World War II: Difference between revisions
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== The Aftermath ==
World War II is over. The Americans and Soviets try to get the Chinese Nationalists and Communists to form a government together; unsurprisingly they fail, and after a further three years of civil war the Communists proclaim the [[People's Republic of Tyranny|Peoples' Republic of China]] in 1949, while the Nationalists retreat to [[Taiwan]]. As the tide of the war turns against the Nationalists, Churchill makes his 'Iron Curtain' speech and the Americans begin to see Communism as a real threat. After years of dithering, America speedily moves to invest in rebuilding the economies and militaries of Germany and Japan, changing the earlier program of peaceful 'nation-building' to create strong Allies.
The horrors of the Holocaust lead to the creation of the State of [[Israel]] in 1948 as a homeland for the Jewish nation in what had been British Palestine (thereby leading to the [[Arab-Israeli Conflict]]). Despite talks of unifying Germany, Austria and Korea under neutral democratic governments, [[Cold War|both countries and Europe as a whole become increasingly divided between the Soviet-dominated, dictatorial Communist East and the American-backed, eventually fairly democratic West.]] It is only in 1989 that the Communist '2nd world' crumbles from within and the regimes of eastern Europe go down in a series of revolutions. Germany is officially reunited the next year, largely bringing a close one of the most visible legacies of World War II.
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* [[Big Bulky Bomb]]: By the middle of the war, the Allies were dropping Blockbuster Bombs on target cities, so named because they could destroy an entire city block. The British also deployed the "Tallboy" and "Grand Slam", single high-explosive bombs that weighed in at 12,000 and ''22,000'' pounds respectively... they were essentially the over-sized and unguided predecessors of modern bunker-busters. By the end, the U.S. had developed—and deployed -- [[Atomic Hate|the first nuclear weapons]].
* [[The Big Guy]]: On a grand scale, the Soviet Union was this for the Allies, fighting over 80% of the German army.
* [[Black and White Morality]]: One of the few historical wars to still routinely get this treatment in fiction. The Axis were bad, the Allies were good. The reality was a lot closer to [[Black and Grey Morality]]; most of the Axis forces were most certainly bad by any sane measure, but the Allies ([[Token Evil Teammate|''especially'' Stalin]]
** It is kind of rare among wars, though, that in the aftermath no one argued the need to fight it. Even the losers seemed to agree they lost, fair and square.
* [[Blitz Evacuees]]
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* [[Those Wacky Nazis]]: [[Trope Codifier]].
* [[Token Evil Teammate]]: This being [[War Is Hell|a war]], [[Black and Gray Morality|nobody]] was really morally ideal, but the Allies were decidedly less evil than the Axis... well, except for the Soviet Union, a mass-murdering totalitarian dictatorship who were only in because Hitler [[Stupid Evil|tried to conquer them]].
* [[Token Good Teammate]]: Finland was this to the Axis. A democratic, non-fascist, non-racist country which was only fighting to retake their territory from the Soviets. Of course, the fact that they did this alongside Hitler was a bit of a moral gray spot; they were merely caught between two monsters.
** Just to specify how strange Finland was among the other Axis powers: The Finns had many Jews in their army who fought alongside Nazi volunteers. The only thing that united them, really, was the goal of defending Finland from invasion.
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