ABSTRACT
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the start of the return to Europe of more than 100 million Central and East Europeans who had been absent during half a century of war and Soviet occupation. But it was not Europe as before. After the Second World War, Western Europe was transformed by the conscious rejection of European traditions that had led to two great wars in the lifetime of its leaders. Dictatorships were replaced by democratic regimes, economic stagnation was replaced by economic growth and mass affluence, and peace was secured through the NATO military alliance. The European Union, founded with six members in 1957, created institutions for promoting the economic and political integration of its member states.
