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{{See also|Casualties of World War II|Effects of World War II|Consequences of German Nazism}}
{{See also|Casualties of World War II|Effects of World War II|Consequences of German Nazism}}


'''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.
The '''Aftermath of World War II''' covers a period of history from roughly 1945-1957. A [[multipolar]] world was replaced by a [[Polarity_(power)#Bipolarity|bipolar]] one dominated by the two most powerful victors, the [[United States]] and [[Soviet Union]], which became known as the [[superpower]]s.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-14059-0018, Berlin, Oberbefehlshaber der vier Verbündeten.jpg|thumb|The Supreme Commanders on 5 June 1945 in Berlin:
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-14059-0018, Berlin, Oberbefehlshaber der vier Verbündeten.jpg|thumb|The Supreme Commanders on 5 June 1945 in Berlin:
[[Bernard Montgomery]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Georgy Zhukov]] and [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]]]]
[[Bernard Montgomery]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Georgy Zhukov]] and [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]]]]
[[File:Churchill waves to crowds.jpg|thumb|[[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] gives the "Victory" sign to crowds in [[London]] on [[Victory in Europe Day]].]]
[[File:Churchill waves to crowds.jpg|thumb|[[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] gives the "Victory" sign to crowds in [[London]] on [[Victory in Europe Day]].]]
In an effort to maintain international peace,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Yoder|first=Amos|title=The Evolution of the United Nations System|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1997|isbn=1560325461|page=39}}</ref> the Allies formed the [[United Nations]], which officially came into existence on 24 October 1945,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.un.org/aboutun/history.htm|title=History of the UN|publisher=United Nations|accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref> and adopted The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] in 1948, as a common standard of achievement for all member nations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Universal Declaration of Human Rights |url=http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/|publisher=United Nations|nopp=Article 2|accessdate=2009-11-14|quote= * Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty}}</ref>

The alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before the war was over,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kantowicz|first=Edward R|title=Coming Apart, Coming Together|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=2000|isbn=0802844561|page=6}}</ref> and the powers each quickly established their own [[spheres of influence]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Marc|last=Trachtenberg|year=1999|title=A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945–1963|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0691002738|page=33}}</ref> In Europe, the continent was essentially divided between Western and Soviet spheres by the [[Iron Curtain]] which ran through and partitioned [[Allied Occupation Zones in Germany|Allied occupied Germany]] and [[Allied-administered Austria|occupied Austria]]. Soviet rule was restored in the [[Soviet Socialist Republics]] annexed or enlarged in 1940, such as the Western parts of the [[Ukrainian SSR]] and [[Belorussian SSR]],<ref name="stalinswars43">{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Geoffrey |title=Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0300112041|page=43}}</ref> the three [[Baltic countries]],<ref name="wettig20">{{Cite book|last=Wettig|first=Gerhard|title=Stalin and the Cold War in Europe|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2008|isbn=0742555429|pages=20–21}}</ref><ref name="senn">{{Cite book|last=Senn|first=Alfred Erich|title=Lithuania 1940: revolution from above|publisher=Rodopi|year=2007|isbn=9789042022256}}</ref> part of eastern Finland<ref name="ckpipe">{{Cite book|last=Kennedy-Pipe|first=Caroline|title=Stalin's Cold War|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1995|isbn=0719042011}}</ref> and northeastern Romania.<ref name="stalinswars55">{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Geoffrey |title=Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |isbn=0300112041|page=55}}</ref><ref name="shirer794">{{Cite book|last=Shirer|first=William L.|title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1990|isbn=0671728687|page=794|ref=harv|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>

