Introduction: A world of veterans

Abstract

The world that emerged from the global confrontation of the Second World War was, in a sense, a world of war veterans. It remained so for decades to come. It has been estimated that some 100 million men and women became part of the armed forces of the belligerent states in the Second World War. Mass mobilization during the total war experience created enormous armies, navies and air forces, which mobilized 34 million soldiers in the Soviet Union, 17 million in Germany, 16 million in the United States, 4.6 million in Britain and the Commonwealth, and 5.5 million in Japan’s empire. In spite of high casualties, particularly among the Soviets, the Germans and the Japanese, the majority of these ..