World After Second World War

HISTORY CHAPTER 13 - WORLD AFTER SECOND WORLD WAR

1) What were the main consequences of the Second World War on Europe? How was the political map of Europe after the war different from the pre war days?

The two wars fought during a brief period of 30 years resulted in the loss of millions of human lives and there was an impending danger that the whole of human race may be destroyed if there was another world war because the type of arsenal that was used during the Second World War had the power to wipe out the entire human race at one stroke. In the context steps were taken by the imperialist powers to be the first ones to stop any further war.
The three super powers Britain, USA and USSR came together at Teheran and decided to take steps to banish the terror and scourge of war and that the new organization was formed called the united nations organization just like the league of nations that was formed after the I world war. On 26th June 1945, 26 nations came together and adopted the United Nations charter based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace loving states. To carry out these objectives 6 principle organs of UN were formed.
Another major consequence of Second World War was the Potsdam conference where the super powers decided to partition off Germany and thus Germany was divided into four equal parts. Three parts were going to Britain, USA and France and the fourth part was going to Soviet Union. The development in these areas too went on the lines of type of Government enjoyed by the mother countries.
Another most important consequence of the Second World War was the start of the cold war. After the end of Second World War, USA was the only power that was economically stable and plus the possession of the atomic bomb which was destructive also increased her power. The socialist government in Soviet Union was able to emerge as another super power though she had suffered more than any other country because of the planned development that took place. The countries of Europe were aware of the changing scenario as many countries which gained independence after the Second World War from the imperialist powers took to socialist forms of government. This led to insecurities among the capitalist government of Europe and they started alienating the socialist nations and starting using methods as to gain more and more support against Soviet Union and the other communist countries and thus this led to the cold war and formation of the two blocs.
The Asian and African countries seeing the economic debacle of the imperialist countries started gaining independence. Some through non violent means but some had to gain independence through years of war. The support of some of the developed countries too speeded up the process of gaining independence. The another consequence of these emergences was the non alignment movement were the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa refused to be aligned to any of the forward blocs and thus brought down to a considerable extent the tension of the cold war.
After the Second World War where the political map of Europe on pre Second World War days was dominated by capitalist and imperialist powers now came to be dominated by new countries like Albania and Yugoslavia and these newly independent countries started having communist forms of government. The government of Soviet Union too helped for the independence of these countries and the development of Soviet Union in a planned way led to the most of the independent nations taking a communist form of government.
Thus where the world scenario before the Second World War was that of imperialism, fascism and that of formation of alliances the scene in the world was totally different with the super powers instead of having colonies were working for the development of the third world countries and trying to bring about peace among the nations.

2) What is meant by cold war? What were the factors which gave rise to it?

During the Second World War the governments of Russia, Britain and USA had fought together to bring down the fascist governments. They had assured to the world at large that there would be durable peace and international brotherhood but the war was hardly over when the conflicts began to emerge between the nations that is Britain and USA on one side and Russia on the other. The relations between these nations began to deteriorate and came to be termed as cold war. Over a period of years cold war became more intense and the world was now divided into two blocs one with Britain and USA and western European countries and another with Russia and all eastern European countries. Though sometimes tensions did arise between these two blocs but thanks to the presence of certain nations discouraging the war, the hostilities remained confined only to certain areas.
The most important reason for the outbreak of the cold war was the American and British fear for communism. With increase in the might of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of governments ruled by communist parties in many parts of the world including Europe and to top it all the 1949 end of civil war led to the emergence of communist party in China created a sense of fear among the countries of western Europe that people of their countries too would demand a socialist type of government and thus the countries of western Europe and USA started denouncing communism and started taking steps in order to see to it that communism does not emerge in their countries.

3) What is meant by non-alignment? Why did most of the newly independent countries follow this policy?

After the end of Second World War, most of the countries of Asia and Africa gained independence. Some gained it through years of struggle non-violent or violent. Thus when these countries became independent cold war had emerged in the world and some of the newly independent countries of Asia did align themselves with either of the blocs. But most of the Afro-Asian countries refused to be aligned to any of the forward blocs. They felt that after struggling for years to gain independence why should they again give it up by joining any of the blocs. Thus this led to the non alignment meaning not aligning themselves with any of the forward blocs.
The newly independent countries of Asia and Africa had common problems of development and moving forward. They were aware of the danger that would pose for them if they aligned with any of the forward blocs. Their primary aim had been liquidation of colonialism, strengthening of independence and promoting world peace. The policy of non alignment was not just non involvement with military blocs but also a policy for creating a better world.
The non alignment movement for which our Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru played an important role in ending colonialism and promoting peace is one of the most remarkable movements the world has seen. It also worked against economic exploitation of one nation by another and thus reduced the economic disparities between nations.