Other states that the Red Army liberated at the end of the war became [[Satellite state|Soviet Satellite]] states, such as the [[People's Republic of Poland]], the [[People's Republic of Hungary]],<ref name="granville">{{Cite book|last=Granville|first=Johanna|title=The First Domino: International Decision Making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=2004|isbn=1585442984}}</ref> the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grenville|first=John Ashley Soames|title=A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|isbn=0415289548|pages=370–71}}</ref> the [[People's Republic of Romania]], the [[People's Republic of Albania]],<ref name="cook17">{{Cite book|last=Cook|first=Bernard A|title=Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2001|isbn=0815340575|page=17}}</ref> and later [[East Germany]] from the Soviet zone of German occupation.<ref name="wettig96">{{Cite book|last=Wettig|first=Gerhard|title=Stalin and the Cold War in Europe|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2008|isbn=0742555429|pages=96–100}}</ref>

German technology was transferred to the U.S. and Soviet Union in operations ''[[Operation Paperclip|Paperclip]]'',<ref name="Bower">Tom Bower, ''The Paperclip Conspiracy: Battle for the spoils and secrets of Nazi Germany'', London: Michael Joseph, 1987 ISBN 0718127447</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}} and ''[[Operation Osoaviakhim|Osoaviakhim]]''. Britain and the United States soon abandoned their war crimes programmes and policies of denazification in favour of ''[[realpolitik]]'',<ref>Tom Bower, ''Blind Eye to Murder: Britain, America and the purging of Nazi Germany'', London: Andre Deutsch 1981 ISBN 0233972927</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}} leading to large numbers of former Nazis being allowed to emigrate to these nations and their dependencies.<ref name="Bower" /> Secret arrangements were concluded between American military intelligence and former key figures in the anti-communist section of German military intelligence or ''Abwher'', headed by General [[Reinhard Gehlen]], to advise the Americans on how to go about establishing their [[Gehlen Organization|own anti-Soviet networks]] in Europe.<ref>Christopher Simpson, ''Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1988, pp.42, 44 ISBN 1555841066</ref><ref>Richard Harris Smith, ''OSS: Secret history of the CIA'', Berkeley: University of California Press 1972, p.240 ISBN 0440567351</ref><ref>* {{Cite book|last1=Höhne |first1=Heinz |last2=Zolling |first2=Hermann |title=The General was a Spy, The Truth about General Gehlen-20th Century Superspy |location=New York |publisher=Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc |year=1972 }}</ref>

In Asia, the United States [[Occupation of Japan|occupied Japan]] and [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|administrated Japan's former islands in the Western Pacific]], while the Soviets annexed [[Sakhalin]] and the [[Kuril Islands]]; the former [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese-governed Korea]] was [[Division of Korea|divided and occupied between the two powers]]. Mounting tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union soon evolved into the formation of the American-led [[NATO]] and the Soviet-led [[Warsaw Pact]] military alliances and the start of the Cold War between them.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Leffler|first1=Melvyn P.|last2=Painter|first2=David S|year=1994|title=Origins of the Cold War: An International History|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415341094|page=318}}</ref> The [[Republic of China]] occupied [[Taiwan]].

Soon after the end of World War II, conflict flared again in many parts of the world. In China, nationalist and communist forces quickly resumed their [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]]. Communist forces were eventually victorious and established the [[People's Republic of China]] on the mainland, while nationalist forces ended up retreating to [[Taiwan]]. In Greece, [[Greek Civil War|civil war broke out]] between Anglo-American supported royalist forces and [[Democratic Army of Greece|communist forces]], with the royalist forces victorious.

Soon after these conflicts ended, [[Korean War|North Korea invaded]] [[South Korea]],<ref name="Stokesbury1990">{{Cite book|title= A Short History of the Korean War|last=Stokesbury |first= James L|year= 1990|publisher=Harper Perennial |location= New York|isbn= 0688095135|page=14}}</ref> which was backed by the United Nations,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fehrenbach|first=T. R|title=This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History|publisher=Brasseys|year=2001|isbn=1574883348|page=305}}</ref> while [[North Korea]] was backed by the Soviet Union and China. The war resulted in essentially a stalemate and ceasefire, after which North Korean leader [[Kim Il Sung]] created a highly centralised and brutal [[dictatorship]], according himself unlimited power and generating a formidable [[cult of personality]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Oberdorfer|first=Don|title=The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History|publisher=Basic Books|year=2001|isbn=0465051626|pages=10–11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=No|first1=Kum-Sok|first2=J. Roger|last2=Osterholm|title=A MiG-15 to Freedom: Memoir of the Wartime North Korean Defector who First Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet to the Americans in 1953|publisher=McFarland|year=1996|isbn=0786402105}}</ref>

