Europe in the Post-War Era 1107merits for reform arose in the countries of the Eastern European
bloc, beginning in Poland and Hungary, Gorbachev made clear
that the Soviet Union would not intervene. Communism col
lapsed in one Eastern European state after another in 1989.
Throngs of East Germans pouring through the Berlin Wall in
November 1989 symbolized the fall of communism in Eastern
Europe. Germany became a unified state once again. The Soviet
Union itself then broke apart, as one former Soviet republic after
another declared independence. The Cold War ended, after hav
ing largely defined international relations since the end of World
War II. The collapse of what has been called the Soviet Union’s
empire left the United States as the world’s only superpower,
with an informal empire of its own.
In the former Communist states, the challenges of achieving
democratic rule with little or no democratic traditions or a suc
cessful market economy were daunting. The ethnic and religious
complexity of these states compounded the difficulties. In the for
mer Yugoslavia, a bloody civil war began in Bosnia in 1992. The
war brought atrocities on a scale not seen since World War II,
most of which were perpetuated by Serb forces against Muslims.
The post-war era also brought about European economic coop
eration among Western states. European economic cooperation
had begun in the years following World War II, with the founding
of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation in
1948, the creation of the Common Market in 1959, and the Eu
ropean Community in 1967. The Treaty of Maastricht, signed in
1992 by the twelve members of the European Community, cre
ated the European Union, which had as a base a partnership
between France and Germany. The single market that began for
member states in 1993 led to the implementation of a common
currency—the “euro”—in 2002 (although three states have
retained their former currencies). Twenty-seven states are now
members of the European Union. Romania and Bulgaria were
admitted in 2007, with the candidacies of Croatia, Macedonia,
and Turkey still pending.
The globalization of the world economy, reflecting remarkable
improvements in transportation and communication, has brought
the continents of the world closer together, facilitating the move
ment of people, ideas, and products across the globe. Migrants
from Africa and Asia began to arrive in Europe in ever greater
numbers, attracted by the possibility of jobs and a better life.
Many fled political turmoil at home, arriving as political refugees
or simply crossing borders without detection. Hundreds of thou
sands of immigrants from the Balkans also headed west. Periods
of economic downturn have left immigrants unwanted by many