In its wake

[Bushwhacker]

Please, can you tell me the meaning for In its wake in the paragraph that follows:"The real transaction, it turns out, involves these young people trading their innocence for an understanding of how war dehumanises those in its wake."

I'll very appreciate any help. Thank You.

[Gёггч]

Let me ask a question:

is there any difference between the two sentences:

The war brought many social changes in its wake.
Many social changes was brought in the wake of the war.

i think they're no different.

[Bushwhacker]

Let me ask a question:

is there any difference between the two sentences:

The war brought many social changes in its wake.
Many social changes was brought in the wake of the war.

i think they're no different.

Many thanks for your attention. Probably you are right, but let me ask you for the whole sense of the paragraph, then. What's is it really saying? That youngs are forced to trade with their innocence in order to understang why they've become brutalized once war is finished? It seems a little bizarre. Do you understand the same?

Thanks a lot.

[Anglika]

Please, can you tell me the meaning for In its wake in the paragraph that follows:"The real transaction, it turns out, involves these young people trading their innocence for an understanding of how war dehumanises those in its wake."

I'll very appreciate any help. Thank You.

"in its wake" = derives from maritime terminology. Boats create a wake as they move through the water: http://tinyurl.com/2muxy3

The term is used metaphorically to say the events [like war] will leave a trail of some kind, in this case dehumanisation of those individuals who have been caught up in the war.