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After the Second World War, the world became. USA after World War II: history, characteristics and interesting facts

The largest in human history, the Second World War was a logical continuation of the First World War. In 1918, Kaiser's Germany lost to the Entente countries. The result of the First World War was the Treaty of Versailles, according to which the Germans lost part of their territory. Germany was forbidden to have a large army, navy and colonies. An unprecedented economic crisis began in the country. It worsened even more after the Great Depression of 1929.

German society survived its defeat with difficulty. There were massive revanchist sentiments. Populist politicians began to play on the desire to “restore historical justice”. The National Socialist German Workers' Party, headed by Adolf Hitler, began to enjoy great popularity.

Causes

Radicals came to power in Berlin in 1933. The German state quickly became totalitarian and began to prepare for the coming war for supremacy in Europe. Simultaneously with the Third Reich, its "classic" fascism arose in Italy.

The Second World War (1939-1945) is an event not only in the Old World, but also in Asia. Japan has been a source of concern in this region. In the country rising sun, just like in Germany, imperialist sentiments were extremely popular. The object of Japanese aggression was the weakened internal conflicts China. The war between the two Asian powers began in 1937, and with the outbreak of conflict in Europe, it became part of the general Second World War. Japan became an ally of Germany.

In the Third Reich, he left the League of Nations (the predecessor of the UN), stopped his own disarmament. In 1938, the Anschluss (accession) of Austria took place. It was bloodless, but the causes of the Second World War, in short, were that European politicians turned a blind eye to Hitler's aggressive behavior and did not stop his policy of absorbing more and more new territories.

Soon Germany annexed the Sudetenland, inhabited by Germans, but belonging to Czechoslovakia. Poland and Hungary also took part in the division of this state. In Budapest, the alliance with the Third Reich was observed until 1945. The example of Hungary shows that the causes of the Second World War, in short, were, among other things, the consolidation of anti-communist forces around Hitler.

Start

On September 1, 1939 they invaded Poland. A few days later, Germany declared war on France, Great Britain and their numerous colonies. Two key powers had allied agreements with Poland and acted in its defense. Thus began the Second World War (1939-1945).

A week before the Wehrmacht attacked Poland, German diplomats signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Thus, the USSR was aloof from the conflict between the Third Reich, France and Great Britain. By signing an agreement with Hitler, Stalin was solving his own problems. In the period before the start of the Great Patriotic War The Red Army entered Eastern Poland, the Baltic States and Bessarabia. In November 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war. As a result, the USSR annexed several western regions.

While German-Soviet neutrality was maintained, the German army was engaged in the occupation of most of the Old World. 1939 was met with restraint by overseas countries. In particular, the United States declared its neutrality and maintained it until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Blitzkrieg in Europe

Polish resistance was broken after only a month. All this time, Germany acted only on one front, since the actions of France and Great Britain were of little initiative. The period from September 1939 to May 1940 received the characteristic name of the "Strange War". During these few months, Germany, in the absence of active action by the British and French, occupied Poland, Denmark and Norway.

The first stages of World War II were short-lived. In April 1940, Germany invaded Scandinavia. Air and naval assault forces entered key Danish cities without hindrance. A few days later, the monarch Christian X signed the capitulation. In Norway, the British and French landed troops, but he was powerless before the onslaught of the Wehrmacht. The early periods of World War II were characterized by the overwhelming advantage of the Germans over their enemy. The long preparation for the future bloodshed had an effect. The whole country worked for the war, and Hitler did not hesitate to throw all new resources into her cauldron.

In May 1940, the invasion of the Benelux began. The whole world was shocked by the unprecedented destructive bombing of Rotterdam. Thanks to their swift throw, the Germans managed to take key positions before the allies appeared there. By the end of May, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg capitulated and were occupied.

In the summer, the battles of World War II moved to French territory. In June 1940, Italy joined the campaign. Her troops attacked the south of France, and the Wehrmacht attacked the north. An armistice was soon signed. Most of France was occupied. In a small free zone in the south of the country, the Pétain regime was established, which went to cooperate with the Germans.

