Brandon Ice

HIS 331 World War II

Consequences of World War II

Grant Jones

June 23, 2014

There have been many wars in the world. Some are good and some are bad. During the

1930’s to the mid 1940’s there was a war that was so devastating that it caught it the eyes of all

countries all over the world. In the end this war would take millions of lives especially the

homicide of the killing of 6 million Jews. The war I am speaking of and will cover in this paper

will be on World War II. For this paper I will cover World War II and three consequences of the

war. I will interpret the events that led up to that consequence. I will describe my reasons for

believing them especially important. I will analyze the short- and long-term impact on the major

powers involved in the war. Finally I will evaluate the consequences in terms of the human

experience of combatants/noncombatants, men/women, and those within occupied/unoccupied

countries. The three consequences that I have chosen are the rise of the US to superpower status,

the expansion of the Soviet Union and its rise to superpower status, the emergence of the Cold

War.

First I would like to start this paper by talking about the buildups that led to the

consequences of World War II. The first consequence I will be talking about will be the rise of

the US as a superpower country. To talk about that I must start at the beginning which is at the

end of the Great War, World War I. Woodrow Wilson was President at the time and he had just

finished in France at Versailles signing the Versailles Treaty to end the World War. He brought

the Treaty back to congress for them to vote on. While on the other hand the British and France

had already agreed on the treaty and was waiting on the US. However feeling that the US would

be like World Police and the Congress voted not to support the treaty and so Wilson’s response

was “They have shamed us in the eyes of the world.” Here is a summary of the US and the

Versailles Treaty “President Woodrow Wilson personally negotiated the treaty following World

War I, promoting his vision for a system of collective security enforced by a League of Nations.

When the treaty arrived in the Senate in July, Democrats mostly supported the treaty, but

Republicans were divided. The “Reservationists,” led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, called for

approval of the treaty only if certain reservations, or alterations, were adopted. The

“Irreconcilables” opposed the treaty in any form. In November Lodge sent the treaty with 14

reservations to the Senate floor, prompting an angry Wilson to urge Democrats to reject Lodge’s

plan. On November 19, 1919, a group of Democratic senators joined the Irreconcilables to defeat

the treaty. The United States never ratified the Treaty of Versailles, nor did it join the League of

Nations.”(Senate)

To continue on the rise of the US as a superpower country. I covered the first step of the

rising of the US as a superpower country after World War I with Woodrow Wilson and the

Versailles Treaty. The step starts with World War II which begins in Europe when Germany

invades Poland. France and the British enter the war against Germany. Germany invades France

and the war on France begins, then ends with France fallings to Germany. Then Hitler and

Germany decide to turn their attention on the British because they know that the British stands

between Germany and victory in Europe. However at the time this is where the US starts to play

a major role by sending help to aid the British. When Hitler orders an air strike on the British by

sending planes in and bombing cities in the British Isles. During the early years of World War II

US President at the time Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to send aid to help countries that were in

trouble and fighting off the axis powers such as Italy and Germany so FDR as he was commonly

called had a bill passed through congress which would be the Lend Lease Act which here is a

summary of what it is and what it did. The Lend Lease Act “Proposed in late 1940 and passed in

March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to

foreign nations during World War II. It authorized the president to transfer arms or any other

defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country

whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.” By allowing the

transfer of supplies without compensation to Britain, China, the Soviet Union and other

countries, the act permitted the United States to support its war interests without being

overextended in battle.”(History) This boosted the US economy and improved the economy,

helping them out of the Great Depression they were in.

The next thing I would like to talk about is the US in World War II. So after the British

survived the bombings of Germany Hitler and the Germans turned their attention to Stalin and

the Soviet Union Russia. Hitler at the time was talking to Japan and they discussed that Japan

should take and fight for what was in the Pacific but the only thing was that the US had control

over the islands in the Pacific so the Japanese agreed to declare war on the US and attack them

and on December 7 1941 in the early morning hours Pearl Harbor a military base was attacked

and bombed by Japan airplanes. When Pearl Harbor was attacked US men were drafted and sent

out to fight for their country this opened a whole new door for African Americans in the military

and the women taking on new roles as the ones providing for their families now since the fathers,

husbands, boyfriends had signed up for the military to fight for our country. How African

Americans changed the look of things for the military is by “Over 2.5 million African-American

men registered for the draft, and black women also volunteered in large numbers. While serving

in the Army, Army Air Forces, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, they experienced

discrimination and segregation but met the challenge and persevered. They served their country

with distinction, made valuable contributions to the war effort, and earned high praises and

commendations for their struggles and sacrifices.”(Historyplace) how women’s roles changed

was “Women in uniform took office and clerical jobs in the armed forces in order to free men to

fight. They also drove trucks, repaired airplanes, worked as laboratory technicians, rigged

parachutes, served as radio operators, analyzed photographs, flew military aircraft across the

country, test-flew newly repaired planes, and even trained anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting

as flying targets. Some women served near the front lines in the Army Nurse Corps, where 16

were killed as a result of direct enemy fire. Sixty-eight American service women were captured

as POWs in the Philippines. More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and

meritorious service, and 565 WACs in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations. Nurses were

in Normandy on D-plus-four.”(National) Here is a few sentences from an article on what women

did and how the lives of women then impacted the women today. So the article states “The

women who worked as Rosie the Riveters, Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs), and in the

Women’s Army Corps (WAC) helped the United States win World War II. In addition, they

helped create the change necessary for women to play the roles that they do today. Women today

might not be presidents of companies, Secretary of State, doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, and

such if it had not been for their predecessors.”(Lockhart)

The last thing I would like to talk about that I think made the US a super power country is

the atomic bomb. After the war in Europe was over the US was still at war with Japan. The

crushing blow came to America when the president of 4 terms president Franklin D Roosevelt

died and his Vice President Harry Truman took office. Now Truman had no idea what to expect

the only thing that he wanted from the generals was an easy fast victory with less casualties. So

they came up with an idea of dropping the first atomic bomb to the war, this had never happened

before so no one knew what was about to happen. So anyhow Truman ordered the drop of the

first atomic bomb which killed millions of Japanese but they did not surrender so Truman

ordered a second atomic bomb to be dropped in which this time that was it the Japanese

surrendered and the war in the Pacific was over. All these things that I talked about made the US

a super power country.

