1. Explain the context in which the Cold War developed, spread, and ended in Europe.
   1. Total war and political instability in the first half of the 20th century gave way to a polarized state order during the Cold War and eventually to efforts at transnational union.
      1. As World War II ended, a Cold War between the liberal democratic West and the communist East began, lasting nearly half a century.
   2. The stresses of economic collapse and total war engendered internal conflicts within European states and created conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state, as demonstrated in the ideological battle between and among democracy, communism, and fascism.
   3. During the 20th century, diverse intellectual and cultural movements questioned the existence of objective knowledge, the ability of reason to arrive at truth, and the role of religion in determining moral standards.
      1. The experience of war intensified a sense of anxiety that permeated many facets of thought and culture, giving way by the century’s end to a plurality of intellectual frameworks.
   4. Demographic changes, economic growth, total war, disruptions of traditional social patterns, and competing definitions of freedom and justice altered the experiences of everyday life.
      1. New voices gained prominence in political, intellectual, and social discourse.
2. Explain how economic developments resulted in economic, political, and cultural change in the period after World War II.
   1. Marshall Plan funds from the United States financed an extensive reconstruction of industry and infrastructure and stimulated an extended period of growth in Western and Central Europe, often referred to as an “economic miracle,” which increased the economic and cultural importance of consumerism.
3. Explain the causes, events, and effects of the Cold War in the period following World War II.
   1. Despite efforts to maintain international cooperation through the newly created United Nations, deep-seated tensions between the USSR and the West led to the division of Europe, which was referred to in the West as the Iron Curtain.
   2. The Cold War played out on a global stage and involved propaganda campaigns; covert actions; limited “hot wars” in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean; and an arms race, with the threat of a nuclear war.
4. Explain the economic and political consequences of the Cold War for Europe.
   1. The United States exerted a strong military, political, and economic influence in Western Europe, leading to the creation of world monetary and trade systems and geopolitical alliances, including NATO.
   2. Countries east of the Iron Curtain came under the military, political, and economic domination of the Soviet Union within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and the Warsaw Pact.
   3. Central and Eastern European nations within the Soviet bloc followed an economic model based on central planning, extensive social welfare, and specialized production among bloc members. This brought with it the restriction of individual rights and freedoms, suppression of dissent, and constraint of emigration for the various populations within the Soviet bloc.
   4. Eastern European nations were bound by their relationships with the Soviet Union, which oscillated between repression and limited reform, until the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Soviet Union.
      1. After 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization policies failed to meet their economic goals within the Soviet Union; combined with reactions to existing limitations on individual rights, this prompted revolts in Eastern Europe, which ended with a reimposition of Soviet rule and repressive totalitarian regimes.
   5. The rise of new nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe brought peaceful revolution in most countries but resulted in instability in some former Soviet republics.
5. Explain the various ways in which colonial groups around the world sought independence from colonizers in the 20th and 21st centuries.
   1. The process of decolonization occurred over the course of the century with varying degrees of cooperation, interference, or resistance from European imperialist states.
      1. At the end of World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s principle of national self-determination raised expectations in the non-European world for new policies and freedoms.
      2. Despite indigenous nationalist movements, independence for many African and Asian territories was delayed until the mid- and even late 20th century by the imperial powers’ reluctance to relinquish control, threats of interference from other nations, unstable economic and political systems, and Cold War strategic alignments.
6. Explain how the formation and existence of the European Union influenced economic developments throughout the period following World War II to the present.
   European states began to set aside nationalist rivalries in favor of economic and political integration, forming a series of transnational unions that grew in size and scope over the second half of the 20th century.
   1. As the economic alliance known as the European Coal and Steel Community, envisioned as a means to spur postwar economic recovery, developed into the European Economic Community (EEC or Common Market) and the European Union (EU), Europe experienced increasing economic and political integration and efforts to establish a shared European identity.
7. Explain how the European Union affected national and European identity throughout the period following World War II to the present.
   1. EU member nations continue to balance questions of national sovereignty with the responsibilities of membership in an economic and political union

Chapter 28 Introduction
Chapter 28 Summary
Chapter 28 Glossary
Chapter 28 Reading Guide
Chapter 28 Outline
Chapter 28 Overview
Chapter 28 Old-Style M-C Test: Questions Answers
Chapter 28 Scan