The six-year-long World War II was a global military conflict that resulted in heavy losses for everyone involved. In this essay, I'll explain why I believe the Second World War was fought and how it impacted the world, two of the most important aspects.
Break out of Second World War (1939-1945)
To date, the most people have died and the most blood has been shed in World War II. By the end of the conflict, more than 38 million people had been killed, the majority of whom were unarmed civilians. It was also the bloodiest and most devasting conflict in recent memory. Numerous battles erupted around the world, with the majority occurring in Europe and Japan. It was a war that forever changed the world, with more than 50 countries participating. The United States entered World War II with a clear goal in mind: to overthrow totalitarianism. Adolf Hitler's evil Nazi Germany had conquered most of Europe, enslaving the continent under his evil rule. Invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939 sparked World War II in Europe. Everywhere the Nazis went, they seemed to target Jews with a vengeance. It wasn't just Aryans who were targeted by the Nazis.
Japanese forces occupied countries and islands throughout Asia and the Pacific during World War II. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Shortly thereafter, the US Congress declared war on Japan and launched the United States into WWII.
What Were the Factors That Sparked World War II?
In the opinion of many historians, World War I may have contributed to the outbreak of World War II (1914-1918). To "Make the world safe for democracy," the United States had fought in the preceding conflict. These were President Woodrow Wilson's own words and aspirations (President from 1913 to 1921). In many people and governments, however, the peace treaties that ended World War I seemed only to create bitterness and anger, which eventually boiled over and helped to instil the inevitable beginnings of World War II.
After the First World War, Germany and its allies were no longer a threat. Germans were ordered to give up one-sixth of their land and made to pay enormous reparations (payments by a defeated country for the destruction it caused in a war). Unemployment and inflation ravaged Germany following World War I, making the German reich virtually worthless. After World War I, a peacekeeping organisation called the "League of Nations" was formed, but the United States refused to join, and other countries were too preoccupied with domestic issues to pay attention to Germany and other trouble spots. The 1930s brought about an economic depression around the world. Workers around the world were laid off, global trade declined, and economic conditions became extremely difficult. They were looking for leaders who could bring about the change that they so desperately desired and needed.
The war had many causes, but the most important one was World War I itself, in my opinion. Anglo-Allied nations such as France and Great Britain, Russian Empire, United States of America, and others were divided into two groups following World War One: The Allied Powers (which included these nations) and the Central Powers (which included these nations) who were not victorious in the conflict. To punish Germany for its role in the war, the Treaty of Versailles imposed severe sanctions, including military restrictions and the disarmament of the country. Allied Powers also demanded that they pay a large fine and give up a significant portion of their territory.
Both Adolf Hitler's Nazism (National Socialism) and the National Socialist German Workers Party became popular in Germany after World War I ended, and both of these movements grew in prominence in the 1930s. Unlike Marxism, which was characterised by anti-Semitism and global imperialism, Nazism was a form of socialism, not Marxism per se. So Adolf Hitler depicted himself as the strong leader of the National Socialism movement. Benito Mussolini and Fascism rose in Italy while Adolf Hitler and Nazism rose in Germany. Violence, racism, and totalitarianism are the building blocks of fascism. Hitler and Mussolini were depicted as the leaders of the war against the Allies because of their similarity in these concepts.
In the 1930s, the United States was primarily concerned with its own economic woes, even as international crises loomed in Europe and Asia. Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini had begun using chemical weapons like mustard gas to wage war in Ethiopia, killing thousands of innocent people. General Francisco Franco's fascists were pitted against a diverse coalition of Communists and Democrats in a bloody civil war in Spain. After imprisoning and executing several of his political adversaries, Stalin rose to absolute power in Russia. It was a year after Germany's humiliation in World War I that Adolf Hitler became the new hero and leader of the downtrodden German people, calling for Aryan deliverance and launching an aggressive campaign to "unify" the German race across Europe. Western powers' preoccupation with domestic issues meant that Japan had invaded Manchuria and was threatening to conquer China.
American policymakers in the tumultuous late 1930s did everything in their power to keep the country out of the growing international conflicts. To avoid involvement in World War II, President Roosevelt had already committed American ships to an undeclared naval war with Germany by the middle of 1941, and on December 7, 1941 any question of America's further neutrality was ended with the mortifying surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
It's A Constantly Shifting Landscape.
On May 7, 1945, Germany formally ended World War II by submitting to the Allies. It wasn't until the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan that the war in the Pacific came to an end. On the 14th of August, 1945, Japan formally declared her surrender.
However, in a speech he never gave but which he wrote about the importance of peacekeeping: "Today we are faced with the preeminent [above all else] fact that, in order for civilization to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in one world, at peace." President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not live to see peace.
Author: Jack Samule
Profile: Online Assignment Help Expert associated with LiveWebTutors
Country: Canada