WWII+&+Post+war+Europe

10. The Second World War and post-war Western Europe 1939 ‑ 2000
This section deals with the Second World War, post-war recovery and the effects of the Cold War in the second half of the 20th century and, in some cases the transition from authoritarian to democratic government. It requires examination of the social, political and economic issues facing states and the methods used to cope with the challenges, either within individual states or in the move towards a system of European integration, in pursuit of mutually acceptable political, economic and foreign policy goals.
 * // Syllabus: //**
 * Second World War in Europe; Cold War: impact on Germany, NATO and military cooperation
 * Post-war problems and political and economic recovery in Western Europe: devastation; debt 1945 ‑ 9
 * Establishment and consolidation of the Federal Republic of Germany to German reunification
 * Moves towards political and economic integration, cooperation and enlargement post-1945: EEC, EC, EU
 * Spain: Franco’s regime and the transition to, and establishment of, democracy under Juan Carlos
 * Case study of one Western European state between 1945 and 2000 (excluding Germany and Spain):
 * the nature of the government;
 * domestic policies;
 * opposition and dissent

Website of the bloke who wrote the chapter in the textbook: in his own words an extension of the chapter from the book. [|International School History]

2 sections of syllabus: Read / note / do:
 * **While BT's on TOK Camp Week 3 Term 3: **
 * Second World War in Europe; Cold War: impact on Germany, NATO and military cooperation
 * Post-war problems and political and economic recovery in Western Europe: devastation; debt 1945‑9
 * Cold War sections of the wiki here
 * Textbook: pp. 259-266
 * Your own research and reading..... ||

World War II
All you need (and more) on WWII on [|History Learning Site]

Solid (and short!) summary on [|BBC]

Revision/overview document (British-centric) from [|johndclare.net]

(Plenty of books in the library, too!)

900 Photos of WWII

Cold War
(Of course, you already got a big fat handout last year...)

"Impact on Germany" looks specifically at division of East/West & Berlin, population movements, Berlin Blockade / Airlift, Berlin Wall etc

Chapter from my favourite text book on 20th Century History, Christopher Condon, //The Making of the Modern World//

//[|What is NATO]//

//On 40 Years of NATO, 40 Years of West Germany//: []



An academic but easy to read paper on the post-war situation in Europe and the developing desire for military cooperation. Read pp. 5-22.

1945-49 Political and Economic:
Key issues here are the USSR/Communist pressure on European nations, which resulted in the Truman Doctrine ([|US State Dept]and [|History Learning Site]) and the Marshall Plan ([|US State Dept] & [|Spartacus]). Note also the move from Britain as the key power of the West in international affairs to the US taking on this role. (Use the Condon article as your basis, and move out from there.)

(Also, the Soviet Union [|enters the nuke club]in 1949)

Quiz:

Berlin Airlift media type="youtube" key="_nHdB1vJNsg" height="315" width="420"