After the 1st world war, Germany was paying crippling amounts of reparations to the winner countries. That wasn't so successful, lead to hyperinflation and the

After the 1st world war, Germany was paying crippling amounts of reparations to the winner countries. That wasn't so successful, lead to hyperinflation and the Nazi power grab. So after the 2nd world war you had the Marshall plan, debt forgiveness, and trade integration between the western European countries. This was the basis of the EU pacts that live till now.