Strength in Numbers Mar

The Delian League  Countries do not want to be dominated by other countries.  But there are many advantages to be gained from voluntarily linking up with another country.  An early union occurred in the 5 th century BCE, when Athens, created the Delian League.  The League initially served as a military deterrent against Persia.

European Union  Today the most highly developed economic and political union is the European Union (EU)  The EU is a supranational organization consisting of 25 European countries.  The EU coordinates many aspects of national policy: health, the economy, foreign policy and defense.

Why is the Union needed?  For much of European history Europe has been comprised of a large number of independent countries, and these countries were regularly at war with each other.  The most devastating being the First World War (1914 – 1918) and the Second World War (1939 – 1945)  Following World War II, six European countries agreed to start working together to protect each other.

Date JoinedCountries Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, West Germany 1973Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom 1981Greece 1986Portugal, Spain 1995Austria, Finland, Sweden 2004Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia

Assignment  On this map find and highlight all the EU countries.