Europe in Ruins

Devastation in Europe:
- 40 million deaths (mostly civilian)/great cities destroyed
- Much of Germany destroyed by Allied bombing campaigns
- Refugees moved throughout Europe searching for home/relatives
- Agriculture/transportatiion severely disrupted
Famine in ravaged cities/winter brought misery

Postwar Governments & Politics:
- Prewar democracies returned/old dictatorships blamed for defeat
- Communist influence: some French & Italian partisans
Anticommunist backlash reduced Communist Party membership

The Nuremberg Trials:
- War Crimes trials by International Military Tribunal
- Nazi leaders charged with "crimes against humanity"
- Defendants received jail terms and 11 sentenced to death by hanging