The instability created in Europe by the First World War (1914-18) set the stage for another international conflict- World War II which broke out two decades later and would prove even more devastating. Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party rearmed the nation and signed strategic treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination.
The principal belligerents were the Axis powers- Germany, Italy, and Japan, and the Allies- France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year hiatus, of the disputes left unsettled by World War I. The 40,000,000-50,000,000 deaths incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in history.
Along with World War I, World War II was one of the great watersheds of 20th-century Geo-political history. It resulted in the extension of the Soviet Union’s power to nations of eastern Europe, enabled a communist movement to eventually achieve power in China, and marked the decisive shift of power in the world away from the states of western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union.
Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war. Among the estimated, 45-60 million people killed were 6 million Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps as part of Hitler’s diabolical “Final Solution,” now known as the Holocaust.
The outbreak of War:
By the early part of 1939, the German dictator Adolf Hitler had become determined to invade and occupy Poland. Poland, for its part, had guarantees of French and British military support should it be attacked by Germany. Hitler intended to invade Poland anyway, but first, he had to neutralize the possibility that the Soviet Union would resist the invasion of its western neighbour. Secret negotiations led on August 23-24 to the signing of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in Moscow. In a secret protocol of this pact, the Germans and the Soviets agreed that Poland should be divided between them, with the western third of the country going to Germany and the eastern two-thirds being taken over by the U.S.S.R.
Finally, at 12:40 PM on August 31, 1939, Hitler ordered hostilities against Poland to start at 4:45 the next morning. The invasion began as ordered. In response, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, at 11:00 AM and at 5:00 PM, respectively. World War II had begun.
Forces and resources of the European combatants, 1939:
In September 1939 the Allies, namely Great Britain, France, and Poland, were together superior in industrial resources, population, and military manpower, but the German Army, because of its armament, training, doctrine, discipline, and fighting spirit, was the most efficient and effective fighting force for its size in the world. The index of military strength in September 1939 was the number of divisions that each nation could mobilize. Against Germany’s 100 infantry divisions and six armoured divisions, France had 90 infantry divisions in metropolitan France, Great Britain had 10 infantry divisions, and Poland had 30 infantry divisions, 12 cavalry brigades, and one armoured brigade. A division contained from 12,000 to 25,000 men.
It was the qualitative superiority of the German infantry divisions and the number of their armoured divisions that made the difference in 1939. The firepower of a German infantry division far exceeded that of a French, British, or Polish division; the standard German division included 442 machine guns, 135 mortars, 72 anti-tank guns, and 24 howitzers. Allied divisions had firepower only slightly greater than that of World War I. Germany had six armoured divisions in September 1939; the Allies, though they had a large number of tanks, had no armoured divisions at that time. The German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, was also the best force of its kind in 1939. In the rearmament period from 1935 to 1939, the production of German combat aircraft steadily mounted.
Italy’s entry into the war and the French Armistice:
Italy had been unprepared for war when Hitler attacked Poland, but if the Italian leader, Benito Mussolini, was to reap any positive advantages from a partnership with Hitler it seemed that Italy would have to abandon its nonbelligerent stance before the western democracies had been defeated by Germany singlehanded. The obvious collapse of France convinced Mussolini that the time to implement his Pact of Steel with Hitler had come, and on June 10, 1940, Italy declared war against France and Great Britain.
Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941:
For the campaign against the Soviet Union, the Germans allotted almost 150 divisions containing a total of about 3,000,000 men. Among these were 19 panzer divisions, and in total the “Barbarossa” force had about 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft. It was in effect the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history. The Germans’ strength was further increased by more than 30 divisions of Finnish and Romanian troops. The Soviet Union had twice or perhaps three times the number of both tanks and aircraft as the Germans had, but their aircraft were mostly obsolete. A greater hindrance to Hitler’s chances of victory was that the German intelligence service underestimated the troop reserves that Stalin could bring up from the depths of the U.S.S.R. The Germans correctly estimated that there were about 150 divisions in the western parts of the U.S.S.R. and reckoned that 50 more might be produced. But the Soviets actually brought up more than 200 fresh divisions by the middle of August, making a total of 360.
Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansion:
In accordance with Yamamoto’s plan, the aircraft carrier strike force commanded by Admiral Nagumo Chuichi sailed eastward undetected by any U.S. reconnaissance until it had reached a point 275 miles north of Hawaii. From there, on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a total of about 360 aircraft, composed of dive-bombers, torpedo bombers, and a few fighters, was launched in two waves in the early morning at the giant U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The base at that time was accommodating 70 U.S. fighting ships, 24 auxiliaries, and some 300 planes. The Americans were taken completely by surprise, and all eight battleships in the harbour were hit; three cruisers, three destroyers, a minelayer, and other vessels were damaged; more than 180 aircraft were destroyed and others damaged; more than 2,330 troops were killed and over 1,140 wounded. Japanese losses were comparatively small.
The German collapse:
Before their ground forces were ready for the final assault on Germany, the western Allies intensified their aerial bombardment. This offensive culminated in a series of five attacks on Dresden, launched by the RAF with 800 aircraft in the night of February 13-14, 1945, and continued by the U.S. 8th Air Force with 400 aircraft in daylight on February 14, with 200 on February 15, with 400 again on March 2, and, finally, with 572 on April 17.
