Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies Working Paper Series •
Hitler’s actions, who rebuilt Germany’s military, and then expanded into the Rhineland, Austria, first Sudetenland and then the first of Czechoslovakia, and then finally Poland.
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Failure of appeasement adopted by Neville Chamberlain in the UK, and in France
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Failure of the League of Nations; it had no power, no army, was slow to act, and not everyone joined.
Consequences •
Economic o
The economic effects were huge and wildly different for each economy. The total direct economic cost of the war was estimated at $1.5tn, with US accounting for 21%, UK 20%, Germany 18%, USSR 13%, and 28% spread across the rest of the world.
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It bankrupted Britain, who left with a national debt of 250% of GDP, obliterated Germany, sent the US into the golden age of capitalism where it experienced the highest and most sustained period of economic growth ever.
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Trade: there was a spate of multilateral trade agreements after WW II which attempted to deal with the problems of protectionism. This kicked off the second era of globalization, which the world has not looked back from since.
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Political: o
We saw the emergence of liberal democracy as one of the dominant systems of government in the world, triumphing over dictatorships and fascism in much of Europe, as well as a socialist state in the USSR and Eastern Bloc.
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WWII also began a period decolonization, which saw the emergence of the Third World which both superpowers tried to capture, court and influence.
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Ideological: The origins of the cold war began in the immediate aftermath to WW II which pitted the ideologies of two emergent superpowers against each other for the next 45 years.
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Social: WW II was the most deadly war in the history of the world, which saw approximately 2.5% of the world’s population killed.
Analysis •
After WW II a truly bipolar world emerged in which two superpowers competed for supremacy, largely resulting in an arms race that saw us come close to total nuclear destruction.
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The bipolar nature of the Cold War would result in many proxy wars in the years to come all across the third world.
Further Reading •
Horowitz, S. (2004), “Restarting Globalization After World War II -‐‑ Structure, Coalitions, and the Cold War”, Comparative Political Studies. Vol 37(2) pp. 127-‐‑151.
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Terborgh, A. (2003), “The Post-‐‑War Rise of International Trade”, Working Paper No. 78, LSE.
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http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/020 5075835.pdf
University of Cambridge Judge Business School – Centre for Risk Studies
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