TheResults of

WWII

Creation of the United Nations

The United Nations was formed in 1945 to maintain peace, bring an end to war, improve the standard of living for all nations, and to promote human rights. It was led by the security council (Britain, France, U.S., U.S.S.R., & China) and included all major powers of the world.

Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt

and Joseph Stalin at Yalta in Feb. 1945. Attlee, Truman, and Stalin at

Potsdam. Ju;y-Aug. 1945.

During the conference (Potsdam), Truman mentioned to Stalin about an unspecified "powerful new weapon"; Stalin, who knew of its existence long before Truman ever knew through placing spies inside US borders, encouraged the usage of any weapon that would hasten

the end of the war.

Discovery of the Holocaust Near the end of the war allied troops discovered the concentration camps set up by the Nazis. At these camps Jews worked for the German war effort. In some cases they were used in German medical experiments as guinea pigs. At Auschwitz over 6,000 Jews were gassed per day. By the end of the war Hitler had killed over 1/3 of the Jews in Europe, approx. 6 million people.

Holocaust Map of Concentration Camps

Naked Jewish women, some of whom are holding infants, wait in a line before their execution by Ukrainian auxilliary police. Source: Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, Warsaw, Poland.

U.S. troops watch a passing cart laden with corpses leave the Dachau concentration camp, intended for burial. Allied authorities required local farmers to drive their loaded carts through the town of Dachau as education for the

inhabitants.

Children subjected to medical experiments in Auschwitz. Source: The Pictorial History of the Holocaust, Edited by Yitzhak Arad, Macmillan Publishing

Company, New York, 1990.

High-altitude medical experiments in Dachau. In order to test the probable endurance of pilots who have to eject from their planes, SS doctors exposed prisoners to high-altitude conditions simulated in a chamber. Many victims died during such experiments. In order for the simulation to be as realistic as

possible, prisoners were hung by parachute straps.

Auschwitz SS doctors, led by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, performed different medical experiments on Jewish inmates. Common were the sterilizations of young Jewish men and women at the prime of their fertile lives. Crude methods of local anesthesia were used during experiments on their sexual organs, while young girls and boys were forced to watch the procedures. Several of these victims survived the ordeal and lived to tell their story.

Other medical experiments were performed to test human resistance to freezing temperatures and human endurance under the most severe conditions.

Medical Experiments on Jews

Video Footage: Nazi Murder Mills

Manhattan Project & Atomic Age The United States, led by physicist Robert Oppenheimer, developed an atomic bomb under the secretive Manhattan Project. By mid-1945 there was a belief by the Americans that the Japanese were too proud to surrender. This led American President Harry S. Truman to order the dropping of the atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945 the U.S. bombed Hiroshima. More than 70,000 people were killed and 61,000 were injured instantly. Many people were vaporized, and radiation burns scorched others. The Japanese refused surrender and on Aug. 9 the U.S. dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. Aug. 10, 1945 Japan surrenders ending WWII. This signaled the beginning of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War.

Atomic bomb test explosion Los Alamos was so secret that officially it did not exist. Babies born there received birth certificates indicating they were born at box

1663.

Watch towers and prison-like security surrounded the U.S. top security, top secret Los Alamos atomic bomb

development facility during WWII

The patterns of clothing were permanently burned into the skin because of the intense flash of light.

Hair loss due to radiation exposure

Atomic Blast Shadows The shadow of the parapets are imprinted on the surface of the bridge, 2,890 feet (880 meters) south-south-west of the hypocenter. These shadows give a clue as to the exact location of the hypocenter

Little Boy

Fat Man

Birth of the Cold War

The Cold War resulted from disputes between democratic and communist nations during WWII. The US and the USSR could not agree on how to deal with Germany at the end of WWII. The US did not want reparations to be paid while the USSR did. This led to the division of Germany into separate zones (both communist and democratic). A power struggle emerged between the superpowers leading to an arms race and the formation of alliances based upon communist or democratic lines throughout the world.

The countries behind the iron curtain are shaded in red. Yugosalvia (in grey) was independent of the Eastern Bloc, yet it was still communist run.

http://www.churchill-speeches.com/speech_player/index.htm

Germany divided into separate zones after WWII ends. The creation of West Germany (democratic) and East Germany (communist) was a result of the cold war.

Berlin was located in East Germany (communist) but the city itself was divided into both democratic and communist zones.

From 1949-1961, almost three million East Germans escaped to the West. In July 1961 alone, 30,000 fled, precipitating another Berlin Crisis on August 13, 1961 when East German authorities built a 28-mile-long

wall (euphemistically called the "antifascist protective barrier") along the border to prevent East Germans from escaping to the

West.

Baby Boom Generation

With the return of peace many Canadians began to marry and start families. As a result the population soared in Canada after the war. Between 1945 and 1965 the baby boom occurred. The average family had 3-4 children. As these children aged society had to change to accommodate the large numbers. This led to a boom in infrastructure, employment and housing.

How did the birthrate rise and fall during the baby boom years in the US?

1940 2,559,000 births per year

1946 3,311,000 births per year

1955 4,097,000 births per year

1957 4,300,000 births per year

1964 4,027,000 births per year

1974 3,160,000 births per year

Symbols of the Baby Boom in Suburbia 1950 1960

Hot Dog Production (millions of lbs) 750 1050

Potato Chip Production (millions of lbs) 320 532

Sales of lawn and porch furniture (millions of dollars)

53.6 145.2

Sales of power mowers (millions of dollars) 1.0 3.8

Sales of floor polishers (millions of dollars) 0.24 1.0

Sales of Encyclopaedia (millions of dollars) 72 300

Number of Children age 5-14 24.3 35.5

Number of baseball Little Leagues 776 5,700

Music the Baby Boomers Have Taken to Heart

Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets

Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by The Platters

Save the Last Dance for Me by The Drifters

Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler

I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers

The Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel

Aquarius by The Fifth Dimension

American Pie by Don McLean

Fads of the Baby Boomers

Hula Hoops

Frozen Foods

Poodle Skirts and Saddle Shoes

Panty Raids

Barbie and GI Joe Dolls

Bikinis

Frisbees

Yo-yos

Ouija Boards

Dune Buggies

Before: picture of the land that would become the American suburb of Levittown, in Long Island, NY.

After: An aerial view of the suburban development of Levittown as a result of the baby boom.