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.
[...] ] posed the alternatives for European development through the early twenty-first century.” The Schuman Plan leads to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel community in 1951 by the treaty of Paris, signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Nederlands. 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. [...]
[...] 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. It was like a reconciliation between Eastern and Western Europe. This extension of the European Union put an end to the formal separation of Europe. Bibliography Etienne Deschamps. [...]
[...] 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. According to Walter LaFeber (America, Russia and the cold war 1945-2006, 10th edition p94), “despite the Marshall plan and NATO, for American policymakers, the struggle for Europe had reopened.” This new soviet threat created a debate between the US and the European countries on the point to know if West Germany should be re-armed. In 1950, the Korea War started, French army was involved in the war in Indo-china, and British army fought in Indonesia. [...]
[...] 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. [...]
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