European Integration and Defence Practice Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the history, key figures, and treaties of European integration and collective defence from post-WWII to the present day.

Munich (30 September 1938)

A peace conference between Hitler, Mussolini, France, and the UK (Chamberlain) resulting in the occupation of Sudetenland and Poland, leading to the negative term 'appeasement'.

Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

A $1939$ non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union includes a secret protocol to divide Eastern European territories.

Operation Barbarossa

Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in $1941$, leading to significant losses in the 'Bloodlands' under alternating Nazi and Soviet control.

Paul-Henri Spaak

Prime Minister of Belgium who in $1948$ expressed 'Nous avons peur' regarding Soviet power, expansionism, and the use of veto power in the UN.

Berlin Blockade (June 1948 – May 1949)

The first major Cold War confrontation where the West used an airbridge to bypass a Soviet blockade, ending with the establishment of NATO.

NATO (Treaty of Washington – 4 April 1949)

A collective defence alliance marking the end of US isolationism, providing a security guarantee for Western Europe.

Konrad Adenauer

The first Chancellor of West Germany ($1949-1963$) who used European integration to reintegrate the country into the Western community.

Westbindung

Adenauer's policy of anchoring West Germany in the Western world through integration into the ECSC, NATO, and European communities.

Pan-Europa Movement

Founded by Count Richard von Coudenhove Kallergi in $1923$, it aimed to unite Europe through economic cooperation in coal and steel.

Kellog-Briand pact (1927)

An international agreement led by Aristide Briand that aimed to renounce war as a tool for resolving conflicts.

Jean Monnet

A French economist and diplomat known as the 'real architect' of European integration who designed the Schuman Plan.

Robert Schuman

French Minister of Foreign Affairs who transformed Monnet's idea into the Schuman Declaration, the official start of European integration.

Wirtschaftswunder

The 'economic miracle' of West Germany associated with Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard's social market economy.

Benelux

An economic cooperation model between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg established as a customs union in $1948$ and an economic union in $1958$.

Marshall Plan (1947)

The European Recovery Programme provided large-scale US economic aid conditioned on European countries coordinating their economies.

OEEC

The Organisation for European Economic Cooperation, set up to manage Marshall Aid; it used intergovernmental cooperation without pooling sovereignty.

Council of Europe (1949)

Created by the Treaty of London and based in Strasbourg, it focuses on democracy and human rights but lacks supranational power.

Schuman Declaration (9 May 1950)

A proposal to place French and German coal and steel under a joint supranational authority to make war 'materially impossible'.

ECSC (Treaty of Paris, 1951)

The European Coal and Steel Community was the first organization to pool sovereignty, consisting of France, West Germany, Italy, and the Benelux.

European Defence Community (EDC)

A failed $1954$ proposal to create a supranational European army under common command to control German rearmament.

Maastricht Treaty (1993)

Introduced the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and identified the WEU as the EU’s military arm.

Lisbon Treaty (2009)

Strengthened defence policy by introducing a mutual defence clause requiring member states to provide aid if another is a victim of armed aggression.

PESCO

The Permanent Structured Cooperation ($2017$) involves $25$ EU countries (excluding Denmark and Malta) cooperating on specific defence projects.

Strategy Compass (March 2022)

The EU defence roadmap aimed at crisis response and rapid deployment capacity of $5,000$ troops.

European Peace Facility

A funding mechanism used to finance military missions and provide weapons support, such as for Ukraine during the $2022$ war.

ReArm Europe

A strategy to increase defence spending and strengthen EU military readiness by the year $2030$.

NATO target (June 2025)

The goal for member states to reach $3.5\%$ of GDP in defence spending by the year $2035$.