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Foundations for the Cold War.
‘’The cold war became one of the most sifgnificant factors in the eventual creation of integrated supranationalism in Western Europe that formed the basis for the later European Union.’’ (Messenger, 2010, p.32)
A process that gradually occurred in the late 1940s led to the division of Europe in two camps: the Western part linked to the United States and the Eastern part linked to the Soviet Union. The main goals for all the three major allies – Soviet Union, United States, and Britain – were to influence the arrangements after the World War in a way that would guarantee their national security. The so-called tripartite conferences in 1945, which existed of the Yalta Conference in February and the Potsdam Conference in July-August, reflected the different perspectives of the three major allies on how to reorganize post-war Europe (Messenger, 2010, p.33). Since both the United States and the Soviet Union interpreted the agreements of the Tripartite Conferences in their own way, the threat perception linked to their own national security was changing. Disagreement over the reorganization of domestic and international order in Europe, as well as conflicting ideologies changed threat perception. Part of the so-called ‘security-dilemma’ was the German Problem, which was the problem of managing Germany’s political and economical recovery after the Second World War (Gillingham, 2010, p.55). Messenger in (Dinan, 2010, p. 32), argues that the idea of national security was most significant factor in the break-up of the Wartime Alliance and the emergence of the Cold War conflict. In his speech in March 1946, Churchill attacked his former wartime-ally by stressing his concerns and anxiety towards the Soviet Un...

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...hall Plan, the OEEC was set up, however this was only partially because of the Cold War. Another institution was set up in 1949, the NATO, where the United States promised to defend Europe when it would come to a war. The Schuman declaration was in accordance to the threat perception of Germany from the perspective of France, since they feared for their security when Germany would rearmament. The collaboration between Germany and France as a result of the ECSC was the beginning of European integration of West Europe. As a protest against Germany joining the NATO, France proposed to form a Pan-European force against the Soviet Union in the EDC, which would fail in 1954. Things took a turn when Communism threatened to spread even further around the globe, and Germany was accepted into the WEU and the Brussels Treaty to collaborate and secure Western Europe’s safety.

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