La sfritul rzboiului, milioane de refugiai din ntreaga Europ nu mai aveau niciun fel de locuin, economia era n criz

profund, iar o bun parte a infrastructurii industriale a continentului era distrus. Uniunea Sovietic a fost puternic afectat, aproximativ o treime din economia sa fiind distrus. Regatul Unit s-a aflat la sfritul rzboiului n tabra nvingtorilor, dar economia rii era sectuit de eforturile de rzboi. Guvernul de coaliie din timpul rzboiului a fost dizolvat. La primele alegeri parlamentare de dup ncheierea rzboiului, Winston Churchill a fost nvins de laburitii. n 1947, Secretarul de Stat american George Marshall a lansat Programul European de Refacere (Planul Marshall), care s-a desfurat n anii 1948 - 1952. SUA au alocat 13 miliarde de dolari pentru reconstrucia Europei de Vest. La sfritul rzboiului, Uniunea Sovietic ocupase cea mai mare parte a Europei Centrale i Rsritene i a Balcanilor. n toate rile ocupate de sovetici, cu excepia Austriei, URSS-ul a acordat un ajutor activ regimurilor de stnga procomuniste, venite la putere cu ajutorul Armatei Roii. De asemenea, la sfritul rzboiului, Uniunea Sovietic a reocupat i ncorporat statele baltice. Germania a fost mprit n patru zone de ocupaie, coordonate de Consiliul Aliat de Control. Zonele american, britanic i francez au fost unite n1949 pentru a forma Republica Federal Germania, iar zona sovietic a devenit Republica Democrat German. n Germania de vest au fost concepute mai multe planuri pentru dezvoltare economic i s -a desfurat o activitate de denazificare, care s-a ntins pe mai muli ani. Milioane de germani i de polonezi au fost strmutai de pe pmnturile natale ca rezultat direct al anexrilor care au avut loc n Europa Rsritean, n conformitate cu nelegerile stabilite la conferinele de la Ialta i Potsdam. Exist autori care afirm c ntre 1 i 2 milioane de germani au pierit n timpul strmutrilor forate n vest. Alsacia i Lorena au fost retrocedate Franei, iar regiunea Saar a fost separat de Germania i a format o uniune economic cu Frana. Austria a fost separat de Germania i a fost divizat n patru zone de ocupaie, care au fost reunite n 1955 pentru a deveniRepublica Austria aa cum o tim n zilele noastre. Japonia a fost ocupat de trupele SUA n alian cu cele ale Commonwealth pn la intrarea n funciune a prevederilor tratatului de pace n 1952. n conformitate cu nelegerile Conferinei de la Ialta, Uniunea Sovietic a ocupat i anexat n cele din urm Insula Sahalin. Au fost nfiinate Comisia Orientului ndeprtat i Comisia Aliat de Control pentru Japonia, cu funcii similare cu ale Comisiei Aliat de Control pentru Germania n timpul ocupaiei, americanii s-au concentrat pe demilitarizarea naiunii nipone, desfiinarea industriei militare japoneze i organizarea unei viei politice democratice, bazat pe o nou constituie. Muli istorici consider perioada de ocupaie a Japoniei ca fiind una ncununat de un mare succes economic i social. Perioada de ocupaie s -a ncheiat n 1952, fiind urmat imediat de un boom economic al Japoniei. Coreea a fost mprit ntre URSS i SUA, ceea ce a dus la proclamarea n 1948 a dou guverne separate. Sub auspiciile sovietice, partea nordic a penininsulei i-a proclamat independena ca Republica Popular Democrat Coreean, n timp ce regimul anticomunist sud-coreean sprinit de americani i-a proclamat ndependena ca Republica Coreea. Aceste dou regimuri s-au angajat n primul conflict fierbinte al rzboiului rece Rzboiul din Coreea (1950-1953). Acest rzboi a fost prima implicare a armatei americane n aciuni ofensive dup al doilea rzboi moncial i primul test de funcionare a nou formatei organizaii mondiale ONU. Peninsula Coreean este divizat n continuare i n zilele noastre.

