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World War II as a Turning Point

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To what extent can the World Wars be regarded as a turning point in world history?

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Increased Global Cooperation

  • League of Nations – failed but provided a framework for future cooperation.
  • United Nations – included both ideological sides of the Cold War.

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  • European Economic Community and the European Union
    • Represents efforts at greater European cooperation and integration to try and change the tendency for the last millennium of constant warfare.

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  • Alliance systems that reflect growing cooperation of global “sides.”
    • NATO and the Warsaw Pact

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Growth, Decline, and Transition of Empires

Fall of older land-based empires (Qing, Russia, Ottomans)

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End of European empires (British, French, Portuguese) as colonies fight for and negotiate independence after WWII.

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Rise of “economic” and ideological empires of the US and USSR whose rivalry will dominate the post-war world until 1989.

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Increase Government involvement in Economies

  • United States: New Deal programs as a solution to the Great Depression. (Social Security, Building projects, Bank and finance regulation)
  • Germany: Corporatist Economy – State makes final decisions with businesses.
  • Russia: Stalin’s 5 year plans to industrialize through the 30s and 40s.
  • China: Mao’s 5 year plans and the Great Leap Forward

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Reflects growing competition in an industrial, fast-moving global economy. National economic strength is critical to political and military power.

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Economic Growth and Development

  • Post World War I – economic decline and stagnation
  • Post World War II – economic growth and development
    • Marshall Plan rebuilds western Europe with funds from the US
    • US economic growth: Industrial production, shift to a service economy, rise of consumerism, technological growth, etc.
  • 3rd world / Developing colonial and post-colonial countries trapped in an economically dependent role to former colonial masters. Often provide natural resources and markets for manufactured goods. Difficult to build infrastructure and industrialize from such a deficit position.

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Rise of Ideologies as National Identities

  • Inter war years: Communism and Fascism
  • Post war: Communism vs. Western “Freedom” and “Democracy”

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  • Ideologies like Communism are “Transnational” and seek to spread across national boundaries regardless of culture, ethnicity, etc.

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  • Alliance systems that reflect these identities.
    • NATO
    • Warsaw Pact

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Human Migrations

Movement of people from former colonies to former “mother countries” in search of economic opportunity.

    • South Asians to Britain
    • Filipinos to the United States
    • Algerians to France

Migrations of Muslims and Hindus between Pakistan and India at the partition in 1947.

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Technology as a Tool and a Danger

  • Nuclear weapons and petroleum technology offer possibilities for energy and greater production as well as destructive force that threatens humans with mass extinction.
    • Other military technology also threaten greater casualties in the event of war.
  • Medical innovations like vaccines and anti-biotics increase life expectancy.
  • Radio and long-distance communications technology reduced limits of geographic distance and leads to globalization.

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Sample Thesis

Although the era of the World Wars illustrates the continued role of technology as threat in war and empire building, the era also ushered in an unprecedented level of international cooperation as well as an expectation that governments are actively involved in national and international economies.

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Although traditional European empires ended after the World Wars, this represented less an end to empire itself and more a shift in how empires functioned and were defined. Likewise, although technological advancement is a historical continuity, the scale of change and the threat of technology in war reached an unprecedented level making the era of the World Wars a significant turning point in global history.