“All wars signify the failure of conflict resolution mechanisms, and they need post-war rebuilding of faith, trust and confidence”– A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
This year marks exactly eight decades since the surrender of Nazi-Germany in world war 2 and the conclusion of history’s most devastating conflict on 8th May 1945. The war accounted for severe hunger, unimaginable destructions and deaths. About 80 million casualties were recorded during the course of the war.
For the first time in history, mankind witnessed the use of nuclear weapons after America surprised Japan with the ‘little boy’ atomic bomb (with a blast yield of 15,000 tons of trinitoleune) on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
WWII exposed the world to the horrors of conflict. It also reminded everyone of the essence of prioritizing peace and global stability. Therefore, there was a widespread appeal for the powers that emerged victorious to foster a sense of goodwill among each other as well as with the rest of the world in avoidance of further conflicts.
Quite the contrary happened, unfortunately.
A deep sense of mistrust and a ravenous appetite for dominance after WWII prevented some allied powers from building healthy relations. The relationship between the West and their most important wartime ally, the Soviet Union, grew hostile after the defeat of Nazism.
The Soviet Union had the most profound impact on the victory of the Allied Powers. The resilience of the Red Army in the eastern front proved decisive in defeating the Nazis.
Regardless, the danger of an immediate postwar confrontation between the west and the Soviet Union was looming. The UK Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, had carved a classified blueprint for ‘operation unthinkable’ – a planned aggression on the Soviet Union.
Churchill and other western leaders were gravely concerned about the ambitions and rapid growth of the Soviets’ sphere of influence in eastern Europe. The operation unthinkable proposed as a consolidated western offensive to end the spread of communism in Europe.
The operation was later given up on, probably on grounds of feasibility.
Meanwhile, the rise in tensions between the western and eastern blocs heighten and paved way to the formation of military alliances. In 1949, the US and its western allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The NATO alliance started with twelve members – the US, Canada, Belgium, UK, Italy, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, France and Luxembourg.
In May 1955, the Soviet Union also signed the Warsaw Pact with some eastern European countries – Albania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and East Germany. The objective of the Warsaw Treaty Organization was to counteract the US-led NATO.
It was quite horrifying that just a decade after the end of the deadliest conflict in mankind has ever known; at a time the world was still nurturing its wounds and dealing with the harsh remnants of WWII, the world had already been divided into two opposing blocs with powerful military organizations backing each.
By the end of 1955, NATO had fifteen member states after Turkey, Greece and West Germany joined the initial twelve. The Warsaw Treaty Organization, on the other hand, comprised of eight member states. The two military organizations had a combined number of twenty-three countries.
A confrontation between the two blocs would have resulted in another world war with the potential of spelling far greater doom on the planet.
Tensions between the US and the Soviet Union continued to rise as the years went by. Thankfully, the threat of a mutually assured destruction prevented a direct confrontation between the two superpowers.
However, it paved way for alarming proportions of proxy wars. Between 1950-1953, the Korean war was fought between the US-backed South Korea and the Soviet and China-backed North Korea. The war recorded an estimated 3 million deaths.
In 1954-1975, the Vietnam war between North Vietnam (with the help of pro-communist South Vietnamese organization, Viet Cong), and the US-backed South Vietnam resulted in about 2 million and 1.5 million civilian and military casualties respectively.
The Afghanistan war, Angolan civil war and the Cuban missile crisis – notorious for drawing the world to the brink of a nuclear showdown between the US and the Soviet Union – are among the post-world war proxy wars that disturbed world peace during the 20th Century.
Proxy wars did not end in the 20th century but have continued to exist in the 21st. Conflicts in Yemen involving the Tehran-backed Houthi movement and NATO’s involvement in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war are clear instances.
This year we celebrate eighty years after WWII, but we celebrate in fear of a possible WWIII. From NATO countries directly involved in the Russia-Ukraine war to President Putin’s threats on using nukes, another global conflict is a possibility. If this happens, most of the countries that will get involved are those that experienced first-hand, the atrocious nature of WWII.
These countries hold annual events and parades in honor of those who lost their lives during WWII. In Russia, for instance, as well as some former members of the Soviet Union, the ‘Victory Day Parade’ is observed on May 9 to celebrate victory over the Nazis and commiserate the 27 million lives lost by the Soviet Union during the war.
For western countries like US, Canada, France, UK, Norway etc. the D-Day celebration is observed on June 6 to mark the Normandy landing by the Allied forces in 1944.
The question is how meaningful are these celebrations? Honoring the dead but exposing the living to the things that led to the fall of those being honored?
It tells us one thing; the atrocities of WWII are forever etched in our memories, but, no lesson have been taken from them.
