1. Democracies, unable to deal effectively with the Great Depression and anti-war sentiments, responded weakly to totalitarian threats, but appeasement led to further demands and finally war.

2. Until the end of 1941, the Axis succeeded--extending its control over much of Europe. From 1942 on, the Allies--by rapidly mobilizing their war effort, holding at Stalingrad, and taking the offense in the air over Europe and on land in North Africa--turned the tide; in 1945 Germany and Japan surrendered.

3. Europe was devastated by the war and was now dependent on the two new superpowers--the United States and the Soviet Union. By 1948 the Cold War had broken out between the two, with the various European nations aligning under the influence and aid of one or the other.

4. In the postwar years Europe recovered quickly. In the East, communist puppet regimes were established almost everywhere; in the West, parliamentary regimes reestablished themselves.

5. Europe gradually withdrew from its colonial empires, sometimes peacefully and sometimes only after bitter fighting. However, even after decolonization, the former colonial powers retained strong commercial, significant cultural, and selective political ties to many former colonies.

6. During the 1950s European nations asserted increased independence from the superpowers within the context of an increasingly stable balance of power between their two blocs.