Labor issues The war had smoothed over former ideological antagonisms separating American capitalists and the American workers … bringing Depression-scorned capitalism back into national favor … but also labor union membership and labor wages growth also to new heights.  And war-time patriotism had kept both groups working in harmony.  But now with the war over, old attitudes began to resurface … especially with the huge concern over the direction America's post-war economy might take.  What now would happen when the postwar world no longer needed the goods produced by America's massive war industry?  And what would the "boys coming home" from the war find by way of work?  Would America sink back into the Great Depression? Indeed, during the period 1945-1946, America was hit with a wave of labor union strikes, involving around five million workers – angry at the job reductions that accompanied the shutting down of America's industrial war machine.  But a number of factors would quickly bring America out of this contentious mood … well in advance of the developments found elsewhere in the postwar world.  It was a similar labor turmoil abroad that America was witnessing that began to put questions in American minds … as it became increasingly clear that this labor strife was not just about jobs – but about political takeovers … notably by the Moscow-directed Communists, active everywhere.  American labor definitely did not want to be identified with any of that … especially when the Cold War began to crank up (1947 and after). Republican Party gains Actually, this played strongly into the hands of "Middle America" … and also fed the huge Republican Party sweep of post-war elections across the country – and brought Congress under a strong Republican Party majority.  And that in turn led to the passage in 1947 of the Taft-Hartley Act, overturning the pro-labor Wagner Act of 1935 and placing America's labor unions under a number of restrictions.  Truman vetoed the bill … but Congress's 2/3rds vote overrode his veto.1 The G.I. Bill But a kinder approach to the unemployment problem had already been put in place with the passage of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 – popularly known as the "G.I. Bill."  The government offered veterans free education – either college or technical school – covering both tuition and expenses.  This gave returning G.I.s ("Government Issue"!) a great alternative to unemployment … actually building considerably America's skill-level nationally.  It was a very wise government investment … and a way for young Americans to achieve the American dream:  to train for work that would bring them to full membership in Middle America.   The huge consumer market Also, and most importantly, American industry was quick to turn to the mass production of low-cost consumer goods … ones whose production had been abruptly halted with America's entry into the war in order to focus American industry on war production.  For instance, virtually no American automobile production took place during the war years (building trucks and tanks instead of sedans!).  Consequently, there was a huge buildup in the postwar demand for cars, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.  This was especially the case for single-family homes … which in the post-war period were constructed in the thousands, hundreds of thousands even!  Low interest mortgages and personal loans (again, thanks to the G.I. Bill) made all this very accessible to young Americans.  This dynamic also reached deeply down into America's labor segment … which also very quickly saw for itself the open path to Middle American membership … softening considerably American labor-management tensions.  Thus Middle America, which now included most all Americans (except most tragically, American Blacks), found itself flying high. Vets and Boomers Something else that had been put aside during the war were marriages among young Americans.  But with the return from the war of hundreds of thousands of veterans – or "Vets" as they can be properly termed as a generation-group – that shortfall was corrected immediately!  And with that (beginning at least 9 months later!) there occurred a huge explosion in the number of births in America … a literal "Baby Boom." But this would produce a new generation of young Americans who would differ greatly – radically so – from their parents in how they understood and went at life.  The parents of these "Baby Boomers" – the "Vets" – were a tough breed … having their own growing-up years take place during the Great Depression.  And then as young adults, they were called to intense patriotic duty in the war ... offering themselves, even the possibility of forfeiting their lives, in service to the nation's call.  Indeed … these Vets would come to be identified (and rightly so) as "the Greatest Generation" – providing the last huge step in bringing America itself to greatness. But their Boomer children will come to know virtually nothing of such larger social service … growing up materially in the very best of times, lacking nothing, even indulged greatly by their Vet parents – who remember their own shortages and suffering in their younger years … and want none of that for their children.  Thus the Boomers will grow up (entering adulthood in the mid-1960s) as a very "entitled" generation … naturally assuming that life will always owe them the kind of security and material payoff they experienced growing up.  