Africa and the Balkans

In the summer of 1940, after Italy entered the war, the main theater of operations moved to the Mediterranean. The Italians invaded North Africa and attacked British bases in Malta. On the "Black Continent" then there was a significant number of English and French colonies. The Italians at first concentrated on the eastern direction - Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan.

Some French colonies in Africa refused to recognize the new government of France headed by Pétain. Charles de Gaulle became the symbol of the national struggle against the Nazis. In London, he created a liberation movement called "Fighting France". British troops, together with de Gaulle's detachments, began to recapture the African colonies from Germany. Equatorial Africa and Gabon were liberated.

In September, the Italians invaded Greece. The attack took place against the background of the battles for North Africa. Many fronts and stages of World War II began to intertwine with each other due to the ever-increasing expansion of the conflict. The Greeks managed to successfully resist the Italian onslaught until April 1941, when Germany intervened in the conflict, occupying Hellas in just a few weeks.

Simultaneously with the Greek campaign, the Germans launched the Yugoslav campaign. Forces Balkan state were split into several parts. The operation began on April 6, and on April 17 Yugoslavia capitulated. Germany in World War II looked more and more like an undisputed hegemon. Pro-fascist puppet states were created on the territory of occupied Yugoslavia.

Invasion of the USSR

All previous stages of the Second World War faded in scale compared to the operation that Germany was preparing to carry out in the USSR. The war with the Soviet Union was only a matter of time. The invasion began exactly after the Third Reich occupied most of Europe and was able to concentrate all its forces on the Eastern Front.

Parts of the Wehrmacht crossed the Soviet border on June 22, 1941. For our country, this date was the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Until the last moment, the Kremlin did not believe in the German attack. Stalin refused to take the intelligence data seriously, considering it disinformation. As a result, the Red Army was completely unprepared for Operation Barbarossa. In the early days, airfields and other strategic infrastructure in the west of the Soviet Union were bombed without hindrance.

The USSR in World War II was faced with another German blitzkrieg plan. In Berlin they were going to seize the main Soviet cities European part of the country. For the first few months everything went according to Hitler's expectations. Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States were completely occupied. Leningrad was under blockade. The course of World War II brought the conflict to a key turning point. If Germany defeated the Soviet Union, she would have no opponents left, except for overseas Great Britain.

The winter of 1941 was approaching. The Germans were in the vicinity of Moscow. They stopped on the outskirts of the capital. On November 7, a festive parade was held dedicated to the next anniversary of the October Revolution. Soldiers went directly from Red Square to the front. The Wehrmacht was stuck a few dozen kilometers from Moscow. The German soldiers were demoralized by the most severe winter and the most difficult conditions of warfare. On December 5, the Soviet counteroffensive began. By the end of the year, the Germans were driven back from Moscow. The previous stages of the Second World War were characterized by the total advantage of the Wehrmacht. Now the army of the Third Reich has stopped its world expansion for the first time. The battle for Moscow was the turning point of the war.

Japanese attack on the USA

Until the end of 1941, Japan remained neutral in the European conflict, while at the same time fighting with China. At a certain moment, the country's leadership faced a strategic choice: to attack the USSR or the USA. The choice was made in favor of the American version. On December 7, Japanese aircraft attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. As a result of the raid, almost all American battleships and, in general, a significant part of the American Pacific Fleet were destroyed.

Until that moment, the United States did not openly participate in World War II. When the situation in Europe changed in favor of Germany, the American authorities began to support Great Britain with resources, but they did not interfere in the conflict itself. Now the situation has changed 180 degrees, since Japan was an ally of Germany. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Washington declared war on Tokyo. Great Britain and its dominions did the same. A few days later, Germany, Italy and their European satellites declared war on the United States. Thus, the contours of the unions that clashed in a face-to-face confrontation in the second half of the Second World War finally took shape. The USSR had been at war for several months and also joined the anti-Hitler coalition.

