MEPX
Chapter 7 of 10All chapters
  1. 1The age of revolutions
  2. 2Industrial society
  3. 3Empire and nationalism
  4. 4The First World War
  5. 5Between the wars
  6. 6The Second World War
  7. 7Building a new order
  8. 8The Cold War
  9. 9Decolonisation and civil rights
  10. 10Since 1991

Chapter 7 of 10

Building a new order

1945 to 1960.

Institutions

The United Nations, the Bretton Woods system and later the European communities were designed to prevent a repeat, by binding states into shared rules.

  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948.
  • Nuremberg established that following orders was not a defence.

Reconstruction

Marshall aid and rapid growth rebuilt western Europe and Japan, while eastern Europe was reconstructed under Soviet control on a different model.