Cultural Transformations

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

3 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/03/2007

Category :

History & geography

Sub category :

Modern history

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Summary :

Introduction
The Holocaust and the jews in Europe
By-products of the war
World War Two: A key turning point for France
The Soviet Union and the loss of 30 million people
Stalin's claim on the territory that the Red Army had liberated
Germany's postwar experience
Conclusion

Abstract

World War Two left Europe war torn and destitute. Over 30 million people had been "uprooted, transplanted, expelled, deported and dispersed...in the years 1939-43" (Judt, Postwar, p. 23). Many cities were completely destroyed including Minsk, Royan, Le Havre, Hamburg, Cologne, Warsaw, and thousands of others (p. 16-17). Industry and agriculture were hard hit, which contributed to the need for food rationing because there was not enough food to feed Europe. This war was without a doubt a total war, in the sense that nothing was sacred or safe from the war machine. An example of the effects of this total war can be seen in the number of civilian casualties: "The numbers of civilian dead exceeded military losses in the USSR, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway" (p. 18). Thus, this war wreaked havoc not only on the physical landscape of Europe, but also on the psyche of Europeans: Europe would never be the same. In order to deal with this intense trauma and its ensuing consequences, Europe repatriated millions of refugees and displaced persons, many Western European countries instituted social welfare programs, and some countries created myths about the war in order to help their countries heal.