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That's the popular quote, but presumably something was preventing war in Europe prior to the creation of the EU in 1993. The European Coal and Steel Community

That's the popular quote, but presumably something was preventing war in Europe prior to the creation of the EU in 1993. The European Coal and Steel Community (grandfather of the EU) was created in 1952 to regulate production of these materials, and address the risk of massive re-armament. I'm not convinced how relevant that is after the US detonated the first atomic weapon in 1945. IMHO, NATO has been the factor in preventing war in Europe during the last 70 years.

throwaway488212 8y ago
> NATO has been the factor in preventing war in Europe during the last 70 years. NATO was significantly involved in the most recent European wars (the Yugoslav Wars). Now you could argue they were "peacekeeping" (and of course there were many atrocities that occurred during the Yugoslav Wars) but that's what a certain country claimed about "Operation Iraqi Freedom". I would contest that NATO prevented any wars in Europe, they definitely were involved in at least one.
doktrin 8y ago
You were downvoted but you're obviously correct. This idea that the EU is responsible for preventing wars on the continent just doesn't stand up to any reasonable examination.
pgeorgi 8y ago
The European Economic Community was founded in 1957, following in the ECSC's footsteps (ECSC was later merged into the EEC). In 1993, the EEC was renamed to European Community and merged into the EU. So there's direct lineage back to post-war times, and without the "baby steps" of creating close ties between significant parts of the economies (steel and coal were kind of a big deal back then) of countries that considered each other arch-foes until then (Germany and France in particular), the later initiatives might have failed, like the attempts to form the European Political Community and the European Defence Community did in the 1950s.
buboard 8y ago
agreed that argument doesn't make any sense. EU countries were severely weakened post-war, to the point that they are unable to wage war today (plus they rank lowest in the world in "i would fight for my country"). The whole "Peace" argument wasn't even brought up in the 90's anymore, EU was all about mixing cultures and having fun during Erasmus programmes. The argument has been revived recently, but i m not sure anyone is buying it. Besides, any kind of such danger is from outside EU. E.g. greece , cyprus and finland. In the case of Greece and cyprus, the presence of US, NATO and UK navy bases are what guarantees peace.

throwaway488212 8y ago

> NATO has been the factor in preventing war in Europe during the last 70 years. NATO was significantly involved in the most recent European wars (the Yugoslav Wars). Now you could argue they were "peacekeeping" (and of course there were many atrocities that occurred during the Yugoslav Wars) but that's what a certain country claimed about "Operation Iraqi Freedom". I would contest that NATO prevented any wars in Europe, they definitely were involved in at least one.

doktrin 8y ago

You were downvoted but you're obviously correct. This idea that the EU is responsible for preventing wars on the continent just doesn't stand up to any reasonable examination.

pgeorgi 8y ago

The European Economic Community was founded in 1957, following in the ECSC's footsteps (ECSC was later merged into the EEC). In 1993, the EEC was renamed to European Community and merged into the EU. So there's direct lineage back to post-war times, and without the "baby steps" of creating close ties between significant parts of the economies (steel and coal were kind of a big deal back then) of countries that considered each other arch-foes until then (Germany and France in particular), the later initiatives might have failed, like the attempts to form the European Political Community and the European Defence Community did in the 1950s.

buboard 8y ago

agreed that argument doesn't make any sense. EU countries were severely weakened post-war, to the point that they are unable to wage war today (plus they rank lowest in the world in "i would fight for my country"). The whole "Peace" argument wasn't even brought up in the 90's anymore, EU was all about mixing cultures and having fun during Erasmus programmes. The argument has been revived recently, but i m not sure anyone is buying it. Besides, any kind of such danger is from outside EU. E.g. greece , cyprus and finland. In the case of Greece and cyprus, the presence of US, NATO and UK navy bases are what guarantees peace.