No world war has broken out in 80 years. But despite no conflicts on a truly global scale, pockets of violence have frequently been observed.
The Second World War ended on September 2, soon after the United States dropped those decisive yet deadly nuclear bombs on Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The twin bombings did end the raging war between the allied and axis powers, but the lessons from the conflict are yet to be learnt. A flurry of political, military and weapons reforms were made in 1945.
Lessons from World War 2
These include the replacement of League of Nations with the United Nations, formation of nuclear control policies and codifying international humanitarian laws.
The world marked 80 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August with a ceremony reminding the world of the horrors unleashed, as sabre-rattling between the United States and Russia keeps the nuclear "Doomsday Clock" close to midnight.
The United Nations was established in 1945 with the central mission of preventing wars and maintaining global security. Its Security Council has passed over 2,760 resolutions aimed at conflict prevention.
While it has not eradicated wars, it has succeeded in averting another global conflict on the scale of the world wars.
Still, war persists. Since 1945, at least 25 recognised interstate wars have erupted. In 2023 alone, more than 122,000 battle-related deaths were recorded worldwide—a grim reminder that peace remains elusive.
The horrors of the Holocaust, which claimed six million Jewish lives, forced the global community to adopt new humanitarian laws, including the Geneva Conventions, to protect civilians and criminalise genocide.
Yet, the UN’s narrow definition of genocide has been widely criticised. At least six instances of mass atrocities, including the 1994 Rwandan genocide, went unrecognised. Ironically, Israel today faces accusations of genocide in Gaza, raising questions about accountability.
Another legacy of World War II was the dawn of the nuclear age. The United States was initially the sole nuclear power, but its strategy of deterrence triggered an arms race. By the 1980s, the US and USSR collectively held more than 70,000 warheads, while the UK, France, and China built their own arsenals.
The Cold War’s end was expected to reduce the threat, yet nuclearisation has only expanded. Despite treaties like the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), three additional states now possess nuclear weapons.
The promise of a “new world order” after 1945 has given way instead to recurring wars, fragile peace, and weapons of mass destruction with no end in sight.
