Pakistan, May 13 -- All wars, even those lasting decades, eventually end. Although few wars end as decisively as World War II, the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers to the Allies was. The Korean War has not technically ended with a peace agreement or treaty.

By mid-1943, the U.S. began planning for the occupation of the enemy powers that ultimately produced the Marshall Plan and the rebuilding of Germany, Japan and Italy. The basis was not solely humanitarian. The Allies recognised that the treatment of Wilhelmine Germany at the Versailles Conference in 1919 had spawned the rise of Hitler and Naziism, and an autocratic and aggressive leadership in Tokyo and could not be left in power.

For a thought experiment, consider how the ...