AGMSPRITE
World War II Propaganda
As for art, there was much propaganda that arose during the two World Wars. Governments used it throughout the conflicts to raise support, money, and supplies for the armies at war. Many people were swept up in nationalism during the wars and were willing to join their countries' causes. So, the propaganda was useful in influencing peoples' views on the wars and reflected negative opinions towards the enemy countries. In geography, the borders of many countries were changed as a result of the world wars. Also, the borders of countries reflected their political nature, like if the country was communist. For example, North and South Korea were split in two with the North being communist and the South not. Berlin was also split into communist and non-communist halves. Finally, many countries became industrialized during this time period, affecting the geography and the use of it in those countries. When considering militaries, this time period of nationalism and communism (Cold War) sparked a ton of military build-up and innovation. During the World Wars, European countries built up their militaries in preparation for war against each other, creating new warfare technologies like the Zeppelin and gas as weapons. These new weapons, along with machine guns and submarines, caused large numbers of deaths as a result of these two wars. At the end of the second World War and during the Cold War (Arms Race), nuclear bombs were developed and improved upon. The U.S. and Soviet Union would try and beat the other by having the better weaponry. As far as the social aspect, communism within the countries it was implemented got rid of class distinctions and made everyone equal. It changed the social structure of those countries. Nationalism united the people of countries no matter what social class, under their country's cause and pride. Lastly, after imperialist countries were weakened following WWI, the people of imperialized countries rose up and united in order to overthrow their weakened oppressors. Politically during this time, the governments of many countries were transformed to communism. At one point, 1/3 of the world was communist. After communism fell, many countries converted back to capitalism. Also, in the 1930s under the spell of nationalism and desperation from the depression, countries in Europe like Italy and Germany looked to socialist and fascist governments to lead them. Finally, once countries that were imperialized overthrew the oppressing country, their government was changed to disclude that imperialist country. For innovation and technology, there was an Arms Race and a Space Race during the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union, in which one tried to best the other. In this period and also the World Wars, many new technologies came about. Examples are new warfare tools, nuclear warfare (Arms Race), and rockets (Space Race). Because of these races, much of government spending in both the U.S. and USSR went into defense and space (NASA for U.S.). It was through this spending that the Soviets were able to compete with the U.S. though, because communism invites less innovation, while under capitalism it flourishes. So in other communist countries around the world, there was less innovation and new technologies, while in the capitalist countries there was more. Finally, when addressing the economy during this time, one can see it flucuated a lot. Before WWI, Europe was the superpower of the world with its imperial power, but after WWI, Germany fell and the others went with it. This depression spread worldwide and into the late 1930s. Then WWII occured and resulted in Europe falling to the U.S. and the USSR in economic superiority. In order to prevent another depression, the U.S. and Soviet Union funded Europe with loans so that they could recover (Marshal Plan). Europe recovered, but it was still inferior to the U.S. and Soviet economies. The U.S. officially became the world economic superpower after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.