What Were Some of the Long-Term Effects of World War II?
Some of the long-term effects of World War II were the division of Germany into two separate states, the destruction of numerous European and Asian cities, a major realignment of political power into Western and Soviet factions, the creation of the United Nations, a strengthening of corporate power and the beginning of a period of increased prosperity in the United States. Two key results of World War II were the formalization of post-war alliances through NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and the beginning of a nuclear arms race between the two factions. In the Middle East, the partition plan for Palestine formulated by the United Nations led to the creation of the state of Israel and a heightening of the conflict with neighboring Arab countries.
In post-war Asia, American forces occupied Japan after the nation’s surrender, and the U.S. took over the administration of the country’s former island possessions. Korea, no longer under Japanese rule, was partitioned and occupied by the Soviet Union in the North and the U.S. in the South. Separate states emerged on both sides of the partition line, each claiming legitimate rule over the other and eventually leading to the Korean War. Civil war resumed in China after the Japanese surrender, which resulted in a communist victory and the creation of the People’s Republic of China with the defeated nationalist forces setting up a government-in-exile on the island of Taiwan.
