Aftermath of World War II: Difference between revisions
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On March 5, 1946, in his Fulton speech, Winston Churchill referred directly to the [[Cold War]]. Stalin responded by saying he believed co-existence between the Communist and the capitalist systems was impossible. <ref>Cave Brown, op cit, p.3</ref> |
On March 5, 1946, in his Fulton speech, Winston Churchill referred directly to the [[Cold War]]. Stalin responded by saying he believed co-existence between the Communist and the capitalist systems was impossible. <ref>Cave Brown, op cit, p.3</ref> |
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The ''[[Operation Dropshot]]'' contingency plan was worked out in Washington in 1949. It considered possible nuclear and conventional war with the Soviet Union and its allies in order to counter the anticipated Soviet takeover of Western Europe, the Near East and parts of Eastern Asia due to start around 1957. The US planned to drop approximately 200 atomic and 250,000 tons of high-explosive bombs on Soviet cities, and the Soviet Union then being invaded and occupied by 23 US divisions. <ref>Cave Brown, op cit, p.169</ref> The plan was abandoned after the Soviet Union successively tested its own atomic bomb on 29 August 1949, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. A strike on the Soviet Union would have resulted in the US taking on unacceptable retaliatory risks. <ref>Stephen E Ambrose, ''Rise to Globalism: American foreign policy 1938-1980'', London: Penguin, 1981, p.20 </ref> |
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Nationalist and communist Chinese forces, formerly aligned in the war against Japan, resumed their [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]]. Communist forces were ultimately victorious and established the [[People's Republic of China]] on the mainland, while nationalist forces retreated to [[Taiwan]]. In Greece, [[Greek Civil War|civil war broke out]] in 1947 between Anglo-American supported royalist forces and [[Democratic Army of Greece|communist forces]], with the royalist forces emerging as the victors. |
Nationalist and communist Chinese forces, formerly aligned in the war against Japan, resumed their [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]]. Communist forces were ultimately victorious and established the [[People's Republic of China]] on the mainland, while nationalist forces retreated to [[Taiwan]]. In Greece, [[Greek Civil War|civil war broke out]] in 1947 between Anglo-American supported royalist forces and [[Democratic Army of Greece|communist forces]], with the royalist forces emerging as the victors. |
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Revision as of 00:38, 25 October 2010
 | It has been suggested that Effects of World War II be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2008. |
Template:WorldWarIISegmentUnderInfoBox
The end of World War II lead to an era of East-West tensions arising from opposing ideologies, mutual distrust, and a nuclear arms race. There were post-war boundary disputes in Europe and elsewhere, and questions of national self determination in colonial territories.
Post-war tensions
The alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before World War II was over.[1] In addition to annexing several occupied countries as (or into) Soviet Socialist Republics,[2][3][4] other countries were converted into Soviet Satellite states within the Eastern Bloc, such as the People's Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the People's Republic of Hungary[5], the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic[6], the People's Republic of Romania, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia[7][8] the People's Republic of Albania,[9] and later East Germany from the Soviet zone of German occupation.[10] Despite its heavy losses in defeating Germany on the Eastern or Soviet-German front, the Red Army had emerged from World War II as the world's greatest land power. It was stronger in men and conventional weapons than the combined forces of the US, Great Britain, Canada and France. The Red Army had 17 divisions deployed in the Soviet zone of occupation in Berlin alone, whereas the US Army had by then been severely weakened by demobilisation and redeployment, and the British and French forces were preparing respectively to engage in policing actions and counter-insurgency operations against their former communist allies in the colonial territories of the Far East. [11]
On May 16 1945 immediately after Germany's defeat, Stalin warned his advisers that Churchill had preserved former German enemy forces in the British Zone of Occupation in Berlin "in full combat readiness and (was) co-operating with them.” [12] Churchill envisioned a future role for the former German soldiers in augmenting Montgomery's Anglo-American 21st Army Group in the event of hostilities with the Soviet Union. Montgomery was instructed to be careful in stacking confiscated German arms so that they could be re-issued swiftly to the same former enemy soldiers from whom they had been confiscated. [13] Churchill instructed the head of the British Army, Field Marshal Viscount Alanbrooke, to investigate the possibility of fighting Russia before British and American forces were demobilised in Europe. Alanbrooke concluded that war against the Soviet Union was not feasible.[14]
At the Yalta Conference the Allies agreed that an undivided post-war Korea would be placed under four-power multinational trusteeship. After Japan's surrender, this agreement was modified to a joint Soviet-American occupation of Korea.[15] Korea, formerly under Japanese rule, and which had been occupied by the Red Army following the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan, was divided at the 38th parallel on the orders of the US War Department. [16] [17] A United States Military Government in Korea was established in the capital city of Seoul. [18] [19] Separate republics emerged on both sides of the 38th parallel in 1948, each claiming to be the legitimate sovereign of Korea, which would result in the Korean War two years later.
