European Economy After World War II The Western Europe’s economy quickly revived within a decade following World War II.

In the early postwar period, western Europeans faced a number of serious economic problems Decolonization The need to rebuild infrastructure and factories Transitioning from wartime to peacetime production Inflation, shortages, and resulting black marketeering

These states were helped by the enormous infusion of funds from the U These states were helped by the enormous infusion of funds from the U.S. as part of its Marshall Plan to halt the spread of communism into western Europe. Western European states expanded already existing social welfare programs in the postwar period.

The Labor Party government of the UK, elected shortly after the end of the war, nationalized major industries and banks France, now in its Fourth Republic, established an economy with elements of both socialism and capitalism. France and West Germany, which elected its first postwar government in 1949, were both run by the Christian Democratic Party.

West Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (Inner Six) organized the Common Market (1952), which ended tariffs among the members, first on steel and coal, and later expanding to other commodities, and helped create a European economic revival to compete with the U.S. Overall, economic policies in the three major states, U.K., France, and West Germany were highly successful