Aftermath: The Makers of the Postwar World

In a single decade, between 1940 and 1950, the old world order collapsed, and a new one was created. Old European empires – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – receded, replaced by two new superpowers: the Soviet Union and the United States. This shift in power was accompanied by efforts to create a new form of diplomacy: internationalism, working through multilateral bodies such as the United Nations, the IMF and the European Coal and Steel Community. New concepts emerged, like human rights and decolonisation. But there were darker shadows too, cast by the onset of the Cold War: the failure to establish international controls on atomic energy, or the growth of the national security state and modern intelligence apparatus. Idealism and old fashioned power politics evolved into an uneasy cohabitation.