Self-sacrificing for the greater good will not register with them.  Their world will center on themselves, their personal rights, their personal freedoms.  Society will just have to take care of itself.  Better yet, the government can do that for them.  To the Boomer, that becomes the very purpose of government:  to continue to provide the care they experienced at home growing up.  Somehow this is what life owed them. On the other hand, having just gone through the most challenging of times, the Vets made no assumptions that they themselves were automatically entitled to life's blessings ... or that they personally held the solutions to life's challenges.  The design of the war, the nation's economy, society itself, they understood as belonging in higher hands ... their officers, their president (and his men), even their corporate bosses and local officials.  However, the Vets were most willing to "do their part" in supporting the effort of those above them to meet those challenges.   Thus they were intensely loyal to and supremely supportive of those whom they were called to serve.   Typically (and quite unlike their Boomer offspring), they would also live in the same community, work the same job until retirement, and hold true to their spouses for a lifetime. American Christianity But ultimately, life itself was understood by the Vets as belonging to an even higher authority … to a sovereign God.  And just as they had put on a uniform to serve their country, they continued to offer loyal service to God through obedient service to Jesus Christ (and the Church) – in how they saw that they were expected to live out their lives.  The Vets faithfully attended church on Sundays.  Sunday was, after all, the Lord's Day … and most everything else, except most notably the restaurants where they could take lunch after church, was thus closed on Sundays.   But the same held true at the higher levels of American society.  American businessmen had taken up the practice of holding prayer breakfasts – all the way back in the troubled days of the Depression.  Likewise, this same businessmen's prayer-breakfast phenomenon had continued during the war.  And political leaders (including numerous U.S. Congressmen) either joined them or set up their own prayer breakfasts … also understanding that the huge challenges they faced needed God to go ahead of them to open and shut the necessary doors that laid in their paths – paths that only God could see clearly.  But their faith was such that they had full confidence that their trust in God would get them where they needed to get.  Indeed, they truly lived the American motto "In God We Trust."2 1But then Truman himself during the remainder of his presidency would use the Taft-Hartley Act twelve times in his own confrontation with American unions. 2In fact, the Vet generation made "In God We Trust" the nation's official motto in 1957 … although the phrase had been in active use since the mid-1800s – especially during the Civil War, when the North's Battle Hymn of the Republic was about God's truth and justice going on before them. Levittown - Long Island - home for more than 17,000 families – late 1940s Rapid suburban housing growth in the post-war years in America. Housing starts jumped from 114,000 in 1944 to 1.7 million in 1950 Suburban family in Levittown, New York. A young American post-war family living on the GI Bill of Rights – 1947. Charles Smayda's wife irons while he studies for his courses at the University of Iowa, his bills paid for by Uncle Sam.  In just the first 20 years of the GI Bill of Rights (1944-1964), 10 million former servicemen were able to attend college and 6.2 million able to buy their own homes. POST-WAR GREAT BRITAIN Britain's post-war economy was a grand mess.  German bombing had destroyed or deeply damaged Britain's inventory of homes, industrial and commercial buildings, airports, shipping ports, railroads, roads, bridges, etc. … in short, the fundamental infrastructure on which modern life depends.  And government funds available to rebuild that infrastructure were just not there … especially after funding coming from America's Lend-Lease Program – funds or goods (over $30 billion) that had helped Britain conduct its war effort – was terminated in 1945.   And with the war over, there would be many young soldiers looking for civilian employment … at a time when the British economy seemed deeply stalled.  A high level of unemployment – and probably accompanying labor strife – was a great possibility facing postwar Britain. According to the economic theories put forward by the economist John Maynard Keynes – theories that Britain (and most of the West) had been following since the mid-1930s – this situation indicated that it was time for the government to step in and take over the task of rebuilding those infrastructure items … not just public roads and buildings but even family housing.  But where would the funds be coming from that would finance just such an effort?  Raising taxes on an impoverished citizenry was definitely out of the question. And even to the extent that the government could finance some rebuilding … where were the basic materials going to come from?  The industries that provided such basic materials were themselves in massive disrepair.  