The Aftermath of World War II * US History

After the smoke cleared... Deaths related to World War II are staggering Allies US – 420,000 UK – 450,000 Soviet Union – 28,000,000 Axis German – 9,000,000 Italy – 454,000 Japan – 3,100,000 Total – 60 – 80 million (4% world population)

Destruction Across the Continent Much of Europe is decimated The cost of the war is incalculable Much of the world is involved in the war in some way The Allies (The US) now has to deal with what to do next. The US is left virtually unimpacted by the war We are poised to become the lone world superpower How do we help Europe?

The Spread of the Soviet Union As the Soviet Union advanced west they began to annex (take over) lands They installed communist governments to fill the vacuum left by Germany. The Soviet invasion of Germany was problematic for the Allies The Allies finally settled on a division of the region that represented each nation These divisions set the stage for the Cold War to come

The GIs Return Home Millions of American men served in WWII in both Europe and Asia The end of the wars was a time of euphoria in America Soldiers were nicknamed “G.I.s” Meaning “Government Issue” These were young men most less than 25 years old The US wanted to provide for them The Bonus Army scandal was only 13 years previous

The GI Bill The government created a law popularly called the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act or “GI Bill” Provided for returning veterans College tuition assistance Mortgage assistance This law did two things for GIs Allowed them to get a college education (rare at the time) Afford to start a family

The Baby Boom After World War II the US experienced a baby boom By the end of the 1940’s 32 million babies were born in the US. 24 million in the 1930’s This has a huge rippling impact throughout the rest of the 20th century Many of your grandparents are part of this generation

The US is Impacted The GIs come home to start families (Baby Boom) They buy new homes (Housing Boom) New cities, the suburbs (City Boom) New highways to connect us (Infrastructure Boom) New schools for all those kids (Education Boom) The US is fundamentally transformed in the post- war years

The United States the Superpower Most of Europe is devastated by the war Industries are destroyed Million killed The US is left as one of the few functioning economic powers and certainly the strongest The US experiences a period of unrivaled power that stretched into this century.