Region #2 – Europe
Fact Sheet
Political
During the 1800's, European nations were involved in a competition to establish colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas in order to increase wealth, power, and access to natural resources.
Two major wars were fought primarily in Europe during the 1900’s (World War I 1914-1918 and World War II 1939-1945).
The United States and the former Soviet Union were involved in the Cold War after World War II until the early 90’s. Each country competed by trying to influence other countries, building up nuclear weapons and attempting to be the first into space. The Cold War led to conflicts all over the world as the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. armed and funded rival sides.
After World War II, Germany was divided into two nations; West Germany was democratic and East Germany was a communist bloc nation. The two nations were united again in 1991 when communism in Eastern Europe ended.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created in April 1949 in response to concerns over an expanding Soviet Union. It originally included the USA, Canada, and ten Western European nations. Even though the threat of communism has ended, NATO continues to expand and now includes such nations as Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Starting from 1991, the formerly Communist Yugoslavia broke up into several nations including: Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Croatia. Bloody civil wars followed in many of these places.
Economic
After many wars in Europe, the European Union was formed after WWII to help bring the countries of Europe closer together. It allows for free trade between member countries, free movement of people, and close political cooperation. There are now 28 member countries.
Germany, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy and France are among the 12 nations that began using the Euro in 2002. The U.K. decided against using the Euro as its currency and still uses the Pound.
Western European nations are currently more economically stable and wealthier than Eastern European nations because of the recent changes in government (from communist to democratic) and economy (from socialist to capitalist) since the end of the Cold War.
Currently, the economies of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy are suffering from high government debt. There is even talk of Greece leaving the Euro (currency) zone.
Cultural
The main branches of Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity) all have strong roots in Europe.
Religious differences have led to conflicts in Northern Ireland between the Catholic and Protestant followers.
Europe has a strong tradition of arts and literature housed in some of the world's most famous museums including the Lourve (Paris), the British Museum (London), and the Sistine Chapel (Vatican City).
The Balkans region is home to many different ethnic groups including Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, and Muslims, which has experienced many ethnic many conflicts.
Due to the proximity of nations, many Europeans are introduced to several languages during their elementary school years.
The five Romance languages, which are Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, developed out of Latin, the language of the Romans.