In the new 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, where they began to seize island after island without much difficulty. At the same time, the offensive in Burma developed. By the summer of 1942, Japanese forces controlled all of Southeast Asia and much of Oceania. The United States in World War II changed the situation in the Pacific theater of operations somewhat later.

Soviet counteroffensive

In 1942, the Second World War, the table of events of which, as a rule, includes basic information, found itself at its key stage. The forces of the opposing alliances were approximately equal. The turning point came towards the end of 1942. In the summer, the Germans launched another offensive in the USSR. This time their key target was the south of the country. Berlin wanted to cut off Moscow from oil and other resources. For this it was necessary to cross the Volga.

In November 1942, the whole world anxiously awaited news from Stalingrad. The Soviet counter-offensive on the banks of the Volga led to the fact that the strategic initiative since then finally turned out to be with the USSR. In World War II, there was no more bloody and large-scale battle than Battle of Stalingrad. The total losses of both sides exceeded two million people. At the cost of incredible efforts, the Red Army stopped the Axis offensive on the Eastern Front.

The next strategically important success of the Soviet troops was the Battle of Kursk in June - July 1943. That summer, the Germans made their last attempt to seize the initiative and launch an offensive against the Soviet positions. The plan of the Wehrmacht failed. The Germans not only did not succeed, but also left many cities in central Russia (Orel, Belgorod, Kursk), while following the "scorched earth tactics". All tank battles The Second World War was marked by bloodshed, but the battle of Prokhorovka became the largest. It was the key episode of the whole Battle of Kursk. By the end of 1943 - the beginning of 1944, Soviet troops liberated the south of the USSR and reached the borders of Romania.

Allied landings in Italy and Normandy

In May 1943, the Allies cleared North Africa of the Italians. The British fleet began to control the entire Mediterranean Sea. The earlier periods of World War II were characterized by Axis successes. Now the situation has become just the opposite.

In July 1943, American, British and French troops landed in Sicily, and in September - on the Apennine Peninsula. The Italian government renounced Mussolini and a few days later signed a truce with advancing opponents. The dictator, however, managed to escape. Thanks to the help of the Germans, he created the puppet republic of Salo in the industrial north of Italy. The British, French, Americans and local partisans gradually recaptured more and more new cities. On June 4, 1944, they entered Rome.

Exactly two days later, on the 6th, the Allies landed in Normandy. So the second or Western Front was opened, as a result of which the Second World War was ended (the table shows this event). In August, a similar landing began in the south of France. On August 25, the Germans finally left Paris. By the end of 1944, the front had stabilized. The main battles took place in the Belgian Ardennes, where each of the parties made, for the time being, unsuccessful attempts to develop their own offensive.

February 9 as a result of the Colmar operation was surrounded german army stationed in Alsace. The Allies managed to break through the defensive Siegfried Line and reach the German border. In March, after the Meuse-Rhine operation, the Third Reich lost territories beyond the western bank of the Rhine. In April, the Allies took control of the Ruhr industrial region. At the same time, the offensive in northern Italy continued. April 28, 1945 fell into the hands of the Italian partisans and was executed.

Capture of Berlin

Opening a second front, the Western allies coordinated their actions with the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army began to attack. Already in the fall, the Germans lost control of the remnants of their possessions in the USSR (with the exception of a small enclave in western Latvia).

In August, Romania withdrew from the war, which had previously acted as a satellite of the Third Reich. Soon the authorities of Bulgaria and Finland did the same. The Germans began to hastily evacuate from the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia. In February 1945, the Red Army carried out the Budapest operation and liberated Hungary.

The path of the Soviet troops to Berlin ran through Poland. Together with her, the Germans also left East Prussia. Berlin operation started at the end of April. Hitler, realizing his own defeat, committed suicide. On May 7, an act of German surrender was signed, which entered into force on the night of the 8th to the 9th.

