The End of World War II and

its Impact on World Affairs

End of WWII

Things were bleak for

Europe.
Germany had taken over
Poland, Austria, Denmark,
Norway, Belgium,
Luxembourg, the
Netherlands,
Czechoslovakia, France and
many other nations.
The Soviet Union, Japan,
and Italy had allied with
Germany to form the Axis
Powers.

End of WWII
Continued

Japan will attack Pearl

Harbor, the US naval
base located in Hawaii.
This will lead to the
USA jumping in and
supplying troops to fight
the war.
Our troops will
revitalize Europes
forces and be one factor
for the Allied victory.

End of WWII: Europe

Hitler will turn on the

Soviet Union, causing them
to join the Allies.

The Big 3, Joseph Stalin

(Soviet Union), Franklin D.
Roosevelt (U.S.A.), and
Winston Churchill (Great
Britain) will form a union
and fight together to defeat
the Axis Powers.

End of WWII: Europe

The Soviets will push

Germany in from the
East, and the U.S.A.,
Britain, and what was
left of Frances forces
will push in from the
West.

End of WWII: Europe

The Soviets were the first to discover

the Death Camps in Germany and
make reports that will shock the
world.
It is generally accepted that on April
30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed
suicide with his new wife Eva Braun
in a bunker during the Battle for
Berlin.

End of WWII: V-E Day

V-E Day (Victory in

Europe day) was May 7
and 8 1945. These are the
two days that the
unconditional surrender of
the Axis Powers in Europe
were accepted and signed.

The War in Europe was

officially over.

End of WWII: Nuclear War

New technology will be

used by the U.S.A. as a
show of force to end the
war with Japan in the
Pacific.

End of WWII: Nuclear War

In order to bring the war to an end quickly,

President Harry S. Truman, decided that a show
of extreme force would end the fighting.
On August 6, 1945, Little Boy was dropped
on Hiroshima.
The U.S.A. then gave Japan an ultimatum,
unconditional surrender by the Japanese or
there would be a second nuclear attack.
On August 9, 1945, with Japan failing to
surrender, a second nuclear bomb called
Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki.
On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to
the Allies.

End of WWII: Hiroshima

Hiroshima Model Before Bombing

Hiroshima Model After Bombing

End of WWII: Hiroshima

The ruins of Hiroshima smolder one day after the atomic

bomb called Little Boy was dropped on August 6, 1945.

End of WWII: Hiroshima

End of WWII: Nagasaki

End of WWII: Nagasaki

End of WWII: The Rise of Superpowers

At the end of the war, there will be two clear

Superpowers: The United States of America
and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.).

A superpower is a country that has the highest

level of influence on world politics and has a
very strong military.

Although the USA and Soviet Union were

friends during WWII, after the war they are
enemies.

End of WWII:A Divided Germany

At the end of the war it was difficult to decide

what to do with Germany.
They were accused of starting two world wars
and Britain and France did not want to be
invaded again.
The solution was to divide Germany, but
how?
Germany was divided into Eastern
(Communist) and Western Germany
(Democracy).=Berlin Wall.

End of WWII:A Divided Germany

The Soviets had lost millions of troops in the war and

wanted some control over the outcome.
The U.S.A. felt the need for representation if the Soviets
were involved. They feared the spread of communism
(the Soviets new economy and form of government).
Britain and France also wanted in, but really were in no
shape to control anything other than rebuilding
themselves.
Germany was divided into four quarters, but the U.S.A.
would control all three sections for the Allies.

End of WWII: East & West Germany

End of WWII: East & West Berlin

The capital of Germany was Berlin, and once they

divided the nation, it fell on the Soviet controlled East
Germany side.

As a compromise, the city of Berlin was divided into

East and West Berlin.

West Berlin was controlled by the U.S.A.

East Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union.

End of WWII: Beginnings of the Cold War

The debate over the division of Germany would be

the first of many problems between the Soviets and
the U.S.A.

Following the war, the Soviets also developed an

atomic bomb.

Now the two world superpowers both had nuclear

weapons.

Cold War

The Cold War was a time period when

non-cooperation between the two major
world Superpowers, the USA and the Soviet
Union, that caused a fear of nuclear war.

Cold War

With the two superpowers at odds, the rest of the

world felt the pressure to take sides.

There became a clear division between the noncommunist nations of NATO and the communist
nations that became members of the Warsaw Pact.

These two organizations (NATO and the Warsaw

Pact) were alliances between countries on either
side.

Cold War: The World Takes Sides

Cold War: Politics

West Germany developed a capitalist

economy and a democratic government
modeled after the U.S.A.

East Germany developed a communist

economy and government modeled after the
U.S.S.R.

Cold War: Politics

Communism is an economic system and form of government

in which the government makes all of the decisions as to what
will be produced, how it will be produced, and for whom it
will be produced.

Capitalism is an economic system in which individuals decide

what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.

Democracy is a form of government in which the people

control the government by voting.

Cold War: The Berlin Wall

In 1961 the Soviets built the Berlin wall to divide

East Germany from West Germany.
Anyone who tried to cross the wall would be shot.

Cold War: The Berlin Wall

Cold War: The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall became

the symbol for the Iron
Curtain.

The Iron Curtain is the

term for the imaginary
border between the
communist nations and
the members of NATO.

Cold War: Proxy Wars

During the Cold War the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. never
technically fought each other, there were several almost
events between the two.

These include the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Quite often the two nations avoided fighting directly and

encouraged other nations to fight each other instead.

These proxy wars are the reason nations like Iraq, Iran, Syria,
and Afghanistan have the military training and technology that
they do.

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tum

bling Down

After decades of failure to cooperate, under U.S.A.

President Ronald Regan and U.S.S.R. Premier the
two nations began to have communications.

The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. leaders before these two

men had not met regularly to speak in person.

These two leaders began a relationship that sped

up the end of the Soviet Union and the eventual
fall of communism as we knew it.

Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tum

bling Down

Cold War: And the Wall Comes

Tumbling Down

Under Mikhail
Gorbachev, the Soviet
Unions form of
communism ended.

The fall of the Berlin

Wall in August of 1989
became the symbol of
the fall of communism
in Europe and the end
of the Cold War.

Cold War: And the Wall Comes

Tumbling Down

Cold War: And the Wall Comes

Tumbling Down

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germans from

East Berlin/Germany could finally travel across the
border into West Berlin/Germany freely.

This was the beginning of the reunification of East

and West Germany.

The two parts of Germany had been divided since the

end of World War II in 1945.

Cold War: One Germany

The newly reformed Germany has struggled to

reshape itself into one nation again.

Though people were happy with the event, the

difficulties of bringing former East Germanys
infrastructure up to West German standards has
taken a long time.

Today, the reunification is considered to be a

success.