Answer:
Explanation:Seventy years ago the guns in Europe and Asia fell silent as World War II concluded. After six years of battle and the loss of many millions of lives, the Axis powers of Germany and Japan surrendered to Allied forces. Soldiers returned to civilian life. Two world wars in 34 years had reshaped the global map.
Seventy years following the end of World War II, America is in a “valley of trouble.” It does not understand the depth of the peril it faces.
Suddenly America stood in front of the world as the dominant power. It was a moment of great opportunity.
The scene
In 1945 Europe was shattered. Hitler’s Third Reich was over. Germany was bled both physically and morally. The Nazi regime abused the Teutonic virtues of a proud and fruitful nation to terrorize the world with a bestial brand of horror. France, Belgium and the Netherlands were brutally violated and pillaged by the six years of occupation. Add to this the residual devastation from World War I, and Europe needed serious help for a fresh start.
The Russian-dominated Soviet Union suffered enormous losses at the hands of the Nazis. Its troops pushed far into Europe, and when the surrender came it occupied half of Germany, Poland and other Eastern European nations. The Soviet empire made territorial gains it didn’t want to give up. The Western powers led by the United States had real concerns that Soviet troops might push further west, seeking larger gains in retribution for war losses.
The prostrate condition of Western Europe posed grave peril for the future. The armies of Europe were broken. Great Britain was drained financially. It still held its colonies, but its glory was in the past. The British Empire would recede. It would no longer be able to assert itself as it had in the past.
In Asia, Japan was pushed back into its island borders and had lost several islands in the north to the Soviets. With the dropping of two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and threats of more to come, the nation was coerced into submission. Japan surrendered on the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri (pictured above). Under General Douglas MacArthur, an American-led occupation force settled into control of the nation.
By September 1945, America surveyed a worn and tattered world. Unlike other nations, it hadn’t suffered the impact of relentless bombardment, invasion or occupation. Other than the 1941 Japanese bombing of the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941, and the invasion of Guam and several of the Aleutian Islands, no U.S. soil experienced the war firsthand. This safety, coupled with vast material resources, allowed America to produce ships, tanks, planes, food and other material to supply Allied troops throughout the Pacific, North Africa and Europe.
America’s rise to military, economic and political dominance positioned the country for what would become its great historic role in world affairs. What it did for the postwar world was unprecedented among the nations.
America the great provider
In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall gave an address at Harvard University outlining a bold initiative to provide money to assist in rebuilding the economies of Europe, especially that of former foe Germany. What became known as the Marshall Plan eventually poured billions of dollars of development aid into Europe.