Western Europe

JOHN DORNBERG is a foreign correspondent, magazine writer, and author who has been writing about Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union for more than 30 years. A former bureau chief and correspondent of Newsweek in Bonn, Vienna, Moscow, and Munich, he has been freelancing from his base in Munich since 1973. Dornberg is the author of 11 books, including the highly acclaimed Eastern Europe: A Communist Kaleidoscope, The Two Germanys, and The Soviet Union Today. He is also the author of Central and Eastern Europe from Oryx Press.

• List of Maps viii Preface ix Part 1: The Region 1 CHAPTER 1: Dreams of European Union Coming True 3 CHAPTER 2: A Crazy-Quilt Map 11 CHAPTER 3: The Ethnic Mixing Bowl 15 Multiculturalism and Its Conflicts 17 The Scandinavian Peoples 18 The Germans 19 Peoples of the British Isles 21 The French 21 The Swiss and the Austrians 22 The Italians and the Greeks 22 CHAPTER 4: From Dark Beginnings through the Dark Ages 25 First Peoples of Western Europe 25 Greece and Rome 27 The Germanic Invasions of Europe 30 The Frankish Kingdom 39 The Vikings 43 The Dawn of Nation-States: France, Germany, and England 46 CHAPTER 5: From Medieval and Modern Times 53 Feudalism 53 Papal States and City-States 54 The Crusades 57 The Jews in Medieval Europe 60 Europe, the New World, and the New Dynasties 62 The Renaissance and the Reformation 64 The Thirty Years' War 69 The Eighteenth Century 71 The French Revolution and Napoleon 72 Europe After the Congress of Vienna 78 The Industrial Revolution 79 The Revolutions of 1848 79 The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century 81 World War I 85 Western Europe Between the World Wars 86 World War II 8 CHAPTER 6: The History of European Union: From SPQR to EU 92 Early Proposals for European Unity 92 Churchill and the Council of Europe 93 The European Coal and Steel Community 94 Europe in the 1950s 96 The European Defense Community 94 The Common Market 98 Great Britain and the European Free Trade Association 99 The Development of the European Union 101 The Maastricht Treaty 103 CHAPTER 7: The European Union: Governing without Government 105 The European Parliament 105 The European Council 109 The Council of Ministers 109 The European Commission 110 TheEuropean Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance 111 Other EU Agencies and Institutions 112 CHAPTER 8: Nationalism and Racism: Old Ghosts Return 118 Nationalism 118 Racism: Neo-Nazis and Neo-Fascists 123 CHAPTER 9: Shutting the Doors to Immigration and Crime 129 Immigration 130 Organized Crime 132 CHAPTER 10: Pollution and the Environment: The Money in Muck 135 European Waterways 135 Environmental Regulation 137 Air and Water Pollution 137 Garbage 140 CHAPTER 11: The Economy: A Limping Giant 142 Economic Problems of the 1990s 142 The Technology Gap 143 Wages, Taxes, Debts 144 Mass Unemployment 145 The Social Safety Net 146 CHAPTER 12: Expanding the EU: Eastward, Southward Ho? 149 Part 2: The Countries 153 CHAPTER 13: Scandinavia 155 Scandinavian History 155 Iceland 156 Norway 158 Finland 161 Sweden 163 Denmark 165 CHAPTER 14: The United Kingdom and Ireland 169 United Kingdom 169 Ireland 178 CHAPTER 15: The Benelux Countries 183 The Netherlands 184 Belgium 186 Luxembourg 187 History of the Benelux Region Before 1815 191 The Benelux Nation-States After 1815 191 The Benelux Governments 193 CHAPTER 16: The German-Speaking Countries 195 Germany 195 Austria 198 Switzerland 200 Liechtenstein 201 History of the German-Speaking Countries 202 Governments of the German-Speaking Countries 210 CHAPTER 17: France 213 France 213 Monaco and Andorra 223 CHAPTER 18: The Iberian Peninsula 224 History of the Iberian Peninsula to the Fifteenth Century 224 Spain 227 Portugal 233 CHAPTER 19: Italy and Greece 237 Ancient Greece and Rome 237 Italy 239 Greece 245 Vatican City, San Marino, and Malta 250 Glossary 251 Additional Reading 260 Index 263