ICSE Class 10 Answered

Following were the consequences of the Second World War:

Defeat of the Axis Powers - The Axis Powers included the States of Germany, Italy and Japan. They had, in the initial period of war, won phenomenal victories and had pushed the Allied powers to the brink. However, the involvement of the colonial armies and the entry of USA in the war from the side of the Allies proved costly for the Axis powers. After 1941, their fortunes began to reverse and the Allies gained the upper hand. Finally, by 1945, the Axis powers were squarely defeated.

Formation of the UN - The Second World War took place as a result of the failure of the League of Nations. As a result, a meeting of the Big Three - Roosevelt (President of USA), Churchill (Prime Minister of Britain) and Stalin (Premier of the USSR) was held at Yalta in February 1945. They resolved to convene a conference of the representatives of all nations at San Francisco to draw up the ‘Charter of the United Nations’. This led to the formation of the United Nations Organisation on October 24, 1945.

Cold War - Even though the USSR and the USA had fought on one side during the Second World War, as the War ended, the old suspicions and ideological differences came to the fore. Though these two countries never actually went to war against each other, there was a state of extreme political tension between the two. This state of tension in which each bloc adopted policies designed to strengthen itself and weaken the other without armed conflict is known as the Cold War.