What were the sources of postwar recovery and stability in western Europe?

IIN THE LATE 1940S, the outlook for Europe appeared bleak. In less than a generation, however, many western European countries constructed democratic political institutions and entered a period of unprecedented economic growth. As a consumer revolution brought improved living standards and a sense of prosperity to ever-larger numbers of people, politicians entered collective economic agreements and established the European Economic Community, the first steps toward broader European unity.

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Life and Leisure in the Consumer RevolutionBy the late 1950s, a rapidly expanding economy was making more consumer goods available to more people on both sides of the iron curtain, transforming the way they spent their leisure time. British teens listened to the latest rock ’n’ roll hits on long-playing record albums. The Six-Five Special album featured recordings from the successful BBC television series of the same name. Consumer goods were not as readily available in the East, and the state controlled what goods were produced. Citizens of Communist Czechoslovakia could tune into state-censored television broadcasts on this Czech-made ten-inch tabletop receiver. (television: Martin Hajek/Visual Connection Archive; album: Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library)