LEGACY OF WWII
HUMAN COST
• 30 million non-combatant deaths
• Over 6,000,000 Jews exterminated in
concentration camps
PROPERTY LOSS
• Heavy damage to
cities large and small
– Berlin, Tokyo, London,
Manila
– Dresden was
completely demolished
• Total cost of the war –
estimated at over $1
trillion
NEW WEAPONS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Atomic bomb
Sonar
Kamikaze
Aircraft Carriers
Radar
blitzkrieg
BEFORE THE END OF THE WAR
• Fear of the Soviets
emerged in the US
• Bitterness between the
two countries derived
from
– Democracy v.
communism
– Propaganda on both
sides
– No second front
BEFORE THE END OF THE WAR
• Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)
– Plan for post-war peace
– Each leader arrived with vision of
the post-war world
• FDR – wanted to spread democracy
and free trade worldwide under US
leadership
• Churchill – wanted to save the British
Empire and free, democratic Europe
under British leadership
• Stalin – wanted to protect borders
and rebuild his country
BEFORE THE END OF THE WAR
• Yalta Conference
– Decided on:
• United Nations
• Divided Germany
• Stalin would control
Eastern Europe
– FDR gave in- sick,
wanted help with Japan
LEGACY OF
WWII
• Holocaust led to
support for and
the formation of
Israel (1948)
LEGACY OF WWII
• United nations
– Peacekeeping
organization
– Solve social,
economic, and
political issues
– This time the
US gave full
support
LEGACY OF WWII
• Superpowers- a
new balance of
power and new
world order was
created = Cold
War
• Europe
remained the
center of
tension
LEGACY OF WWII
• Superpowers:
– USA
• Leader in global affairs
• Production center
– Transformed wartime
economy to successful
peacetime economy
• Social change – birth of
the civil rights movement
LEGACY OF WWII
• Superpowers:
– USSR
• Devastated by war –
demanded retribution
for war sacrifice
• Demanded bufferzone
• Worked for spread of
communism
throughout Europe
and the world
LEGACY OF WWII
• Nuclear Weapons
– Arms race during
the Cold War –
added to tensions
world-wide