It was by no means evident that Europe would ever find a path towards unification. Of course
World War II led to the self-destruction of the old system of international relations between
sovereign nation states. Nevertheless the nation states were revived in a new setting.
Moreover there were now 'superpowers': The US and the Soviet Union who shaped the post-war
world. The European Union struggled to emerge as a player of its own right. Its history was
never a straight path forward towards ever-increasing membership and decision-making power at
the EU level it was marked by ups and downs by enthusiasm and drama. This story helps us to
understand what the EU is today.
