Open AccessVictory in Europe
Author(s) -
Ian Van der Waag,
Noëlle Cowling
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
scientia militaria
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2309-9682
pISSN - 2224-0020
DOI - 10.5787/25-2-248
Subject(s) - fell , victory , soviet union , economic history , world war ii , political science , politics , western europe , ancient history , cold war , european union , history , political economy , geography , law , sociology , economics , international trade , cartography
FIFTY YEARS AGO, ON 8 May 1945, World War II ended in Europe. The outcome was much as Adolf Hitler had predicted it would be: Western Europe was under the occupation of Anglo-Saxon troops and fell within the American sphere of influence, while Eastern Europe was occupied and dominated by the Soviets. The prewar European powers of France, Britain and Germany lay broken and a new bipolar global political system, dominated by two new superpowers – the United States and the Soviet Union - had emerged.