Social and Cultural Changes after the First and Second World Wars Essay

Social and Cultural Changes after the First and Second World Wars - Essay Example The political situation was polarized with Soviet Union focusing on national security and the US spreading the democracy that led to repartition of Europe (McCauley, 2008). With one form of totalitarianism defeated, with the ashes of Nazism literally scattered among the living and dead of that conflict, the tensions between East and West renewed themselves. In some respects, the Cold War was inevitable: the incompatibility between communism and capitalism, the differing opinions about the rights of man, cultural and ideological disagreements about the most profound issues including religion, personal identity, freedom of assembly, democracy -- all of these differences would (and did) come to the fore between the United States, Western Europe and the Soviet Union. And all of these differences were party the outcome of the WWI and WWII. The brutal reality of the wars contributed to the development of medical thought. A lot of soldiers were wounded and injured; their treatment became the upfront priority for the countries involved in the conflict as they have already lost a lot of men. The field of plastic surgery was rapidly developing as many men needed immediate treatment. (Hunt, 2009). Psychological damages that soldiers received also needed assistance. The work of psychologists cannot be underestimated (Merriman, 2010). All these demands forced the medical field to evolve and develop at an unprecedented speed. The field of vaccination industry was developing and was as effective as never before. Vaccine innovations were able to tackle such diseases as influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia that took millions of lives in the past. The work of doctors and scientists contributed to the mass production and usage of penicillin and developed vaccines that were able to prevent various diseases across the world (Hoyt, 2006).