Questions about The years after 1945

Where are you studying Justin? And for what degree?

I am studying at ASU for a degree in business

Isn't it amazing how quickly things move and change these ays? That statement would have been perfectly true even as recently as maybe one year ago. But, as of this writing, the Euro is in so much trouble that some wag recently quipped the U.S. Dollar is again the best-looking horse in the glue factory. And the U.S. is abbout to try and bolster the European ecnomy again.

Sorry, that has nothing to do with 1945, but I wanted to keep the record straight.

Just to back up your point Andrew

The Goldman Saching of Europe

See also

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democracy-is-on-the-retreat-in-europe/2011/12/06/gIQA2CvpaO_story.html?hpid=z3

I figured - that question warrants an essay and this isn't really the best place for more than a few ideas. You could have at least reworded your assignment so it wasn't obvious you want us to write your essay for you.

Read up on the Marshall Plan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan
Then the evolution from Benelux to the European Economic Community (the Common Market) to the European Community to the European Union

Sounds like a bundle of fun, huh?

As of the end of the 2nd World War in Europe in May of 1945,
the 3rd World War began wherein the communists tried to
enslave the World, subjugating it under communism.
The 3rd World War included the Korean War,
the War in Vietnam n a few others.

It ended with the demise of the USSR on Christmas Eve of 1991.
On Christmas Day of 1991, Russia was free. The 3rd World War was over. We won.





David

Heh, that's kind of funny given how well US democracy is dealing with its own deficit. Technocracy or democracy. Hmmm. Democracy is the worst system except for all the rest.

Economically, Europe isn't much better off today than it was in 1945. But back then there was something called the Marshall Plan to help it recover. Today it's a patchwork of ad hoc intiatives by powers which are (nearly) as feeble as the ones they're trying to help.

Answer #1: The fall of the Soviet Union.

Agree completely.
I would list establishment of the EU and its later counterpart, the Eurozone, as #2. These moves have made the possibility of another European war along the lines of the two major 20th Century conflagrations extremely unlikely.

That 's nice, but it is a step toward a single world government
(with the technology of deep surveillance in its presence [and up in orbit, above its presence] )
which will inevitably, in the course of time, degenerate into a totalitarian despotism
so thorough-going as to make both nazism & communism look innocent, by comparison.

Personal freedom will drop into it, like a black hole.

Fortunately, very fortunately, I and most of the posters in this forum will be immune
therefrom by natural death, but the evil will fall upon our grandchildren or their children.

There will be no end to improvement of the technology of surveillance;
subcutaneous low-jack routinely implanted at birth. ( I think that's already done, with dogs?)
Parents will LOVE it; thay (and government) will know where jr. is 24/7/365 around the clock;
no more lost, kidnapped, nor truant kiddies.
Any infraction of law (however slight) will be instantly known to police.

The low-jack will be enhanced, in time, to render telemetry of medical diagnosis;
what he eats, how ofen, how many orgasms he has,
under what circumstances. Authorized? Licensed??

Ultra in-depth surveillance will be WELCOMED, by its victims
as the street cameras have been welcomed for better safety.

Man will be re-defined, as a colony creature.
A man will be but a cell, like a red blood cell, in a much larger creature.

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave
will be forgotten; an old joke. Who will object ?

Except it came 44 years after WW2 ended and Europe was doing pretty OK at the time. But I'd definitely have it in my top 6 - except in some ways it was a negative, reunification of Germany cost the former West Germany a shitload.

Sure but if you read the part I quoted it kinda goes like this:

At 1945 it looked like Europe was just going to be the battleground between the US and the USSR. Now Europe is jockeying for power with the US and Russia. What are the biggest changes that made that happen?

I say the obvious one is right in the question. The fall of the USSR made NATO nearly irrelevant, and made Europe no longer the battleground between the superpowers.

Europe has always been doing well, but its emergence on the stage as a unified international power really would not have happened without the fall of the USSR. Europe really grew into its own after that, shifting from the cold war to economic "soft" power that it could generate more easily than the "hard" power that defined the cold war era.

Of course that is not the only factor, things like the advance of technology and globalization also played a big role (increasing the power of "soft" power and decreasing the power of "hard" power for example) but the fall of the USSR is what I'd point to as the biggest tipping point for the question.