War, Peace, and International Relations. An Introduction to Strategic History

Repeatedly, this book has emphasized the consequences of war for the peace that
followed. This introduction concludes by specifying the principal consequences of the
very great war, or wars, waged from 1939 to 1945. Most of the fuel for the Cold War was
produced by the events of those years, and Box 14.1 offers a formidable accounting of
the deeds and misdeeds of global warfare. It should be emphasized that the principal
consequence of World War II was the creation of the political, economic, cultural and
strategic contexts both for the Cold War that did follow and for a highly nuclear World
War III which might have followed.

Cold War: politics and ideology 187

Box 14.1The consequences of World War II

World War II:

1. Resolved the ‘German problem’, defined as the difficulty of balancing German
   power, but at the price of creating a ‘Soviet problem’.


2. By concluding with the utter defeat of Germany and Japan, completely
   destroyed the balance of power in Europe and Asia.


3. Produced a physical and ideological confrontation between two very great
   powers with ideologies which claimed global authority.


4. Introduced truly global politics and war.


5. Shaped a new global geopolitics and geostrategy.


6. Concluded 500 years of European domination of world politics.


7. Promoted the United States to the rank of first-class superpower, a rank it alone
   has held until the present day.


8. Produced in its aftermath a context of such political, economic and strategic
   insecurity in Europe that the United States reversed its 200-year principle of
   avoiding entangling alliances, especially in peacetime.


9. Enmeshed the United States in European security affairs, a condition that still
   obtains, through NATO, in the twenty-first century.


10. Eventually produced a uniting Europe. The European Union is a child of the
    French, Belgian and German experiences of the war years.


11. Ended militarism in most of Europe, with the noteworthy exception of the
    Balkans. Any residual attractions of war that remained after 1914–18 were
    definitively removed by the ghastly happenings of 1939–45.


12. Conclusively delegitimized fascist ideologies, though, alas, not all fascist
    practices.


13. Led to the creation of the state of Israel.


14. Produced yet another attempt, the most ambitious yet, to create a multinational
    institution capable of policing international order with justice – the United
    Nations (UN). This was the third great power club, following the Congress
    (and Concert) System of the nineteenth century and the League of Nations of
    the interwar years.


15. Accelerated decolonization by delegitimizing the overseas European empires.


16. Led to the innovation of international war crimes trials.