This post contains useful notes on the continent of Europe as it was in 1967. The two Germanies will get their own article, along with France, the UK and the USSR.

Pro-Western

Western Europe is at the tail end of a massive economic boom assisted by American aid that has raised living standards across that half of the continent.

• The European Economic Community has recently celebrated its tenth birthday and currently consists of six members: France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg; four other countries (UK, Ireland, Denmark and Norway) have applied to join. There are still internal tariffs, as well as border controls of course and a full customs union has yet to be formed, but progress is being made.
• Spain is an autocratic republic ruled by fascist Francisco Franco. The border with the disputed British-run territory of Gibraltar is closed.
• Portugal is also a dictatorship, ruled by António de Oliveira Salazar and engaged in a war to hold onto its colonies in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea.
• Greece's democratic government has been overthrown in a coup and a military junta is now in place.
• Cyprus is a unified island, but there is strong tension between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.

Non-Aligned

• Yugoslavia is a non-aligned state - it is not part of the Warsaw Pact or COMECON. It is accessible to Western tourists quite easily and allows its citizens to emigrate freely. However, while not a Soviet satellite state, it is still socialist and authoritarian.
• Sweden is also non-aligned but democratic. ABBA has yet to form.
• Ireland, under the government of Jack Lynch (a former hurler and Gaelic footballer), is still very conservative and Catholic, as well as suffering from high unemployment, which is fuelling emigration.

Pro-Eastern

• Albania is undergoing a Cultural and Ideological Revolution inspired by Mao in China... it is also moving away from the USSR. Getting into and out of the country is extremely hard.
• Nicolae Ceaușescu is leader of Romania and has recently banned abortion with the aim of increasing the country's population.
• Czechoslovakia is under the rule (as both General Secretary and President) of the hardline Antonín Novotný, who is facing growing public dissatisfaction. Czechoslovak artists are finding oblique ways to criticise the regime through cinema.

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:14, Mon 29 Oct 2018.

Travel in Europe

The Schengen Agreement that will create a vast open border area in mainland Europe is 18 years away from being signed, let alone implemented. As a result, any crossing of European frontiers will generally involve at least one passport check, if not two.

(There are exceptions: the Nordic Passport Union between Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the Common Travel Area between Great Britain and Ireland)

Controls for and within the Soviet bloc are much tighter. You cannot just turn up at the Soviet border on the off chance and expect to be let in. Visas will have to be obtained in advance via a Soviet embassy or consulate, with a formal letter of invitation needed that a travel agency or sponsoring business will provide. This can take a couple of weeks. Czechoslovakia does not require a letter of invitation, Romania will let tourists in with a confirmed holiday booking and East Germany, with no embassies in the West, will issue transit visas on the spot for those travelling overland through their country, say to West Berlin. It is recommended to fly from West Germany to West Berlin to avoid the hassle.

International Communication

With the Space Age barely ten years old, space-based communication is limited. While geosynchronous communication satellites are around, they are limited in the number of overall calls that they can take - sometimes as low as single figures at any one time.

As a result, most international communication is done by line of sight microwave relays and telephone calls. While International Direct Dialling is increasing, many calls to less connected countries involve contacting the operator, asking to be connected to an overseas exchange, then waiting for them to call you when it is ready. These calls can be pretty expensive and are generally reserved for urgent matters.

(For example, to call Czechoslovakia from the UK, there is a minimum charge of 13 shillings for three minutes, then 4s 4d for every minute, whole or part after that. This means that you are looking at around £20 in modern money for a five minute call with a decent chance of the secret police listening in...)

As a result, one of the main means of sending messages across borders is the telegram, the 1960s equivalent of the text message. While well down from its 1930s peak, the British General Post Office (GPO) is dealing with around 10 million a year. These can be sent from post offices, many railway stations or even via requesting one over the telephone. They can be sent for a passenger on a flight or a train, to a hotel or to a house; you can even arrange for a telegram to be sent to a telephone number i.e. the operator will ring up the person with the message. Basically, any 'known location' - although you may well have to wait a few hours for the message to reach someone.

These can be used for all sorts of purposes - making hotel reservations for example.

Telegrams are charged per word with a minimum charge, you don't have to write out STOP any more and a whole bunch of commercial codes are available to make your message shorter. In Europe, there is a slower 'European Letter Telegram' which will be posted in the destination country instead of sent on by messenger.

(UK to Czechoslovakia - an ordinary telegram is 5s 3d for 7 words.)

For more real time communication, the Teletype or Telex system allows for communications between machines linked to the international network - you can either hold a real time conversation between two machines as with the recently installed US-USSR 'Hot Line' or prepare your message in advance and send it all at once.

It is even possible to send photographs or copies of documents by telegram (https://youtu.be/UsdWZKLjLvc) but this is seriously expensive and not the thing that your ordinary person would do - more for governments or news organisations.