What country was defeated in World War II but was later rebuilt into one of the strongest economies and democracies in the second half of the 20th century?
First, let's list countries defeated in WWII (some of them, the most powerful):
Germany
Austria
Japan
Now, all three of them are democratic today and have very strong economies - so the statement is true of all three of them. They all also suffered a lot during the war and needed to be rebuilt.