The first step toward a united Europe was a common market for coal and steel. France and Germany, enemies in both world wars, became partners in peacetime industry and trade. The architects of the European Project, subscribing to a binding ethos of Atlanticism, were inspired by America's success in molding the newly independent states from the original 13 colonies into “a more perfect union.” Europe's progress in that direction would never have been possible without the Marshall Plan, which jump-started the Continent's postwar economic recovery and ensured 42 years of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a shield against the Soviet Union.
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