Give Me Liberty!

by Gerry Spence

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Student Question

How did the end of the war shape the postwar world according to chapter 22 of Give Me Liberty!?

Quick answer:

The end of World War II in 1945 significantly shaped the postwar world through the Allies' victory and the atomic bombings of Japan, which marked the start of the Atomic Age. The United Nations was established, and Germany was divided by the Potsdam Agreement. The growing influence of the US and USSR led to the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively, setting the stage for Cold War tensions characterized by nuclear arms competition.

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The end of World War II in 1945 began to shape the postwar world through the Allies’ victory over Germany and the use of atomic weapons to cement Japan’s defeat. The importance of the US involvement in securing the Allied victory, spearheaded by the 1944 Normandy invasion, and the Soviet Union’s success in turning back the invading Nazi forces were both harbingers of their increasing power—not only in Europe but also on a global scale. The growing Soviet power had been marked by the inclusion of Stalin in the Yalta Conference of 1945, in which postwar strategies were worked out. The United Nations was also established in 1945.

Along with the disarmament of Germany came the international Potsdam Agreement, which split the country into East and West and divided Berlin into occupation zones controlled by four Allied powers. Soviet direct involvement in controlling Germany signaled the USSR’s growing influence in Eastern Europe. Over the next ten years, alliances would be formalized as the United States and Canada joined many European countries to form the North American Treaty Organization in 1949 and the USSR took a leading role in the Warsaw Pact established in 1955.

The US decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945 was significant not only for its contribution to ending the war but also for signaling the start of the Atomic Age. Competition among nations to develop atomic weapons was now openly underway, and the first Soviet atomic bombing occurred in 1949. The prospect of nuclear warfare and resulting global annihilation dominated both the arms race and diplomatic relations during the Cold War.

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