4) Discuss the factors which led to the weakening of imperialism after the Second World War?

The Second World War other than trying to wipe out half of the human race also played havoc with the economies of the imperialist countries of Western Europe. The economic debacle made it very difficult for these countries like Britain and France to maintain colonies in Asia and Africa. The struggle for freedom in these colonies coupled with support from the people of the imperialist countr8is too led to the weakening of imperialist powers after the Second World War. For e.g. After the Second World War in 1945 the conservative party of England lost the elections and labour party came to power. Thus Indian independence was imminent as it had support for independence in the labour party and thus in 1947 we gained our independence.
Some of the developed countries like Soviet Union too supported the cause of independence in the colonies. With growing demands for independence in the colonies and also the support from some of the developed nations led to the weakening of the imperialism after the Second World War.

5) Discuss the impact of emergence of Asian and African countries as independent nations on the world.

The most significant impact of the emergence of independent nations in Asia and Africa was the emergence of non-alignment movement where these countries refused to be aligned to any of the military blocs but worked for all-round development of the newly independent nations and world peace. This brought down to a great extent the impact of cold war.
After the Second World War, the super powers had been promising world peace and development but in practice had not been able to do so because of their fears of rise of communism and infighting. The world after Second World War became a place of two military blocs with atomic arsenal being piled up by every nation in show of strength. This could have led to a Second World War had it not been for the strong stance taken by the Afro-Asian countries refusing to be aligned to any of the military blocs and be totally independent and in turn work for world peace and mutual development. Work for bringing down economic disparities and work against economic exploitation between nations.
For the first time every nation began to create its own destiny and the creation of one world became a possibility where all people would co-operate with one another and would contribute their best to enrich their own lives and the entire mankind.

6) Describe Afro Asian Unity and Non Alignment.

Due to the cold war, the world had been divided into two blocs, one led by the USA and another by the USSR. At this time after the Second World War imperialism had declined and many countries of Asia and Africa got their independence. These nations were called the third world countries as they had to go a long way to establish them. Joining either of the blocs would have again resulted in a different kind of imperialism where they would have no freedom to their own decisions.
In 1955, 23 Asian and 6 African countries attended the Afro Asian conference at Bandung in Indonesia. The leaders of India, China and Indonesia played a prominent role at this conference. This was the basis of Afro Asian unity which resulted in the non-aligned movement.
Non-alignment means not to be associated with any power bloc. In case there is a conflict between the 2 power blocs the non aligned countries are free not to take sides. They could criticize colonialism and imperialism without the fear of facing serious consequences.
Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Sugarno of Indonesia and President Tito of Yugoslavia were the main people to launch this movement. The first major conference of NAM was held at Belgrade in Yugoslavia in 1961. It was attended by the heads of states of 25 countries. 3 other countries attended as observers. The following are the principles of NAM.

v Stabilization of peace.
v Liquidation of colonialism and imperialism in all their forms.
v Peaceful co existence between nations.
v Condemnation of racial discrimination.
v Opposition to military alliances.
v Disarmament.
v Respect for human rights.
v Establishment of economic relations between nations based on equality and freedom from exploitation.

There are now 95 member countries from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. Due to the presence of NAM, cold war has come to an end and the newly independent nations have found their identity.

7) Describe the Chinese Revolution.

In China there were two parties the Kuomintang and the Communists party of China. The Kuomintang was led by Chiang-Kai-shek. The leader of the communist party was Dr.Sun Yat Sen. When Dr. Sun Yat Sen was alive the two parties had a common understanding in spite of the fact that Kuomintang party was the capitalist party while the communist party followed communism. After Dr.Sun Yat Sen’s death this unity started decreasing but still both the parties fought against the Japanese invasion of China.
As time passed the gap widened between their philosophies. The Kuomintang supported the landlords while the communists supported the workers and the peasants. In the areas where the communists were strong they took away all the property of land lords. This made the majority happy that basically consisted of peasants and workers.
The communist’s party organized people’s liberation army to drive out the Japanese forces. At this time a civil war started once again between the supporters of two parties. Chiang-Kai-Shek was supported by America but he was defeated by the communist’s forces. After his defeat he went to Formosa an island which had been occupied by Japan after she defeated China in 1895.
On 1st October 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed by the communist party of China under the leadership of Mao-Tse-Tsung. America refused to accept the communist China for 20 years and kept on supporting Ching-Kai-Shek. India had friendly relations with China till the end of 1950s but when in 1962 China invaded India, the relations became bitter. Now China is one of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations.