Life in Historical Context the

Life in Historical Context The Second World War brought significant changes on the face of earth and in the diplomatic relations of the countries. Many countries ended their centuries old affiliations and many entered into agreement after experiencing the destruction of war. This paper gives an idea whether the Second World War brought changes in the political and economic face of Japan. The love of power has always forced human beings to attack other human beings and make them slaves.

The powerful people enter into hostile relations with weaker entities and impose their supremacy. The resistance to surrender on part of other group has led to further aggravation of hostile relations and it has paved way for wars. History has witnessed two world wars in the 20th century. The World War I started in 1914 and lasted till 1918[footnoteRef:2]. The world was not free from the destructive outcomes of the First World War[footnoteRef:3] when the Second World War started in 1939.

It lasted till 1945 and the end of war brought significant changes in the international scene. The changes were significant not only for the countries participating in the World War II but also the allies who were drastically affected because of their alliances and affiliations with war participants.

[2: David Stevenson, 1914-1918: the history of the First World War (USA: Penguin, 2004).] [3: John Turner, Britain and the First World War (Australia, Unwim Human Ltd., 1988), 70-85.] After the Great War, many historians analysed the situation of the world and gave varying opinions about the changes it brought to the world. Andrew Gordon was a historian who came across the analysis of people about the destruction caused by the World War II.

He critically analysed the views of people and presented his own opinion that history has witnessed even more catastrophic period than the World War II. He criticised the opinion of historians who believed that 1945 was a historical rupture or divide. In order to support his argument, he took the case study of Japan in which the political, economic and many other matters remained the same in the three decades of 1930's to 1950s.

These decades had six years of the Great War but Japan was not affected by the consequences of war. Based on this fact, Andrew Gordon tried to lessen the impression that the World War II was the most critical period in the history. This paper is written with the objective to evaluate the point-of-view of Andrew Gordon. As there are arguments both in favour and against his statement, it is difficult to determine in objective grounds whether Japan was affected by the end of World War II or not.

The researcher and author of this paper takes one position i.e. disagreement with the view of Andrew Gordon and support the opinion that the end of Second World War led to major changes in the world. These changes were related to lost popularity of USA on international platform[footnoteRef:4], the wake up of Europeans to unite under the common platform of European Union and attention of international bodies to devise policies which could combat the possibility of war.

Particularly speaking in the context of economic growth, the world witnessed remarkable progress as technological revolution was started and countries had understood the need to have independent economy so that they cannot be defeated by other countries. High economic growth was witnessed in Europe, USA and Japan as well. [4: Peter Duus and Kenji Hasegawa, Rediscovering America (USA: University of California Press, 2011).] The overview of Japanese tradition and their consumption patterns show that Japan made high development in economy and industry[footnoteRef:5].

Many quality tools were developed in Japan which proved to be worth following all over the world. The economy was booming by leaps and bounds hence Japan was assumed to be direct competitor of USA at many fronts. The changes were noted by the laymen in Japan particularly the farmers witnessed incredible changes in their lifestyle[footnoteRef:6] after the war ended in 1945.

[5: Wm Bary, Carol Gluck and Arthur Tiedemann, Sources of Japanese Tradition (USA: Columbia University Press, n.d.).] [6: Simon Partner, Toshie (USA: University of California Press, 2004).] Having discussed the points which are against the statement of Andrew Gordon, it is important to mention that there are many historians who have significant evidence in favour of his statement. The biggest evidence lies in the fact that the world divided into various blocks as it was before the Second World War.

The period between the two World Wars was terrible for governments and citizens as well. As people were expecting another war after the First World War, the expectations were not changed after the destruction of Second World War as well. People were afraid of another war that could cause more destruction than the combined one faced as a result of two World Wars. It was.