World War II
The Allies managed to occupy Austria and Germany. Germany was divided into two. The Soviets controlled the east, and the Western Allies controlled the west. The Allies began denazification, removing Nazi ideas from public life in Germany, and most high-ranking Nazis were captured and brought to a special court. Germany lost a quarter of its land in 1937, mostly to Poland and the Soviet Union. The Soviets also took some parts of Poland and Finland as well as the three Baltic countries. The United Nations was formed on October 24, 1945 to keep peace between countries in the world. However, the relationship between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had worsened during the war and, soon after it, each power quickly built up their power over the controlled area. In Western Europe and West Germany, it was the United States, while in East Germany and Eastern Europe, it was the Soviet Union, which turned many countries into communist states. The Cold War led to the formation of the American-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.