POSTWAR EUROPEAN LEADERS

POSTWAR EUROPEAN LEADERS

KONRAD ADENAUER – WEST GERMANY

“THE OLD MAN” Not a Nazi, a

Christian Democrat Presided as

Chancellor over West German “Economic Miracle”

Voted by nation as one of Germany’s greatest leaders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYcnP-lZvRM

WALTER ULBRICHT – EAST GERMANY

German Democratic Republic

Unrest in 1953 Constant migration

across border into West Germany

WILLY BRANDT Social Democrat Escaped to Norway

in 1930s, came back to Germany in 1946

Mayor of West Berlin

Chancellor of West Germany, 1969-1974

Ostpolitik – wins Nobel Peace Prize in 1970

At the Berlin Wall (with Robert Kennedy), and in Warsaw memorial

CHARLES DE GAULLE

ENDS ALGERIAN WAR, 1962

MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ADOPT “THE WELFARE STATE”

MARGARET THATCHER-Conservative

Curbs British welfare state in 1980s

Challenges unions’ power

Takes a hard stand in Northern Ireland

Falklands War, 1982

Encourages Bush against Iraq, 1990

NORTHERN IRELAND – Catholic civil rights protests attacked

BLOODY SUNDAY, 1972 – British paratroopers shoot down 14 at a civil rights march

IRA GAINS FROM VIOLENCE – civil war kills thousands until 1999

BOMBINGS, ASSASSINATIONS

EUROPEAN COOPERATION 1947 – CEEC – Council for European

Economic Cooperation for countries that took Marshall Plan aid.

1950- Jean Monnet and Robert Schumann help create European Coal and Steel Community – Six countries – France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg

Later called Common Market or European Community - 1957

More Cooperation More countries join between 1973 and 1986 –

Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Spain 1993 Maastricht Treaty – European Union (EU).

European parliament and common currency instituted. Free travel without passports allowed throughout EU.

Former Communist countries of eastern Europe join in recent years. Currently 27 members

http://europa.eu/abc/history/animated_map/index_en.htm

http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm