Japan and Europe are in ruin. Poland lost 80 % of its industrial facilities. In France, the destruction is more important than those of the First world one.

The belief in the progress, the idea according to which the human society would set out, with the help of science, towards a state of more respectful civilization of the human person, already put at evil by the First World War, is another of the victims of the war. The massive bombardments, the focusing of the atomic bomb reveal the destroying capacities with which the man was equipped. The world, also, takes note of the atrocities made by the Nazis and the Japanese army. The occupation of Europe gave place to massacres of whole villages, as with Oradour-on-Gleans, in France. Torture, the taking of hostages and the executions summary were used in a systematic way by the armies of occupation. Especially, one discovers with stupor the concentration camps and the policy of extermination implemented by the Nazis against the Jews, of the Tziganes, the Slavic ones. The extermination of the Jews, which one names “shoah”, term preferred with that of holocaust, particularly strikes the consciences by the extent and the meticulousness of the means used: 6 of the 10 million Jews which counted prewar Europe disappear, under atrocious conditions, during the conflict.  

The emotion caused by these crimes is durable, more especially as the lawsuit of part of the dignitaries Nazis, organized by the Allies in Nuremberg of October 1945 to October 1946, is the occasion to expose in its horror, using the files of the German State, the extent of the committed crimes: the lawsuit ends in the death sentence of twelve German officials, for crime or war crimes against humanity - legal concept whose foundations were posed on this occasion. A similar lawsuit, held in Tokyo June 1946 to November 1948, leads to the death sentence of seven Japanese leaders, of which the general Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan of 1941 to 1944.  
 
New power struggles

The war transformed the power struggles between the States. Europe, partly destroyed, lost its financial power. To finance its effort of war, Great Britain had to borrow massively from the United States and to sell a good part of its credits. The power of Europeans was shaken in their colonies. In Asia, Japanese successes showed the limits of the power of the metropolises. Moreover, the Americans, in favor of the self-determination of the people, support the independence movements.  

American domination
The American power leaves the conflict prodigiously reinforced. This power is initially economic. The American industrial production, which is equal only to 76 % of the European production in 1938, represents 151 % in 1947 of them. The United States dominates also the world commerce: they built in four years 53 million tons of trading vessels, and the American commercial fleet, which was limited to 16 % of the world fleet in 1938, represents of it more half in 1945. Lastly, the loans and the deliveries granted the Allies made it possible the United States to accumulate enormous financial reserves: more than 70 % of gold world reserves (the excluded USSR). With that the weight of an army equipped with considerable equipment is added and which is the only one to have the atomic bomb.  

Soviet prestige
The new countries, British dominions and countries of South America, also profited from the war, but the second Large one is from now on the USSR. If the Soviet economy cannot compete with that of the United States (in 1948, the production of steel of the USSR represents hardly the quarter of the American production), the Red Army, many and equipped well, camps in the center of Europe. Moreover, Stalin and the Soviet mode profit from the prestige of the heroic fight carried out against the German invader.

De Yalta with Potsdam: the reorganization of the world

Whereas the war is not completed yet, the two winners harness themselves with the reorganization of the world.  

The conference of Yalta
The conference of Yalta, held in the Crimea from Friday to, has as an aim the definition of the priorities which will have to guide the reorganization of the world. Some general principles are stated: possibility for the people of freely choosing their government and payment of the international conflicts by the diplomacy. The other decisions relate to primarily the fate of Germany and Eastern Europe. Stalin obtains from Roosevelt, concerned to secure his contest in the war against Japan, the return to the USSR of the areas lost by Russia of 1918 to 1921. Germany, amputated by its oriental party to the profit of Poland, will be divided into zones of occupation, and its industrial and military potential will severely be controlled.

The creation of UNO
The creation of an United Nations, charged to arbitrate the international conflicts, is decided in Yalta.   The organization is defined by it by the charter of San Francisco, signed on on June 26th, 1945. The General meeting brings together the representatives of the Member States, the defeated by not forming part, but the real power belongs to the Safety advice bringing together five permanent members - the USSR, the United States, China, Great Britain, France -, all equipped with a right to veto, and six members elected for two years by the General meeting.  

The conference of Potsdam
The agreement governing the creation of UNO is not very durable. The conference of Potsdam, of July 17th on August 2nd, 1945, makes it possible to note the extent of the dissensions. The Soviets want to transform Eastern Europe into a defensive glaze, subjected to their influence: Truman, which does not need more the assistance of the USSR against Japan and which has the nuclear weapon, refuses to endorse these claims, claims free elections and does not agree to recognize the Eastern layout of the German border. The dissensions on the fate of Germany are also deep.  

New borders
The payment of the conflict results from unilateral decisions made by the two Large ones in their respective zones of influence. In Europe, the USSR is principal the recipient of the conflict. It finds the areas lost after 1917, it annexes part of Prussia-Eastern, Karelia taken on Finland and Ruthénie at the expense of Czechoslovakia. To compensate for its losses in the east, the borders of Poland are pushed back in the west, which makes of Germany the main victim of this readjustment, which is accompanied by vast transfers of populations: 12 million Germans must leave their country, and several million Pole is transferred from the areas annexed by the USSR towards the west. In Asia, Japan must give up all its possessions out of the archipelago, as well as the north of this one. In Africa, Italy loses its colonies, which, except for Erythrée, reach independence.

Beginnings of the “cold war”

This new world is very quickly dominated by the confrontation of two blocks, linked one around the United States, the other around the USSR.  

Soviet establishment in Eastern Europe
To the divergences on the fate of Germany the opposition of the Americans is added to the policy of Stalin in Eastern Europe. As of the autumn 1945, Stalin supported in the countries of this Europe the come to power of partisans of the USSR and supported the Greek Communist party in his guerilla against the mode supported by the Anglo-Saxons, which causes a hardening of the Western position. Churchill, evoking the “iron curtain” which falls on Europe, invites since 1946 “the people of English language to link himself to remove any temptation with the ambition or the adventure”.  

The Marshall plan
But it is the year 1947 which marks truly the rupture between the allies of yesterday. In March, the United States grants an economic and military assistance to Greece. In June, the Secretary of State George Marshall announces the intention of the US government to help Europe to rectify itself. An important economic aid must, by supporting the European economy, to provide an export market American and to prevent the success of the communist movements in Western Europe thanks to an improvement of the fate of the populations. The Soviets denounce the requirements with obtaining the Marshall plan.  

Ideological antagonism
Two blocks are constituted, and this cleavage is presented by their leaders like an irreducible ideological conflict, which enables them to pursue protestors and opponents: the communist ministers must leave the governments of the Western countries. In July, the American diplomat George Kennan defines what will be the policy of its country during twenty years, containment: it is a question of opposing to the Soviets a “inalterable force in all points where they will show their will to encroach on the interests of a peaceful and stable world”. The USSR however accentuates its seizure on the countries of Eastern Europe. An Office of information of the Communist parties and workmen, Cominform, is set up, and the Soviet delegate made there admit the principle according to which the world from now on is divided into two irremediably antagonistic camps. The cold war is started.