Defeat of the Japanese

Although the war ended in Europe, bloodshed continued in Asia and the Pacific. The last force to resist the allies was Japan. In June, the empire lost control of Indonesia. In July, Britain, the United States and China presented her with an ultimatum, which, however, was rejected.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These cases were the only ones in human history when nuclear weapons were used for combat purposes. On August 8, the Soviet offensive began in Manchuria. The Japanese Surrender Act was signed on September 2, 1945. This ended World War II.

Losses

Studies are still underway on how many people were injured and how many died in World War II. On average, the number of lives lost is estimated at 55 million (of which 26 million are Soviet citizens). The financial damage amounted to 4 trillion dollars, although it is hardly possible to calculate the exact figures.

Europe has been hardest hit. Its industry and agriculture were restored for many more years. How many died in World War II and how many were destroyed became clear only after some time, when the world community was able to clarify the facts about Nazi crimes against humanity.

The largest bloodshed in the history of mankind was carried out by completely new methods. Entire cities perished under the bombing, centuries-old infrastructure was destroyed in a few minutes. The genocide of the Second World War organized by the Third Reich, directed against Jews, Gypsies and the Slavic population, terrifies with its details to this day. German concentration camps became real "death factories", and German (and Japanese) doctors conducted cruel medical and biological experiments on people.

Results

The results of the Second World War were summed up at the Potsdam Conference, held in July - August 1945. Europe was divided between the USSR and the Western allies. Communist pro-Soviet regimes were established in the eastern countries. Germany lost a significant part of its territory. was annexed to the USSR, several more provinces passed to Poland. Germany was first divided into four zones. Then, on their basis, the capitalist FRG and the socialist GDR emerged. In the east, the USSR received the Kuril Islands, which belonged to Japan, and the southern part of Sakhalin. The communists came to power in China.

Western European countries after World War II lost a significant part of their political influence. The former dominant position of Great Britain and France was occupied by the United States, which suffered less than others from German aggression. The process of disintegration of colonial empires started. In 1945, the United Nations was established to maintain world peace. Ideological and other contradictions between the USSR and the Western allies became the reason for the beginning cold war.

The first post-war years were a time of renaissance peaceful life. In the countries affected by the war, cities, industrial enterprises, and cultural monuments were rebuilt. There are known examples when residents rebuilt their cities literally from ruins and ashes. Among such resurrected cities were Stalingrad, Warsaw and others. In most countries, the life of people after the recently ended war was spent in hard work, hardships and hardships. In the cities there was a card system for the distribution of products. There was a shortage of clothing and other consumer goods. But with the resumption of transport, the activities of schools, hospitals and domestic institutions, people grew hope for a better future.

From war to peace

The affirmation of a peaceful life did not mean a return to the old. After the war, significant changes took place in various areas of social relations. Simultaneously with the elimination of the remnants of fascist, reactionary regimes, the democratic foundations of society expanded. New rights and freedoms of citizens, electoral procedures, principles of activity of government bodies, political and public organizations were consolidated. In many European countries, the public functions of the state have increased, and its responsibility for solving social problems has increased. In a number of cases, the state took over the management of individual sectors of the economy, enterprises (including enterprises taken from war criminals and collaborators). All this was reflected in the new constitutions that were adopted in many countries in the second half of the 1940s and consolidated the democratic gains of the peoples.

At the international level, the ideals of the post-war world were declared in the documents of the United Nations, established in 1945. Its founding conference was held in San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945. October 24, 1945 is considered the official date of the UN's formation, when its Charter was ratified.

The preamble (introductory part) of the UN Charter states:

“We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lives has brought unspeakable grief to humanity, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women, and in the equality of rights nations large and small, and create conditions under which justice and respect for obligations arising from treaties and other sources can be observed international law, and promote social progress and better living conditions in greater freedom, and to this end, show tolerance and live together, in peace with each other, as good neighbors, and combine our forces to maintain international peace and security, and ensure the adoption of principles and the establishment of methods to armed forces applied only in the common interest, and to use the international apparatus to promote the economic and social progress of all peoples, we decided to combine our efforts to achieve these goals.

