It is arguable that Europe and the world would have been better off had Germany been the victor in WWI. A victorious Germany, after the war in the West ended, would have crushed the Bolsheviks in Russia, thus avoiding the pain and suffering Soviet rule imposed on the Russian people and, later, Eastern Europe.

The World War 1 experience impacted hugely on U.S. culture, domestic politics and society. The war also resulted in an increased demand for weapons abroad. This led to increased profits and heightened productivity in the American steel industry. World War 1 ushered in an era of using chemical weapons.

After the Treaty of Versailles called for punishing reparations, economic collapse and another world war thwarted Germany’s ability to pay. At the end of World War I, Germans could hardly recognize their country. Up to 3 million Germans, including 15 percent of its men, had been killed.

However, the First World War destroyed Germany. By 1918, Germany was no longer a strong confident country, but one on the brink of ruin. The war had destroyed Germany’s economy. The country spent around one third of its income on war pensions to all those widows and families who had lost someone during the conflict.

1: The End of the European Age. 2: The rise of the US to superpower status. 3: The expansion of the Soviet Union and its rise to superpower status. 4: The emergence of the Cold War.

The study found that living in a war-torn country during World War II was consistently associated with having poorer health later in life. Those respondents who experienced war were 3 percentage points more likely to have diabetes as adults and 5.8 percentage points more likely to have depression.

The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki created a world which was terrified by the threat of atomic war. Germany was divided, and remained so until 1990. The League of Nations was disbanded.

Here are six innovations that came out of that development surge.

• Flu Vaccines.
• Penicillin.
• Jet Engines.
• Blood Plasma Transfusion.
• Electronic Computers.
• Radar.
• 11 Innovations That Changed History.
• 6 Legendary Lost Treasures of World War II.

World War II has been called “The Good War,” which is a strange title for the bloodiest military conflict in human history. Compared to the other pointless wars we’d recently fought—cough, WWI—WWII did seem pretty noble. But nobility was hardly the whole story.

Pearl Harbor

Without the American entry into World War II, it’s possible Japan would have consolidated its position of supremacy in East Asia and that the war in Europe could have dragged on for far longer than it did.

The challenges facing the United States as it mobilized for war were converting (switching) to a wartime economy, building an army, and rapidly training troops.

A

Perfidy constitutes a breach of the laws of war and so is a war crime, as it degrades the protections and mutual restraints developed in the interest of all parties, combatants and civilians.

The United States lays claim to the largest army ever seen in the history of the world. This force was assembled and deployed during World War II. When the United States military was at its largest, there were more than 12 million individuals enlisted in the different branches of the United States armed forces.

Japan was deprived of any military capability after being defeated by the Allies in World War II and was forced to sign a surrender agreement presented by General Douglas MacArthur in 1945. It was occupied by U.S. forces and only had a minor domestic police force on which to rely for domestic security and crime.