Building ‘Europe brick by brick’

Although the roots of European integration can be traced back to the theories of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and Victor Hugo, and to the military dreams of Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler, it was the devastation experienced in Europe between 1919 and 1945 that gave the push for unity a new urgency and a new legitimacy. At war’s end, Europe was exhausted, for all intents and purposes Germany was divided, while France and Italy, unable to maintain a semblance of political stability, witnessed the growth of powerful political parties. It was in this context that ideas for a politically and economically united Europe took on a new life, providing a much-needed ray of hope to deal with the vexing problems of the post-war period.