User:Arnoutf/sandbox/WWIIaftmath

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-14059-0018, Berlin, Oberbefehlshaber der vier Verbündeten.jpg
The Supreme Commanders on 5 June 1945 in Berlin: Bernard Montgomery, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Georgy Zhukov and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives the "Victory" sign to crowds in London on Victory in Europe Day.

The global economy suffered heavily from the war. By the end of the war the largely undamaged US industry produced roughly half of the world's industrial output.[1]Economic recovery following the war was varied in differing parts of the world, though in general it was quite positive. In Europe, West Germany recovered quickly and doubled production from its pre-war levels by the 1950s.[2] In the 1950s, the Italian economy was rapidly growing[3][4] France rebounded quickly, and enjoyed rapid economic growth and modernisation.[5] The Soviet Union also experienced a rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era.[6] The United Kingdom was in a state of economic ruin after the war,[7] and continued to experience relative economic decline for decades to follow.[8] Japan experienced incredibly rapid economic growth, becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world by the 1980s.[9] China had reached pre war production by 1953.[10]

In an effort to maintain international peace,[11] the Allies formed the United Nations, which officially came into existence on 24 October 1945,[12] and adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, as a common standard of achievement for all member nations.[13] The alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before the war was over,[14] and the powers each quickly established their own spheres of influence.[15], leading to two international military pacts, the United States-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact military alliances and the start of the Cold War between them.[16]

In Europe, Germany and Austria were controlled by the allies; and a program of denazification was started. The Soviet Union, expanded its territory by directly annexing several countries it occupied as Soviet Socialist Republics such as Eastern Poland,[17] the three Baltic countries,[18][19] part of eastern Finland[20] and northeastern Romania.[21][22] The eastern and central European countries states that the Soviets occupied at the end of the war became Soviet Satellite states, such as the People's Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of Hungary,[23] the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic,[24] the People's Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Albania,[25]. Later East Germany would be created from the Soviet zone of German occupation.[26] The European powers started a rapid decolonization after the war [27] leading to the end of British, French and Dutch colonial empires.

In Asia, the United States occupied Japan and administrated Japan's former islands in the Western Pacific, while the Soviets annexed Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands; the former Japanese-governed Korea was divided and occupied between the US and the Soviet Union, which was the precursor of theKorean War[28]. In China, nationalist and communist forces quickly resumed the civil war. Communist forces were eventually victorious and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland, while nationalist forces ended up retreating to Taiwan.

  1. ^ Kunkel, John (2003). America's Trade Policy Towards Japan: Demanding Results. Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 0415298326.
  2. ^ Dornbusch, Rüdiger; Nölling, Wilhelm; Layard, P. Richard G (1993). Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. p. 29. ISBN 0262041367.
  3. ^ Bull, Martin J.; Newell, James (2005). Italian Politics: Adjustment Under Duress. Polity. p. 20. ISBN 0745612997.
  4. ^ Bull, Martin J.; Newell, James (2005). Italian Politics: Adjustment Under Duress. Polity. p. 21. ISBN 0745612997.
  5. ^ Harrop, Martin (1992). Power and Policy in Liberal Democracies. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. ISBN 0521345790.
  6. ^ Smith, Alan (1993). Russia And the World Economy: Problems of Integration. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN 0415089247.
  7. ^ Dornbusch, Rüdiger; Nölling, Wilhelm; Layard, P. Richard G (1993). Postwar Economic Reconstruction and Lessons for the East Today. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. p. 117. ISBN 0262041367.
  8. ^ Emadi-Coffin, Barbara (2002). Rethinking International Organization: Deregulation and Global Governance. Routledge. p. 64. ISBN 0415195403.
  9. ^ Harrop, Martin (1992). Power and Policy in Liberal Democracies. Cambridge University Press. p. 49. ISBN 0521345790.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference lonely planet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Yoder, Amos (1997). The Evolution of the United Nations System. Taylor & Francis. p. 39. ISBN 1560325461.
  12. ^ "History of the UN". United Nations. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  13. ^ "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights". United Nations. Retrieved 2009-11-14. * Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty {{cite web}}: Invalid |no-pp=Article 2 (help)
  14. ^ Kantowicz, Edward R (2000). Coming Apart, Coming Together. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 0802844561.
  15. ^ Trachtenberg, Marc (1999). A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945–1963. Princeton University Press. p. 33. ISBN 0691002738.
  16. ^ Leffler, Melvyn P.; Painter, David S (1994). Origins of the Cold War: An International History. Routledge. p. 318. ISBN 0415341094.
  17. ^ Roberts, Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. Yale University Press. p. 43. ISBN 0300112041.
  18. ^ Wettig, Gerhard (2008). Stalin and the Cold War in Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0742555426.
  19. ^ Senn, Alfred Erich (2007). Lithuania 1940: revolution from above. Rodopi. ISBN 9789042022256.
  20. ^ Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline (1995). Stalin's Cold War. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719042011.
  21. ^ Roberts, Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. Yale University Press. p. 55. ISBN 0300112041.
  22. ^ Shirer, William L. (1990). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Simon and Schuster. p. 794. ISBN 0671728687.
  23. ^ Granville, Johanna (2004). The First Domino: International Decision Making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 1585442984.
  24. ^ Grenville, John Ashley Soames (2005). A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century. Routledge. pp. 370–71. ISBN 0415289548.
  25. ^ Cook, Bernard A (2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 17. ISBN 0815340575.
  26. ^ Wettig, Gerhard (2008). Stalin and the Cold War in Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 96–100. ISBN 978-0742555426.
  27. ^ Betts, Raymond F. (2004). Decolonization. Routledge. pp. 21–24. ISBN 041531820. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
  28. ^ Stokesbury, James L (1990). A Short History of the Korean War. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 14. ISBN 0688095135.