Following World War II, state-owned utilities build significant hydropower developments throughout Western Europe, the Soviet Union, and North America. This post-war boom was driven by the need for reconstruction, economic growth, and energy independence. In Europe, massive projects like the Soviet Dnieper hydroelectric stations and the French Rhône Valley developments were constructed, fundamentally reshaping the continent's energy landscape and contributing to the 'Trente Glorieuses' period of economic expansion.

The post-war hydropower boom is part of the context for the literature of reconstruction and the Cold War, a period of intense ideological competition and technological rivalry. The construction of massive dams and power plants became symbols of national strength and modernity, and they are featured in the poetry and prose of the era, both in the West and the Soviet bloc, as emblems of progress and the human capacity to reshape the world, often with both pride and a sense of loss.