Day 24 – Q 4. Give a brief description of the manner in which countries aligned themselves after WWII. What were the implications of this alignment for the world at large? Examine. 

4. Give a brief description of the manner in which countries aligned themselves after WWII. What were the implications of this alignment for the world at large? Examine. 

द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध के बाद देशों ने खुद को जिस तरह से संरेखित किया, उसका संक्षिप्त विवरण दें। बड़े पैमाने पर दुनिया के लिए इस संरेखण के निहितार्थ क्या थे? जांच करें।

Introduction:

The world completely transformed during the years after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The influence and the dominations which a few European imperialist powers exercised in the pre-war years waned and the world saw the emergence of two superpowers(USA and USSR) along with newly independent asian and african nations.

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• Many countries in Europe had been liberated from German occupation by the Soviet armies. The Communist parties and other antifascist parties in these countries had played an important role in liberating those countries from german rule.
• On the other hand, the United States  of America was instrumental in rebuilding the western european nations, which came under its sphere of influence.
• A major feature of the history of the world for almost four decades after the end of the Second World War was the antagonism between the United States and the Soviet Union and the armed confrontation between the military blocs headed by them. This was the period of the Cold War and the race in the designing and production of ever new weapons of mass destruction. It posed a danger to the very survival of humankind.
• The most important reason for the ‘outbreak’ of the Cold War was the Western countries’ fear of communism. The United States openly declared that her policy was to prevent the spread of communism. One of the objectives of the massive economic aid that the United States gave to West European countries was also to ‘contain’ communism.

In 1947, The USSR set up Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) which was the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers’ Parties responsible for the creation of the Eastern bloc.

The growing tension in the world was worsened by the setting up of military blocs. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed for defense against the Soviet Union. The members of this alliance were the United States and other west european nations.

In 1955, in response to NATO, the Warsaw Pact was formed with member states East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. 

Many newly independent nations of Asia and Africa as well as many nations in other continents did not like the military blocs. They began to follow a policy of nonalignment with any military bloc. Their emergence played a very important role in reducing the intensity of the Cold War and in creating an atmosphere of peace. These countries formed the Non-aligned Movement(NAM) in 1961.

The formation of the military alliances was accompanied by another dangerous development. This was the race for deadlier weapons of destruction. Nuclear weapons were developed by both the superpowers which kept the world on the verge of destruction.

Further, the antagonism on both sides led to conflicts between the two superpowers indirectly in other countries. This was a feature of the cold war.

TLP SYNOPSIS [Day 24 – 7th Nov, 2019]: UPSC Mains General Studies Questions

The rivalry between the two superpowers also derailed the healthy and smooth functioning of the United Nations Organisation(UNO) as both had veto powers in the Security Council of the UN.

Domestic discourse in the democratic nations was subverted to some extent under the fear of spread of communism and socialism. For example, Mccarthyism in United States of America.

The space race between the two superpowers also helped in the advancement of science and technology. For example, Humans reached moon in 1969.

Countries under the Warsaw Pact remained underdeveloped as was evident after the end of the cold war and many people suffered under the autocratic rule of dictators. For example, Stalin and Mao policies in the USSR and China.

Conclusion

After the Second World War, the International System came to be a totally different system where the new international system was characterised by two superpowers, the Cold War, bipolarity, non-alignment, anti-imperialism, the UNO, the presence of several new sovereign states in the world, N-weapons and the threat of Total War.