What were the short-term effects of World War II?

In
addition to the effects already mentioned, the mass loss of life and the economic devastation
duringled to food shortages throughout Europe and contributed to a substantial famine in the
Soviet Union in 1946€“1947. Many people were displaced, and refugees from war zones could be
found all across Europe.

The war also led to political instability in Europe.
The United States introduced the Truman Doctrine and then presented the European Recovery
Program, or the Marshall Plan, to help rebuild Western Europe and dampen the appeal of
socialism.

The outcome of the war also led to the emergence of two victors
(the United States and the Soviet Union) as superpowers, establishing a world with two major
centers of power. In broad historical terms, one might consider the escalatingbetween the United
States and the Soviet Union in 1946, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) in 1949, the Soviet development of the atomic bomb in the same year, and...