Following the end of the war, a rapid period of [[decolonization]] also took place within the holdings of the various European colonial powers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Betts|first=Raymond F.|title=Decolonization|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=041531820|pages=21–24}}</ref> These primarily occurred due to shifts in ideology, the economic exhaustion from the war and increased demand by indigenous people for self-determination. For the most part, these transitions happened relatively peacefully, though notable exceptions occurred in countries such as [[First Indochina War|Indochina]], [[Madagascar revolt|Madagascar]], [[Indonesian National Revolution|Indonesia]] and [[Algerian War|Algeria]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Conteh-Morgan|first=Earl|title=Collective Political Violence: An Introduction to the Theories and Cases of Violent Conflicts|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=0415947448|page=30}}</ref> In many regions, divisions, usually for ethnic or religious reasons, occurred following European withdrawal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=AP World History: The Best Preparation for the AP World History Exam|url=http://books.google.com/?id=1dOLbfnYWvwC&pg=RA2-PA564
|first=Deborah |last=Vess|publisher=Research & Education Association|format=Google books |page=564|chapter=Chapter 7, The impact on colonialism: the Middle East, Africa, and Asia in crisis following World War II|isbn=0738601284|year=2001|accessdate=2010-01-22}}</ref> This was seen prominently in the [[British Mandate of Palestine|Mandate of Palestine]], [[1947 UN Partition Plan|leading to the creation]] of [[Israel]], and in [[British Raj|India]], [[Partition of India|resulting in the creation]] of the [[Dominion of India]] and the [[Dominion of Pakistan]].

By the end of the war, the [[Economy of Europe|European economy]] had collapsed with 70% of the industrial infrastructure destroyed.<ref>"''[http://books.google.com/books?id=r9kNZrmG0E8C&pg=PA136&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Who benefits from global violence and war: uncovering a destructive system]''". Marc Pilisuk, Jennifer Achord Rountree (2008). [[Greenwood Publishing Group]]. p.136. ISBN 0-275-99435-X</ref> The property damage in the Soviet Union consisted of complete or partial destruction of 1,710 cities and towns, 70,000 villages/hamlets, and 31,850 industrial establishments.<ref>''[[The New York Times]]'', 9 February 1946, Volume 95, Number 32158.</ref> Economic recovery following the war was varied in differing parts of the world, though in general it was quite positive. In Europe, [[West Germany]] [[Wirtschaftswunder|recovered quickly]] and doubled production from its pre-war levels by the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dornbusch|first1=Rüdiger|last2=Nölling|first2=Wilhelm|last3=Layard|first3=P. Richard G|title=Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today|page=29|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press|year=1993|isbn=0262041367}}</ref> Italy came out of the war in poor economic condition,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bull|first1=Martin J.|last2=Newell|first2=James|title=Italian Politics: Adjustment Under Duress|publisher=Polity|year=2005|isbn=0745612997|page=20}}</ref> but by 1950s, the Italian economy was marked by stability and high growth.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bull|first1=Martin J.|last2=Newell|first2=James|title=Italian Politics: Adjustment Under Duress|publisher=Polity|year=2005|isbn=0745612997|page=21}}</ref> The United Kingdom was in a state of economic ruin after the war,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dornbusch|first1=Rüdiger|last2=Nölling|first2=Wilhelm|last3=Layard|first3=P. Richard G|title=Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today|page=117|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press|year=1993|isbn=0262041367}}</ref> and continued to experience relative economic decline for decades to follow.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Emadi-Coffin|first=Barbara|title=Rethinking International Organization: Deregulation and Global Governance|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415195403|year=2002|page=64}}</ref>

