Shaping Europe
Is there a shared European past? What binds the continent together? Your journey starts here!
Europe: A global power
The call for democracy and national sovereignty, the expansion of industrialisation and imperialism, all radically change Europe's course. Europe reaches the peak of its global power. The changes fuel social tensions in 19th century Europe - their impact is still highly relevant today.
Europe in ruins
Extreme atrocity and contempt for humanity become apparent in the different scenarios of mass war and totalitarian terror in the first half of the 20th century.
- World War I
- Causes of the war
- European war, global war
- Soldiers' experience
- Industrialised war
- Mass war
- Poison gas
- Images of the enemy
- Memory of the war
- The Peace Treaties
- New political landscape
- Democracy
- State and nation
- 1917-1920
- Spread of the revolution
- Totalitarianism versus democracy
- Breaking the traditions
- Pacifism / Ethnical conflicts
- Rapprochement / Revanchism
- European idea / Fascism
- Keynesianism / The Great Slump
- Authoritarian regimes
- Ideology (Stalinism)
- Leadership (Stalinism)
- Economy (Stalinism)
- Mass terror (Stalinism)
- Genocide and mass terror (National Socialism)
- Economy (National Socialism)
- Leadership (National Socialism)
- Ideology (National Socialism)
- International impact of the Spanish Civil War
- World War II
- Total destruction
- Cause of the war
- Mass executions
- Mass deportation
- Starvation
- Forced labour
- Concentration camps
- Shoah
- Bombing
- Collaboration and cooperation
- Resistance
- The harvest of destruction
Rebuilding a divided continent
A new political landscape emerges from the ashes of war, separated by an Iron Curtain. The idea of European integration is put into practice, but will it flourish?
- Redrawing borders
- Surviving
- Expulsions
- Human rights
- The Western bloc
- The Eastern bloc
- Beyond the blocs
- Competing political models
- Housing
- Healthcare
- Consumerism
- Consumerism - Electrical appliances
- Consumerism - House design
- Consumerism - Baby Boom
- Consumerism - Fashion
- Consumerism - Food and packaging
- Education
- Mobility
- Between two blocs
- Congress of Europe
- European Coal and Steel Community
- Failure of the European Defence Community
- The Rome Treaties
- Architects of the European integration
- Common Agricultural Policy
- The Élysée Treaty
- First enlargement
- Memory of the Shoah
- West Germany
- East Germany
- Austria
- Ukraine
- France
- Poland
- Joseph's coat
Shattering certainties
The thriving post-war economies falter. Communist regimes face systemic issues and a lack of socio-political legitimacy. Globalisation and the end of the Cold War accelerate European integration.
- End of the boom
- Energy crisis
- Neo-Liberalism
- Democratisation in Western Europe
- End of Southern dictatorships
- New social movements
- Communism under pressure
- Suppression and escape
- Helsinki Conference
- First direct elections to the European Parliament
- Single market
- Southern enlargement
- Re-mapping Europe
- War in ex-Yugoslavia
- Germany reunites
- Milestones of European Integration
- The arrival of the euro
- Furthering the Single Market
- EU enlargement accelerates
- Former Eastern bloc countries become Member States
- Dealing with diversity
- Freedom of movement
- EU citizenship
- Does the EU need a constitution?
- Drafting a European constitution
- The crisis of 2008
- Linguistic diversity
- Shared and divided European memory
- Nostalgia and condemnation
- Secret archives
Europe now
What are the mutually shared beliefs that bind us together regardless of political, religious, cultural and social differences? What will future history textbooks say about our present?