ABSTRACT
World War II was the most destructive war in human history, thus far. By September 1945, over 60 million people lay dead and nations lay in ruins from the conflict. Germany and Japan were utterly destroyed by the combined forces of the Allies, but even the Allies were affected. In the aftermath of the war, the Allies decided to restructure the defeated powers. In the five years after the end of World War II, there were a number of violent as well as non-violent nationalist movements around the world. In different parts of the world, affected by the various former great powers, the path of national self-determination took very different forms. China descended into chaos as the Nationalists and Communists resumed their civil war against each other. Thus, even though the Korean conflict started as a civil war between North and South Korea, the international community decided to intervene in order to halt aggression and restore peace.
