Decline of European power Division of Europe emergence

Decline of European power: Division of Europe, emergence of the Soviet Bloc and decolonisation of Western European empires

Western Europe: Integration and Recovery

Average economic growth

Political and economic decline of European power • • • Decolonization USA as the first superpower Antagonistic policy of the USSR vis-à-vis the West Human and material losses Decline of economic outputs and state incomes: • • • Austria and Poland decline of almost 50 % Greece, Hungary, Italy, Yugoslavia decline of roughly 40 % Czechoslovakia decline of circa 25 % France, Belgium and the Netherlands decline of 10 -20 % Switzerland, UK, Scandinavian countries without decline

Decolonization: A survey

Timing of decolonization

Economic Recovery • • • Marshall Plan (1948 – 1951) Organisation for European Economic Cooperation → OECD (1961) Different role of state in post-war economies (Germany versus UK)

Beginning of European Integration • 1948 – Council of Europe – last attempt in European Federalism • 1952 – European Coal and Steel Community • EURATOM • EEC 1955 -1957

Security Cooperation • March 1948 – The Brussels Pact (Treaty of Brussels) – F, UK, Be. Ne. Lux • April 1949 – NATO (Washington Treaty) • 1955 – West Germany to the NATO

Central and Eastern Europe: Towards Sovietisation

How to become a Soviet satellite? • To loose the war: • Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Eastern Germany • To win the war: • Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania • Lucky and not so lucky escapers: • Austria, Finland, Greece

Origins of the Cold War

Beginning of the Cold War

Origins of the Cold War • A-bomb in 1945 • Churchill’s famous speech in Fulton on Iron Curtain in 1946 • Communist coup d’etats in 1948 • Division of Germany 1948 -1949

Walter Lippmann (1889 -1974)

Austria • 4 occupation zones + Vienna (USA, GB, F, SSSR) • Weak Communist Party • Great Coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats established • 1955 State Treaty and neutrality

Occupation of Germany • Potsdam Conference 1945 • 4 occupation sectors • Berlin Divided • Allied Control Council

Division of Germany • 4 KPD+SPD = SED • Bizonia 1947 • Trizonia April 1949 • 1948 currency reform • 1948 -1949 First Berlin Crisis • 1949 German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany

Discussion • What do you think about theories explaining the outbreak of the Cold War: • Traditionalist approach • Revisionist approach • Post-revisionist approach • And, thinking about these theories, what do you think about the importance and persistence of political arguments in historical / social scientific debates?

Thank you for your attention!