How the partition of Eurasia defined world disorder after 1945
The history of post-1945 world order series, part two
In 1945, the world emerged from World War Two or, as Richard Overy describes it the Last Imperial War 1931-1945, like a “bombed-out city.”
This description by historian John Darwin in After Tamerlane was literally true in cities of Eurasia, such as Berlin, Dresden, Stalingrad, Nanking, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Conventional accounts of the “postwar world order” ignore how disorderly the real post-1945 world was. These accounts are histories written by the victors - most enthusiastically after 1989 when the USA celebrated its victory in the Cold War that began quickly after 1945. In these conventional histories the USA built a new economic order in the context of a divided world in defence of freedom and democracy. American vision and ideals created a new world of free nations, under the umbrella of USA’s global leadership.
But the real story is more tragic and more surprising. Wartime allies - the British Empire, the USA and the USSR - quickly fell out over competing claims for the bombed-out city. As Darwin wrote, there was
“an urgent need to shore up the buildings that had survived the blast and divide up the remainder between rival contractors. But with little agreement on where to rebuild or what to demolish, and with competing claims to some of the grandest ruins, reconstruction was slow, conflictual and bitter.” (p. 429)
The Cold War began. This period is generally presented as the prelude to the Cold War, and the story of the conflict between, on one side, the USA’s capitalism and freedom, and, on the opposing side, the Soviet Union’s communism and tyranny. In truth, it was a struggle over the nature of the “postwar world order” and the institutions of this new “world of nations” who would meet in the United Nations.
Among the most tragic enduring consequences of this period in history was the Partition of Eurasia. We still live with these consequences. The war in Ukraine is, in part, a conflict between major powers over the postwar security architecture in Europe. Russia and China go further. They seek a new security architecture in Eurasia that is no longer anchored by American power in Eurasia. The partition of Eurasia remains a fundamental driver of conflict in today’s world.
From 1949 to 1989 the USA did not lead the free world in a righteous struggle for democracy. It established American power at both ends of the Eurasian Continent, but at the tragic cost of partitions and “frozen conflicts” that remain with us today. This partition underlies these conflicts today: Ukraine and the American military presence in Europe; Taiwan and the American military presence in the West Pacific; the “frozen conflict” of the Koreas; and the Israel/Palestine tragedy in West Asia.
Below I present for paid subscribers my reading guide to the account of the real history of the post-1945 world order presented in John Darwin, After Tamerlane. By subscribing you will better understand the real sources of conflict over the future world order that are played out in today’s geopolitics. You will get:
My reading guide to the section “Eurasia Partitioned” from After Tamerlane
My tips for further reading including the best Cold War history and primary sources documents that defined the post-1945 world, such as the Yalta Agreement and George Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’, and
My audio-mini reading and commentary on key excerpts on the post-1945 world from John Darwin, After Tamerlane.
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Image: Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943 discussing the postwar world order.