Contemporary Benefits of the European Union

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For a significant portion of our history, Europe has seen constant battles and bloodshed, often due to leaders or military forces with desire of holding sovereignty over other countries – such as the Norman Conquest lead by William the Conqueror, desire to distinguish their country as an independent state – such as the Irish War of Independence lead by the IRA, or even for political reasons - such as the holocaust lead by renowned political extremist and dictator Adolf Hitler. Although these events, along with a multitude of other wars – civil, guerilla or full-frontal attacks on other countries - were undoubtedly devastating to Europe due to the large loss of lives and the impact on the economy, they seem to rate very low in terms of continental destruction today upon reflection of the two wars that were severely damaging to Europe – World War I and World War II. The aftermath of World War I saw the most social disruption and economic damage in Europe’s history at the time. The absence of men who had been killed meant housewives struggled as their husbands were no longer available to play their role as ‘breadwinner’ which was worsened by the fact that taxes were raised by the government, who had also established new departments in efforts to rebuild their war-torn states. Millions of civilians were displaced as new borders appeared with four domains disappearing from our maps. These are just a few of the consequences suffered throughout Europe until treaties such as the Treaty of Versailles officially brought the war to an end in 1919, many clauses of which pertained to the formation of ‘The League of Nations’ – the primary attempt to stop war breaking out between European countries, an action deemed necessary so that coun... ... middle of paper ... ...s purpose would also hold the belief that there is no longer a purpose for democracy, peace, charity, common good and free movement of labour, capital and people. This view can only be attributed to cynicism which may be due to negative events, for example Britain's recession, for which many were falsely led to believe the EU culpable. Works Cited McCormick, John, 1954 Understanding the EU : a concise introduction / John McCormick. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Web references: ‘Treaty of Maastricht on EU’, europa. eu, 2007 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/economic_and_monetary_affairs/institutional_and_economic_framework/treaties_maastricht_en.htm ‘League of Nations’, History Learning Site, 2000 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/leagueofnations.htm ‘Policy Areas of The EU’, europa. eu, 2007 http://europa.eu/pol/index_en.htm

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