From November 1945 to October 1946, the International Military Tribunal for German war criminals sat in the city of Nuremberg. The main defendants appeared before him, including G. Goering, I. Ribbentrop, V. Keitel and others. Prosecutors from the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France and hundreds of witnesses revealed the terrible facts of Nazi crimes against peace and humanity. According to the verdict of the International Tribunal, 12 defendants were sentenced to death penalty, 7 - to different terms of imprisonment, 3 - acquitted. In 1946-1948. Tokyo hosted the International Tribunal for Japanese war criminals. Thus, in the name of the peoples, those who unleashed the war and led the destruction of millions of people were condemned.

The memory of the deaths of millions of people during the war caused a desire to establish and protect human rights and freedoms as a special value. In December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It opened with the proposition that "all men are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Further, civil, political, economic and cultural human rights were determined. The first UN documents were of particular importance because they took into account the lessons of the past, it was proposed to improve the future life of people, to prevent a threat to the existence of man and society. However, the implementation of the intended goals was not an easy task. Real events subsequent decades did not always develop in accordance with the predetermined ideals.

Changes on the political map. Beginning of the Cold War

Unfolded during the war liberation struggle peoples of Europe and Asia against the invaders and their accomplices was not limited to the task of restoring the pre-war order. In the countries of Eastern Europe and a number of Asian countries, in the course of liberation, the governments of the National (Popular) Front came to power. At that time, they most often represented coalitions of anti-fascist, anti-militarist parties and organizations. Communists and social democrats already played an active role in them.

By the end of the 1940s, in most of these countries, the Communists were able to concentrate all power in their hands. In some cases, for example, in Yugoslavia, Romania, one-party systems were established, in others - in Poland, Czechoslovakia and other countries - the existence of other parties was allowed. Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, led by the Soviet Union, formed a special bloc. They were joined by several Asian states: Mongolia, North Vietnam, North Korea, China, and in the 1960s - Cuba. This community was first called "socialist camp", then - "socialist system" and, finally, "socialist commonwealth". The post-war world was divided into "Western" and "Eastern" blocs, or, as they were then called in Soviet socio-political literature, "capitalist" and "socialist" systems. It was a bipolar (having two poles, personified by the US and the USSR) world. How did relations develop between the states of the West and the East?

Even before the division had finally taken shape, W. Churchill, distinguished by a certain far-sightedness, said, speaking to students at Westminster College in Fulton (in the USA) in March 1946:

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended on the continent. Behind this line are stored all the treasures of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia - all these famous cities and the population in their areas are in the Soviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another not only to Soviet influence, but also to a largely increasing control of Moscow. ...

I drive away the thought that a new war is inevitable, or, moreover, that a new war is imminent... I do not believe that Soviet Russia wants war. She wants the fruits of war and the unlimited expansion of her power and her doctrines. But what we have to consider here today is a system to avert the threat of war, to provide conditions for the development of freedom and democracy as quickly as possible in all countries ... "

It so happened that the words of the British politician about preventing the threat of war went unnoticed, but the concept of the "Iron Curtain" firmly and for a long time entered the history of international relations.

In 1947, US President G. Truman proclaimed that his country's policy should provide for assistance to "free peoples who do not want to submit to armed minorities or external pressure" (the armed minorities meant the Communists, and the force exerting external pressure was the Soviet Union ). The "Truman Doctrine" determined the attitude towards countries that chose different "paths of life". It was associated with the plan of J. Marshall (during the war years, a well-known military leader, and at that time the US Secretary of State), which provided for the provision of economic assistance to European states.

According to the authors of the plan, the aid was supposed to stabilize the economic situation and thereby prevent social uprisings in European countries. Its provision was stipulated by the fact that there should not be communists in the governments of the countries receiving assistance. Truman later wrote in his memoirs: "... without the Marshall Plan, it would have been difficult for Western Europe to remain free from communism." The Marshall Plan was signed by the leaders of 17 Western European countries (including the later formed Germany). The states of Eastern Europe refused to accept aid (in some cases not without pressure from the USSR).

