9.1 Contextualizing Cold War and Contemporary Europe

Learning Objective Unit 9.A: Explain the context in which the Cold War developed, spread, and ended in Europe.

• KC-4.1 Total war and political instability in the first half of the 20th century gave way to a polarized state order during the Cold War and eventually to efforts at transnational union.
  • KC-4.1.IV As World War II ended, a Cold War between the liberal democratic West and the communist East began, lasting nearly half a century.
• KC-4.2 The stresses of economic collapse and total war engendered internal conflicts within European states and created conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state, as demonstrated in the ideological battle between and among democracy, communism, and fascism.
• KC-4.3 During the 20th century, diverse intellectual and cultural movements questioned the existence of objective knowledge, the ability of reason to arrive at truth, and the role of religion in determining moral standards.
  • KC-4.3.I.ii The experience of war intensified a sense of anxiety that permeated many facets of thought and culture, giving way by the century’s end to a plurality of intellectual frameworks.
• KC-4.4 Demographic changes, economic growth, total war, disruptions of traditional social patterns, and competing definitions of freedom and justice altered the experiences of everyday life.
  • KC-4.4.III New voices gained prominence in political, intellectual, and social discourse.

9.2 Rebuilding Europe

Thematic Focus (ECD): Economic and Commercial Developments — Economic development, especially the development of capitalism, played an important role in Europe’s history, often having significant social, political, and cultural effects.

Learning Objective Unit 9.B: Explain how economic developments resulted in economic, political, and cultural change in the period after World War II.

• KC-4.2.IV.A Marshall Plan funds from the United States financed an extensive reconstruction of industry and infrastructure and stimulated an extended period of growth in Western and Central Europe, often referred to as an “economic miracle,” which increased the economic and cultural importance of consumerism.

9.3 The Cold War

Thematic Focus (INT): Interaction of Europe and the World — Motivated by a variety of factors, Europe’s interaction with the world led to political, economic, social, and cultural exchanges that influenced both European and non-European societies.

Learning Objective Unit 9.C: Explain the causes, events, and effects of the Cold War in the period following World War II.

• KC-4.1.IV.A Despite efforts to maintain international cooperation through the newly created United Nations, deep-seated tensions between the USSR and the West led to the division of Europe, which was referred to in the West as the Iron Curtain.
• KC-4.1.IV.B The Cold War played out on a global stage and involved propaganda campaigns; covert actions; limited “hot wars” in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean; and an arms race, with the threat of a nuclear war.

Illustrative examples:

• Hot wars outside of Europe in which the United States and the USSR supported opposite sides:
  • Korean War
  • Vietnam War
  • Yom Kippur War
  • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

9.4 Two Super Powers Emerge

Thematic Focus (ECD): Economic and Commercial Developments — Economic development, especially the development of capitalism, played an important role in Europe’s history, often having significant social, political, and cultural effects.

Learning Objective Unit 9.D: Explain the economic and political consequences of the Cold War for Europe.

• KC-4.1.IV.C The United States exerted a strong military, political, and economic influence in Western Europe, leading to the creation of world monetary and trade systems and geopolitical alliances, including NATO.
• KC-4.1.IV.D Countries east of the Iron Curtain came under the military, political, and economic domination of the Soviet Union within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and the Warsaw Pact.
• KC-4.2.V.A Central and Eastern European nations within the Soviet bloc followed an economic model based on central planning, extensive social welfare, and specialized production among bloc members. This brought with it the restriction of individual rights and freedoms, suppression of dissent, and constraint of emigration for the various populations within the Soviet bloc.
• KC-4.2.V Eastern European nations were bound by their relationships with the Soviet Union, which oscillated between repression and limited reform, until the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Soviet Union.
  • KC-4.2.V.B After 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization policies failed to meet their economic goals within the Soviet Union; combined with reactions to existing limitations on individual rights, this prompted revolts in Eastern Europe, which ended with a reimposition of Soviet rule and repressive totalitarian regimes.
• KC-4.2.V.D.i The rise of new nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe brought peaceful revolution in most countries but resulted in instability in some former Soviet republics.

