The End of World War II and its Impact on World Affairs

End of WWII Things were bleak for Europe. Germany had taken over Poland, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, France and many other nations. The Soviet Union, Japan, and Italy had allied with Germany to form the Axis Powers.

End of WWII Continued Japan will attack Pearl Harbor, the US naval base located in Hawaii. This will lead to the USA jumping in and supplying troops to fight the war. Our troops will revitalize Europe’s forces and be one factor for the Allied victory.

End of WWII: Europe Hitler will turn on the Soviet Union, causing them to join the Allies. The Big 3, Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union), Franklin D. Roosevelt (U.S.A.), and Winston Churchill (Great Britain) will form a union and fight together to defeat the Axis Powers.

End of WWII: Europe The Soviets will push Germany in from the East, and the U.S.A., Britain, and what was left of France’s forces will push in from the West.

End of WWII: Europe The Soviets were the first to discover the Death Camps in Germany and make reports that will shock the world. It is generally accepted that on April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide with his new wife Eva Braun in a bunker during the Battle for Berlin.

End of WWII: V-E Day V-E Day (Victory in Europe day) was May 7 and 8 1945. These are the two days that the unconditional surrender of the Axis Powers in Europe were accepted and signed. The War in Europe was officially over.

End of WWII: Nuclear War New technology will be used by the U.S.A. as a show of force to end the war with Japan in the Pacific.

End of WWII: Nuclear War In order to bring the war to an end quickly, President Harry S. Truman, decided that a show of extreme force would end the fighting. On August 6, 1945, “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima. The U.S.A. then gave Japan an ultimatum, unconditional surrender by the Japanese or there would be a second nuclear attack. On August 9, 1945, with Japan failing to surrender, a second nuclear bomb called “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies.

End of WWII: Hiroshima Hiroshima Model Before Bombing Hiroshima Model After Bombing

End of WWII: Hiroshima The ruins of Hiroshima smolder one day after the atomic bomb called “Little Boy” was dropped on August 6, 1945.

End of WWII: Hiroshima

End of WWII: Nagasaki

End of WWII: Nagasaki

End of WWII: The Rise of Superpowers At the end of the war, there will be two clear Superpowers: The United States of America and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). A superpower is a country that has the highest level of influence on world politics and has a very strong military. Although the USA and Soviet Union were friends during WWII, after the war they are enemies.

End of WWII:A Divided Germany At the end of the war it was difficult to decide what to do with Germany. They were accused of starting two world wars and Britain and France did not want to be invaded again. The solution was to divide Germany, but how? Germany was divided into Eastern (Communist) and Western Germany (Democracy).=Berlin Wall.

End of WWII:A Divided Germany The Soviets had lost millions of troops in the war and wanted some control over the outcome. The U.S.A. felt the need for representation if the Soviets were involved. They feared the spread of communism (the Soviets new economy and form of government). Britain and France also wanted in, but really were in no shape to control anything other than rebuilding themselves. Germany was divided into four quarters, but the U.S.A. would control all three sections for the Allies.

End of WWII: East & West Germany

End of WWII: East & West Berlin The capital of Germany was Berlin, and once they divided the nation, it fell on the Soviet controlled East Germany side. As a compromise, the city of Berlin was divided into East and West Berlin. West Berlin was controlled by the U.S.A. East Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union.

End of WWII: Beginnings of the Cold War The debate over the division of Germany would be the first of many problems between the Soviets and the U.S.A. Following the war, the Soviets also developed an atomic bomb. Now the two world superpowers both had nuclear weapons.

Cold War The Cold War was a time period when non-cooperation between the two major world Superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, that caused a fear of nuclear war.

Cold War With the two superpowers at odds, the rest of the world felt the pressure to take sides. There became a clear division between the non-communist nations of NATO and the communist nations that became members of the Warsaw Pact. These two organizations (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) were alliances between countries on either side.

Cold War: The World Takes Sides

Cold War: Politics West Germany developed a capitalist economy and a democratic government modeled after the U.S.A. East Germany developed a communist economy and government modeled after the U.S.S.R.

Cold War: Politics Communism is an economic system and form of government in which the government makes all of the decisions as to what will be produced, how it will be produced, and for whom it will be produced. Capitalism is an economic system in which individuals decide what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. Democracy is a form of government in which the people control the government by voting.

Cold War: The Berlin Wall In 1961 the Soviets built the Berlin wall to divide East Germany from West Germany. Anyone who tried to cross the wall would be shot.

Cold War: The Berlin Wall

Cold War: The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall became the symbol for the “Iron Curtain.” The “Iron Curtain” is the term for the imaginary border between the communist nations and the members of NATO.

Cold War: “Proxy Wars” During the Cold War the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. never technically fought each other, there were several “almost” events between the two. These include the Cuban Missile Crisis. Quite often the two nations avoided fighting directly and encouraged other nations to fight each other instead. These “proxy wars” are the reason nations like Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan have the military training and technology that they do.

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down After decades of failure to cooperate, under U.S.A. President Ronald Regan and U.S.S.R. Premier the two nations began to have communications. The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. leaders before these two men had not met regularly to speak in person. These two leaders began a relationship that sped up the end of the Soviet Union and the eventual fall of communism as we knew it.

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down Under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s form of communism ended. The fall of the Berlin Wall in August of 1989 became the symbol of the fall of communism in Europe and the end of the Cold War.

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germans from East Berlin/Germany could finally travel across the border into West Berlin/Germany freely. This was the beginning of the reunification of East and West Germany. The two parts of Germany had been divided since the end of World War II in 1945.

Cold War: One Germany The newly reformed Germany has struggled to reshape itself into one nation again. Though people were happy with the event, the difficulties of bringing former East Germany’s infrastructure up to West German standards has taken a long time. Today, the reunification is considered to be a success.