. Then, this integration concerned also other European countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, etc.) but it was still former allies of the United-States. In 2004, the European Union integrated ten former communist Countries. [...]

[...] The creator of the plan, the secretary of state George Marshall wanted the Europe to handle the money given by the United States jointly. In his speech in Harvard in 1947, he explained it: is already evident that, before the United States Government can proceed much further in its efforts to alleviate the situation and help start the European world on its way to recovery, there must be some agreement among the countries of Europe as to the requirements of the situation and the part those countries themselves will take, in order to give proper effect to whatever action might be undertaken by this Government. [...]

[...] The United Kingdom has not accepted the principle of the High Authority, so they were not involved in this Community. This Treaty established the first community in European integration. It was a very important step partially influenced by the context of the Cold war and the necessity of unity at this time. During this period, the two blocks seems to be fixed. But in March 1952, Stalin made a very strange proposal. He suggested entering into negotiation with the US, the United-Kingdom and France, the three occupation powers of West Germany to conclude a peace treaty about reunification of Germany. [...]