The result of the growing contradictions between the recent allies was the split of Germany in 1949 into two states - the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

Steps on the way to the split were the following actions:

• uniting first the American and British (in January 1947), and then the French occupation zones into one zone, creating independent executive and judicial authorities in it;
• the acceptance in the western zone of assistance under the Marshall plan, while in the Soviet zone it was rejected;
• carrying out in the western zone on June 20, 1948, a separate (separate) monetary reform;
• establishment from 24 June 1948 Soviet troops blockade of West Berlin, all land roads to which were closed to the Western allies. For several months there was an "air bridge": American planes delivered food, coal, equipment for enterprises, etc. to West Berlin (the blockade was lifted in May 1949);
• the adoption of the West German constitution on May 8, 1949, the elections to the Bundestag (August), the proclamation of the Federal Republic of Germany in September 1949;
• proclamation on October 7, 1949 of the German Democratic Republic.

Many Germans sought to prevent the split of their country. In 1947 - early 1949, the movement for the unity of Germany and the conclusion of a peace treaty organized three all-German congresses. But in the escalating internal political and international environment their voice was not heard.

By the end of the 1940s, the contradictions between the Western powers and the USSR grew into political and economic confrontation and rivalry. On September 25, 1949, the Soviet Telegraph Agency (TASS) reported that an atomic weapon had been tested in the USSR. At the beginning of 1950, G. Truman announced the development of work on the creation of a hydrogen bomb in the United States. The Cold War is in full swing.

The confrontation between the two blocs was consolidated by the creation of their military-political and economic organizations. On April 4, 1949, the USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO. On May 9, 1955, a delegation from the Federal Republic of Germany took part in the NATO session for the first time (the decision to join NATO was made in the fall of 1954).

On May 14, 1955, the creation of the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) was announced, which included the USSR, Albania (in 1961 it withdrew from the Warsaw Pact), Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

The bodies of economic cooperation between the two groups of states were the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), formed by the USSR and Eastern European countries in January 1949, and the European Economic Community of Western European States (founded in March 1957 by six countries, then the composition of its participants expanded).

The division of countries into states and territories with different political systems similar to what happened in Germany took place in Asia. Such a fate befell the peoples of Vietnam, China, and Korea. At the same time, internal contradictions were intensified by the intervention of external forces. So, in the Korean War (1950-1953), the opposing armies of North and South Korea were helped, on the one hand, by China and the USSR, and on the other, by the United States and several other states. The latter participated in the events as UN forces. Thus, in the Cold War there were "hot spots", hotbeds of armed conflicts, and the rivalry between the West and the East, the USA and the USSR in various parts light became the subject of fierce political disputes and struggles within the UN.

One of the most significant historical processes in the second half of the XX century was the liberation of the peoples of Asia and Africa from colonial dependence. The system of colonial empires that took shape over several centuries collapsed in two or three decades. On political map of the world, instead of vast territories painted in the colors of metropolitan powers, the names and borders of dozens of new independent states. If in 1945, when the UN was created, 51 states joined it, then in 1984, 159 countries were already members of this organization. Most of them were the liberated states of Asia and Africa.

The process of formation of new states turned out to be complex, full of dramatic events. The definition of state borders, the establishment of monarchical or republican forms of power, the choice of development paths - all this often took place in a sharp struggle. The young states had to decide on their relationship not only to the former metropolitan countries, but also to the "Western" and "Eastern" blocs that existed at that time. The choice of orientation has become a significant problem for many countries in Asia and Africa. And relations with third world countries, as they said then, turned out to be a field of rivalry between the great powers, primarily the USA and the USSR.

