After the Second World War

The Second World War shaped the history of the world for the next fifty years. It established a world dominated by just two global powers: the United States and Communist Russia. The tension which existed between these two nations, the 'Cold War', played a major part in world political affairs. Sometimes, this tension came close to bringing about a Third World War, especially in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Europe ceased to be the dominant continent and the two leading European powers, Britain and France, became no more than second-rank states. Germany and Japan, on the other hand, recovered quickly from defeat to become wealthy and advanced states. It seemed as though this would be the pattern for some time to come. However, the ending of Communism in eastern Europe and then in the Soviet Union itself brought about a sudden transformation of Europe at the beginning of the 1990s. Some of the changes which came about as a result of the war proved not to be permanent and the world may be a safer place as a result.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 78