Illustrative examples:

• The world monetary and trade system:
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • World Bank
  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
  • World Trade Organization (WTO)
• Revolts against Soviet control:
  • Prague Spring
  • Hungarian Revolt

9.5 Postwar Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Atrocities

Thematic Focus (NEI): National and European Identity — Definitions and perceptions of regional, cultural, national, and European identity have developed and been challenged over time, with varied and often profound effects on the political, social, and cultural order in Europe.

Learning Objective Unit 9.E: Explain the causes and effects of mass atrocities in the period following World War II to the present.

• KC-4.1.V Nationalist and separatist movements, along with ethnic conflict and ethnic cleansing, periodically disrupted the post-World War II peace.
  • KC-4.2.V.D.ii New nationalisms in central and eastern Europe resulted in war and genocide in the Balkans.

Illustrative examples:

• Nationalist violence:
  • Ireland
  • Chechnya
• Separatist movements:
  • Basque (ETA)
  • Flemish
• Ethnic cleansing: §Bullet Bosnian Muslims
  • Albanian Muslims of Kosovo

9.6 Contemporary Western Democracies

Thematic Focus (ECD): Economic and Commercial Developments — Economic development, especially the development of capitalism, played an important role in Europe’s history, often having significant social, political, and cultural effects.

Learning Objective Unit 9.F: Explain state-based economic developments following World War II and the responses to these developments.

• KC-4.2.IV Postwar economic growth supported an increase in welfare benefits; however, subsequent economic stagnation led to criticism and limitation of the welfare state.
  • KC-4.2.IV.B The expansion of cradle-to-grave social welfare programs in the aftermath of World War II, accompanied by high taxes, became a contentious domestic political issue as the budgets of European nations came under pressure in the late 20th century.

9.7 The Fall of Communism

Thematic Focus (SOP): States and Other Institutions of Power — European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.

Learning Objective Unit 9.G: Explain the causes and effects of the end of the Cold War.

• KC-4.2.V.C Following a long period of economic stagnation, Mikhail Gorbachev’s internal reforms of perestroika and glasnost, designed to make the Soviet system more flexible, failed to stave off the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of its hegemonic control over Eastern and Central European satellites.
• KC-4.1.IV.E The collapse of the USSR in 1991 ended the Cold War and led to the establishment of capitalist economies throughout Eastern Europe. Germany was reunited, the Czechs and the Slovaks parted, Yugoslavia dissolved, and the European Union was enlarged through the admission of former Eastern bloc countries.

Illustrative examples:

• Collapse of Soviet Union and satellites:
  • Fall of the Berlin Wall
  • Polish elections in 1989

9.9 Decolonization

Thematic Focus (INT): Interaction of Europe and the World — Motivated by a variety of factors, Europe’s interaction with the world led to political, economic, social, and cultural exchanges that influenced both European and non-European societies.

Learning Objective Unit 9.I: Explain the various ways in which colonial groups around the world sought independence from colonizers in the 20th and 21st centuries.

• KC-4.1.VI The process of decolonization occurred over the course of the century with varying degrees of cooperation, interference, or resistance from European imperialist states.
  • KC-4.1.VI.A At the end of World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s principle of national self-determination raised expectations in the non-European world for new policies and freedoms.
  • KC-4.1.VI.C Despite indigenous nationalist movements, independence for many African and Asian territories was delayed until the mid- and even late 20th century by the imperial powers’ reluctance to relinquish control, threats of interference from other nations, unstable economic and political systems, and Cold War strategic alignments.

Illustrative examples:

• Indigenous nationalist movements:
  • Indian National Congress
  • Algeria’s National Liberation Front (FLN)
  • Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh
  • Sukarno and Indonesian nationalism

9.10 The European Union

Thematic Focus (ECD): Economic and Commercial Developments — Economic development, especially the development of capitalism, played an important role in Europe’s history, often having significant social, political, and cultural effects.

Thematic Focus (NEI): National and European Identity — Definitions and perceptions of regional, cultural, national, and European identity have developed and been challenged over time, with varied and often profound effects on the political, social, and cultural order in Europe.

Learning Objective Unit 9.J: Explain how the formation and existence of the European Union influenced economic developments throughout the period following World War II to the present.

• KC-4.4.IV European states began to set aside nationalist rivalries in favor of economic and political integration, forming a series of transnational unions that grew in size and scope over the second half of the 20th century.
  • KC-4.4.IV.A As the economic alliance known as the European Coal and Steel Community, envisioned as a means to spur postwar economic recovery, developed into the European Economic Community (EEC or Common Market) and the European Union (EU), Europe experienced increasing economic and political integration and efforts to establish a shared European identity.

