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Aftermath of World War II

Aftermath of World War II. Approx. 72 million dead worldwide Approx. 42 million civilians Approx. 25 million military (8.5 million in WWI) Approx. 38 million in Europe More than 22 million in the USSR - Approx. 418,000 Americans. Trials for War Crimes.

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Aftermath of World War II

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  1. Aftermath of World War II • Approx. 72 million dead worldwide • Approx. 42 million civilians • Approx. 25 million military (8.5 million in WWI) • Approx. 38 million in Europe • More than 22 million in the USSR • -Approx. 418,000 Americans

  2. Trials for War Crimes • Nuremberg Trials in Nuremberg, Germany • 177 Germans and Austrians on trial • 142 found guilty; many Nazi leaders • received death sentences. From now on, leaders will be held responsible for actions during war!

  3. War Crimes Trial in Japan General Hideki Tojo • Japan will be occupied • by the United States from • 1945 – 1952 • The U.S. writes the new • Japanese constitution, including • Article 9 (Japan can only have a military force • for self-defense).

  4. Oct. 1945: A New and Improved League of Nations: The United Nations The Soviet Union (Now Russia), France, China, Great Britain, and the U.S. have permanent seats on the security Council

  5. The United States and the Soviet Union will emerge as the two superpowers of the second half of the 20th century.

  6. The Bi-Polarization of Europe: The Beginning of the Cold War

  7. Origins of the Cold War Stalin distrustful of the West. He has two goals In Eastern Europe: 1) Spread communism 2) Create a buffer zone of friendly govts. as a defense against Germany, which invaded Russia in WWI and WWII. Stalin: “Whoever occupies a territory also imposes his own social system.”

  8. Origins of the Cold War • By 1948, the Soviet Red • Army and local communists • in Poland, Czechoslovakia, • Hungary, Romania and • Bulgaria had destroyed • political rivals and even • assassinated democratic • leaders.

  9. Origins of the Cold War 1946: While visiting Westminster College in Fulton, MO, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives his famous “Iron Curtain” speech. “A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by Allied victory… From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

  10. Origins of the Cold War • Truman Doctrine, March 12, 1947 • Civil war in Greece and Turkey • Money to countries threatened by communist expansion • Policy of Containment: limiting communism • to areas already under Soviet control. • Marshall Plan, June 1947 • $13 billion for the economic recovery of war-torn Europe • Soviet view, “capitalist imperialism” • Russia dismantled and moved to the Soviet Union 380 German factories before transferring control to the Western powers

  11. Origins of the Cold War The Marshall Plan

  12. Origins of the Cold War The Division of Germany

  13. Origins of the Cold War The Division of Germany • Germany was divided • into four occupation • zones: American, • British, French, and • Soviet. • The city of Berlin was • also divided into four • zones: the Americans, • British and French • have West Berlin, the • Soviets have East Berlin.

  14. Origins of the Cold War The Berlin Airlift • 1948: Stalin tries to force the Allies out of • West Berlin by sealing off every railroad and • highway. • The Allies respond to the blockade with a round- • the-clock airlift for more than one year, dropping food and other supplies to the people of West Berlin. • Stalin eventually ends the • blockade.

  15. Origins of the Cold War Germany Divided • May 1949: The Federal Republic of Germany • ("West Germany") is created from the zones occupied by France, the United States and United Kingdom. • October 1949: The German Democratic Republic (“East Germany”) is created in the zone occupied by the Soviet Union. • East Berlin becomes the • capital of East Germany. • West Berlin is part • of West Germany?!?!?

  16. Origins of the Cold War Military Alliances • 1949: The U.S., Canada, nine Western European • countries form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, • NATO. • 1955: The Soviet Union and seven satellite nations • (dependent states) form rival Warsaw Pact.

  17. Origins of the Cold War The Arms Race • 1949: Soviet Union successfully tests atomic bomb. • The U.S. no longer has a technological advantage. • Leads to four decades of developing new, more • deadly nuclear and conventional weapons. • Theory of Deterrence: the deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten the enemy in order to prevent the use of the very same weapons. • This is a military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. • Mutual assured destruction (MAD)

  18. U.S. and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles 1945-2006

  19. The De-Colonization of European Powers

  20. Changes Around the World • 1947: India wins independence from Great Britain due to pressure created by Mohandas • Gandhi… Pakistan created as Muslim homeland. • 1948: The nation of Israel is created within Palestine in part because of post-World War II • sympathy for Jews. • 1949: Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong • defeat Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek.

  21. Changes Around the World • After WWII, France tries to • regain control of French Indochina • (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) • Communist Ho Chi Minh leads • Vietnamese independence fight • against French. • 1954: Vietnam • divided into • communist North • and democratic • South.

  22. The Soviet Union in the 1950s • 1953: Death of Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev emerges as leader of Soviet Union. • 1956: Imre Nagy gains power • in Hungary; pulls Hungary out • of Warsaw Pact, Khrushchev • sends tanks to crush rebellion… • Nagy executed. • 1957: Soviets launch Sputnik, first artificial satellite into orbit, starting space race between • USSR and U.S.

  23. Communism in Cuba • 1958 – 59: Fidel Castro and communist rebels win revolution in Cuba… Soviets now have ally just 90 miles away from U.S.

  24. Western Europe Economic Development • 1957: France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy • the Netherlands, and Luxembourg form the • European Community (EC) to expand free • trade.

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