In an effort to maintain peace, the Allies formed the United Nations, which officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 and adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, as a common standard for all member nations. The alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before the war was over, Germany had been divided, and two independent states, Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic were created within the borders of Allied and Soviet occupation zones, accordingly. The rest of Europe was also divided onto Western and Soviet spheres of influence. Most eastern and central European countries fell into the Soviet sphere, which led to establishment of Communist led regimes, with full or partial support of the Soviet occupation authorities. As a result, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania, and East Germany became Soviet Satellite states. Communist Yugoslavia conducted a fully independent policy causing tension with the USSR. Post-war division of the world was formalized by two international military alliances, the United States-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact; the long period of political tensions and military competition between them, the Cold War, would be accompanied by unprecedented arms race and proxy wars. The global economy suffered heavily from the war, although participating nations were affected differently. The US emerged much richer than any other nation. The UK and US pursued a policy of industrial disarmament in Western Germany in the years 1945–1948. Due to international trade interdependencies this led to European economic stagnation and delayed European recovery for several years. Recovery began with the mid 1948 currency reform in Western Germany, and was sped up by the liberalization of European economic policy that the Marshall plan (1948–1951) both directly and indirectly caused. The post 1948 West German recovery has been called the German economic miracle. Also the Italian and French economies rebounded. By contrast, the United Kingdom was in a state of economic ruin, and continued relative economic decline for decades. The Soviet Union, despite enormous human and material losses, also experienced rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era. Japan experienced incredibly rapid economic growth, becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world by the 1980s
WWII created much needed jobs in factories involving the production of war supplies. It jump started us out of the Great Depression and boosted the stock market. WW2 helped us become the strongest country we are today. By mobilizing the unemployed, we aided our economy. Although war is a time of hardships and usually poverty, World War 2 had many positive effects for America. One point of prosper was economy. Some said that WW2 put an end to the Great Depression. Many of America's products went overseas and by 1943, half of the country's production went overseas. Americans were then forced to buy less of such products, but soon spent their money on things such as newspapers, movies, and promotion toward the war because of the shortage of supplies. From 1941-1944 newspapers sold daily increased four folds. Hollywood made over 2,500 motion pictures during the war also. And with the change of spending money also came the change of earning money. Farmers made $20 billion in 1944 unlike the late 1930s, which had an average of only $8 billion. The war also caused a shortage of employees; this raised the annual earnings to $44 billion compared to 1939 $13 billion. With the men gone at war, women would soon fill in those empty jobs to support their families. After the end of WW II, Britain underwent enormous social change. The country was bankrupt after the war. The wartime Prime Minister, Churchill was voted out and a new Labor government nationalized many industries, electricity, gas, water, health. Britain took a long time to recover from the cost of war.WW2 has influenced society, economics and minds of people not in Britain and around the world. The life after the war was completely different from the one before 1939. Peoples experience from WW2 was a cruel and it has impacted on generations. The people still remember the terror and they are able tell about their terrible experiences. The war has influenced all branches of literature, theatre, media, education, politics not only in the 50’s and the 60’s. The life is not only black and white; every item hides some positive traces even it seems to be impossible when talking about such a terrible event like WW2.
Without WWII there would have been little reason to change either thing. The economic boom of the late 40's and early 50's would not have happened so there would have been a lower demand for houses and cars. It would follow then the growth of American suburbs would likely not have been as pronounced. More people would have stayed in the big cities ant it could be argued then that the urban decay of the 50's and 60's would have been substantially less or even nonexistent. The Baby Boom would not have happened and we probably would not have seen the strong cultural revolutions that occurred as the boomers grew up. Radio, Television would not have been as affordable so they would likely have not had as much impact on our culture as they do. With people staying in cities public transportation would have been more of a priority than cars. Rail travel would have remained viable. The US Interstate system would probably not have been built or at least not as extensively has it has been. Nuclear weapons may have been developed but much later and probably would not have been used. We would not have gone to the moon or advanced air travel as far as we have. It is safe to say the world would be a very different place if the Austrian corporal had never been. Of course the same could be said if Kaiser Wilhelm had not made the Treaty of Versailles necessary in the first place. Japan would not have been bold enough to attack the US and may not have invaded China. I don't think Japan would have become the economic and industrial power it is today.
There are two aspects of a society at war which affect that society as a whole In both regards the current global "war on terror" and WWII have few similarities, (one notable similarity was the wave of patriotism which swept the nation immediately following Pearl Harbor and 9/11) but the differences are vast. Also on the domestic front, in WWII production was ramped up, and refocused from mainly domestic purposes to build a military machine. The drain of working men into the armed forces necessitated the introduction of women on a massive scale into the industrial workplace to fill those empty jobs. Rosie the Riveter was the iconic symbol of the American woman fulfilling her role to win the war. That sort of shift with domestic employment has not occurred with the global war on terror. If anything the chances are that the average person reading this has not noticed any appreciable change in their workplace environment due to production needs changing to fight the global war on terror. Innovation included airlift supplies, equipment and of strategic bombing. Anti-aircraft weaponry also advanced, including defences such as radar and surface-to-air artillery. The use of the jet aircraft was pioneered. WW 2 was comprised of many different wars, which between them had many causes, it is the terrible war unleashed by Hitler against the Jewish people that remains the most grotesque and conspicuous legacy of the 1940s. Images from the war enjoyed an iconographic status: St. Paul's cathedral standing amid the ruins of the Blitz, U.S. servicemen raising the American flag on Iwo Jima, and the portrait of German Jewish girl Anne Frank. Even today, the shadow of World War II remains thinly visible. Memorials to the dead were still being erected more than 60 years after the end WW2.
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