On March 5, 1946, in his Fulton speech, Winston Churchill referred directly to the Cold War. Stalin responded by saying he believed co-existence between the Communist and the capitalist systems was impossible. [20]
The Operation Dropshot contingency plan was worked out in Washington in 1949. It considered possible nuclear and conventional war with the Soviet Union and its allies in order to counter the anticipated Soviet takeover of Western Europe, the Near East and parts of Eastern Asia due to start around 1957. The US planned to drop approximately 200 atomic and 250,000 tons of high-explosive bombs on Soviet cities, and the Soviet Union then being invaded and occupied by 23 US divisions. [21] The plan was abandoned after the Soviet Union successively tested its own atomic bomb on 29 August 1949, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. A strike on the Soviet Union would have resulted in the US taking on unacceptable retaliatory risks. [22]
Nationalist and communist Chinese forces, formerly aligned in the war against Japan, resumed their civil war. Communist forces were ultimately victorious and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland, while nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan. In Greece, civil war broke out in 1947 between Anglo-American supported royalist forces and communist forces, with the royalist forces emerging as the victors.
Europe in ruins
At the end of the war, millions of people were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and much of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed. The Soviet Union had been heavily affected, with 30% of its economy destroyed.
Luftwaffe bombings of Frampol, Wieluń and Warsaw in 1939 instituted the practice of bombing purely civilian targets. Many other cities suffered similar annihilation as this practice was continued by both the Allies and Axis forces.
The United Kingdom ended the war economically exhausted by the war effort. The wartime coalition government was dissolved; new elections were held, and Winston Churchill was defeated in a landslide general election by the Labour Party under Clement Attlee.
In 1947, United States Secretary of State George Marshall devised the "European Recovery Program", better known as the Marshall Plan, effective in the years 1948 - 1952. It allocated US$13 billion for the reconstruction of Western Europe.
China
The war was also a pivotal point in China's history. However, the war greatly enhanced China's international status. The central government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was able to abrogate most of the unequal treaties China had signed in the past century, and the Republic of China became a founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member in the Security Council. China also reclaimed Manchuria and Taiwan. Nevertheless, eight years of war greatly taxed the central government, and many of its nation-building measures adopted since it came to power in 1928 were disrupted by the war. Communist activities also expanded greatly in occupied areas, making post-war administration of these areas fraught with difficulties. Vast war damages and hyperinflation thereafter greatly demoralized the populace, along with the continuation of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communists. Partly because of the severe blow his army and government had suffered during the war against Japan, the Kuomintang—along with state apparatus of the Republic of China—retreated to Taiwan in 1949, and in its place the Chinese communists established the People's Republic of China on the mainland.
Soviet control of Central and Eastern Europe
At the end of the war the Soviet troops occupied much of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In all countries liberated from Nazi occupation by the Red Army, with the exception of Austria, communist regimes were installed to power. Soviet rule was also restored in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania annexed in 1940.
Occupation of Germany and Austria
Germany was partitioned into four zones of occupation, coordinated by the Allied Control Council. The American, British, and French zones joined in 1949 as the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic. In Germany, economic suppression and denazification took place for several years. Millions of Germans and Poles were expelled from their homelands as a result of the territorial annexations in Eastern Europe agreed upon at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Mainstream estimates of German casualties from this process range between 1-2 millions. In the west, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and the Saar area was separated from Germany and put in economic union with France. Austria was separated from Germany and divided into four zones of occupation, which reunited in 1955 to become the Republic of Austria.
Occupation of Japan and Korea
Japan was occupied by the U.S., aided by Commonwealth troops, until the peace treaty took effect in 1952. In accordance with the Yalta Conference agreements, the Soviet Union occupied and subsequently annexed Sakhalin. During the occupation, the Americans focused on demilitarizing the nation, demolishing the Japanese arms industry, and installing a democratic government with a new constitution. Commonly regarded by many historians as a resounding economic and social success, the Japanese occupation formally ended in 1952, soon followed by Japan's meteoric post-war economic boom. The Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council For Japan were also established to look over the occupation of Japan. These bodies served a similar function to the Allied Control Council in occupied Germany
Korea was divided between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, leading to the creation of two separate governments in 1948. Under Soviet auspices, the northern part of the peninsula soon declared independence as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, while the U.S.-backed anticommunist regime in the southern half became the Republic of Korea. These two governments eventually engaged in the first "hot" conflict of the Cold War from 1950-1953 during the Korean War, the first test of the post-war American military and also of the new United Nations organization. The two Koreas are still divided today.
End of Western Colonialism in Asia
World War II led to a substantial weakening of the western colonial powers in Asia whose administrations had been effectively disorganized or destroyed in the countries occupied by the Japanese. The areas previously occupied by the colonial powers gained their freedom, some peacefully such as India and Pakistan in 1947. The Philippines just resumed their process of independence, which had been interrupted by the Japanese invasion and occupation, and became a fully sovereign nation in 1946. Others had to fight bloody wars of liberation before gaining independence : the French's attempt to regain control of Indochina after the Viet Minh's Vietnamese Proclamation of Independence led to then the First Indochina War, which ended in the independence of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, then divided between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Netherlands' attempt to reoccupy the Dutch East Indies led to the conflict known as the Indonesian National Revolution, and ultimately to the independence of Indonesia.
