Short answers, pulled from the story.
The United States and the Soviet Union emerged from World War II as the world's two dominant powers. Their alliance had been forged to defeat Nazi Germany, but by the war's end, they stood on opposite sides of a new global divide.
U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall devised the European Recovery Program in 1947. From 1948 to 1952, the United States government allocated US$13 billion for the reconstruction of affected countries in Western Europe.
Independence was granted to India and Pakistan from the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, French India, and Vanuatu from France, Indonesia from the Netherlands, and the Philippines from the U.S. Several Arab nations also gained independence from mandates previously held by European powers.
Soviet population decreased by about 27 million during the war with 8.7 million combat deaths. Approximately 12 million people were expelled from Germany including seven million from Germany proper and three million from the Sudetenland.
In Operation Paperclip beginning in 1945, the United States imported 1,600 German scientists and technicians as part of intellectual reparations owed to the U.S. and UK. The Soviets began Operation Osoaviakhim in 1946 using 92 trains to transport thousands of specialists including Helmut Gröttrup and about two hundred scientists from Mittelwerk.
The Allies formed the United Nations which officially came into existence on the 24th of October 1945. Five major Allied powers received permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council with veto power over any resolution: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, and Republic of China.