Scientific and technological progress: achievements and problems

It is no coincidence that the concept of "progress" in combination with the epithets "scientific", "social" became one of the most used in the second half of the 20th century. In many areas of science, major discoveries were made at that time, new branches of knowledge appeared. Even at the beginning of the century, one could notice that scientific ideas are much faster than before, being embodied in technical projects, new machines, etc. In the second half of the century, this process accelerated significantly. Now the time has come for a scientific and technological, scientific and technological revolution, which is characterized by close interaction between science and technology, the rapid introduction of scientific achievements in various fields of activity, the use of new materials and technologies, and production automation.

Let's turn to the facts. Early 20th century marked by significant discoveries in the field of atomic physics. In the following decades, the production and use of atomic energy became an urgent scientific and practical task. In 1942, in the United States, a group of scientists led by E. Fermi created the first nuclear reactor. The enriched uranium obtained in it was used to create atomic weapons (two of the three atomic bombs produced at that time were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki). In 1946, a nuclear reactor was built in the USSR (I. V. Kurchatov supervised the work), in 1949 the first test of Soviet atomic weapons took place. After the war, the question arose of the peaceful use of atomic energy. In 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant was built in the USSR, and in 1957, the first nuclear icebreaker was launched.

In the second half of the XX century. space exploration began. The first steps in this were taken by Soviet scientists and designers headed by S.P. Korolev. In 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched. On April 12, 1961, the flight of the first cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin took place. In 1969, American cosmonauts N. Armstrong and B. Aldrin landed on the moon. Since the 1970s, Soviet orbital stations have been operating in space. By the early 1980s, the USSR and the USA had launched more than 2,000 artificial satellites, and India, China, and Japan had also put their own satellites into orbit. These devices are used to transmit radio and television signals, observe the earth's surface, weather, etc. In order to appreciate the significance of these events, it is necessary to imagine that behind them are the achievements of many modern sciences - aeronautics, astrophysics, atomic physics, quantum electronics, biology, medicine, etc. They required many years of creative research, tireless work and courage of thousands of people .

important integral part development of modern science and technology has become a computer revolution. The first electronic computers (computers) were created in the early 1940s. Work on them was carried out in parallel by German, American, British specialists, but the greatest success was achieved in the USA. The first computers occupied an entire room, and it took considerable time to set them up. The use of transistors (since 1948) made it possible to make computers more compact and faster. In the early 1970s, microprocessors appeared, followed by personal computers. It was already a real revolution. The functions of computers have also expanded. Today, they are used not only for storing and processing information, but also for sharing it, designing, teaching, etc.

If the first half of the 20th century was the century of cinema, then the second was the century of television. It was invented before World War II. The first telecasts took place in 1936 in London. The war suspended the development of a new type of technology. But since the 1950s, television has become part of the daily life of people. Currently, in developed countries, TV sets are available in 98% of homes. Today, television is the most powerful, mass channel for the transmission of various kinds of information - from political news to entertainment, entertainment programs.

These scientific and technological advances have collectively led to the information revolution. She, in turn, changed the foundations of modern society, which is called post-industrial or informational. Social scientists believe that if in the Middle Ages the main source of wealth and power was land, in the 19th century. - capital, then at the end of the 20th century this function was transferred to information. It is no coincidence that mass media- newspapers, radio, television - are considered today as the "fourth power".

Technological progress in modern society has not only positive sides. It also creates significant problems. Some of them are related to the fact that "the machine replaces the person." It's good that it makes people's work easier. But what about those who lost their jobs because they were replaced by a car? (There are, for example, estimates that one computer replaces the labor of 35 people.) How should one treat the opinion that a machine can teach everything better than a teacher, that it successfully replenishes human communication? Why have friends when you can play with the computer? Why go to the theatre, when you can watch a performance on television with great convenience? These are the questions that everyone has to answer today.

