Analyzing the Economic and Social Consequences of World War II

This essay delves into the multifaceted impacts of World War II, arguing that while the war caused significant economic devastation and loss of life, it also spurred positive developments. The essay highlights the war's destructive effects on the global economy, impacting millions worldwide. It examines the causes, including the aftermath of World War I, and the devastating consequences, such as loss of life, property damage, and the division of the world into two major blocks. Despite these negative impacts, the essay also argues for the positive outcomes of WWII, notably the creation of the United Nations for international peace and security. The essay further discusses the economic and cultural effects, including the creation of employment opportunities and the end of the Great Depression, as well as the wave of democratic changes and the end of colonialism. The essay concludes by emphasizing the lasting effects of the war, both positive and negative, on the lives of people globally.

Running head: ANCIENT HISTORY
Ancient History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANCIENT HISTORY
Thesis
The thesis statement of the essay argues with the fact how the famous historical event, the
World War II affected the economy as a whole causing a great economic devastation that
impacted the lives of millions of people throughout the globe.
Argument
The essay illustrates on an argumentative note highlighting furthermore the positive effects of
the world war that is the creation of the United Nations for international security and peace in
the cost of the devastating lives of the people despite of the effects in the post war economy.
Introduction
The global or the international conflict that lasted for nearly 6 years, World War II
resulted in some of the major losses for the individuals who have been involved throughout
the globe1. The bloodies and the deadliest war till the date, the war took the lives of more
than 38 million people including number of innocent civilians of the countries involved in
the war. The paper examines the attributes of the World War II highlighting both the positive
and the negative effects in an argumentative manner. With more than 50 nations participating
in the war, the violence and fighting raged in multiple locations through out the world. For
the Americans, the World War II had a clear aim of defeating the tyranny2. The war in
1 "Impact of WWI on the US." Accessed February 26, 2019.
http://www3.northern.edu/marmorsa/impactofWWIonUSlecturenotes.htm.
2 Frieden, Jeffry A., and David A. Lake. World Politics: Interests, Interactions, Institutions:
Third International Student Edition. WW Norton & Company, 2015.

2ANCIENT HISTORY
Europe emerged in the reign of the evil conquership of Hitler and towards the mission of
invasion of Poland in the year 1939. The Second World War caused some of the major
destruction challenging the lives more than 17 million soldiers and civilians who were
effected due to the result of starvation, bombings, and some of the deliberate campaigns
regarding the mass murdering3. The essay furthermore raised an argument regarding the
positive effects of the World war II despite of the destruction and the deadly effect of the post
war in the economy, which has been the development and the emerging of the United Nations
on the year of the completion of the war for the prevention of the future wards and the
maintenance of the peace and security on an international basis.
Discussion
The causes and the effects of the second world war has been numerous in number.
According to the research of Doepke, some of the reasons or the causes of the emergence of
the second world war can be traced back from the first world war that took place from the
year 1914 to 19184. The Americans who fought for the right of the democracy in the aim of
making the world safe resulted towards the development of the peace treaties that only seem
to create anger and bitterness among the people and the government of the country that boiled
and fuelled the beginning for the World War II.
Causes of the World War II
3 Kalmijn, Matthijs. "Secondary traumatization, relationship problems, and adult children’s
well-being: Long-term effects of World War II in the Netherlands." Advances in Life Course
Research 36 (2018): 70-79.
4 Doepke, Matthias, Moshe Hazan, and Yishay D. Maoz. "The baby boom and World War II:
A macroeconomic analysis." The Review of Economic Studies 82, no. 3 (2015): 1031-1073.

3ANCIENT HISTORY
Among the numerous reasons or causes to the occurrence of the Second World War,
the most important reason for the emergence of the second war was World War I. After the
end of the First World War, the nations who were actively involved in the war were divided
in two of the major groups. These include the allied powers including the British Empire, the
France, the United States of America and the central powers that includes the group of the
German empire and the Austria and Hungary5. Furthermore the peace treaty of Versailles,
that followed the end of the First World War, helped the country of Germany responsible for
the war and the conflicts resulting in the imposition of harsh penalties, military restriction and
disarmament of the country6. Through the challenging and the troubled years of late 1930s,
the Americans did each and everything to avoid the growing conflicts which went vain as the
country had to participate in the Second World War with the commitment of the president
towards ships for an undeclared war with the Germany in the north Atlantic that was
furthermore enhanced by the mortifying sudden attack by the japan against the naval station
of America at the Pearl Harbour.
Effects of the World War II
5 Kaiser, Marie, Philipp Kuwert, Elmar Braehler, and Heide Glaesmer. "Long-term effects on
adult attachment in German occupation children born after World War II in comparison with
a birth-cohort-matched representative sample of the German general population." Aging &
mental health 22, no. 2 (2018): 197-207.
6 Hampson, R. "70 Years Later: How World War II Changed America." USA TODAY. Last
modified July 18, 2015. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/18/70-years-
later-how-world-war-ii-changed-america/30334203/.

