The integration and fragmentation of Europe and its implications.

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The integration and fragmentation of Europe and its implications

Throughout history, the shape of Europe has been changing. For as long as there have been borders that separate the different countries, there have been people who have been trying to change these borders for one reason or another. Since the end of World War II however, Europe has experienced two contradictory processes, that of integration and fragmentation. Integration is the act of combining or to form as a whole whereas fragmentation is the opposite, to break into fragments.

        After the defeat of Germany in World War II it was decided that the USSR should control the East of Germany whilst the Western allies (UK, USA, France etc), should control the West of Germany. It was also decided that, as the capital of Germany, Berlin, was in the East of the country and so fell in the USSR’s territory, then it too would be split into East and West and be controlled by the two sides independently. This was the first fragmentation of a country after World War II and it would prove to be the most influential fragmentation of a country in the 20th century. Although the two sides had agreed to control their respective sides of Germany and the capital Berlin, tension and unrest between the two sides was rampant. This led to the USSR refusing to allow supplies to be carried through their territory to West Berlin by the Western allies. The only way to get supplies to West Berlin was to airlift the supplies in, and so this is what the Western allies did, in huge quantities. When the USSR realised that there was no way they could stop the West from airlifting supplies into West Berlin they agreed to open up a ‘corridor’ to Berlin from West Germany through East Germany, which would allow the Western allies to bring supplies in by road. The culmination of these events led to the building of the Berlin wall in 1961 by the USSR. This wall separated West Berlin from the East and began the cold war between the USSR and the Western Allies and in particular the USA.

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        Berlin remained divided until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The integration of East Germany began almost immediately as trade between the two sides was opened up again and people were allowed to move freely between the two sides. Not everything was well though, as during the time when the two sides had been separated the West had grown considerably richer than the East, who had been controlled by a communist regime. It was feared that when the two sides were integrated, the East would pull the West into a depression as Western money was invested in the ...

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