Recovering from World War II

A World in Chaos

Millions of Deaths• Russia was hit the

hardest, with over 20 million people dead in total

• Germany, Japan, China- millions of losses

• US- almost half a million deaths

• Sorrow and pain for millions of families

Jewish Suffering

• Of 18 million Jews in the world, 6 million died in the Holocaust

• The rest of the Jews wondered if they would ever be truly safe anywhere

An Idea for the Jewish People• Some groups of Jewish people thought again

about an idea that had been mentioned before- a country for the Jewish people

• Where to have this country? Places were mentioned in South America, Asia, Africa

The Founding of Israel

• The place that many Jews wanted- Palestine

• The old Jewish homeland from 2,000 years before (before the Romans took over)

The Start of 60 Years of Conflict

• Land belonged to Great Britain as a part of ‘Palestine’

• About ½ million people of Arab descent (Palestinians) lived there

• They were not happy about the idea of being kicked out so Jewish people could move in

Religious Aspects• Neighboring Middle Eastern countries did not

want more Jewish people moving in either• Tensions between Muslims and Jews were

partly behind this• Jerusalem- 3 religions argue over this city

Founding of Israel

• In 1948, after a short but brutal war between Jews and Palestinians, the nation of Israel was founded

• The new United Nations recognized it as a legitimate country

Conflict Continues Today• Palestinians moved into

areas on the edges of Israel, and have fought to get their land back

• Today- some Israelis and Palestinians are willing to share, but others on both sides are unwilling to compromise. They want the other side to leave completely.

The United Nations

• Allies had met in 1944 to think about founding an organization for nations to work together

• In 1945, 50 nations met in San Francisco to found such a group

• Purpose- to prevent war and solve problems peacefully

UN Today• At first, had 5 major

members (US, Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, China)

• Today, has 192 members

• Headquarters in New York City (but not part of US)

• One problem- has no police force

Rebuilding Germany

• One of the first steps- punishing the Nazi leaders

• Nuremberg Trials (1945 &46) - a court was set up, using the German city of Nuremberg, to put many top Nazis on trial

Nuremberg Trials

• Judges were from US, France, Great Britain, & Russia

• Witnesses came forward to speak about what happened

• Reporters and observers from all over the world watched

Punishments

• Over 30 top Nazis were given the death penalty• Others committed suicide before the trial or

before the sentence• Some were given life in prison or other

sentences• A few ran away and went into hiding (and were

not discovered until years later)

Helping Europe

• The Marshall Plan- a plan by the US government to help the countries of Europe rebuild

• Gave them money, some as a gift and some as a loan

Success Rate• Plan started in 1947 and

went until 1951. • By the end of the plan,

all the countries that got help were back up to their pre-war economic levels

• Countries traded with the US, which helped everyone