I believe my reasoning for choosing the points that I chose to talk about was that they

were important leading key elements leading the US into a new of power and dominance. Of

course it would be later shown that the US would be the good power not the bad power like the

Soviet Union Russia. I think World War II took a lot out of the British that is one reason they fell

short and lost control of having any super power. France was once a super power after the First

World War but since they fell to Germany they lost their status of super power status. Russia

took some huge blows from Germany and other countries but since the Germans lost they gained

all the territory almost expanding the country and rising as a super power.

The second consequence that I am about to talk about is the expansion and rise of the

Soviet Union Russia to super power status. When Hitler was getting ready to invade Poland the

last thing he wanted was for Stalin to get involved so he and Stalin signed an agreement not to

invade one another and not to invade each other’s territories this was called the Nazi- Soviet

Nonaggression Pact which was “On August 23, 1939–shortly before World War II (1939-45)

broke out in Europe–enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing

the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military

action against each other for the next 10 years. With Europe on the brink of another major war,

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) viewed the pact as a way to keep his nation on peaceful

terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the Soviet military. German chancellor

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) used the pact to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland

unopposed. The pact also contained a secret agreement in which the Soviets and Germans agreed

how they would later divide up Eastern Europe. The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact fell

apart in June 1941, when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union.”(History)

After Hitler attacked Stalin and the Soviets there was a war between the two for nearly 4

years. While Stalin feared of losing a lot of men to the war, he also knew that if the British were

not defeated that they would help and aid them in their war effort. Also Stalin knew that the US

would possibly help as well. When Germany was finally defeated and the war in Europe was

over the allied forces split up the countries that that Hitler and the Germans had conquered.

However Stalin did not see eye to eye with Churchill and Roosevelt because he thought that his

country had sacrificed more and had lost more than any of the other allied countries. So what

Stalin did is all the eastern countries in Europe was taken control by the Soviet Union leading the

Soviet Union to expand Russia as a country and as a power in the world.

I believe my reasoning for choosing the points that I chose to talk about was that they

were important leading key elements leading the Soviet Union Russia into a new of power and

dominance. Of course it would be later shown that the Soviet Union Russia would be the bad

power and not the good power like the US. I think World War II took a lot out of the British that

is one reason they fell short and lost control of having any super power. France was once a super

power after the First World War but since they fell to Germany they lost their status of super

power status. The US took a major blow when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7,

1941. I think that the Japanese were scared and cowards to sneak attack the US the way they did.

However in the end the US would drop not one but two atomic bombs on Japan to make them

surrender to end the war in the Pacific. The US would rise up as a super power

The last consequence that I will discuss is emergence of the Cold War. After World War

II there were two countries that had super power status’s they were the Soviet Union Russia and

the US. What the US brought to the table was capitalism which was “an economic system

characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are

determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and he distribution of goods that are

determined mainly by competition in a free market”( Merriam) What The Soviet Union brought

to the table was communism which is “a theory or system of social organization based on the

holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole

or to the state.”(Dictionary) so I figure you want to know what the Cold War is? Which it is “As

the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and

early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known

as the Red Scare. (Communists were often referred to as “Reds” for their allegiance to the red

Soviet flag.) The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on

U.S. government and society. Federal employees were analyzed to determine whether they were

sufficiently loyal to the government, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, as well

as U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations of subversive elements in the

government and the Hollywood film industry. The climate of fear and repression linked to the

Red Scare finally began to ease by the late 1950s.”(History)

There have been many wars in the world. Some are good and some are bad. During the

1930’s to the mid 1940’s there was a war that was so devastating that it caught it the eyes of all

countries all over the world. In the end this war would take millions of lives especially the

homicide of the killing of 6 million Jews. The war I am speaking of and I have covered in this

paper was on World War II. For this paper I covered World War II and three consequences of the

war. I interpreted the events that led up to that consequence. I described my reasons for believing

them especially important. I have analyzed the short- and long-term impact on the major powers

involved in the war. Finally I have evaluated the consequences in terms of the human experience

of combatants/noncombatants, men/women, and those within occupied/unoccupied countries.

The three consequences that I \chose are the rise of the US to superpower status, the expansion of

the Soviet Union and its rise to superpower status, the emergence of the Cold War.

Reference Page

Senatehttp://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/

Feature_Homepage_TreatyVersailles.htm

History http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/lend-lease-act

Historyplace http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/aframerwar/

National http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/at-a-

glance/women-in-ww2.html

Lockhart, N., & Pergande, J. (2001). WOMEN WHO ANSWERED THE CALL: World War II

as a Turning Point for Women in the Workforce. Journal of Women's History, 13(2), 154.

History http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact

Merriam http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalism

Dictionary http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/communism

History http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare