<P> Western Europe's industrial nations in the 1970s were hit by a global economic crisis . They had obsolescent heavy industry, and suddenly had to pay very high energy prices which caused sharp inflation . Some of them also had inefficient nationalized railways and heavy industries . In the important field of computer technology, European nations lagged behind the United States . They also faced high government deficits and growing unrest led by militant labour unions . There was an urgent need for new economic directions . Germany and Sweden sought to create a social consensus behind a gradual restructuring . Germany's efforts proved highly successful . In Britain under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, the solution was shock therapy, high interest rates, austerity, and selling off inefficient corporations as well as the public housing, which was sold off to the tenants . One result was escalating social tensions in Britain, led by the militant coal miners . Thatcher eventually defeated her opponents and radically changed the British economy, but the controversy never went away as shown by the hostile demonstrations at the time of her death in 2013 . </P> <P> Following the end of the Cold War, the European Economic Community pushed for closer integration, co-operation in foreign and home affairs, and started to increase its membership into the neutral and former communist countries . In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union, succeeding the EEC and furthering political co-operation . The neutral countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the EU, and those that didn't join were tied into the EU's economic market via the European Economic Area . These countries also entered the Schengen Agreement which lifted border controls between member states . </P> <P> The Maastricht Treaty created a single currency for most EU members . The euro was created in 1999 and replaced all previous currencies in participating states in 2002 . The most notable exception to the currency union, or eurozone, was the United Kingdom, which also did not sign the Schengen Agreement . </P> <P> EU did not participate in the Yugoslav Wars, and was divided on supporting the United States in the 2003--2011 Iraq War . NATO has been part of the war in Afghanistan, but at a much lower level of involvement than the United States . </P>

Who owned most of the land in europe by the beginning of the middle ages