As with most postwar problems, people have to wake up and realize the loss of human life. Approximately 40 to 50 million people lost their lives during World War II. Twenty five percent of the casualties occured in Asia. The United States lost about 300,000 soldiers. Most of the war was fought in Europe however. There were more uncounted casualties from World War II. These casualties resulted from starvation and disease after the war. There were approximately 50 million casualties, but that does not cover the wounded and maimed.
When people say that war costs a lot of money, they are right. World War II alone costed over 1$ trillion dollars. The allies spent about $230 billion dollars more than the axis, with much of this money coming from the U.S. The United States spent about $341 billiion on the war. This averages out to about 90 billion annually on the war.
London, which was bombed constantly during the Battle of Britain was heavily damaged. Other cities that were heavily damaged were Warsaw, Dresden, and Berlin. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki almost knocked the cities off the Earth. Many famous landmarks were reduced to ashes. Many lost their jobs, houses, families, and their way of life.
The Manhattan Project changed the world forever. Nuclear facilities sprung up all over the map. Research continued and soon impossible inventions turned into reality. The U.S. navy launched the first nuclear powered submarine called the Nautilus. Nuclear power plants started popping all over England. The first one was made in 1956. The U.S. also followed by opening their first power plant in 1957. Countries(especially the U.S. and Russia) started playing the "can you top this" game with nuclear weapons. The threat of world wide destruction from a nuclear war was real.
The world entered The Atomic Age. Although The Atomic Age is a a useful stage in history, it is also a deadly one. The fear or destruction by nuclear weapons opened yet another war, The Cold War. It is called The Cold War because it was cold, meaning there weren't any battles fought. Even today we are still trying to stop the threat of a possible nuclear war.
When Germany surrendered, the world discovered horrible evidence of insanely awful acts against humanity. They discovered that the Nazis were shipping hundreds of thousands of Polish victims to camps after the German's victory over Poland. The Germans took over towns, which they used for bases for their troops.
The Germans committed something called genocide, which is the term used for a systematic killing of people. Hitler believed that the Jews were inferior and he wanted them annihilated. He set up death camps all over Poland and in-all he managed to kill 6 million Jews in all. The 6 million Jews died from something called the holocaust. That is the term used for the constant murder of the Jews.
About 500,000 Nazis were eventually found guilty of war crimes. The major leaders of Germany were tried for war crimes as well. They were accused of waging war, bad treatment of prisoners, and murder of innocent civilians. Of the 22 on trial, 12 received death sentences, 7 received prison terms, and 3 were let go.
With every war, there are many inventions. Some of the inventions can help the army, and some can help innocent civilians. For instance, Penicillin was discovered in 1928 during World War I. It saved thousands of lives during World War II. Since then it has been released to the public and is one of the main anti-biotics on the market today.
On top of that, Nuclear energy was put into a wide scale use. Plastic surgery was developed to reconstruct badly injured soldiers. Now plastic surgery is used on a wide scale for civilians. Radar was also discovered during World War II. Now airports all over the world depend on radar to land airplanes. Nylon was also developed, and space exploration was made possible with the Germans V2 rockets. On top of this, factories produced weapons and war materials at record-breaking speeds.
After World War II, many cities and local areas were destroyed. Millions of homeless people cluttered the streets. The food that was so scarce during World War II was now even more scarce. Countries were crying out for aid and the Allies responded.
Under the Marshall Plan, the United States, Great Britain and Canada contributed greatly to other countries. Sixteen European nations applies for aid, and 12.5 billion was pumped out with the Marshall Plan. Under the Marshall Plan, Germany's economy recovered greatly, and it started producing goods at the same level as before the war.
The United States immediately occupied Japan after the war. Japan was in ruins, however, because of the two atomic bombs. Only about 20 percent of Japans industries escaped the bombings. The Emperor Hirohito was allowed to remain on the throne, and got rid of the Japanese army and navy. Japan surprised the world just as Germany had when they surpassed economic growth before the war.
Leaders from 50 allied nations met in San Francisco from Aprilto June of 1945. They all decided to start a world wide organization. They all agreed to make the United Nations or U.N. for short. They wanted equal rights and international cooperation.
The United Nations has a counsel. On the counsel lye the permanent members: The United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China. Six other nations are also elected to the counsel on a rotating basis. The U.N. started international agencies to serve emergency postwar relief. They also started an international bank to aid those nations that were bankrupt after the war.
World War II was a very bad war that didn't have to happen. It did. With every war, you have to pay a price even if it wasn't your fault. I believe the allied powers set an example for the rest of the war with the postwar aid they gave. World War II will always be remembered.