Even food to feed the working population and their families was short … strangely shorter than what it had been during the course of the war itself.  Almost every food item was now in short supply … and thus food rationing would have to be deepened further in meeting the most basic needs of the British citizenry. Then there was the matter of Britain's commitments abroad … naturally expected of what was supposed to be a "great power."  The British government was responsible not only for the care of its own citizens, it was handed the responsibility of getting the British portion of occupied Germany up and running.   And for Germany it was not a matter of little food available.  It was a matter of no food available for the Germans under British jurisdiction.  Indeed, British domestic rationing even of bread was necessary in order to feed a starving German society. And of course there were the long-standing responsibilities of empire … something that offered Britain great prestige – but seemingly little else at a time of enormous shortages.  How could the expenses of managing a huge empire abroad be justified in the face of these shortages at home?  This would be a very big point of political debate within the British Parliament. Attlee's Socialist program Although Attlee was a deeply committed Socialist at heart, as Vice Chancellor under Churchill, he had toned down much of Socialism's anti-capitalist rhetoric.  Now as Chancellor, he focused on putting some basic social services in place, ones he had promised his supporters during the war.  Actually in this matter, Churchill had been himself in general agreement.  Thus one of the first things Attlee got up and running was the extension by way of the National Insurance Act (1946) of welfare support for the unemployed, for the sick or disabled, for retirees, and for family child support.   Then he undertook an even greater challenge in bringing the British health care industry under government management … offering the British citizens free "cradle to grave" health care (dental and eye care not covered however).  He was able to answer the strong opposition posed at first by the medical profession by offering doctors the right to continue to run private practices – while hospitals and major health centers came under full governmental management (its National Health Service) in 1948.   And the pharmaceutical industry was brought under governmental regulation in terms of its pricing of drugs, etc.  In this too he had the support not only of his Labour Party but also Churchill's Conservative Party. But being a Socialist, it was inevitable that Attlee would also want to take on capitalism's world of industry and finance … and "nationalize" it all.  Actually, much of that industrial world was not doing well … especially the coal industry which was at a point of bankruptcy when it was nationalized in 1946.  And the all-important Bank of England was taken out of the hands of private investors and simply made into an entirely government-directed operation (also 1946).  From that he moved on to bring Britain's international airlines under government management as the company, British European Airways (1946), similarly electrical and gas services under the British Electricity Authority and the Gas Council (1948), and railroads merged into a single government-run company, "British Railways" (1948).  In general, these actions received widespread British support. Where Attlee ran into trouble was his nationalizing of the British iron and steel industry in 1949 as the British Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain.  This industry had been running on its own … and quite profitably so!  Not only industrial owners but also the Conservative Party opposed this move strongly … although with Labour holding a strong majority in Parliament there really was very little that the opposition could do about this move. The social-cultural picture In many ways the social picture of Britain in the postwar years was not all that different from America's.  Home, family, community, and social-religious behavior remained quite traditional and quite central in importance.  And the rigorous requirements of getting through the recent war – and now the austerity of the postwar period – only strengthened those social instincts.  Even the feminism of the day was mostly about helping women operate a stronger home.  And the British considered themselves strongly Christian … not only in social performance but also in personal faith. But these same instincts will not be passed on to the next generation … also much like the situation in America.   But for the time being, the British will find themselves preoccupied with the challenge of just getting things back to normal as quickly as possible.  Britishers looking for coal – Feb. 1947 Cold, rundown mines and lack of transport made the fuel shortage worse than during the War THE NEW FRENCH FOURTH REPUBLIC The Provisional Government of the Republic of France With Paris just liberated and the Allied armies moving fairly quickly against the retreating Germans – and the flight (and capture) of French officials who had served in the Vichy Government – a new Provisional Government was set up in September of 1944 … formed basically from the French Committee of National Liberation headed by De Gaulle (in partnership with General Henri Giraud), the latter organization set up in London in June of 1943.  