Who emerged as global superpowers after ww1 and ww2 and why

4 key factors which enabled the USSR to emerge as a superpower in the aftermath of World War II.-     Soviet Expansion·      The Red Army liberated many Eastern European countries at the end of the war, however, occupied these countries and rigged elections and introduced coercion to ensure the implementation of Communism in these countries.·      Trade agreements were drawn up between Russia and other Eastern European countries which clearly favoured Russia.·      At the top of each communist party stood a ruling Politburo and in each peoples democracy opposition was supressed through terror and propaganda.·      By 1949 an Eastern bloc had emerged.·      At the Yalta conference in 1945, Eastern Europe was established as a ‘Soviet sphere of influence.’
-       The economy·      By 1952 total industrial production was double that of 1940 and the economy was geared for war – making Russia powerful.·      At the end of the plan heavy industry had recovered from the war – steel production was 19% above the 1940 figure and electricity 87%. Coal was 57% higher, cement 45% and glass 90%. Industrial production exceeded targets set.·      Prices were high and wages were low to encourage people into staying in the labour force·      Living standard was extremely low and nothing was done to address the problem.
-       The military·      The development of a Russian nuclear weapon cemented the USSR as a superpower.·      Countries in the USSR’s sphere of influence had large deposits of uranium essential for the development of the atomic bomb.·      The Stalinist command economy was ideally suited to the task of producing weapons.·      Due to the extensive network of spies the physicists were aided by both British and American nuclear secrets.
-       Political·      By 1946 the Grand Alliance of the Second World War had broken down and Eastern Europe allied with the USSR under the banner of Socialism. Western Europe together with the USA favoured democracy and capitalism.·      The defeat of Germany provided the USSR with a boost in morale and ultimate victory –the fact that they had been the first (before the allied troops) to capture Berlin was an added bonus.·      The division of Europe led to a break down between the East and West and the beginning of the Cold War.
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Towards a bipolar world (1945–1953)

The end of the Second World War did not signal a return to normality; on the contrary, it resulted in a new conflict. The major European powers that had been at the forefront of the international stage in the 1930s were left exhausted and ruined by the war, setting the scene for the emergence of two new global superpowers. Two blocs developed around the Soviet Union and the United States, with other countries being forced to choose between the two camps.

The USSR came out of the war territorially enlarged and with an aura of prestige from having fought Hitler’s Germany. The country was given a new lease of life by its heroic resistance to the enemy, exemplified by the victory at Stalingrad. The USSR also offered an ideological, economic and social model extending as never before to the rest of Europe. Furthermore, the Red Army, unlike the US army, was not demobilised at the end of the war. The Soviet Union thus had a real numerical superiority in terms of men and heavy weapons.

The United States was the great victor of the Second World War. Its human and material losses were relatively low, and even though the US Army was almost completely demobilised a few months after the end of hostilities, the United States remained the world’s leading military power. Its navy and air force were unrivalled, and until 1949 it was the only country with the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. It also confirmed its status as the world’s leading economic power, in terms of both the volume of trade and industrial and agricultural production. The US now owned more than two thirds of the world’s gold reserves and the dollar became the primary international currency.

The conflicts of interest between the new world powers gradually multiplied, and a climate of fear and suspicion reigned. Each country feared the newfound power of the other. The Soviets felt surrounded and threatened by the West and accused the United States of spearheading ‘imperialist expansion’. For their part, the Americans were concerned at Communist expansion and accused Stalin of breaching the Yalta Agreement on the right of free peoples to self-determination. The result was a long period of international tension interspersed with dramatic crises which, from time to time, led to localised armed conflicts without actually causing a full-scale war between the United States and the USSR. From 1947, Europe, divided into two blocs, was at the heart of the struggle between the two superpowers. The Cold War reached its first climax with the Soviet blockade of Berlin. The explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb in the summer of 1949 reinforced the USSR in its role as a world power. This situation confirmed the predictions of Winston Churchill, who, in March 1946, had been the first Western statesman to speak of an ‘Iron Curtain’ that now divided Europe in two.

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Vers un monde bipolaire (1945-1953)

La fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale ne conduit pas à un retour à la normale mais annonce au contraire l'émergence d'un nouveau conflit. Tandis que les grandes puissances européennes, maîtresses de la scène internationale dans les années 1930, sont épuisées et ruinées par la guerre, deux nouvelles superpuissances dominent la scène internationale. Deux blocs se constituent autour d’une part, l’Union soviétique, et d’autre part, les États-Unis. Les autres pays sont désormais obligés de se ranger dans un des deux camps.

Agrandie sur le plan territorial, l'URSS sort de la guerre auréolée du prestige de la lutte contre l'Allemagne hitlérienne. Elle est galvanisée par sa résistance héroïque à l'ennemi dont témoigne la victoire de Stalingrad. L'URSS offre aussi le visage d'un modèle idéologique, économique et social qui rayonne comme jamais avant en Europe. De plus, contrairement à l’armée américaine, l'Armée rouge n'est pas démobilisée à la fin de la guerre. L'Union soviétique dispose de ce fait d'une réelle supériorité numérique en hommes et en armement lourd.

Les États-Unis sont les grands vainqueurs de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Leurs pertes humaines et matérielles sont relativement faibles et même si l’armée américaine est presque entièrement démobilisée quelques mois après la fin des hostilités, les États-Unis restent la première puissance militaire. Leur flotte de guerre et leur aviation n’ont pas d’égal et ils ont jusqu’en 1949 le monopole de l’arme atomique. Ils peuvent en outre s’affirmer comme la première puissance économique mondiale, tant en ce qui concerne le volume des échanges commerciaux que la production industrielle et agricole. Les Américains possèdent désormais les deux tiers du stock d’or monétaire mondial et le dollar devient la monnaie d’échange internationale de référence.

Peu à peu, les conflits d'intérêts entre les nouvelles puissances mondiales se multiplient et une atmosphère de méfiance et de peur s’installe. Chacun des deux redoute la nouvelle puissance de l’autre. Les Soviétiques se sentent encerclés et menacés par les Occidentaux et accusent les États-Unis de mener une « expansion impérialiste ». De leur côté, les Américains s’inquiètent de l’expansion communiste et reprochent à Staline de ne pas respecter l’accord de Yalta sur le droit des peuples libérés à disposer d’eux-mêmes. Il en résulte une longue période de tensions internationales, ponctuée de crises aiguës débouchant parfois sur des conflits militaires locaux sans pourtant déclencher une guerre ouverte entre les États-Unis et l'URSS. À partir de 1947, l'Europe, divisée en deux blocs, se trouve au centre de l'affrontement indirect entre les deux superpuissances. La guerre froide atteint son premier moment fort lors du blocus de Berlin. L'explosion de la première bombe atomique soviétique, en été 1949, vient conforter l'URSS dans son rang de puissance mondiale. Cette situation confirme les prédictions de Winston Churchill qui, en mars 1946, est le premier homme d’État occidental à parler publiquement d'un "rideau de fer" qui coupe désormais l'Europe en deux.