While the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe provided those states with a clear path forward, rebuilding in the West faced different challenges. In this episode, we’ll see how bitter rivals in France and West Germany learned to work together, laying the foundations for the European Union in the process. We’ll also see how economic revival led to the invention of the teenager, and the challenges posed by 1950s American notions of gender, race and sexuality in Western European societies. Finally, we’ll see how Elvis Presley, cars and refrigerators helped win the Cold War.

Image: E. Spreckmeester, Marshall Plan Poster (c.1948)