It was well understood by all that De Gaulle would head up the new Provisional Government … assigned the task of getting France back to normal – and coming up with a new Constitution. Bringing the Vichy French to justice There would have to be the Vichy legacy to deal with … both the individuals who directed that government and the matter of the legal standing of the laws enacted under that regime.  Even prior to the setup of the Provisional Government there had been thousands of acts of local "justice" … when possibly as many as 10,000 collaborators were killed – although the exact numbers are hard to come by.  In any case, some 300,000 individuals were brought to formal trial in the next years, with over 6,000 individuals sentenced to death … although only 791 executions were ever actually carried out.  Those executions included Pierre Laval, who served at various times as French prime minister during the 1930s … and who continued in that same capacity during the Vichy era.  And the heroic-tragic individual Pétain would be sentenced to death – but have his sentence commuted by De Gaulle to life imprisonment. The Provisional Government attempted to secure a line of legal legitimacy connected to France's Republican past (the former Third Republic) … but found passing that line through the Vichy era to be very tricky.  It finally dismissed the whole matter by simply declaring all acts issued by the Vichy government to be illegitimate and thus null and void – despite the Vichy government having actually been authorized legally by a popular referendum in 1940.  Was therefore France as a nation guilty or not for what had transpired during the Vichy years?  The answer was to be "not guilty." Constituting a new Fourth Republic Elections were held in October of 1945 to either restore the old Third Republic – or form a new constituent assembly to design a new, Fourth Republic.  The results were that 96% of the voters were in favor of forming a new constitution.  In the same vote the French Communist Party, headed by Maurice Thorez, secured 26% of the vote and thus the same percentage of seats in a new constituent assembly.  The Socialist SFIO (French Section of the Worker's International), headed by Guy Mollet, gained nearly 24% of the vote.  And the Centrist/Catholic MRP (Popular Republican Movement), headed by Robert Schuman, gained nearly 25% of the vote.  These three parties then decided simply to work together as a governing coalition.  Now the country could get to the task of designing a new French Republic. It became quickly apparent that the coalition partners wanted to see basically a continuation of the structure of the Third Republic … run by a very "democratic" National Assembly, one that represented exactly the variation and spread of France's numerous political groupings.   This was exactly what De Gaulle did not want to see happen.  He was hoping to see a government directed by a strong presidential figure (with guess who as that president!) … not by an assembly made up of a confusing array of various parties, small groups constantly coalescing and then breaking up over every matter that the French government was assigned to deal with.  French governments of the Third Republic seemed to last only months – not years - making for political instability and weakness.  De Gaulle pointed out that this was the very same arrangement that had crippled the French Third Republic when faced with the growing dangers in the 1930s of both Stalin's Communism and Hitler's Fascism.  But he got nowhere with those elected to decide this matter.  To most of the French, democracy and parliamentary government were totally synonymous.  Indeed, he was even accused of being a latter-day Bonapartist … seeking like the former Napoleons to want to direct the nation personally.  Being thus spurned, he withdrew from French leadership in January of 1946. Then the first draft of a new constitution, put before the French voters in May, found itself actively opposed by the Gaullists – but also by the centrist MRP and by conservative voters – because it provided for only a single legislative body … dismissing a Senate as a second and possibly counterbalancing parliamentary body.  In any case, the voters turned down the new constitutional proposal. Consequently, a second round of elections for another constituent assembly was held the next month.  This election however strengthened the Catholic and centrist MRP somewhat, also (but only slightly) the Communists, but weakened the Socialist SFIO a bit. And it restored the role of a second chamber or Senate in the new Republic.  But it still made the President simply a symbolic figure – as he had been in France's Third Republic – with France's executive power held in the hands of a prime minister … someone supported in power (usually briefly) by an ever-changing array of political coalitions.  But this time, when the proposal was put before the French that October, it was approved - despite De Gaulle's active opposition.  But it was approved only by 53% of the voters, with 31% actually failing to vote at all.  Not a good start. De Gaulle would go on to create his own political party, the Rally of the French People (RPF) in April of 1947 … hoping yet to get some kind of revision of the constitution more in line with his own thinking.  The RPF did fairly well, particularly in the local municipal elections.  But it would never acquire the dominating vote needed by De Gaulle to do the constitutional work he was hoping to see.  