1106 Part 7 • Europe in the Post-War Era
from the ordeal of total war, and the relative peace and new pros
perity engendered a “baby boom” (1946—1964), as in the United
States. More and more people lived in cities, with fewer working
the land, and a burgeoning culture of consumption took hold,
increasingly influenced by America. The status of and opportuni
ties for women gradually improved. Women finally achieved the
right to vote in France and Italy. In Britain, the Labour govern
ment laid the foundations for the modern welfare state, with gov
ernments assuming increased responsibility for their citizens.
The welfare state emerged in part out of the experience of state
planning and social solidarity during World War II, as many
countries began wide-ranging social services to aid and protect
their people. Other Western states, too, increased the number of
social services provided by their governments, as did their Com
munist counterparts.
The period between 1950 and 1973 was a period of dynamic
economic growth in Western Europe. The number of people
working in manufacturing or the service sector increased dramat
ically, as the percentage of people working the land fell. Reflect
ing the wartime experience, economic and social planning played
an important part in the recovery of the European economy and
its rapid expansion.
In the post-war period, movements for independence in the
Asian and African colonies of the European powers led to rapid
decolonization and further loss of European authority. The age
of empire ended with decolonization. Britain granted indepen
dence to its former colonies. France, the Netherlands, Belgium,
and Portugal also lost their empires, but after nationalist insur
rections and bloody fighting.
Political change in Europe came rapidly in the 1970s and
1980s. In Greece, Spain, and Portugal, repressive dictatorships
gave way to parliamentary regimes. Parties concerned with the
environment—the “Greens”—made sizable political inroads in
West Germany. But, at the same time, terrorism brought a new,
unsettling dimension to political life. Terrorist groups threatened
security in such areas as Northern Ireland and the Basque region
of Spain, where nationalists were demanding independence, and
in the Middle East, where militant Arab organizations opposed
the policies of Israel (which became independent in 1948)
toward the Palestinian people.
In the Soviet Union, following his rise to head of state in 1985,
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev initiated a bold series of eco
nomic and political reforms, hoping to maintain communism by
eliminating its authoritarian nature, encouraging greater political
participation, and bringing economic prosperity. When move