EUROPE AND JAPAN IN RUINS

Devastation in Europe  Close to 40 million Europeans had died  Many displaced people were left homeless  Concentration camps, POW’s, refugees  The Battle of Britain left very little to salvage  Warsaw’s population went from 1.3 million to 153,000  Civilians tried to get on with their lives  Lived in partially destroyed homes and had no water electricity, or food

Misery Continues  Europe’s agriculture had been completely disrupted even years after the war  Thousands died from famine and disease  As winter approached, people went without shoes and coats

Postwar Governments and Politics  Prewar governments in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway returned  Nazi government did not return to Germany for it brought destruction  Government under Mussolini in Italy did not return for he led them to defeat  Communist party starts to promise change within these countries  At first, communist parties were strong and influential then they started a series of violent strikes which caused the parties to decline

Nuremburg Trials  Another issue aside from governments and devastation were how to deal with the war crimes  International Military Tribunal representing 23 nations put the criminals on trial  In the first round, 22 leaders were charged with waging a war of aggression  Also charged with “crimes against humanity” –murder of 11 million people  Hermann Goring and Rudolf Hess were among the criminals on trial

…continued  Hess was found guilty- sentenced to life in prison  Goring committed suicide after he received a death sentence  10 Nazi leaders were hanged  The bodies of the executed were burned at the concentration camp of Dachau and cremated in the ovens that they used for their victims

Japan after the war  Two million lives had been lost  No longer a colonial empire  MacArthur started demilitarization- disbanding the Japanese armed forces  Japan was left only with a small police force  He also brought criminals to trial  Democratization- process of creating a government elected by the people- started by MacArthur This changed the Japanese empire into a constitutional monarchy

New changes in Japan  The new constitution guaranteed that real political power rested with the people  All citizens over the age of 20 could vote  Japan could no longer make war  September a formal peace treaty was signed  The emperor had to declare he was not divine  His power was also dramatically reduced

The End  Russia and America emerge as the two superpowers  Their postwar goals were very different  They ended the war as allies, but did they remain allies?? Hmmmm….