The MRP seemed unable to hang onto the centrist/conservative support that De Gaulle was hoping would swing behind his RPF. Getting France back up and running again Like Britain, France had been hit hard by the war … especially as the battles raged across the land after the Normandy landing in June of 1944.  Much of the country's infrastructure, factories and housing was laid waste. Getting the French economy back in proper order was going to be very expensive … at a time that France's wealth was deeply depleted.  Its overall national income in 1945 was estimated to be only half of what it was in 1929 … just prior to the beginning of the Great Depression. America's Lend-Lease assistance ended in mid-1945 and a Republican-controlled Congress was not interested in sending more money abroad (at least at this point).  That was a shock to the French economy.  However, America did rather immediately extend to France some $2 billion in loans, which certainly helped. The French government – like most of Europe's governments – tended to see an economic comeback in the government's nationalization of the country's various industries … in order to put them under a larger developmental program and not just under individualistic entrepreneurial development, as America tended to go at things.  We have seen how this was the case in Attlee's Britain … although actually the French had started down this path even before the start of World War Two … with the nationalizing in 1937 of France's unprofitable railroad industry.  Elements of the armaments and aeronautics industries were also nationalized during that same period.   In any case, the need for planned redevelopment seemed so natural to the French that the program of nationalization put in place after the war by Jean Monnet, head of the French Planning Commission, met generally with French approval.  Thus the gas and electricity sectors were nationalized in 1946 … with the nationalizing of the country's coal and steel industries – as well as its banking and insurance industries – following soon thereafter.  However other industries – car, oil, and pharmaceuticals, for instance – were judged to be able to restore themselves … and thus were left out of the nationalization program. But – as elsewhere in Europe – France was hit hard by a fall in its economy in 1947 … a huge drought and consequently the worst harvest in 150 years – and massive inflation due to rapidly rising demand greatly exceeding available supply.  Not surprisingly, France would be hit (much like the rest of Western Europe) by workers' discontent … reaching riotous levels by late April of 1947. This in turn potentially played well into Communist hands.  But this quite visible possibility of Communism's expansion across Western Europe also stirred America to take a strong counteraction:  the Marshall Plan (1948).  Just under $3 billion was eventually extended by America to France as purely a gift – but accompanied by expectations of a carefully planned use of the gift … not really a problem for the French, who were already heading down that path!  This Marshall Plan aid helped France enormously to get its economy back up and running … and defuse the worker unrest – the primary reason for the aid in the first place!   Pétain on trial – July-August 1945 General Charles De Gaulle and his postwar Provisional Government of the French Republic – November 1945 French Communist leader Maurice Thorez (right), Vice Premier in post-war France – Dec. 1946 ITALY REBUILDS A republic instead of a monarchy Much like France having to deal with the legacy of the Vichy government, Italy had to deal with the legacy of its King Victor Emmanuel III having been a close ally of Mussolini since 1922 when the king asked Mussolini and his Fascists to take charge of Italy's government.  That alliance, having continued during the early days of the war, only made the king an Italian traitor in the eyes of many Italians.   However, with the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943, the king forced Mussolini to step down from his position … and then signed an armistice with the Allies.  The Germans were not happy about this … and struck back at the post-Mussolini Italian government, forcing the king and his government to have to flee south to Allied lines … and allowing the Germans to set up a puppet state in German-held northern Italy under Mussolini – once they had rescued him from prison. But the king found himself frequently in disagreement with the Allied commanders.   Thus in June of 1944 he turned most of his activities over to his son Umberto. … and distanced himself from all the political dynamics of the day. The very depth of the wartime destruction of Italy however only heightened the bitterness of many Italians toward their government … and the king, hoping to save the monarchy, formally abdicated his throne to Umberto (May 1946) … at the same time promising to call for a national referendum on this matter of monarchy versus republic.  But the referendum, held only a month later, went 54% in favor of a republic.  Both he and his son then went into exile. But it was a very close election, with some questions about the results … and indicating a sharp division in Italy on the matter, the industrial North highly supportive of a republic and the rural South highly supportive of the monarchy.  