Learning Objective Unit 9.K: Explain how the European Union affected national and European identity throughout the period following World War II to the present.

• KC-4.4.IV.B EU member nations continue to balance questions of national sovereignty with the responsibilities of membership in an economic and political union.

Illustrative examples:

• Challenges to national sovereignty within the EU:
  • The euro
  • European Parliament
  • Issue of remaining in the EU (e.g., Britain’s “Brexit”)
  • Free movement across borders

9.11 Migration and Immigration

Thematic Focus (SCD): Social Organization and Development — Economic, political, and cultural factors have influenced the form and status of family, class, and social groups in European history, which has, in turn, affected both the individual and society.

Learning Objective Unit 9.L: Explain the causes and effects of changes to migration within and immigration to Europe throughout the period following World War II to the present.

• KC-4.3.III.C Increased immigration into Europe altered Europe’s religious makeup, causing debate and conflict over the role of religion in social and political life.
• KC-4.4.III.D Because of the economic growth of the 1950s and 1960s, migrant workers from southern Europe, Asia, and Africa immigrated to western and central Europe; however, after the economic downturn of the 1970s, these workers and their families often became targets of anti-immigrant agitation and extreme nationalist political parties.

Illustrative examples:

• Anti-immigration, conservative parties:
  • French National Front
  • Austrian Freedom Party

9.12 Technology

Thematic Focus (TSI): Technological and Scientific Innovation — Scientific and technological innovations have increased efficiency, improved daily life, and shaped human development and interactions, having both intended and unintended consequences.

Learning Objective Unit 9.M: Explain how innovation and advances in technology influenced cultural and intellectual developments in the period 1914 to the present.

• KC-4.3.II.B Medical theories and technologies extended life but posed social and moral questions that eluded consensus and crossed religious, political, and philosophical perspectives.

Illustrative examples:

• Medical theories and technologies:
  • Birth control
  • Abortion
  • Fertility treatments
  • Genetic engineering

9.13 Globalization

Thematic Focus (TSI): Technological and Scientific Innovation — Scientific and technological innovations have increased efficiency, improved daily life, and shaped human development and interactions, having both intended and unintended consequences.

Learning Objective Unit 9.N: Explain the technological and cultural causes and consequences of increasing European globalization in the period from 1914 to the present.

• KC-4.3.IV.C Increased imports of U.S. technology and popular culture after World War II generated both enthusiasm and criticism.
• KC-4.4.I.D New communication and transportation technologies multiplied the connections across space and time, transforming daily life and contributing to the proliferation of ideas and to globalization.
• KC-4.4.III.A Green parties in Western and Central Europe challenged consumerism, urged sustainable development, and, by the late 20th century, cautioned against globalization.

Illustrative examples:

• New communication technologies:
  • Telephone
  • Radio
  • Television
  • Computer
  • Cell phone
  • Internet

9.15 Continuity and Change in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Learning Objective Unit 9.P: Explain how the challenges of the 20th century influenced what it means to be European.

• KC-4.1 Total war and political instability in the first half of the 20th century gave way to a polarized state order during the Cold War and eventually to efforts at transnational union.
  • KC-4.1.IV As World War II ended, a Cold War between the liberal democratic West and the communist East began, lasting nearly half a century.
  • KC-4.1.V Nationalist and separatist movements, along with ethnic conflict and ethnic cleansing, periodically disrupted the post-World War II peace.
• KC-4.2 The stresses of economic collapse and total war engendered internal conflicts within European states and created conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state, as demonstrated in the ideological battle between and among democracy, communism, and fascism.
• KC-4.3 During the 20th century, diverse intellectual and cultural movements questioned the existence of objective knowledge, the ability of reason to arrive at truth, and the role of religion in determining moral standards.
  • KC-4.3.I.ii The experience of war intensified a sense of anxiety that permeated many facets of thought and culture, giving way by the century’s end to a plurality of intellectual frameworks.
• KC-4.4 Demographic changes, economic growth, total war, disruptions of traditional social patterns, and competing definitions of freedom and justice altered the experiences of everyday life.
  • KC-4.4.III New voices gained prominence in political, intellectual, and social discourse.