Youth and the United Europe

Abstract

The Second World War marked a turning point in European history, leading to a shift from the European to the world system of states and decreeing the historical failure of the absolute national state. The idea of European unification, which in the interwar period still appeared as unrealistic, became concretely achievable in the immediate postwar period, beginning to take shape with the theoretical reflections of many Europeans, who organized associations to promote the idea of a united Europe. The article intends to analyze the history of the birth and of the ideas of the first Europeanist youth organizations in this postwar context.