The world had already faced the ravages of war during the First World War between 1914 and 1918. World politics faced significant changes after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The Axis Powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan were defeated by the Allied Forces led by the US, USSR, Britain and France to end the Second World War (1939 -1945). The extent of the Second World War covered most nations in the world and spread out to regions outside Europe including Southeast Asia, China, Burma (now Myanmar) and parts of India’s northeast.

The Second World War ended when two cities in Japan – Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with atomic bombs by the United States in August, 1945 which caused Japan to surrender. This action of the US has been criticised and supported by various groups. The critics have pointed out that this was an unnecessary action as Japan was about to surrender, while the supporters have said that it was a necessary action to end the war quickly. The critics have also pointed out that this action by the US was a deliberate attempt by the nation to establish its dominance and thus, stop the Soviet Union from gaining any political or military foothold in Asia.

This show of dominance by the US compounded by the fact that majority of the nations in Europe were devastated by the War, gave rise to the Cold War. Most Asian and African countries during this time were gaining their freedom from colonial rule. The world had only two major power - the US and the Soviet Union – who started acting as each other’s rivals in all political, economic, military and social arena.