Abstract
The status of Europe was affected by the devastation of the war and the emergence of the USA and the USSR as the two great superpowers. This partly explains the process of decolonisation in the 1950s and 1960s which signalled a further reduction in European power. On the other hand, integration of European economic and security systems has been seen as the route towards the creation of a third power bloc to match the USA and USSR. However, this latter movement has been inhibited by the persistence of national rivalries and conflicts of interest.
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Further Reading
Balfour, M., West Germany (Croom Helm, 1982).
Chamberlain, M. E., Decolonisation. The Fall of the European Empires (Historical Association Series, Basil Blackwell, 1985).
Daltrop, A., Politics and the European Community (Longman, 1982).
Grosser, A., The Western Alliance (Macmillan, 1980).
Holland, R. F., European Decolonisation 1918–1981 (Macmillan, 1985).
Mowat, R. C., Creating the European Community (Blandford, 1973).
Urwin, D. W., Western Europe Since 1945 (Longman, 1968).
Werth, A., De Gaulle (Penguin, 1965).
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© 1988 Stuart T. Miller
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Miller, S.T. (1988). Western Europe 1953–86. In: Mastering Modern European History. Macmillan Master Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19580-0_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19580-0_31
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