Chapter Seven: A New World Summary and Analysis

The Allied powers endorsed the same reasons for fighting WWII. They were the right of national self-determination and the Four Freedoms such as the freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear. Russia was the only ally that refused to advocate these goals. Post-war under the Marshall Plan, America provided over $12 billion to support European economic recovery. New prosperity was seen in the US with 64 percent of Americans becoming homeowners after the war. But neither a perfect world nor a perfect war had been created. Some theorized that the West's bloated image of itself prevented it from seeing that it had been "defending something pretty defective against something even more loathsome" (pg. 137.) The Allies forgave the atrocities they committed while they were outraged by the same type of behavior by...