What lessons can WW2 still teach us in a fractured world 8 decades on?

Commemorations of the Second World War have been held across many countries during this 80th anniversary year, including events marking VE Day and, in August, VJ Day. These demonstrate a shared global commitment to remembering the past and educating future generations. Both popular and academic historians continue to produce a vast output of books, articles and papers, accompanied by television programmes, podcasts and social media content.

The decades since the Second World War have been shaped by major lessons learned during the conflict and the measures established in its aftermath to maintain peace. The creation of NATO, and later security pacts such as ANZUS (1951) and SEATO (1954), saw the development of more binding mutual defence commitments. The United Nations offered a diplomatic forum aimed at conflict resolution. The Marshall Plan laid the foundations for Europe’s economic recovery. However, the breakdown of the wartime alliance between Russia, Great Britain and its dominions, and the United States, resulted in the long division of Europe—and, to some extent, the world—into East and West power blocs during the Cold War. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki left the world facing the chilling reality of mutually assured destruction (MAD).

Globally, the Second World War was a catalyst for decolonisation. Empires such as the British and Dutch were weakened, while the emphasis on democracy and freedom expressed in the Atlantic Charter and wartime speeches undermined the justification for empire, helping to spur the emergence of new independent nations. The legacy of the British mandate in Palestine, which ended in 1948, and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Arab states, remains unresolved.

In June this year, the international organisation Second World War Research Group convened at King’s College London to share research and consider its implications for contemporary society and warfare. Delegates from 150 academic institutions across 21 countries attended, representing every continent except Antarctica.

The conference opened with a roundtable discussion featuring four historians—Professor Richard Overy (UK), Dr Ruth Lawlor (USA), Professor John Beaumon (Australia), and Professor Alexander Fortes (Brazil)—who addressed current debates around the periodisation of the war. This session highlighted two key themes of the conference: its international scope, and how the Second World War and its commemoration are viewed differently across nations. The panel pointed out that events often remembered in 1939–40, such as the Battle of the Atlantic and Dunkirk, or those from 1945, such as VE and VJ Day, hold less relevance for countries that entered the war later (such as the USA) or left it earlier (such as Italy). Indonesia's war of independence did not end until 1949, and the conflict between China and Japan was already well underway before 1939. One speaker later argued persuasively that the war in fact began in 1927 with the Shanghai Incident.

The two keynote speakers addressed how current research reframes our understanding of the war in light of contemporary global events. Professor Sheldon Garon spoke on “Towards a Global History of War”, while Professor Juliette Patterson delivered a paper on “Gendering the Study of the Second World War.” A panel titled “The War Lives On” explored the various ways the war continues to be remembered. Among the many panels were those on diplomacy before and after the war, the creation of NATO, humanitarian relief and refugees, and the Holocaust.

Several panels also examined the representation of different national and ethnic groups, such as the role of Australians at D-Day and the involvement of Brazil. Another focused on the environmental legacies of the conflict. The call for papers had encouraged submissions that reflected on the achievements of scholars to date while exploring new lines of enquiry that could reshape our understanding of the war.

What, then, are the lessons of the Second World War?

The appeasement of Nazi aggression proved a failure. How can the world respond to present-day crises in Ukraine and the Middle East without repeating the mistakes of appeasement—yet without tipping into a broader global conflict?

The war also underscored the vital role of alliances. NATO’s expansion and increasing relevance, particularly in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine, has sharpened the focus on the role of its European members and the need for increased defence spending—especially in light of the prospect of renewed American isolationism.

Though recent global tensions have at times undermined the authority of the United Nations, its existence over the past 80 years has helped maintain an emphasis on collective security. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the establishment of the European Court of Human Rights have provided a framework for addressing present-day controversies, including the legality of military interventions, counter-insurgency measures, anti-terrorism efforts and war crimes.

Reflecting on the legacy of the Second World War remains crucial to understanding and navigating today’s international and economic challenges. Yet some of the assumptions underpinning the post-war institutions that helped sustain global peace are beginning to erode. The UN's credibility has been damaged by its inability to act effectively in conflicts such as Ukraine and Gaza, largely due to the repeated use of veto powers by Russia and the United States in the Security Council.

According to Damien Lilly, writing for the Global Observatory website, the UN is also facing a financial crisis, exacerbated by growing global distrust of multilateralism and the withdrawal of funding led by the Trump administration. It is to be hoped that current international instability will prompt a rethink within the United Nations and help it reclaim its legacy of promoting peace and human rights.

Winston Churchill once said: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The causes, course and consequences of the Second World War remain deeply relevant to the decisions of contemporary governments and world leaders, as we find ourselves once again in an age of competing nation states, dictatorial regimes and the resurgence of right-wing nationalist movements.

Let us hope that today’s leaders are learning from the past—and do not steer the world into another descent into the horror and global misery that was the Second World War.

Dr. Linda Parker is widely considered to be one of Britain’s leading polar and military historians. She is the author of six acclaimed books, an in-demand public speaker, the co-founder of the British Modern Military History Society, and the editor of Front Line Naval Chaplains’ magazine, Pennant, which examines naval chaplaincy’s historical and contemporary role.

Story by Dr Linda Parker/ Belters News