But the decision in favor of a republic would stand nonetheless. What shaped up next followed lines very similar to France's … representation to the Constituent Assembly being made up heavily of Communists (19%), Socialists (21%), Christian Democrats (37%) … and an array of a number of smaller conservative parties. The shape of the final constitution was also similar to France's:  a bicameral legislature or Parliament of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, with the government actually in the hands of a prime minister and his ministerial council (or cabinet).  The president (elected by the legislature) would hold mostly just ceremonial powers. Cleansing Italy of the Fascist legacy Needless to say there would be serious reprisals taken against those who had supported the Fascist regime.  But this would be a very complicated matter because Fascist membership had been an absolute requirement of anyone wanting to hold a job in the major professions.  And the Italian resistance had not been that fair in its handling of its opponents either.  Many of them had to be arrested as well. Nonetheless, some 15,000 individuals were purged, even killed … and like the French, any woman having relations with a German during the war years (often necessary to secure food for a girl's family) was humiliated by having her hair shaved off and being displayed in the streets as a traitor-prostitute.   But the new regime, under Christian Democrat leader Alcide De Gasperi,3 opposed this dynamic … and the Communist minister of justice Palmiro Togliatti was given the lead in this matter.  And things then settled down in Italy … pleasing the occupying Allied authorities greatly. Trying to get Italy back to normal And like France, economic conditions in Italy were horrible because of all the fighting that took place on Italian soil.  Then too there was some "punishment" delivered to Italy for its pro-Fascist role in the war … Italy losing territory as payoff to its neighbors, particularly the Yugoslavs.  The award of sections of northeast Italy to Yugoslavia produced the emigration of 200,000 to 300,000 Italians from the areas awarded to Yugoslavia … worsening the economic picture for an Italy that was already having trouble feeding its population.   And it lost all of its colonial holdings. And like France, Italy would go through intense labor strife in the May-June general strike of 1947. But then (beginning also in 1948) it would receive Marshall Plan aid totaling $1.2 billion … helping Italy move into a period of phenomenal economic growth (beginning around 1950 and continuing another 20 years). 3But unlike France, Italy would get the continuing service of its prime minister De Gasperi from 1945 all the way to 1953 … stabilizing Italian politics greatly. Italy, despite its dropping out of the war earlier, still finds life very hard Hunger in Palermo, Sicily Homeless orphaned sisters on a street in Rome Toni Frissell - courtesy of Frissell Collection, Library of Congress Italy's postwar political coalition – and rivals:  Christian Democrat Alcide de Gasperi (rear left), Socialists Pietro Nenni (third from left) and Communist Palmiro Togliatti (right) – Rome December 1945 SOME OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE NEW EUROPEAN "WEST" The Netherlands During the war, the Dutch had been as active as possible against the Japanese, at least in the early stages of the war.  But they could neither replace their naval losses in battleships (although their submarines survived and continued to serve) nor resupply their troops in Indonesia … and lost out to the Japanese, who overran their Indonesian Empire.  The results of this would be horrible to the Dutch, both military and civilian, who were carried off to horrible work camps … and to the local Javanese, who were forced in the millions to work under the most horrible conditions for the Japanese (many women forced into prostitution as well).  Thus the high death rate in the Dutch East Indies. As for the situation in Europe, the Dutch had been hoping for either large reparations payments or the acquisition of German territory – reaching possibly as far as Germany's industrial Rhineland – in compensation for the destruction of both human life and social infrastructure.4   But with American rejection of the plan, that idea was quickly dropped.  The Dutch, like the French, had large numbers of both collaborators and members of the underground resistance … making it difficult at war's end to be sure of which role an individual might have actually played, because the resistance had to appear as collaborators in order to get vital information from – or even just survive – their German occupiers. Thankfully the Dutch royal family and parliamentary government had chosen to escape to Great Britain in May of 1940 … and serve the Allied effort from there for the duration of the war.  After the war, the royal family returned to the Netherlands to resume their former roles and a ministry was formed from among the London Dutch … making the postwar political situation in the Netherlands much less troubled than elsewhere. But still, economic conditions in the country were terrible … with little food available.  The harsh winter of 1944-1945 … and German reprisals against the Dutch helping the Allies liberating their land (food and supplies cut off in the lands still under German occupation) did not help matters any.  