The External Setting and Internal Dynamics in the Post-1945 Era

Abstract

World War II brought profound political consequences in post-1945 international relations. In the first instance, the military outcome of the war brought a politically and economically alienated great power, the Soviet Union, into the heart of Europe. Because of different war objectives, political suspicion, and ideological conflict of the Allied powers, the temporary occupation line in Central Europe between the Allied forces as a result of military victory over the Axis powers soon turned into a demarcation line of Cold War politics, dividing the former allies into two conflicting blocs — the US-led capitalist West and the Soviet-headed socialist East. The Cold War soon extended from Europe to the Far East as a result of the communist victory in China in 1949 and the Korean War of 1950–53, thus dragging East Asian countries into the two conflict-ing blocs of the Cold War.¹ On the other hand, the outcome of World War II had considerably reshaped the political map of global powers. As a result of the war, former major powers in world politics were either defeated or considerably weakened with unprecedented physical and human destruction. In contrast, the United States had emerged from the war with its power not only intact but actually enhanced. Having the monopoly over atomic weapons, holding almost half of the world’s monetary reserves and two-thirds of the world’s gold supply, and possessing half of the world’s manufacturing capacity, the United States had acquired an unchallenged predominant position in world politics and economics, bringing a new age of US hegemony.