France rebounded quickly, and enjoyed rapid economic growth and modernisation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harrop|first=Martin|title=Power and Policy in Liberal Democracies|page=23|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1992|isbn=0521345790}}</ref> The Soviet Union also experienced a rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Alan|title=Russia And the World Economy: Problems of Integration|publisher=Routledge|year=1993|isbn=0415089247|page=32}}</ref> In Asia, Japan experienced [[Japanese post-war economic miracle|incredibly rapid]] economic growth, becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world by the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harrop|first=Martin|title=Power and Policy in Liberal Democracies|page=49|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1992|isbn=0521345790}}</ref>

China, following the conclusion of its civil war, was essentially a bankrupt nation.<ref name="lonely planet">{{Cite book|last=Harper|first=Damian|title=China|publisher=Lonely Planet|year=2007|isbn=1740599152|page=51}}</ref><!--Note that this is a travel guide, not a historical work--> By 1953, economic restoration seemed fairly successful as production had resumed pre-war levels.<ref name="lonely planet"/><!--Note that this is a travel guide, not a historical work--> This growth rate mostly persisted, though it was briefly interrupted by the disastrous [[Great Leap Forward]] economic experiment. At the end of the war, the United States produced roughly half of the world's industrial output; by the early 1970s though, this dominance had lessened significantly.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kunkel|first=John|title=America's Trade Policy Towards Japan: Demanding Results|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=0415298326|page=33}}</ref>


==Post-war tensions==
==Post-war tensions==
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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.” <ref>Marlis G Steinert, "The Allied Decision to Arrest the Donitz Goverment", Historical Journal, Vol 31 No 3, 1988, p. 658-60. </ref> 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. <ref>Steinert, op cit, p.272.</ref> 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.<ref>David Fraser, Alanbrooke, London: Collins, 1982, p.489.</ref>
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.” <ref>Marlis G Steinert, "The Allied Decision to Arrest the Donitz Goverment", Historical Journal, Vol 31 No 3, 1988, p. 658-60. </ref> 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. <ref>Steinert, op cit, p.272.</ref> 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.<ref>David Fraser, Alanbrooke, London: Collins, 1982, p.489.</ref>


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.<ref> Dennis Wainstock, ''Truman, McArthur and the Korean War'', Greenwood, 1999, p.3 </ref> Korea, formerly [[Korea under Japanese rule|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. <ref>Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings, ''Korea: The unknown war'', London: Viking, 1988, pp. 10, 16, ISBN 0670819034 </ref> <ref> Dennis Wainstock, ''Truman, McArthur and the Korean War'', Greenwood, 1999, p.3 </ref> A United States Military Government in Korea was established in the capital city of Seoul. <ref> Edward Grant Meade, American military government in Korea,: King's Crown Press 1951, p.78 </ref> <ref> A. Wigfall Green, ''The Epic of Korea'', Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1950, p.54 </ref> 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.
Korea, formerly [[Korea under Japanese rule|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. <ref>Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings, ''Korea: The unknown war'', London: Viking, 1988, pp. 10, 16, ISBN 0670819034 </ref> <ref> Dennis Wainstock, ''Truman, McArthur and the Korean War'', Greenwood, 1999, p.3 </ref> A United States Military Government in Korea was established in the capital city of Seoul under command of an American military Governor of Korea. <ref> Edward Grant Meade, American military government in Korea,: King's Crown Press 1951, p.78 </ref> <ref> A. Wigfall Green, ''The Epic of Korea'', Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1950, p.54 </ref> This was inconsistent with an earlier agreement reached between the Allies at Yalta, that an undivided post-war Korea would be placed under four-power multinational trusteeship. 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. <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>


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>
Under a scheme codenamed ''Dropshot'', worked out in Washington while formation of the NATO bloc was being concluded on April 4, 1949, nuclear war against the USSR was anticipated to commence on January 1, 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>


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.

