Describe the Growth of European Unity from 1950 to 1957

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Describe the Growth of European Unity from 1950 to 1957

The growth of European Unity did not start in 1950. It is the desire and growth before this time that is also important.

Europe’s wartime leaders made good arguments to why a European Unity would be a good thing. They said that individual nations were too small to give their people the prosperity which Europe being united could offer. So many of the wartime leaders supported the idea of European Unity because they believed that the Nazi conquest and domination of Europe had been helped by the selfish nationalism of the European states. This idea grew and grew and many governments considered the idea of Europe united. These wartime leaders wanted economies of each state to be repaired. They believed Europe could work together to repair their economies and that would enable Europe to compete with the USA and the Soviet Union. The idea of Europe being a world leader was attractive to many governments around this time (before 1950). This period up to 1950 shows the desire for European Unity.

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During 1950 – 1957 European Unity grew. Benelux was created during the early 50s, which allowed free trade, and no customer barriers between Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. This was early evidence of both growth and change for European Unity. Benelux was created to recover each of the three country’s economies by creating free trade etc.  

Later the OEEC (Organisation of European Economic Co-operation) was introduced to decide how the ‘Marshall Aid’ should be spent. The OEEC meant that European countries were almost forced into unity. The countries had to join together to resolve where the money went ...

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