EUROPE - TWO DECADES [Main Title]

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Media files

  • Title: EUROPE - TWO DECADES [Main Title]
  • Film Number: NAT 2056
  • Other titles: EUROPA OG DEN KOLDE KRIG (Danish title) [Alternative Title] SAVAS SONRASININ ILK 20 YILI (Turkish title) [Alternative Title] NATO DOCUMENTARIES [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: A screen history of the first twenty years of the post-war world. The decade 1945-1955 is shown in some detail, including the beginnings of East/West confrontation, the rape of Czechoslovakia, the Berlin Airlift and the origins of Western Unity centred around the Six. The birth of NATO is also described. The second decade, 1955-1965, is treated less extensively and in a somewhat different manner. Using a mixture of black and white and colour, it highlights the confrontation between Nikita Khrushchev and President Kennedy culminating in the Cuban crisis. The reel ends with the retirement of Khrushchev and his legacy - the Berlin Wall.
  • Description: The First Decade: Hitler’s public speech mixed with images of the devastating results of his dictatorship (Holocaust related stills). Titles. After the war, the reconstruction of Europe starts: Cities in ruins, politicians (Stalin, Churchill…) greeting themselves during one of their peacetime sittings. West Europe street scenes. And more ruins. Footage of the Hague Congress in 1948 and seconds of Winston Churchill’s speech in favour of the European project. The Congress is the cornerstone of the united Europe movement. To illustrate the idea of how difficult can be to unite all countries in Europe, different European people is shown. Russia emerges as a new power and Stalin is depicted as the dictator who rules that new power. British Secretary of the State for Foreign Affairs, Ernest Bevin, visits Moscow. Civil war in Greece. Impoverished communities of Europe. Footage of slums and poor people. In Washington, Secretary of State George Marshall proposes his plan for the recovery of Europe, The Marshall Plan. During a meeting of the Allied powers to discuss American aid, the Russian diplomat Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov shows his opposition. Mr. Bevin reporting the progress of the Marshall plan at the British Parliament. A montage shows some of the industries and the countries benefitted by the American fund: a cotton factory in Holland, a tyre factory in Britain, tractors in Turkish agricultural land, a shipyard in Italy. The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation is created to help administer the Marshall Plan. Health program in Sardinia where kids are being vaccinated. Communists all over Europe are shown in street demonstrations against the Marshall Plan. Czechoslovakia suffers a Coup d'état: Thomas Masaryk and his son Jan Masaryk, major political figures of Czechoslovakia. President Edvard Beneš is featured. None of the three politicians could resist Russian pressure. Footage of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels where five European nations sign a defence pledge. Bernard Montgomery getting off a plane. Overwhelming power of the Red Army, shown marching along emblematic Moscow scenery. Next point of tension between East and West is the city of Berlin. The Russians establish the city as the capital of East Germany appointing Walter Ulbricht as its Prime Minister. The Russian blockade to West Berlin results in the airlift. Montage showing planes landing and taking off, loading and unloading goods. Also some 36 planes lost during the airlift. The birth of NATO in 1949; Eisenhower about to take his post in Paris; military staff at Astoria Hotel conference room. Roads, bridges, dams, factories…Those are the results of the Marshall Plan. West Europe creates West Germany and Konrad Adanauer emerges as Prime Minister. He is seen taking his oath. Brief confusion after Stalin’s death in 1953. Geneva Summit in 1955 to reduce tensions. The need of trade begin to destroy the walls: the European Community of Coal and Steel is created, the dream of Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister. Footage of the headquarters in Luxembourg. West Germany is invited to sign the North Atlantic Treaty. Soldiers from different countries shown patrolling West Berlin. Economy thriving in West Germany. Second Decade: Colour sequences of Vienna while commentary recalls the storyline of the film “The Third Man”. Footage of the following events is featured: The European Economic Community birth in Rome, 1957. Visit of Bulganin and Khrushchev in London, 1956. Corpses lying in the street and tanks in Budapest after the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Kruschev giving a press conference in May 1960 bringing the U2 incident where American spy aircrafts were intercepted by the Russians flying on Russian air space. 1962 United Nations General Assembly where British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan is giving a speech. United Nations building view from Manhattan. J.F.F Kennedy at a meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko in the White House in 1962 . United Nations speech of Fidel Castro. American Photo-reconnaissance planes getting proof of Russian rocket sites in Cuba and United States representative, Adlai Stevenson, speech on Cuba being a Soviet base. Kennedy and Khrushchev meeting. Ships returning to Russia carrying Soviet missiles.
  • Alternative Title: EUROPA OG DEN KOLDE KRIG (Danish title) [Alternative Title] SAVAS SONRASININ ILK 20 YILI (Turkish title) [Alternative Title] NATO DOCUMENTARIES [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W/Colour
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: NAT 2056
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM NATO
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1969
  • Production Country: Belgium
  • Production Details: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Production sponsor) NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION. INFORMATION SERVICE (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person) Stalin, Josef (person)
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W/Colour Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm; 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 8 Footage: 3866 ft ; Running time: 43 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    NAT 2056

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