ABSTRACT
The end of World War II brought about a great number of changes, both in everyday lives and in the world of international relations. Not only was Europe drained of industrial, financial, and human resources, but it was confronted by two new superpowers, both of whom officially opposed colonialism of the traditional European variety. While the British and French Empires would limp along in diminished form for several decades (existing into the present, depending on how you define them), the era of European hegemony over the world had come to an end. In its place, as Mackinder had feared, came a world in which Europe was subordinate to large, continental-scale powers – the United States and the Soviet Union.
