The first organisations and cooperative ventures in post-war Europe

Foreword


This subject file analyses how various diplomatic initiatives were adopted in the aftermath of the Second World War in a bid to revive economic, political, military and scientific cooperation between European countries that had been left devastated by five years of deadly conflict. Soon relegated to second fiddle on the international stage by the rise in power and increasing rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union, a divided Western Europe realised that its recovery would come through unity, through the pooling of its economic resources and through the creation of jointly run, efficient institutions.


For a detailed look at the Schuman Plan and the birth of the European Community, please see the research corpus: ‘From the Schuman Plan to the Paris Treaty (1950–1952)’.



Published in May 2013, this subject file is based on material previously contained in the European NAvigator digital library (www.ena.lu).




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