Other than the 1941 Japanese bombing of the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941, and the invasion of Guam and several of the Aleutian Islands, no U.S. Unlike other nations, it hadn’t suffered the impact of relentless bombardment, invasion or occupation. Under General Douglas MacArthur, an American-led occupation force settled into control of the nation.īy September 1945, America surveyed a worn and tattered world. Japan surrendered on the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri (pictured above). With the dropping of two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and threats of more to come, the nation was coerced into submission. In Asia, Japan was pushed back into its island borders and had lost several islands in the north to the Soviets. It would no longer be able to assert itself as it had in the past. It still held its colonies, but its glory was in the past. The prostrate condition of Western Europe posed grave peril for the future. The Western powers led by the United States had real concerns that Soviet troops might push further west, seeking larger gains in retribution for war losses. The Soviet empire made territorial gains it didn’t want to give up. Its troops pushed far into Europe, and when the surrender came it occupied half of Germany, Poland and other Eastern European nations. The Russian-dominated Soviet Union suffered enormous losses at the hands of the Nazis. Add to this the residual devastation from World War I, and Europe needed serious help for a fresh start. France, Belgium and the Netherlands were brutally violated and pillaged by the six years of occupation.
The Nazi regime abused the Teutonic virtues of a proud and fruitful nation to terrorize the world with a bestial brand of horror. Germany was bled both physically and morally. Suddenly America stood in front of the world as the dominant power. Seventy years following the end of World War II, America is in a “valley of trouble.” It does not understand the depth of the peril it faces. Two world wars in 34 years had reshaped the global map.
After six years of battle and the loss of many millions of lives, the Axis powers of Germany and Japan surrendered to Allied forces. Seventy years ago the guns in Europe and Asia fell silent as World War II concluded.
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