And thus some 50,000 Dutch civilians died of starvation or cold and disease that winter. Even with the end of the war, deep rationing was required … and the Dutch were encouraged to emigrate – some half million going mostly to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Catholic People's Party directed the government (1946-1948) in coalition with the Socialist Labor Party … undertaking the challenge of getting the Dutch economy back up and running – and the Dutch East Indies back under Dutch control5 … both of them almost impossible tasks. Belgium Belgium had laid across Germany's path in its effort to conquer France … and Belgium had paid a huge price.  Likewise, Belgium lay across the Allied path on its way to the conquest of Nazi Germany … and again paid a huge price for that. Belgium also suffered from the fact that many Belgians collaborated with their Nazi occupiers, whereas others were very active in Belgium's resistance movement.  Tragically, this collaboration/resistance dualism tended somewhat (though not exactly) to follow Belgium's ethnic dualism – long-dividing the country along north (Dutch-speaking Flanders) and south (French-speaking Wallonia) lines. But the Germans had been very oppressive to both groups … taxing the Belgians for German war operations to a point that very little was left for Belgium's maintenance itself.  Also some 375,000 Belgians worked in German factories … half that number having signed up for such work and half being conscripted after the 1941 conscription order. Of course Allied bombs made no distinction as to German workers and conscripted foreign workers … and many Belgians died as a result.  Also Allied bombing of strategic sites in Belgium created unintended civilian casualties (as it did also in France and the Netherlands). Thus, coming out of the war, Belgium had some major issues to face.  Not only did the country have to deal with the problems of hunger, homelessness and unemployment, it again had to deal with those cultural/linguistic sensitivities dividing the north and south of Belgium … made worse by the question as to what to do about Belgian King Leopold III. Leopold had defied his government's demands to take his government to London, but instead remained in Belgium to continue to lead his military.  Ultimately, there was no way he and his army could hold off the Germans and he and his army were forced to surrender.  At that point his government fled to London … and Leopold came under house arrest at his royal palace. To many Belgians (and others, including Churchill), Leopold's behavior seemed to be a cowardly – as well as unconstitutional – act (defying the will of his government).  This was especially so when compared to the continuing anti-German inspiration offered by the Dutch royal family from their position in London.  However, Leopold actually used whatever influence he still commanded to get Hitler to back off from his plans to deport a half-million women and children to work in German munitions factories.  He also visited Hitler to plead for the freeing of Belgian prisoners of war. After the war there was a huge dispute within Belgium as to whether or not to continue with Leopold as king.  Leopold and his young family went into exile in Switzerland … while the debate over his rightful status continued.  Clearly, the Flemings wanted him back, and the Walloons wanted him gone.  Finally the matter was submitted to a national referendum in 1950, Leopold then narrowly being confirmed in his role by a 57% favorable vote.  But that vote was divided, 70% of the Flemings in favor and only 42% of the Walloons willing to see him resume his royal role. On returning to Belgium in July of 1950, he was met by a huge general strike, with three people killed and the country looking as if it were moving to some kind of civil war.  Thus in August – to spare the country from further turmoil – Leopold announced his decision to step down and have his son Baudouin replace him the coming July (1951).  Belgium could now move on to other matters. Denmark Denmark, recognizing its own vulnerability (no land barriers between itself and Germany) had agreed to Hitler's offer of a non-aggression pact in 1939 … and then tried to remain as neutral as possible when war finally broke out.  Thus Danish resistance was slight when the Germans took possession of the country in order to open a German path to a resistant Norway. At this point, the British – deeply concerned about the status of the North Atlantic – took control of the Danish colony of Iceland (1940) … ultimately sparking the decision of Iceland to declare its independence in 1944. At first, Hitler allowed King Christian X and the Danish parliament (its Folketing) to continue in power … at least partially so – as the Danish Communist Party was expelled when Hitler opened his war with Russia in 1941.  And the Danish police mostly remained a national force … although some 2,000 police who resisted Nazi oversight were sent off to concentration camps. By 1943, the Danish government was tired of the game … and simply resigned, with the Germans then taking over the Danish government themselves. At about this same time Denmark was able secretly to send most of its 7,800 Jews to safety in Sweden … where neutrality in the war was seriously upheld. Ultimately, Denmark was spared the destruction that hit so much of Europe … and found the postwar period to be more or less a continuation of things.  