24 - Why was the Union Set Up? Flashcards
Why was the Union Set Up?
Reaction to the World Wars
Security against the Soviet threat
Economic development
Promote peace, security, stability and prosperity
Boost trade
Legislation on environmental issues
Cooperate on crime, immigration and asylum matters
Reaction to the World Wars
Even a cursory glance at European history will reveal just how long Europeans have been fighting and killing each other.
The pièce de résistance of the series of wars, was of course, the Second World War in which some 55 million souls worldwide, but mostly in Europe, lost their lives!
There have been centuries of invasions, occupations and dictatorial rule in most if not all the countries of Europe at some stage.
With this firmly in mind, it should come as no surprise that the very strong reaction after the Second World War to this death and destruction was a very important and motivating factor in the moves to create a more peaceful and stable European environment in which countries could develop and prosper without resorting to the obliteration or subjugation of others.
Security against the Soviet Threat
At the time, a further and developing factor, which considerably influenced the desire on the part of the European nations to cooperate, was the deteriorating relations between the former Allied powers.
It was not long after the Americans, British and the Russians had met victoriously in the streets of Berlin in 1945, that the understandings between those countries broke down and they became increasingly suspicious of each other
UK Prime Minster and War Premier Winston Churchill described in March 1946 in Fulton, Missouri the situation of increasing Soviet influence and control over eastern Europe, in a borrowed phrase but which was taken up generally, as a kind of ‘iron curtain’ which had descended between western and eastern Europe.
The general situation came to be described as the ‘Cold War’ and lasted in lesser and greater states of tension until the collapse of Communism in Europe in 1989–90.
With this increased fear of the possible expansion and domination of Europe by the Soviet Union combined with the then
existing Soviet strict control over the countries of eastern Europe, the tension mounted in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s.
At its worst, in the 1960s, the Cold War threatened the nuclear annihilation of the opposing parties.
It thus became increasingly important that the countries of western Europe integrate amongst themselves to form a bulwark against further Soviet expansion.
Economic Development
There were also inherently economically motivated steps towards international cooperation which resulted in the establishment of such organisations as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and, most notably, the
Marshall Plan which funded the establishment of the Organisation for European Economic Corporation (OEEC) and later the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) designed initially to finance the post-war reconstruction of Europe.
