1945:A Fact Sheet About The New World After The Second World

War

An introductionNo other event in human history changed the

path of history like World War II. This war reshaped the political map, altered the balance of power in the world, and led to a new era in human history. In many ways, the way we live today in the year 2015 continues to be shaped by World War II and its aftermath. This fact sheet summarizes the state of the world at the conclusion of the war, and some of its major effects.

United States The U.S., which was untouched by the devastation of

the war, emerged as a military and economic “superpower.” The other major victorious power, the Soviet Union, was the second great “superpower” on Earth. The United States economy was greatly stimulated by the war, and the depression was brought decisively to an end. New industrial complexes were built all over the United States. Spared the physical destruction of war, the U.S. economy would dominate the world economy. After four years of military buildup, the U.S. had also become the leading military power. The position of the United States as the leader of the free world was now more obvious than ever.

Soviet Union The Russian people had suffered immeasurably

during the war, and western Russia was devastated by the land warfare that was primarily on Russian territory. But, in the process of defeating the Germans, the Russians had built a large and powerful army, which occupied most of Eastern Europe at the end of the war. Their great resources and population assured that the Soviet Union would be, along with the United States, one of two superpowers.

Western Europe (including Great Britain)

Utterly destroyed and left in ruins. Millions of people were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and much of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed.

China China emerged on the

winning side of the war. However, they were devastated by the war with Japan. A civil war between the Nationalists (led by Chiang Kai-Shek) and the Communists (led by Mao Zedong) continued on throughout the rest of the 1940s, until the Communists declared victory in October, 1949.

Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans

With the exception of Austria, all of the nations liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet Union were forcibly placed under the control of Communist puppet governments controlled by Stalin, including Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Stalin also annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Elections were held in many of these countries, as Stalin promised FDR at the Yalta Conference, but the results were always manipulated in favor of Communist candidates. The U.S. and British governments were alarmed by the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe and regarded Soviet actions in this region as a flagrant violation of self-determination, genuine democracy, and open markets.

Germany The defeated Germany

was divided among the Allies into American, Soviet, French, and British zones. The capital city of Berlin was also divided into four occupation zones.

Japan Japan was also left in

ruins. The defeated Japan was occupied by American troops for seven years, until 1952. For the first several years, General Douglas MacArthur was the leader. The Americans dismantled the Japanese weapons industry and worked with the Japanese to establish a constitutional democracy under our guidance.

Korea The nation of Korea was

divided between the United States and the Soviet Union into a Communist-controlled North Korea and a capitalistic and democratic South Korea.

Colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East

The traditional colonial powers of Europe were now exhausted and diminished. India and Pakistan became independent from Great Britain in 1947. The Vietnamese fought to win their independence from the French. The Algerians revolted against the French as well. The Netherlands failed in their attempt to recapture the Dutch East Indies. The same process was carried out across much of Africa in the late 40s and early 50s.

Border changes

Reparations payments Germany made payments to the Soviet Union,

mostly in the form of dismantled industrial plants and 3 million German POWs who were given to the Soviets as slave laborers. 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. We took most of their scientists as well. Other nations forced to make payments were Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland.

International organizations and cooperation

The United Nations was founded on October 24, 1945. Also, in 1944, the major economic powers met to create an International Monetary Fund and to agree upon a regime of international tariff regulation known as GATT. The World Bank was also established at the landmark Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 so that the rebuilding of the world could be funded. There was a determination to avoid the mistakes of the interwar years that had exacerbated the Great Depression.

What to do with Holocaust survivors?

Approximately 3.5 million; Sh'erit ha-Pletah: "the Surviving Remnant”

Click here for statistics: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-statistics.htm

Displaced persons camps all over Europe, many of them at sites of former concentration camps

Pogroms in Poland greet survivors- Kielce pogrom kills 41,50 wounded

Jews attempting to enter Palestine were held in camps on the island of Cyprus (12 camps, 53,000+ people)

DP Camps

Cyprus Detention Camp

The U.S. takes action Faced with congressional inaction, Truman issued an executive

order, the "Truman Directive," on December 22, 1945. The directive required that existing immigration quotas be designated for displaced persons. While overall immigration into the United States did not increase, more DPs were admitted than before. About 22,950 DPs, of whom two-thirds were Jewish, entered the United States between December 22, 1945, and 1947 under provisions of the Truman Directive.

Congressional action was needed before existing immigration quotas could be increased. In 1948, following intense lobbying by the American Jewish community, Congress passed legislation to admit 400,000 DPs to the United States. Nearly 80,000 of these, or about 20 percent, were Jewish DPs.

The birth of Israel Zionism (the movement to

return to the Jewish homeland in what was then British-controlled Palestine)

Early 1948: British withdraw from Palestine.

May 14, 1948: UN Partition Plan: State of Israel formed with approval of UN. Truman recognizes Israel.

May 15, 1948: Israel invaded.

Over 100,000 Jewish survivors emigrate there within first few years.

What to do with war criminals? The Nuremberg Trials

Judges from Soviet Union, U.S., France, and Britain oversee trials of 24 Nazi leaders

Begins October 6, 1945.

Charged with four major categories of crimes: conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity.

19 defendants found guilty, 12 sentenced to death, 3 found not guilty on Aug 31, 1946.

https://youtu.be/FsOpcMFkrFs

https://youtu.be/WaL4uDr45oY (watch 59:16-106:45/2:29:19-2:32:35)

12 more trials held from 1946-49.

Thousands of Nazi war criminals fled; Adolf Eichmann caught, found guilty, and executed in 1962.