The Western European Democracies Ch 20 Sec 2

Britain Changing Policies In 1945 British voters put the Labour party into power In hopes that it would help save the countries economic state

Labour and Conservative Governments The government gave rise to new unemployment benefits and built housing for the poor In 1979 the British turned to a new party the Conservatives The leader was Margret Thatcher who also became the prime minister for 11 years The party made changes not as big as everyone hoped but the Conservatives are still in power

A New World Role After the war Britain lost many of its colonies after they won independence They gave up global leadership to the US but remained a leader in the UN and NATO They tried to become closer to the rest of Europe

Northern Ireland Won its independence in 1922 Catholics demanded civil rights and reunification of Ireland After years of fighting Britain held peace talks that brought one leader to Northern Ireland

France Revival and Prosperity France was greatly weakened after WWII Civil war was a threat due to everyone wanting different things for the country

De Gaulle The French turned to a war hero named Charles de Gaulle He made peace with the Algerians He helped restored French power He opposed the cold war and opened talks with China and Cuba

Economic Revival They nationalized some industries and expanded welfare This helped make them the fourth largest economy in the world

Germany Division and Reunification German cities were in ruins and people were starving

Germany Divided In 1949 the emerging cold war had divided Germany into western and eastern The two sides stayed this way for years

West Germany’s Economic Miracle America rushed to help Germany after the war and strengthen it against Eastern communist side The West Berlin elected Konrad Adenauer as their Chancellor or chief minister He guided the rebuilding of East Berlin West Germany worked closely with NATO and the European community

East Germany Under Communism Under communism the economy stayed where it was Many tried to escape to west Germany but when this started happening the Berlin Wall was put up to stop the people from leaving

Reunification In 1969 west Germany wanted to start reunification But in 1989 the reunification started In 1990 voters approved the reunification

Economic Problems West Germans had to pay higher taxes to rebuild the west In the east as factories closed the unemployment rate rose Some German companies moved to different countries

Other Democratic Nations Other parts of Europe were slowly recovering Denmark made social programs which many people saw as a must for democratic society

Italy The north was prosperous the south was poorer The government was coalition after coalition Coalition is a temporary alliance of political parties

Spain, Portugal, and Greece In Spain and Portugal Dictators were in power In the 1970s their governments became democratic Greece had more problems the militant rule tried to take over Cyprus which would have brought war to Greece and Turkey In 1975 Greece returned to democratic rule