Consequences.

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War as has been the topic of previous blog entries must be thought of as consisting of three definite and defined stages, those being:

1. What led up to the war.
2. The fighting of the war itself, the mortal combat.
3. The aftermath and consequences of the war.

From the English Daily Mail web site we have this article with graphic images - - some of those events that occurred AFTER German surrender in World War Two.

To an extent the war continuing even when mortal combat having ended, the movements of tens of millions of persons in a manner that world has not seen since [1945] resulting in millions more additional dead, the various combatants having ceased to fire on one another.

"The year of vengeance: How neighbours turned on each other and anarchy erupted in the aftermath of WWII"

"Just imagine living in a world in which law and order have broken down completely: a world in which there is no authority, no rules and no sanctions."

"In the bombed-out ruins of Europe’s cities, feral gangs scavenge for food. Old men are murdered for their clothes, their watches or even their boots. Women are mercilessly raped, many several times a night."

NOT total chaos and a breakdown of all authority, a degree of order imposed by the victors in the war [England, USA, Soviet Union] but in general an upheaval as bad in some circumstances as the war itself!

In particular those movements of tens of millions of persons, POW, ethnic Germans, displaced persons [DP] and impressed forced laborers of all nationalities creating a lot of animosity and hatred, a desire for vengeance manifesting itself in the killing of civilians by other civilians.

Also too a clear demarcation between the western allies [England and the USA] and the forces of communism as led by the Soviet Union. That Cold War began in 1945 and did not end for forty-five years thereafter.

Recall too that this situation was not unique to Europe. A similar set of circumstances existed also in the aftermath of Japanese surrender in the Asian/Pacific theatre. Mass killing, upheaval, movement of persons on a Biblical scale - - and all after what is called VJ day!

And thank you Dominic Sandbrook and his fine article!

coolbert.