The dominant desire of the Germans now, both troops and civilians, was to see the British and American armies sweep eastward as rapidly as possible to reach Berlin and occupy as much of the country as possible before the Soviets overcame the Oder line. On April 16, Zhukov resumed the offensive in conjunction with Konev, who forced the crossings of the Neisse; this time the Soviets burst out of their bridgeheads, and within a week they were driving into the suburbs of Berlin. Hitler chose to stay in his threatened capital, counting on some miracle to bring salvation and clutching at such straws as the news of the death of Roosevelt on April 12. By April 25 the armies of Zhukov and Konev had completely encircled Berlin, and on the same day they linked up with the Americans on the Elbe River.
Isolated and reduced to despair, Hitler married his mistress, Eva Braun, during the night of April 28-29, and on April 30, he committed suicide with her in the ruins of the Chancellery, as the advancing Soviet troops were less than a half-mile from his bunker complex; their bodies were hurriedly cremated in the garden.
The surrender of the German forces in northwestern Europe was signed at Montgomery’s headquarters on Lüneburg Heath on May 4; and a further document, covering all the German forces, was signed with more ceremony at Eisenhower’s headquarters at Reims, in the presence of Soviet as well as U.S., British, and French delegations. At midnight on May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was officially over.
World War II Ends (1945):
At the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Churchill and Stalin discussed the ongoing war with Japan as well as the peace settlement with Germany. Post-war Germany would be divided into four occupation zones, to be controlled by the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and France. On the divisive matter of Eastern Europe’s future, Churchill and Truman acquiesced to Stalin, as they needed Soviet cooperation in the war against Japan.
Heavy casualties sustained in the campaigns at Iwo Jima (February 1945) and Okinawa (April-June 1945), and fears of the even costlier land invasion of Japan led Truman to authorize the use of a new and devastating weapon. Developed during a top-secret operation code-named The Manhattan Project, the Atomic bomb was unleashed on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August.
=> Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
Throughout July 1945 the Japanese mainlands, from the latitude of Tokyo on Honshu northward to the coast of Hokkaido, were bombed just as if an invasion was about to be launched. Truman, the new U.S. president, calculated that this monstrous weapon might be used to defeat Japan in a way less costly of U.S. lives than a conventional invasion of the Japanese homeland. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb carried from Tinian Island in the Marianas in a specially equipped B-29 was dropped on Hiroshima, at the southern end of Honshu: the combined heat and blast pulverized everything in the explosion’s immediate vicinity, generated fires that burned almost 4.4 square miles completely out, and immediately killed some 70,000 people ( 100,000 by the end of the year).
A second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, killed between 35,000 and 40,000 people, and devastated 1.8 square miles. On August 10 the Japanese government issued a statement agreeing to accept the surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration on the understanding that the emperor’s position as a sovereign ruler would not be prejudiced. In their reply, the Allies granted Japan’s request that the emperor’s sovereign status be maintained, subject only to their supreme commander’s directives. Japan accepted this proviso on August 14, and the emperor Hirohito urged his people to accept the decision to surrender.
Causes of World War:
There were four major causes of World War II.
=> The biggest cause was World War I and its aftereffect. The Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms on Germany. The German government printed money to meet its high reparation payments and created hyperinflation. As the Germans lost buying power, they looked for a solution. Adolf Hitler was a veteran. He blamed Jews for Germany's defeat. Germans welcomed his promise of a return to power. In 1940, he forced the French to surrender in the same railroad car used for the Treaty of Versailles.
=> A second major cause was the Great Depression. It reduced global trade by 25%. In Germany, unemployment reached 30%. Communism looked attractive. To block this threat from the east, the German government supported the Nazis. But Hitler betrayed them and assumed total power as a dictator.
=> The third cause was nationalism in Italy, Germany, and Japan. The harsh economic conditions made people turn to fascist leaders. They used nationalism to override individuals' self-interest to achieve their country's return to former glory. They advocated militarism to overcome other nations and take their natural resources.
=> Protectionism was a fourth major cause. Japan, an island nation, required oil and food imports to feed its growing population. The 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff and other forms of protectionism forced Japan to consider military expansion. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria to acquire the land and other resources it needed. In 1937, it invaded China and attacked a U.S. gunboat in the process.
Costs of the war:
World War II proved to be the deadliest international conflict in history, taking the lives of 60 to 80 million people, including 6 million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Civilians made up an estimated 50-55 million deaths from the war, while the military comprised 21 to 25 million of those lost during the war. Millions more were injured, and still more lost their homes and property.
The legacy of the war would include the spread of communism from the Soviet Union into Eastern Europe as well as its eventual triumph in China, and the global shift in power from Europe to two rival superpowers-the United States and the Soviet Union- that would soon face off against each other in the Cold War.
Who Won World War II?
The agreement also created the World Bank to help emerging market countries to reduce poverty. The International Monetary Fund provides technical assistance and short-term loans to prevent financial crises in member countries.
In 1945, the Allies created the United Nations to prevent another world war. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded to protect European nations from threats by communist countries. The Soviet Union took over the eastern European countries it had liberated from the Germans. The war strengthened Joseph Stalin's rule.
The war turned the United States into a major military power. Before the war started, the U.S. Army only had 174,000 troops. That was 19th in the world and smaller than Portugal's. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall reorganized the army into a strong fighting force. In December 1941, it had grown to 1.8 million men. By 1945, it had 8.25 million.
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