4ANCIENT HISTORY
Though the impact of the First World War were bad, the effects of the Second World
War were even worse as compared to the first one. The number of the individuals who
actually were homeless were less in correlation to the rate or the number of the lost lives on
both the sides of the war7. The effects of the Second World War furthermore marked the end
of the dictatorship in the country of Europe and emerged the Soviet Union and the United
States as the super powers of the world. Several of the countries including both the Asian and
the European ones had to bear the brunt and the devastating effects of the Second World War
where the territorial borders of the countries of the Europe were reformed and restructured8.
The destructive and the devastative war that took place took a tool of the heavy loss of
the lives including millions of the soldiers and the civilians due to hunger and diseases9. The
atomic bombs that was dropped by the United States in the Nagasaki and Hiroshima battle
furthermore resulted in causalities and destroyed the whole city10. The World War II had been
7 Fouka, Vasiliki. "Backlash: the unintended effects of language prohibition in US schools
after World War I." Stanford Center for International Development Working Paper 591
(2016).
8 Napton, K. "World War 2 Left Toxic Legacy of Ill Health and Depression."
Telegraph.co.uk. Last modified January 21, 2014. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-
war-two/10584595/World-War-2-left-toxic-legacy-of-ill-health-and-depression.html.
9 "World War II (1939-45)." Breaking News, World News & Multimedia - The New York
Times. Last modified December 30, 1945. https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/world-
war-ii-193945.
10 Bernhofen, Daniel M., Zouheir El-Sahli, and Richard Kneller. "Estimating the effects of the
container revolution on world trade." Journal of International Economics 98 (2016): 36-50.

5ANCIENT HISTORY
one of the tragic incident towards mankind. Further effects include loss of the property like
roads, warships, infrastructures and more. The second world war resulted in the division of
the world in two of the major blocks and influenced the beginning of the cold war.
Argumentative position of the effects of World War II
Despite of the various destructions and the devastation that have caused due to the
world war II and the various challenges in the lives of the soldiers and the common civilians
of the country this essay would like to raise an argument regarding the positive effects of the
world war II which marked the end of the dictatorship in the Europe and resulted in the
development and the formation of the United Nations. The formation of the Universal
Declaration of the human rights together with the beneficiary in terms of the territorial
expansion are some of the argumented positive factors of the second word war.
In the context of the economic and the cultural effects of the World War II, numerous
employment opportunities were created that furthermore brought the end of one of the major
and famous historical event of Great Depression. Besides these, some of the argumentative
effects include the emergence of the wave of the democratic changes in the world which
enhanced most of the countries to get freedom and democracy after the Second World War.
The war furthermore influenced the end of the period of the colonialism where Asian
countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan achieved their era of independence from the
British Empire11. Following the era of the Second World War, the president of the United
States declared the support towards the victims of the war for preventing the influence of
communism. This declaration was furthermore followed by the Marshall plan which was
11 Moses, Jonathon W. Norwegian catch-up: Development and globalization before World
War II. Routledge, 2017.

6ANCIENT HISTORY
made or developed for supporting the victims of the war12. The united states spend more than
12.5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of the economy in the terms of the food, stuff,
agriculture and the transportation. Besides these, the Second World War influenced the USSR
towards the establishment of the council for mutual assistance which aimed to provide
economic assistance to the countries of the Europe in the year of 1949.
Conclusion
The Second World War ended with the surrender off Germany on 1945, May 7 in the
country of Europe. The war did not ended in Pacific until the scenario when the United States
dropped two atomic bombs of Japan resulting the country to surrender on August 14 on the
year 1945. The paper examined the attributes of the World War II highlighting both the
positive and the negative effects in an argumentative manner explaining the destruction and
the losses due to the war in the economy of the globe together with the positive effect of the
emergence of the United Nations for the prevention of future violence and the promotion of
security and peace. Though there has been lot many destructions and loss due to the aftermath
of the world war, lot many positive changes have happened as the effects of the war which
have changed the lies of the civilians of the globe.
12 USC News. (2018, November 9). What was the impact of World War I in shaping the
modern world? Retrieved from https://news.usc.edu/151487/impact-of-world-war-i-shaping-
the-modern-world/

7ANCIENT HISTORY
References
"Impact of WWI on the US." Accessed February 26, 2019.
http://www3.northern.edu/marmorsa/impactofWWIonUSlecturenotes.htm.
"World War II (1939-45)." Breaking News, World News & Multimedia - The New York
Times. Last modified December 30, 1945. https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/world-
war-ii-193945.
Bernhofen, Daniel M., Zouheir El-Sahli, and Richard Kneller. "Estimating the effects of the
container revolution on world trade." Journal of International Economics 98 (2016): 36-50.
Doepke, Matthias, Moshe Hazan, and Yishay D. Maoz. "The baby boom and World War II:
A macroeconomic analysis." The Review of Economic Studies 82, no. 3 (2015): 1031-1073.
Fouka, Vasiliki. "Backlash: the unintended effects of language prohibition in US schools
after World War I." Stanford Center for International Development Working Paper 591
(2016).
Frieden, Jeffry A., and David A. Lake. World Politics: Interests, Interactions, Institutions:
Third International Student Edition. WW Norton & Company, 2015.
Hampson, R. "70 Years Later: How World War II Changed America." USA TODAY. Last
modified July 18, 2015. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/18/70-years-
later-how-world-war-ii-changed-america/30334203/.
Kaiser, Marie, Philipp Kuwert, Elmar Braehler, and Heide Glaesmer. "Long-term effects on
adult attachment in German occupation children born after World War II in comparison with
a birth-cohort-matched representative sample of the German general population." Aging &
mental health 22, no. 2 (2018): 197-207.

8ANCIENT HISTORY
Kalmijn, Matthijs. "Secondary traumatization, relationship problems, and adult children’s
well-being: Long-term effects of World War II in the Netherlands." Advances in Life Course
Research 36 (2018): 70-79.
Moses, Jonathon W. Norwegian catch-up: Development and globalization before World War
II. Routledge, 2017.
Napton, K. "World War 2 Left Toxic Legacy of Ill Health and Depression." Telegraph.co.uk.
Last modified January 21, 2014.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10584595/World-War-2-left-toxic-
legacy-of-ill-health-and-depression.html.
USC News. (2018, November 9). What was the impact of World War I in shaping the
modern world? Retrieved from https://news.usc.edu/151487/impact-of-world-war-i-shaping-
the-modern-world/