Europe 1993: European Union
1 November 1993
1 Nov 1993
Post-Cold War Europe
-27–68 The Julio-Claudian Dynasty
68–96 The Flavian Dynasty
96–192 The Nerva–Antonine Dynasty
192–235 The Severan Dynasty
235–285 The Crisis of the Third Century
285–1815 NO MAPS FOR THIS PERIOD YET
1815–1848 Congress Europe
1848–1850 The Springtime of Peoples
1850–1859 The Crimean War
1859–1862 Italian Unification
1862–1871 German Unification
1871–1914 Imperial Europe
1914–1918 The Great War
1918–1922 Armistice Europe
1922–1939 The Rise of Fascism
1939–1942 World War II: Blitzkrieg
1942–1945 World War II: Fall of the Third Reich
1945–1990 The Cold War
1990–2010 Post-Cold War Europe
2010–pres The Crisis of Europe
European Union
3 Oct 1990 Reunification of Germany
28 Feb 1991 Gulf War
27 Jun 1991 Breakup of Yugoslavia
19 Aug 1991 Soviet Coup Attempt
6 Sep 1991 Baltic Independence
9 Dec 1991 Croatian War of Independence
25 Dec 1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union
22 Jun 1992 Bosnian War
1 Nov 1993 European Union
12 Jun 1999 Kosovo War
13 Apr 2003 War on Terror
16 Aug 2008 South Ossetia War
While the former Eastern Bloc was collapsing, the nations of Western Europe were forging closer ties. Back in 1958, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands had established the European Economic Community (EEC) to bring about economic integration. By the early 1990s, with this integration largely achieved, the member states of the EEC, now 12 in number, felt ready to move to the next stage. In 1993, the European Union was established, with a new shared currency (to be called the euro) to be introduced by the end of the decade.