military aid and occupation, the growing threat of the Soviet Union and China led to American defense spending remaining high. Tensions heightened further as the Soviet Union helped the communists win the ongoing civil war in China, resulting in China becoming a communist country in 1949.Īs Europe and Asia slowly recovered from World War II and no longer needed direct U.S.
This created the popular term for characterizing the divide between a democratic West and an authoritarian, communist East. Upset at the USSR for refusing to allow Eastern Europe to return to independence, former British prime minister Winston Churchill made a speech in March 1946 declaring that an “ iron curtain” had fallen across Europe. The Soviets claimed that they needed a buffer zone between themselves and Germany to prevent any future aggression like the infamous German invasion of 1941. Alarmingly, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin did not appear to be upholding an agreement to allow nations in Eastern Europe to return to independence.Ī map of Eastern Europe showing satellite states created by the Soviet Union to serve as a buffer zone against potential future German aggression, via School History Although the Soviet Union had been an ally during the war, it remained committed to spreading communism internationally.
And third, there remained an ominous potential threat from the Soviet Union.
A second reason was domestic pressure to protect the recently-enlarged defense industry. One reason was that the US now had to occupy and administrate captured and re-captured territories in western Europe and the Pacific. Defense spending soared, rising to as much as 40% of America’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 1945.Īfter the war ended with an Allied victory, defense spending remained high. Factories went from making civilian goods, such as passenger automobiles, to military goods, like trucks and tanks, virtually overnight. engaged in full mobilization, also known as total war. When the United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, it committed its entire industrial production to the fight. Before the Cold War: World War II & Tremendous Military Spending Bombers being built during World War II, via the Reconomics Institute
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