Border revisions: Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union
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As a result of the new borders drawn by the victorious nations, large populations suddenly found themselves in hostile territory. The Soviet Union took over areas formerly controlled by Germany, Finland, Poland, and Japan. Poland received most of Germany east of the Oder-Neisse line, including the industrial regions of Silesia. The German state of the Saar was temporarily a protectorate of France but later returned to German administration. The number of Germans expelled, as set forth at Potsdam, totalled roughly 15 million, including 11 million from Germany proper and 3.5 million from the Sudetenland. Mainstream estimates of casualties from the expulsions range between 1 - 2 million dead.
In Eastern Europe, four million Poles were expelled by the Soviet Union from east of the new border which approximated the Curzon Line. This border change reversed the results of the 1919-1920 Polish-Soviet War. Former Polish cities such as L'vov came under control of the Soviet administration of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Reparations and Allied occupation
Germany paid reparations to the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union mainly in the form of dismantled factories, forced labor, and coal. Germany was to be reduced to the standard of living she had at the height of the Great Depression.[23] Beginning immediately after the German surrender and continuing for the next two years, the U.S. pursued a vigorous program to harvest all technological and scientific know-how as well as all patents in Germany. John Gimbel comes to the conclusion, in his book Science Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany, that the "intellectual reparations" taken by the U.S. and the UK amounted to close to US$10 billion, equivalent to around US$100 billion in 2006 terms.[24] The program of acquiring German scientists and technicians for the U.S. was also used to deny the expertise of German scientists to the Soviet Union.[24] The case for finding and holding Nobel laurate Werner Heisenberg was summed up thus "…he was worth more to us than ten divisions of Germans. Had he fallen into Russian hands, he would have proven invaluable to them."[25]
In accordance with the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, payment of reparations was assessed from the countries of Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland.
Founding of the United Nations
As a general consequence and in an effort to maintain international peace,[26] the Allies formed the United Nations, which officially came into existence on October 24, 1945,[27] and adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations." The USSR abstained from voting. The US did not ratify the social and economic rights sections.[28]
See also
Notes
- ^ Kantowicz, Edward R (2000). Coming Apart, Coming Together. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 0802844561.
- ^ Senn, Alfred Erich, Lithuania 1940 : revolution from above, Amsterdam, New York, Rodopi, 2007 ISBN 9789042022256
- ^ Roberts 2006, p. 43
- ^ Wettig 2008, pp. 20–1
- ^ Granville, Johanna, The First Domino: International Decision Making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956, Texas A&M University Press, 2004. ISBN 1-58544-298-4
- ^ Grenville 2005, pp. 370–71
- ^ Crampton 1997, pp. 216–7
- ^ Eastern bloc, The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
- ^ Cook 2001, p. 17
- ^ Wettig 2008, pp. 96–100
- ^ Y Larionov, N Yeronin, B Solovyov, V. Timokhovich, World War II Decisive Battles of the Soviet Army, Moscow: Progress 1984, p.452
- ^ Marlis G Steinert, "The Allied Decision to Arrest the Donitz Goverment", Historical Journal, Vol 31 No 3, 1988, p. 658-60.
- ^ Steinert, op cit, p.272.
- ^ David Fraser, Alanbrooke, London: Collins, 1982, p.489.
- ^ Dennis Wainstock, Truman, McArthur and the Korean War, Greenwood, 1999, p.3
- ^ Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings, Korea: The unknown war, London: Viking, 1988, pp. 10, 16, ISBN 0670819034
- ^ Dennis Wainstock, Truman, McArthur and the Korean War, Greenwood, 1999, p.3
- ^ Edward Grant Meade, American military government in Korea,: King's Crown Press 1951, p.78
- ^ A. Wigfall Green, The Epic of Korea, Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1950, p.54
- ^ Cave Brown, op cit, p.3
- ^ Cave Brown, op cit, p.169
- ^ Stephen E Ambrose, Rise to Globalism: American foreign policy 1938-1980, London: Penguin, 1981, p.20
- ^ Cost of Defeat Time Magazine Monday, April 8, 1946
- ^ a b Norman M. Naimark The Russians in Germany pg. 206
- ^ Norman M. Naimark The Russians in Germany pg. 207
- ^ Yoder, Amos. The Evolution of the United Nations System, p. 39.
- ^ History of the UN
- ^ "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Questions and Answers" (PDF). Amnesty International. p. 6. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
External sources
References
- Norman M. Naimark The Russians in Germany; A History of the Soviet Zone of occupation, 1945-1949 Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-78406-5
