The Second World War, just like its predecessor, had devastating effects on humanity.
During this gruesome historical event, humanity came to a halt nations were pitted against each
other fighting for supremacy and survival. Countries aligned against others with neighbors
becoming foes leading to a bloodshed never witnessed before in world history. Notably, many
innocent nations and civilians were caught in the crossfire, which indicated that the war did not
discriminate whether one was a participant or a bystander. Although the war had numerous
consequences, this essay will look at only two of them. World War II caused millions of deaths
and casualties, and destroyed world economy then; although they are still in people’s memories,
today’s generations do not feel these effects.
World War II caused massive loss of lives coupled with millions of casualties, showing
that this event wiped out a significant portion of the world population. For instance, about 60
million people, both soldiers and civilians, died during this war (Ross, 2003). The number was
about 3 percent of the world population at the time, considering that global population was
estimated to be 2.3 billion people by 1940 (Ross, 2003). Additional 25 million people were
injured during this horrible event (Ross, 2003). The number of deaths and casualties during the
Second World War demonstrate this historical occurrence had far-reaching consequences on
humanity. For example, innocent children, women, and men were slay in the course of the war.
Furthermore, the war damaged global economy considering the number of industries,
infrastructure, property, and business relationships that were destroyed during the period the war
lasted. Industries in Europe were crippled with countries like the Great Britain, France,
Germany, and Russia reporting massive destruction of their infrastructure and industries (Ross,
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2003). Instead of continuing with production, nations had to rebuild their industries and
infrastructure. Unfortunately, most of the participants of this war had spent their wealth
financing it, including the cost of weapons, recruiting and training soldiers, and maintaining the
ongoing war (Ross, 2003). Thus, when the war concluded, most of these countries hardly had
enough to rebuild their economies.
Although today’s generation still remember of know the aforementioned consequences of
the Second World War, they do not feel their pinch considering the global peace measures that
have been put in place and the rebuilding efforts that have been made over the years. Following
this dreadful event, the United Nations was established to ensure world peace (Lukacs, 2010).
For instance, there has been relative world peace since this war, which consumed the lives of 60
million people (Lukacs, 2010). Additionally, countries like the UK, which were greatly affected
during the war, have rebuilt their infrastructure and industries (Lukacs, 2010). For that reason,
some of these nations have the best economies in the world despite suffering huge economic
setbacks during the war. Consequently, today’s generation barely feel these effects because they
cannot pinpoint them in their respective communities.
Clearly, World War II affected humanity in horrible ways, including loss of lives and
destruction of global economy. Millions of people lost their lives, while other were injured in the
course of the war. Similarly, industries and infrastructure were destroyed in countries that hosted
the war, with the world economy facing a huge setback. Nevertheless, the human race has learnt
from its previous mistakes and taken measures to prevent another threat to world peace by
establishing international organizations such as the UN aimed at fostering peace, unity, and
development.
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References
Lukacs, J. (2010). The legacy of the Second World War. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Ross, S. (2003). Causes and consequences of the First World War. London: Evans.