How World War II changed the world...
- Though this war resolved problems from World War I and symbolizes the end of the Great Depression, it also led to the Cold war (and thereby division of Korea, Germany, local wars in Vietnam and others)
- At the end of the war, millions of refugees were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and most of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed. As a result of it, World War II signaled the end of European imperialism. 
- There was an increased participation of women in the workforce (where they took the place of many men during the war years).
- The immense destruction wrought over the course of the war caused a sharp decline in the influence of the great powers. After the war, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States both became influential forces. The U.S. suffered very little during the war and because of military and industrial exports became a formidable manufacturing power. The USSR was, however, in a better economic and strategic position than any other continental European power.
- Japan became pacifist
- The war accelerated technology and brought new methods for fighting and killing to the later wars. The air forces improved greatly, such as air transport, strategic bombing (to use bombs to destroy industry and morale), as well as radar, and weapons for destroying aircraft. Jet aircrafts developed and would be used in worldwide air forces.
- Acceleration of regional nationalist movements and independance
- Because the League of Nations had failed to actively prevent the war, in 1945 a new international alliance was considered and then created, the United Nations (UN). The UN also was responsible for the initial recognition of the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, in part as a response to the Holocaust.
I hope I've answered your questions (if you have any) about the basics of World War II. If you think I haven't, or think that I should add something, do it here. :)
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