The notion of a unified Europe extends at least as far back as the mid- 20th century, when in 1943 British prime minister Winston Churchill announced his vision of forming a unified political, economic, and social bloc, a strategic arrangement that he referred to as “a kind of ‘United States of Europe’” (Ellwood, 1992, p. 23). Unifying states was no small task, but unifying countries with disparate histories, distinct cultures, different languages, and divergent infrastructures and organizational systems would be an altogether different sort of task, one that would take almost 50 years to realize.
Despite the obstacles that would be confronted on the path to the unification of the member countries of the European continent, Churchill’s vision was appealing because of the possibilities that it suggested. Emerging from deep and devastating involvement in World War I and World War II, Churchill reflected upon the lessons of war, and proposed that a unified Europe would have a far greater chance for effective military operations than individual countries in an “to each his own” strategy (Ellwood, 1992). In fact, the current state of European unity can be directly related to many of the initial ideas and efforts of Winston Churchill and his insights regarding the need for the formation of such a unified Europe are among the most important ideas when reflecting on the course of events leading to the eventual European Union.
In addition to the benefits of unification during times of conflict, Churchill suggested that European unity would bring countless advantages during times of peace and stability, too (Ellwood, 1992). In particular, Churchill envisioned the possibilities of economic advancement for the entire continent, and even the world, that he believed would result from unification (Ellwood, 1992). It was this idea, perhaps more than any of the other arguments proposed to support unification, that piqued the interest of Britain’s neighbors in the consideration of unification, and which would also ultimately compel those countries that would become European Union members to set aside other preoccupations and concerns in order to enjoy economic stability and improvement. It is no coincidence that the idea of European unification gained both adherents and momentum following the termination of the second World War.
Europe was devastated by the Second World war, and it seemed fairly obvious to most countries that their prospects of repairing the damages and reconstituting their losses would require more labor, more energy, and, of course, more money, than any one country could muster on its own. Churchill’s “grandiloquent call for European unity” was even supported by the United States, which had its own vested interests in a unified Europe (Ellwood, 1992, p. 57). First, a self-sufficient Europe would relieve the United States of any responsibility to aid or otherwise bail out European countries during the post-war recovery era as the war drained so many resources in a relatively short amount of time. Second, after the war, a recovered and economically prosperous European continent that was unified could represent a political, military, and economic alliance with the United States that would be formidable to the rest of the world. Third, such an alliance would have significant positive economic outcomes, as trade barriers would be either eliminated or tempered, and fair and favorable trade, industry, and economic accords would be negotiated and honored (Ellwood, 1992).
