World War II

Aftermath

Main article: Effects of World War II

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Casualties

Main article: World War II casualties

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At least 50 million people lost their lives in World War II (some estimates suggest a figure as high as 60 million)—about 20 million soldiers and 30 million civilians, with estimates varying widely. This includes the estimated 10 million lives lost due to the Holocaust, consisting of about 6 million Jews and 4 million non-Jews made up of Poles, Roma, homosexuals, communists, dissidents, Afro-Germans, the disabled, Soviet prisoners and others.

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Allied forces suffered approximately 12 million military deaths (of which 8 million were Soviet and 3 million Chinese) and Axis forces 6 million (of which 4 million were German). The Soviet Union suffered by far the largest death toll— about 20 to 28 million Soviets died in total, of which 13 to 20 million were civilians. Of the total deaths in World War II approximately 84% were on the Axis side and 16% on the Allied side.

Related Topics:
Allied forces - Axis forces - Soviet Union - Total deaths in World War II

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A world in ruins

At the end of the war, millions of refugees were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and 70% of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed.

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The Eastern victors demanded payment of war reparations from the defeated nations, and in the Paris Peace Treaty, the Soviet Union's enemies, Hungary, Finland and Romania, were required to pay $300,000,000 each (in 1938 dollars) to the Soviet Union. Italy was required to pay $360,000,000, shared chiefly between Greece, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
War reparations - Paris Peace Treaty

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In contrast to World War I, the Western victors in the Second World War did not demand compensation from the defeated nations. On the contrary, a plan established by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, the "European Recovery Program", better known as the Marshall Plan, called for the U.S. Congress to allocate billions of dollars for the reconstruction of Europe. Also as part of the effort to rebuild global capitalism and spur post-war reconstruction, the Bretton Woods system was put into effect after the war.

Related Topics:
World War I - George Marshall - Marshall Plan - U.S. Congress - Bretton Woods system

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In the Netherlands the original plans to demand a huge monetary compensation and even to annex a part of Germany that would have doubled the country's size were dropped. But many Germans living in the Netherlands (often for a long time) were declared 'hostile subjects' and put into a concentration camp in an operation called Black Tulip. 3691 Germans were ultimately deported.

Related Topics:
Netherlands - Black Tulip

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The war had also increased the strength of independence movements in the European powers' African, Asian, and American colonies, and most of them became independent in the following twenty years.

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United Nations

Since the League of Nations had obviously failed to prevent the war, a new international order was constructed. In 1945 the United Nations was founded. Also, in order to prevent such devastating war from occurring again and to establish a lasting peace in Europe, the European Coal and Steel Community was born in 1951 (Treaty of Paris), the predecessor of the European Union.

Related Topics:
League of Nations - United Nations - European Coal and Steel Community - Treaty of Paris - European Union

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The Cold War begins

Main article: Cold War

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The end of World War II is seen by many as the end of Britain's position as a global superpower and the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the dominant powers in the world. Friction had been building up between the two before the end of the war, and with the collapse of Nazi Germany relations spiraled downward.

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In the areas occupied by Western Allied troops, democratic governments were created; in the areas occupied by Soviet troops, including the territories of former Allies such as Poland, communist puppet governments were created, giving rise to the western betrayal sentiment in many of those countries. Many in the West have concurred, believing that Roosevelt and Churchill were treating Stalin too much like a democratic ally and have blamed them for displaying toward Stalin the same sort of "appeasement" approach at Yalta that Hitler was treated with before the war, thus not learning from prior mistakes as well as handing over Eastern Europe to the Communists. (Churchill himself remarked after the Cold War started, "We killed the wrong pig.")

Related Topics:
Puppet government - Western betrayal

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Germany was partitioned into four zones of occupation, with the American, British and French zones grouped as West Germany and the Soviet zone as East Germany. Austria was once again separated from Germany and it, too, was divided into four zones of occupation, which eventually reunited and became the state of Austria. Korea was divided in half along the 38th parallel.

Related Topics:
West Germany - East Germany - Korea - Divided - 38th parallel

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The partitions were however informal—rather than coming to terms about the spheres of influence, the relationship between the victors had steadily deteriorated, with the military lines of demarcation finally becoming the de facto country boundaries. The Cold War had begun, and soon two blocs would emerge: NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Related Topics:
Cold War - NATO - Warsaw Pact

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