The Industrial Revolution in the Contemporary World

The advance of industrialization was not high on the world’s agenda after World War II compared to the challenge of restoring war-torn economies and preventing another depression. Both Europe and Japan had suffered huge losses. The Soviet Union seized experts and material from its new satellites in Eastern Europe in its efforts to rebuild. U.S. aid assisted the recovery process in western Europe, and U.S. occupation forces oversaw political and economic reforms in Japan. For a brief time, however, only the economy of the United States seemed poised for further industrial growth. Many experts believed that western Europe would become permanently dependent on U.S. economic leadership. Outside the industrial world, political, not directly economic, issues predominated as a surge of independence movements led to rapid decolonization. Economic inequalities formed a backdrop to these struggles, and newly independent states quickly turned to hopes for economic development. But the initial priorities lay elsewhere.