APEH: Post-WWII Rebuilding and the beginning of the Cold War

Obviously, the rebuild after WWII was difficult – destruction across the continent was horrible and it was the second time in 30 years or so that Europe had to deal with it. The death tolls after WWI and the fact that a whole generation of working people were decimated lead to economic problems – and the penalties of the Treaty of Versailles deeply exacerbated that.

There were more war casualties in WWII than WWI, and the civillian hit was significantly worse as well. This should explain why it was tough for Europe to initially recover:

Please take some time to view the Crash Course on Post WWII Europe and the start of the Cold War:

When you are done with the videos, please read Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech – it’s one of the most important speeches in 20th Century history. Churchill owns quite a few on that list.