But therefore Denmark appeared to be a hopeful place of refuge for thousands of German DPs who flooded Denmark at the war's end.  But a huge death rate accompanied those who arrived very weak and sick – over 13,000 dying … of whom more than a half were children under five. Sweden Sweden remained "neutral" during the war … preserving that neutrality from Hitlerian ambitions by selling precious iron ore to German steel plants during the war.  That was a matter of great importance to Germany. Sweden did help save its image after the war by its help in receiving Jewish refugees from Denmark and Norway during the war … although the numbers involved were relatively small in comparison to the larger count of European Jews finding themselves in deep danger. Unfortunately also for its standing, officially it offered rather small support to its neighboring Finland (actually once a part of Sweden itself) in the Finns' attempt to ward off the attack by Soviet Russians in 1939.   Sweden did send military supplies to the Finns … and some 8,000 Swedes took it upon themselves to join the fight on the Finnish side.  And then it did take in some 70,000 Finnish children attempting to escape Soviet control during the war years. Towards the end of the war, its "neutrality" began to swing to the Allied side in the way it allowed Norwegians to receive military training in its country and how it allowed American planes to use Swedish air bases to attack German positions in Norway (early-1944 and after). Norway Norway was another matter … because the Norwegians tried very, very hard to hold back the assaulting Germans.  And even when the Germans were able to position themselves at strategic points in and around Norway, the Norwegians continued to conduct underground warfare against their occupiers.  It was savage at times. Worse, Norway was theoretically controlled by a collaborationist government, headed by Vidkun Quisling, a government that the Norwegians would come to hate deeply.  Quisling and his "Quislings" (now a term of contempt for such traitors) cooperated actively with the Fascists … including sending Norwegian Jews to German death camps. There existed also a Norwegian government-in-exile (Socialist or Laborite), plus the royal family of King Haakon VII, all located in London.  Thus those hostile to the Quisling regime had something to rally around.   At war's end Quisling and the "Quislings" would be tried and sentenced  ... many to death (such as Quisling himself). And the Socialist character of the returned government naturally  inclined it towards a social program of government ownership of Norway's vast natural resources … plus a commitment to cradle-to-grave governmental care … making Norway a leader in this kind of social policy. Spain Spain stayed neutral during World War Two … and Hitler was willing to keep things that way for the duration of the war – especially as Spanish dictator Francisco Franco diplomatically had strong pro-Hitler sentiments.   The Nazis and Mussolini's Fascists had, after all, helped Franco's own rise to power.   But Franco was no fool, and made it clear that Spain would not allow any expansion of Hitler's Reich into Spanish territory.  Franco also knew that any actual move in support of Germany would bring British reprisals … especially coming from British-held Gibraltar – Gibraltar considered a matter of absolute necessity to the British Empire.  Spain was just recovering from its violent civil war (1936-1939), and Franco knew that Spain was thus in no position to take on the British.  Also, the threat of the withholding of American oil sales if Franco betrayed his "neutrality" was a sobering matter to Franco. He did however help the Germans to the extent that he sent a full division of his troops to help Germany fight Soviet Russia when fighting broke out between those two powers in 1941.  But he made it clear that they were to be used only to fight Communist Russia … and nobody else. But as the war advanced – particularly after the Germans and Italians were defeated in North Africa in mid-1942 – Franco began to shift his "neutrality" to the Allied side … at least to the extent of ending further aid to Germany's cause. But he ultimately paid a price for his "neutrality" … at first not being allowed to join the pro-Allied United Nations.  Indeed, Spain underwent diplomatic isolation … at least until the mid-1950s, when the Cold War was running quite strongly and Franco's anti-Communism appeared more appealing to an anti-Communist West. 4For instance, the Germans had literally leveled Rotterdam to the ground in their attack on the city in May of 1940 …  and had required some half million men to work as forced-labor in German factories.  Also the Germans had wiped out whole villages in reprisal against actions undertaken by the Dutch Resistance. 5With the surrender of the Japanese government in August of 1945, the Japanese military authorities in the Dutch East Indies helped to organize an anti-Dutch Javanese independence movement led by Sukarno … as simply a piece of final reprisal against their European enemies. Attempts to build a post-war peace The General Assembly of the United Nations meets in London - 1946 United Nations Headquarters - New York City Eleanor Roosevelt – Truman's representative at the United Nations United Nations Go on to the next section:  The Stalinization of East Europe   Miles H. Hodges