Why did Europe states, after centuries of conflict decide to start a process of integration?
Victory in Europe was declared on May 8th, 1945, after nearly six years of bloody conflict. Germany was completely defeated. Only thirty years had passed between the start of the First World War and the end of the Second World War. Both wars were triggered by conflicts between European states and had plunged the nations of the world into war. At the heart of the World Wars was the conflict between Germany and its European neighbours. These were some of the most developed countries in the world and yet they sought to destroy each other. Germany invaded France twice in 26 years, each time also invading Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and drawing Great Britain and Russia into the conflict. Eventually both these wars grew from regional conflicts to span the globe.
