Why did the US contribute to Germany's and Japan's reindustrialization?

Answer 1

The reindustrialization of Germany and Japan came about through both humanitarian and practical motives. On the humanitarian side, both countries had been devastated by the fighting and would not be able to support themselves without being rebuilt. The US would not just leave these countries in their by then non-functioning conditions. The US recognized that with the governments of Germany and Japan now gone, there was no reason not to help the peoples of those countries. It also recognized that it had a responsibility to enusre that the survivors of the war were not left to starve. The US would have had to provide food for these countries until they rebuilt themselves, so the US helped them rebuild themselves. As for practical reasons, by the end of World War II, it became apparent Communist Soviet Union was the greatest threat to American and most capitalistic nations. The Soviet Union had occupeid certain countries as its armies moved toward Germany as did the Allied armies. At war's end the Soviet Union did not give up its control over those countries, whereas the Allies did. It was obvious that the Soviet Union would have taken over as many weaker countries as it could possibly grab, Germany and Japan included. The only way to prevent the Soviet Union from expanding into Germany and Japan and further would be to rebuild them into powers that could defend themselves and be allied with the US against the Soviet Union out of gratitude for helping them rebuild after the war.