A number of serious, global problems are associated with the consequences of scientific and technological progress for the environment and the human environment. Already in the 1960s-1970s, it became clear that nature, the resources of our planet are not an inexhaustible pantry, and reckless technocracy (the power of technology) leads to irreversible environmental losses and disasters. One of the tragic events that showed the danger of technological failures in modern enterprises, was the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (April 1986), as a result of which millions of people ended up in the zone of radioactive contamination. The problems of preserving forests and fertile lands, the purity of water and air are relevant today on all continents of the Earth. Ecological movements and organizations (the “greens”, “Greenpeace”, etc.) stood up to protect the environment, the life of the person himself. So by the end of the 20th century. scientific and technological progress made global problem preservation of the natural, cultural, spiritual spheres of human existence and society.

References:
Aleksashkina L. N. / General History. XX - the beginning of the XXI century.

General History in Questions and Answers Tkachenko Irina Valerievna

16. What were the results of World War II? What changes took place in Europe and the world after World War II?

The Second World War left a seal on the entire history of the world in the second half of the 20th century.

During the war, 60 million lives were lost in Europe, and many millions of people who died in the Pacific direction should be added to this.

During the war years, millions of people left their former places of residence. Huge material losses during the war. On the European continent, thousands of cities and villages were turned into ruins, factories, factories, bridges, roads were destroyed, a significant part of the vehicles were lost. Agriculture was particularly hard hit by the war. Huge areas of agricultural land were abandoned, and the number of livestock was reduced by more than half. Famine was added to the hardships of the war in the post-war period. Many experts believed at that time that Europe was not capable of recovering beyond as soon as possible, it will take more than a decade.

After the war, the problems of post-war settlement came to the fore.

The victory of the anti-fascist coalition in World War II led to a new balance of power in the world. As a result of the defeat of fascism, the prestige of the Soviet Union increased, and the influence of democratic forces increased. The balance of forces within the capitalist system has changed. Defeated Germany, Italy and Japan dropped out of the ranks of the great powers for a while. Weakened the position of France. Even Great Britain - one of the three great powers of the anti-fascist coalition - has lost its former influence. But the power of the United States has increased enormously. Having a monopoly on atomic weapon and the largest army, far surpassing other countries in the field of economy, science, technology, the United States has become the hegemon of the capitalist world.

The main directions of the post-war peace settlement were outlined during the war by the leading powers of the anti-fascist coalition. At the conferences of the leaders of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam, as well as at the meeting of the leaders of the USA, Great Britain and China in Cairo, the main questions were agreed: on territorial changes, on the attitude towards the defeated fascist states and the punishment of war criminals, on the creation of a special international organization to maintain international peace and security. The Allied Powers decided to occupy Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan in order to eradicate militarism and fascism.

The territorial seizures of Germany, Italy and Japan were cancelled. The USSR, the USA and England declared that it was necessary to restore the independence of Austria and Czechoslovakia, to return Northern Transylvania to Romania.

The Allies agreed to draw the border between Germany and Poland along the line of the Oder and Neisse rivers. The eastern border of Poland was to run along the Curzon Line. The city of Koenigsberg and the surrounding areas were transferred Soviet Union. Germany and its allies had to pay reparations to the countries that became victims of fascist aggression.

It was supposed to release from the power of Japan all the territories that it seized during the war years. Korea was promised independence. Northeast China (Manchuria), the island of Taiwan and other Chinese islands captured by Japan were supposed to be returned to China. South Sakhalin was returned to the Soviet Union and the Kuril Islands, which once belonged to Russia, were transferred.

The full implementation of the principles of a peaceful settlement agreed between the allies presupposed the continuation of cooperation between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. However, after the end of the war, the contradictions between the main states of the anti-fascist coalition escalated.

Two superpowers appeared in the world - the USA and the USSR, two poles of power, to which all other countries began to orient themselves and which to a decisive extent determined the dynamics of world development. The United States has become the guarantor of Western civilization. Their main adversary was the Soviet Union, which now has allies. The discrepancy between the value systems that they represented predetermined their rivalry, and it was precisely this rivalry until the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. became the core of the development of the entire system of international relations.