World War Two and the Decline of Europe
Europe will never be like America. Europe is a product of history. America is a product of philosophy. Margaret Thatcher (1925 - ) In the year nineteen hundred, the center of world power inarguablyresided in Europe. In fact, for many centuries, many European countrieswere the heads of vast empires, spanning the globe (and reaping herspoils)-for, although spread to the ends of the earth, European nationsheld firm control of their colonial territories (and the wealth theyacquired through them), and enjoyed an influence over the majority of theworld's population. World War II changed all of that, and would go on toimpact the future of the Western world. What took the nations of Europe centuries to acquire through war,conquest, and treaty, proved to topple exponentially faster than its rise,and the close of the Second World War heralded the end of, not only "theage of empires," but of the age of European supremacy in the world. Infact, by the end of 1990, just forty-five years later, Europe would bevirtually unrecognizable from its former self. Physically, the Second World War had a staggering effect on the
World War Two heralded change in the European continent of thegreatest possible scope. It is thisaspect of "the decline of Europe" that tends to be the most difficult forthe Europeans, themselves to accept. Politically, Europe was to undergo a painful restructure of its veryborders, with the division of Germany and Austria between the four alliedpowers of the United States, Britain, and the new Soviet Union. From bombed out buildings, to minedfields, to decimated bridges, roads and vital systems, Europe had toliterally rebuild herself. After all, one does not give upviewing oneself as the center of things easily, and the advent of the newpost-war superpowers (now there is only one), coupled with the outrightrebellion of their colonial holdings shook the European's finely honedsense of place and superiority to the core. Indeed, the supremacy of the European contentment had passed, almostas its hundreds of years of immense influence had never been. Itseems almost fitting, then, that today's global focus has shifted away fromthe continent as the main player. Indeed, Europe was the largest stage for the Second World War,so, too, would it be the hotbed of contention during the Cold War. If the end of the war saw the massive decline of held Europeancolonies, so, too, did it herald its general decline in the hierarchy ofglobal influence. After theearth, the nations of Western Europe were devastated financially, so muchso that they were forced to rely on the United States and other nations fortheir very sustenance. Socially, the toll of untold human suffering weighed down an entiregeneration with its pain-for, unlike the vast number of American war dead,the majority of those killed in Europe were civilian-millions of men,women, and children-lost to the horrors of the holocaust, horrific bombingcampaigns, starvation and disease. Of course, culturally, in the realm of the collective worldimagination, Europe was no longer the "center" it once was. Before theWar, Europe was one of the richest continents on the earth. More than ever, they wouldnot carry the starring role.
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