Effects of WWII

Dates from workbook part 2, haven't done the course of the war

Britain implemented conscription for men aged 18-40 with exceptions for critical occupations

3 September 1939

Local Defense Volunteers formed in Britain, nicknamed ‘Dad’s Army’

May 1940

All women aged 19-30 were conscripted in Britain; chose between the Women’s Land Army, factory work and women’s sections of the armed forces

1941

Britain introduced rationing; people were encouraged to keep hens and pigs

By January 1940

Britain grew enough food for 1 in 3 people and relied on imports which later stopped

1939

Ordinary Britons could not buy petrol

From 1942

USSR’s agricultural land was quickly seized by German armies → most severe rationing of 700 calories per day for children and the elderly

1941

In the USSR 1kg of bread cost a week’s worth of wages when purchased illegally

By 1944

Rationing began in Italy; civilians couldn’t buy petrol

1939

Germany began rationing before invading Poland

Late August 1939

German calorie intake decreased from 3000 to 2000 per day

1939-1944

German economy was in a state of collapse; fuel supplies and public transport systems had been destroyed

By late 1944

First evacuation in Britain

31 August 1939

1,474,000 Britons had been evacuated

By September 1939

57% of workers in Britain were women

By 1943

450,000 British women worked in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and Women’s Royal Navy Service

By 1944

Equal Pay Commission set up in Britain given that the proportion of working women had drastically increased

1943

2.5 million women joined the workforce in Japan

1940-1945

16 million Germans expelled from Central and Eastern European countries

1945-1947

Yalta Conference in Ukraine as Germany’s defeat was imminent

February 1945

American troops entered Berlin from the west; Russian troops entered Berlin from the east

May 1945

Potsdam Conference

17 July to 2 August 1945

US tested its first atomic bomb in the desert

16 July 1945

Stalin had exerted his influence over Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania who had Communist governments; Churchill declared the ‘Iron Curtain’

1946

New Japanese constitution → constitutional monarchy, military dissolved

1947

Korean War → US relied on Japan for goods → 300% increase in exports from Japan; 70% increase in production

1950

Japan was economically stable

By 1952

Japanese independence returned; US pressured Japan to not seek compensation for atomic bomb victims

April 1952

Treaty of San Fransisco signed between Japan and the US

1951

Western European states tied to each other and the US via Marshall Aid, the European Economic Community and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

By 1949

Warsaw Pact established

1955

First meeting of the United Nations → formed out of the Allied powers; differed significantly from the LoN

April 1945

Britain could no longer afford to maintain its empire

After mid 1945

India was granted independence from Britain

1947

Sri Lanka was granted independence from Britain

1948

Britain withdrew from the Mandate of Palestine → Palestine was divided into Israeli and Palestinian zones by the UN

1948

Morocco and Tunisia gained independence from France

1956

Algeria gained independence from France

1962

Italy’s African Empire was conquered by Britain

By late 1941

Nurmeburg Tribunal sat → 21 Nazis charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity

November 1945 to October 1946

Japanese government agreed to give allowances and medical treatment to bombing victims; previously aid only came from the Red Cross

1957