Rebuilding and the post-war boom
The Second World War left many cities in Europe broken. The USA was undamaged and rich. In 1947â48 it offered the Marshall Plan: money, food and machines to rebuild Europe (about 1948â52). It also helped the USA, which needed customers, and it kept western Europe away from communism during the Cold War.
From about 1950 to 1973 western Europe and the USA had a long boom. Output per person more than doubled. People had jobs and wages went up each year.
Consumer society
A consumer society is one where most families spend money on more than food and shelter. They buy things like a fridge, a TV, a washing machine and a car.
- Higher wages left money over.
- Mass production in factories made goods cheaper.
- Credit (buying now, paying later) made big items easy to afford.
- Advertising on TV and in magazines made people want them.
- New places to shop: supermarkets and shopping centres.
Some people worried that happiness was being measured only by things people owned.
Welfare state and equal rights
In the welfare state, taxes pay for health care, old-age pensions, schools and help for people without jobs. Britain's National Health Service (1948) is a famous example. Western European countries built their own versions.
In the USA, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, led by people such as Martin Luther King Jr., fought unfair laws against Black Americans. The Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965) became law. Women's movements also asked for equal pay and rights.
Uniting Europe
Leaders wanted never to fight again. In 1951 six countries (France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) shared coal and steel, the materials of war. In 1957 the Treaty of Rome created a common market. More countries joined: 9 in 1973, 12 by 1986, 15 in 1995 and 25 in 2004. The European Union (EU) began in 1993; the euro started in 1999. In 2020 the UK left, leaving 27.
Shocks, new ideas and the information revolution
In 1973 oil-selling countries raised prices sharply. Fuel and factory costs rose, growth slowed and prices went up, ending the boom. In the 1980s leaders in the USA and Britain argued for less state and more market.
Meanwhile came the information revolution. The first computer network (ARPANET) linked four computers in 1969. The World Wide Web opened in 1991 and smartphones spread after 2007. Information became cheap and instant, new jobs appeared (software, online services) and old ones changed. It also raised new problems: privacy, false news and unequal access.
Key formulas and definitions
- Marshall Plan: US aid 1948â52
- Post-war boom: about 1950â1973
- EU members: 6 (1951), 9 (1973), 12 (1986), 15 (1995), 25 (2004), 27 (2020)
- Consumer society = higher wages + mass production + credit + advertising
Worked examples
1. Why did the USA give so much aid to western Europe through the Marshall Plan?
Three reasons together: to help rebuild ruined countries, to give the USA customers for its goods, and to stop poverty from pushing western European people towards communism during the Cold War.
2. Output per person in western Europe was 100 in 1950 and about 250 in 1973. By what factor did it grow, and what does this mean for families?
250 Ãˇ 100 = 2.5 times. A family's income was about two and a half times higher, so they could afford a fridge, a TV or a car.
3. Give a cause and an effect of the 1973 oil shock in Europe and the USA.
Cause: oil-selling countries raised the price a lot. Effect: fuel and transport costs rose, factories cut back, growth slowed and prices rose (the long boom ended).
Common mistakes
- Thinking the Marshall Plan was a loan to the USSR. It was offered to Europe, and the USSR and its allies refused it.
- Mixing the EU and NATO. The EU is about trade and shared rules; NATO is a military alliance.
- Saying the boom lasted until today. It ended around 1973.
- Believing the information revolution started with smartphones. The first links were in 1969 and the web in 1991.