To the Empire Eternal Part Twelve - The Second World War, and the effect it had on the world
Published: 2018-11-17, edited: 1970-01-01
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To the Empire Eternal
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German forces pushing deep into the Soviet Union in 1941
The war that lasted from 1941 until 1944 (although many scholars point at the Japanese skirmishes in China which began even earlier in the 1930s as being the true beginning of the Second World War) changed the world forever, two titanic entities clashed in the fields of eastern Europe and by the time was over many millions lay dead and the geography of Europe had changed forever.
But it was not just in Europe that the war changed matters, in the Middle East, in Africa and in Asia the war changed things, and with the cracking of the atom the future would be changed forever.
The war also saw new brutality unleashed upon the planet, with the German persecution of the Jews and other undesirables, the Soviet purges of anything viewed as a threat against communism and the unexpected fanaticism of the Japanese bushido.
However, as much as it was a clash of armies, it was also a clash of ideologies, Communism vs Fascism vs Capitalism, and at the end only Communism and Capitalism would stand triumphant, however Fascism did not die away, but instead went to ground in some unexpected places. Yugoslavia, Namibia, Persia, Tibet all regained fascist or National Socialist governments post-war, however they had witnessed the folly of attempting to spread such ideas beyond their borders and as such had been left alone.
Communism on the other hand, under Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, had spread far across the globe, and deep into Europe. As the US and the western allies took stock of the damage done during the war, they looked upon the increasing hostility from Soviet ambassadors and knew that with Fascism defeated, Communism would be a new potential threat upon the world stage.
But it was not just in Europe that the war changed matters, in the Middle East, in Africa and in Asia the war changed things, and with the cracking of the atom the future would be changed forever.
The war also saw new brutality unleashed upon the planet, with the German persecution of the Jews and other undesirables, the Soviet purges of anything viewed as a threat against communism and the unexpected fanaticism of the Japanese bushido.
However, as much as it was a clash of armies, it was also a clash of ideologies, Communism vs Fascism vs Capitalism, and at the end only Communism and Capitalism would stand triumphant, however Fascism did not die away, but instead went to ground in some unexpected places. Yugoslavia, Namibia, Persia, Tibet all regained fascist or National Socialist governments post-war, however they had witnessed the folly of attempting to spread such ideas beyond their borders and as such had been left alone.
Communism on the other hand, under Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, had spread far across the globe, and deep into Europe. As the US and the western allies took stock of the damage done during the war, they looked upon the increasing hostility from Soviet ambassadors and knew that with Fascism defeated, Communism would be a new potential threat upon the world stage.
The death toll of the war has been estimated by post-war historians to be in the many millions, but here is a brief breakdown by nation:
AXIS:
Nazi Germany - 3,600,000
Japan - 1,500,000
Italy - 400,000
ALLIES:
France - 300,000
Britain - 300,000
USA - 300,000
COMMUNISTS:
Soviet Union: 3,100,000
As it can be seen, the collossal weight of the casualties and indeed the greatest ferocity of the war was between Germany and the Soviet Union, and once again, within a lifetime, Germany had been destroyed by war.
The western allies knew that they had been fortunate for the war had not come to their lands, but instead was fought far away in colonial holdings, but for the people of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, the war was very up close and personal, and the civilian cost is still being counted. We may never truly know the scale of the torment that Eastern Europe suffered in these four short years.
Now, with the war over, the potential for a new form of war appeared on the horizon, as the United States of America detonated its own nuclear bomb scant days after the United Kingdom made its first nuclear test...the Soviet Union must have seen this news through the spy network which had penetrated Europe deeply at this point, and a shudder of fear must have gone through Stalins mind, for this was a new era of warfare and the potential for even greater destruction had arrived.
AXIS:
Nazi Germany - 3,600,000
Japan - 1,500,000
Italy - 400,000
ALLIES:
France - 300,000
Britain - 300,000
USA - 300,000
COMMUNISTS:
Soviet Union: 3,100,000
As it can be seen, the collossal weight of the casualties and indeed the greatest ferocity of the war was between Germany and the Soviet Union, and once again, within a lifetime, Germany had been destroyed by war.
The western allies knew that they had been fortunate for the war had not come to their lands, but instead was fought far away in colonial holdings, but for the people of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, the war was very up close and personal, and the civilian cost is still being counted. We may never truly know the scale of the torment that Eastern Europe suffered in these four short years.
Now, with the war over, the potential for a new form of war appeared on the horizon, as the United States of America detonated its own nuclear bomb scant days after the United Kingdom made its first nuclear test...the Soviet Union must have seen this news through the spy network which had penetrated Europe deeply at this point, and a shudder of fear must have gone through Stalins mind, for this was a new era of warfare and the potential for even greater destruction had arrived.
'The Gadget', the worlds second nuclear explosive device.
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