Germany during and after World War II Essay

The Second World War was a global war that was fought between 1939 and 1945. The war essentially begun when Nazi Germany together with other members of the â€Å"axis† went on the rampage and were seeking ways of spreading their occupation on other countries. Such countries like Great Britain, Australia, Denmark, Canada, and later the U. S felt threatened and formed what would be known as the allied powers with the sole purpose of defeating the fast advancing Nazi Germany. (Weinberg G. L. 1994) On 1 September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, it marked the beginning of the Second World War and Poland’s allies in the West that included Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3. The allies were later to be joined by such countries as Canada, France, South Africa and many others. The U. S joined the War later after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Weinberg G. L. 1994) The War is rated as the most expensive war that has ever been fought with an estimated cost standing at about 1 trillion U. S Dollars worldwide as at 1944, and is also rated as the most deadly conflict with an estimated loss of 60 million people. Of these Countries, Germany suffered the most severe devastation to be ever witnessed in the country’s history. It suffered greatly politically, socially and economically especially after its humiliating defeat by the allies and its eventual surrender on 7th May 1945. (Weinberg G. L. 1994) This paper is going to discuss some of the impact that the War had on Germany and how quickly it recovered. Political Impact Adolph Hitler was the undisputed leader of Nazi Germany who had the ambitious plan to expand the Third Reich to occupy the whole world. This expansion idea is what led to the eruption of the Second World War. The expansion strategy had obvious implication of the strength of the leadership in the occupied areas. However when the Allies’ closed in on the Germany Forces, Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945 and Germany was left without a leader. This led to the occupation of Germany by the Allied forces who divided the country into four occupation zones between 1945 -1949 these zones included The American zone of occupation, British zone of occupation, Soviet zone of occupation, and the French zone of occupation. However, tension grew between the west and the Soviet Union, which led to the merger of the American, French, and British zones on one hand and the Soviet Union zone on the other. Germany was now divided into two zones of East Germany under the Soviets to form the German Democratic Republic and West Germany under the commonwealth to form the Federal Republic of Germany. Economic and social impact During the War Germany was heavily bombarded by the Allied Forces who concentrated their bombing on the on the industrial parts of Germany. The exercise was aimed at incapacitating completely Germans sources of revenue, which was fueling the War. Between 1940-1942 the English RAF, concentrated much of the bombings on such industrial facilities like oil, aluminum, transport and aero-engine plants. By the end of the war therefore the countries economy was totally dilapidated and the infrastructure had totally collapsed. In total in Dresden alone, with approximately 1300 raids and about 3900 tons of highly explosive bombs there were heavy losses where the cities were completely shattered and many lives lost. By the end of WWII Germany alone had lost approximately 600,000 people who included civilians alone. (Coleman, P. 1999) Coincidentally the war was taking place when the holocaust in Germany and the occupied states was at its highest. Hitler sought to cleanse the areas he occupied of all the Jews and other races that he considered inferior; this alone was to cost the region approximately 6 million lives. There high number of lives had a great impact at the social and cultural front because most of those who lost their lives were young and energetic men that the country would have needed to recover. (Coleman, P. 1999) Recovery Although Germany suffered great losses and the devastation was complete the recover was equally fast and dramatic. This fast recovery was witnessed especially in West Germany, which had now become The Federal Republic of Germany. (Kitson A 2001) The fast recovery was termed an â€Å"economic miracle† by the Times Magazine and was attributed to the United States’ economic aid to Germany and the Marshal plan that was instituted by the Allied countries. However the fast recovery was witnessed because of the currency reforms of 1948, which saw the replacement of the Reichsmark as the legal tender with the Deutsche Mark. The later reason was an effective means of ensuring that runaway inflation was contained once and for all. (Kitson A 2001) By 1990, the west and the East German united and worked together and by December 2nd 1990, there were elections for the first time. Today German has been the center of the European union. It is also rated as the third richest economy, which is set to continue growing. The aftermath of the World War II helped Germany rise economically and unite with other European countries like France. (Kitson A 2001) REFERENCE Coleman, P. (1999) â€Å"Cost of the War,† World War II Resource Guide: Gardena, California: The American War Library Kitson, Alison (2001): Germany 1858-1990: Hope, Terror, and Revival: Oxford University Press Weinberg, Gerhard L. (1994): A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II: New York: Cambridge University Press.