Al doilea rzboi mondial a fost un punct de cotitur n istoria Chinei. Mai nainte de rzboiul mondial, China suferise timp de aproape o sut de ani umiliri din parte puterilor coloniale europene i ajunsese n starea de semicolonie. Lupta mpotriva japonezilor din cel de-al doilea rzboi mondial a ridicat enorm statutul internaional al Chinei. Guvernul central al luiChiang Kai-shek a reuit s abroge majoritatea tratatelor inechitabile pe care fusese silit China s le semneze de -a lungul ultimului secol, iar Republica China a devenit unul dintre membrii fondatori ai ONU i membru permanent al Consiliului de Securitate. China a revendicat Manciuria i Taiwanul. Totui, cei opt ani de rzboi au adus mari prejudicii guvernului central, iar numeroase dintre msurile de unificare, adoptate de cnd venise la putere n 1928, au fost distruse de rzboi. Activitile comunitilor s-au extins foarte mult n zonele n care luptaser, ceea ce a fcut ca msurile administraiei centrale s fie greu de aplicat. Distrugerile provocate de rzboi i hiperinflaia au demoralizat populaia, iar continuarearzboiului civil dintre Kuomintang i comuniti a aruncat ara n haos. n parte datorit pierderilor grele suferite n al doilea rzboi mondial, n parte datorit nfrngerilor suferite n faa comunitilor, Kuomintangul i aparatul de stat al Republicii China s-au retras n Taiwan n 1949. n China continental, Partidul Comunist Chinez a proclamat Republica Popular Chinez. Statele Unite au devenit cea mai puternic naiune a lumii, secondat ndeaproape de URSS. SUA au beneficiat din punct de vedere militar, financiar i politic de pe urma rzboiului, strngnd legturile cu statele europene i n principal cu Regatul Unit. SUA i-au stabilit un puternic punct de sprijin n Europa Occidental i n Germania de Vest i a ndiguit naintarea noului su inamic, blocul rsritean.

Pierderi omeneti n cel de-al Doilea Rzboi Mondial

Estimrile morilor variaz ntre 50 milioane i 70 milioane. Aliaii au pierdut 61 de milioane de persoane, n timp ce Puterile Axei au nregistrat circa 11 milioane de mori. Romania - 833,000

Drama. Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro. Directed by David O. Russell. (R. 122 minutes.) David O. Russell's best films show a mastery of tone. In movies as divergent as "Three Kings," "The Fighter" and "I Heart Huckabees," he has demonstrated a perspective wide enough to incorporate the funny and the awful and to harmonize the tragic and the ridiculous. But it's precisely that harmony and balance that are missing from his latest film, "Silver Linings Playbook." Bradley Cooper, in the kind of role that routinely gets Oscar talk for no reason, plays Pat, a man with bipolar disorder, who gets released from a mental hospital after eight months inside. They locked him up, apparently, after he flipped out and almost beat a man to death. But then again, he may have had a point: Pat found the man in question having sex in the shower with Pat's wife. Still, he clearly has some kind of problem. He talks a mile a minute, flings a novel through the window when he doesn't like the ending, and gets into a screaming fit when he can't find his wedding video. He also goes crazy every time he hears the Stevie Wonder song "My Cherie Amour." (In this, he might also have a point.) Clearly, he is a burden to his friends and family and desperately needs to be on medication - medication he refuses to take. Cooper can be an engaging actor, but he is not, strictly speaking, immediately lovable, and so to see him acting like a borderline lunatic doesn't quite elicit sympathy as it might, say, if Tobey Maguire or George Clooney were cracking up. Cooper's antics, instead, inspire impatience. Most of the first half of the film shows Pat in a variety of frustrating, nearviolent encounters, brought about by his tendency to overreact. The slightest stress, and he goes off. So Russell, in adapting the novel by Matthew Quick, is giving us a fairly serious situation. Yet the story places Pat in a family that can't be taken seriously. Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro) is essentially a comic character, a bookmaker who bets on the Philadelphia Eagles every week and is passionate in his superstitions. Likewise, the movie is set against a portrait of Philadelphia life that might be intended as colorful and warm - with tailgate parties, ethnic clashes and people painting their faces green - but instead is generalized and condescending. It's a strain to care about Pat, and it's impossible to believe in his world. A perfunctory scene two-thirds in, with De Niro tearing up and showing Pat Sr.'s true soul, doesn't fill the void but makes things worse. It plays like the sort of special moment that actors insist on and agreeable directors sometimes include. Only Jennifer Lawrence, as Tiffany, a slightly neurotic young widow, somehow finds the tonal balance that eludes Russell and the film as a whole. It may just be a matter of luck, of having the best role, or perhaps Russell deeply understood Tiffany and was able to guide the performance. In any case, Lawrence stands out. Even when the banter between Pat and Tiffany becomes infected by the cutes - an infection going around and around in "Silver Linings Playbook" - she stays sympathetic and true. When Lawrence looks at Cooper, it's with an intensity that gradually makes you believe that there's something there. As a movie about mental illness, "Silver Linings Playbook" is more lightweight than lighthearted. But thanks to Lawrence, it does one good thing most movies don't do. It actually gets better as it goes along.