Revision as of 13:46, 25 October 2010

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.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-14059-0018, Berlin, Oberbefehlshaber der vier Verbündeten.jpg
The Supreme Commanders on 5 June 1945 in Berlin: Bernard Montgomery, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Georgy Zhukov and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives the "Victory" sign to crowds in London on Victory in Europe Day.

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]

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. [15] [16] A United States Military Government in Korea was established in the capital city of Seoul under command of an American military Governor of Korea. [17] [18] This was inconsistent with an earlier agreement reached between the Allies at Yalta, that an undivided post-war Korea would be placed under four-power multinational trusteeship. 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. [19]

Under a scheme codenamed Dropshot, worked out in Washington while formation of the NATO bloc was being concluded on April 4, 1949, nuclear war against the USSR was anticipated to commence on January 1, 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. [20] 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. [21]

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

File:Warsaw siege3.jpg
Warsaw destroyed by German forces.

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

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

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

German occupation zones in 1946 after territorial annexations in the east. The Saarland (in the French zone) is shown with stripes because it was removed from Germany by France in 1947 as a protectorate, and was not incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany until 1957. Historical Eastern Germany, not contained in this map was annexed by Poland, and the Soviet Union.

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

Evolution of the border between the two Koreas, from the Yalta Soviet-American 38th parallel division to the stalemate of 1953 that persists as of today

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

Soviet expansion, change of Central-Eastern European borders and creation of the Communist Eastern bloc after World War II
Changes to Germany's borders from 1919-1945
Changes to Poland's borders from 1919-1945.
Expulsion of Germans from the Sudetenland

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.[22] 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.[23] 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.[23] 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."[24]

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,[25] the Allies formed the United Nations, which officially came into existence on October 24, 1945,[26] 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.[27]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Kantowicz, Edward R (2000). Coming Apart, Coming Together. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 0802844561.
  2. ^ Senn, Alfred Erich, Lithuania 1940 : revolution from above, Amsterdam, New York, Rodopi, 2007 ISBN 9789042022256
  3. ^ Roberts 2006, p. 43
  4. ^ Wettig 2008, pp. 20–1
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Grenville 2005, pp. 370–71
  7. ^ Crampton 1997, pp. 216–7
  8. ^ Eastern bloc, The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
  9. ^ Cook 2001, p. 17
  10. ^ Wettig 2008, pp. 96–100
  11. ^ Y Larionov, N Yeronin, B Solovyov, V. Timokhovich, World War II Decisive Battles of the Soviet Army, Moscow: Progress 1984, p.452
  12. ^ Marlis G Steinert, "The Allied Decision to Arrest the Donitz Goverment", Historical Journal, Vol 31 No 3, 1988, p. 658-60.
  13. ^ Steinert, op cit, p.272.
  14. ^ David Fraser, Alanbrooke, London: Collins, 1982, p.489.
  15. ^ Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings, Korea: The unknown war, London: Viking, 1988, pp. 10, 16, ISBN 0670819034
  16. ^ Dennis Wainstock, Truman, McArthur and the Korean War, Greenwood, 1999, p.3
  17. ^ Edward Grant Meade, American military government in Korea,: King's Crown Press 1951, p.78
  18. ^ A. Wigfall Green, The Epic of Korea, Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1950, p.54
  19. ^ Cave Brown, op cit, p.3
  20. ^ Cave Brown, op cit, p.169
  21. ^ Stephen E Ambrose, Rise to Globalism: American foreign policy 1938-1980, London: Penguin, 1981, p.20
  22. ^ Cost of Defeat Time Magazine Monday, April 8, 1946
  23. ^ a b Norman M. Naimark The Russians in Germany pg. 206
  24. ^ Norman M. Naimark The Russians in Germany pg. 207
  25. ^ Yoder, Amos. The Evolution of the United Nations System, p. 39.
  26. ^ History of the UN
  27. ^ "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