Hitler lost the war - that's the easy answer. But World War 2 had a more profound effect on human history than anything else since the Middle Ages - Hitler may have lost the war, but he changed the face of the earth.
First result: a major re-drawing of political and geographical boundaries, with Germany losing significant territory to the East, Poland 'moved westwards'. Finland and Austria regained their independence, but were made neutral.
Second result: the Cold War, the creation of the Warsaw Pact and NATO, the competition for ideological supremacy between planned economies in the East and the 'social market' economies in the West.
Third result - and an ironic one in the light of the first two points - the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Hitler was beaten by the USSR (and allies), but the damage he had inflicted on them first was much more severe than is sometimes appreciated, and certainly helped to bring about the Soviets' eventual problems.
Fourth result: re-alignment of geo-political factors in the Middle East, with the creation of the state of Israel and the reaction to its establishment by other countries in the region, all of which has had a huge impact on global issues, including an alarming and dangerous rise of anti-semitism in certain quarters, and political volatility in a resource-rich region.
Fifth result: the emergence of Germany and Japan as economic powerhouses, in part because, having been stripped of global political influence, they put all their energies into economic growth.
Sixth result: the European Union (or previously, the European Economic Community, the ECSC and Euratom).
Seventh result: the speedy collapse of colonialism - though tempered by a fair amount of less tangible imperialism by both the West and the East.
Overall, much of what we are now familiar with in global politics, economics and culture is a consequence of the Second World War. It changed the world.
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