After Second World War, Europe was devastated -> one attempt to unite Europe was the European Coal and Steel Community founded in 1951 (goal was to centralize control of previously national coal and steel industries throughout Europe) - founding members were Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands and West Germany -> later two additional communities were founded, namely the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 establishing a customs union and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for cooperation in developing nuclear energy

1967 - Single set of the three communities by the Merger Treaty -> communities were now referred to as the European Community (EC)

1990 - Fall of Berlin Wall -> former East Germany became member of community; with Maastricht Treaty on November 1, 1993, the European Union was founded

1995 - Austria, Sweden, and Finland joined

2002 - Euro replaced national currencies in 12 countries (has increased to 15)

2004 - Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary joined EU