A Short History of World War 2
World War II (or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2), was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. In a state of total war, directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 70 to 85 million fatalities, with more civilians than military personnel killed. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), premeditated death from starvation, massacres, and disease. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, including in strategic bombing of population centres, the development of nuclear weapons, and the only two uses of such in war.
The origins of World War II
When the Treaty of Versailles, marking the end of the First World War, was signed in 1919, much of the international community was hopeful for a new era in international relations based on justice, equality, and cooperation. The Treaties of Versailles and the New York Naval Treaty regulated submarine warfare in a way that had a disastrous effect on Great Britain, with several warships forced into early retirement, the cancellation of a number of orders and the British Fleet's poor performance at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. When the American President Woodrow Wilson decided to enter the war in 1917, the British had the support of both France and Italy, and Italy was expected to join the alliance.
Origins and planning of the war
The war was triggered by Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, thus beginning the Second World War. Germany quickly conquered other European countries, and moved rapidly into the territories of the Soviet Union and the rest of Eastern Europe. The war spread across Europe and North Africa. Britain, France, the Soviet Union, the United States, and other countries soon declared war on Germany and the Axis powers (Italy, Japan, and Italy's client states). Many other countries of the world did so over the next few years. Britain joined the war on the side of the United States and Canada, and Canada joined on its own.
The first phase, 1939–1941
An agreement between France and Britain to intervene against Germany in the event of an invasion of Western Europe during World War II was formulated in June 1940. The British, unaware of the full extent of German military capabilities at the time, relied on a highly optimistic estimate of German military capacity in the event of a major invasion, based largely on the assumptions that the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) would be relatively evenly matched with the Royal Air Force, and that Axis armies in the west would not prove a serious threat.
The second phase, 1941–1942
As Adolf Hitler and the Axis powers progressed into their final war aims, their forces focused on exploiting the advantage of surprise with a highly mobile fleet of fast and highly mobile land, sea, and air forces. They pursued the conquest of the Soviet Union and Western Europe, as well as penetrating the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Europe. A large part of the war was conducted through military operations on the Soviet border in what became known as the Soviet-German War, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. This saw major battles, including Stalingrad, Minsk, Kursk, and Belgrade. The Axis forces also invaded the Balkans. Bulgaria was invaded in June 1941, Greece in April 1941
A Short History of World War
World War II (or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2), was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. In a state of total war, directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 70 to 85 million fatalities, with more civilians than military personnel killed. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), premeditated death from starvation, massacres, and disease. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, including in strategic bombing of population centres, the development of nuclear weapons, and the only two uses of such in war.
The origins of World War II
After the start of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, Japan felt that the international order had become less justifiable. Due to Japanese militarism, as well as the pacifist and expansionist foreign policies of Japan, the rest of the world did not wish to see Japan continue its quest for expansion in Asia. The United States, after hearing the news of the Nanking Massacre and after seeing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, began to cooperate with the British and Australian governments to prepare for a war against Japan. In 1936, the "London Declaration" was signed, defining the Pacific War as a war between China and Japan. The Declaration was published as the Annex to the Atlantic Charter.
Origins and planning of the war
During the 1930s, the international economic depression had caused the major powers, led by the United States, Great Britain, and France, to question the orthodox economic theory of competitive capitalism as they suffered from the Great Depression. This led to a call for more centralised economic power with the world's major powers' leaders forming a new international economic organisation, the Group of 7 (G-7). A major issue of concern was that the three main countries of the world, Great Britain, the United States, and France, were too isolated from the rest of the world; they were unable to respond to threats from fascism around the world.
The first phase, 1939–1941
World War II started with Germany's surprise invasion of Poland, launching the Second World War. After the Polish government was dissolved in 1940, Germany extended its front along the Eastern Front, moving beyond the Eastern Front into Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Baltic states. After Germany annexed the Baltic states, Finland and France, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the west in September, 1939, and the United Kingdom and France from the south in May 1940. The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 was the first World War II battle in which aircraft played a significant role, and Germany successfully initiated the bombing of London.
The second phase, 1941–1942
In May 1939, after the Munich Conference, the Nazi regime took over parts of Czechoslovakia, while Italy gained part of Albania, Croatia, and Greece. France lost Alsace-Lorraine and its African colonies, its colonies of Benin, Dahomey, French Togoland, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and French Congo, and its protectorates of French Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania were incorporated into the Soviet Union. Under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, later leading to the Polish Defensive War and invasion of western Belarus by Germany and the Soviet Union. France, Italy and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany.
The third phase, 1942–1944
WWII began in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. The outbreak of the war represented the second time in a century that a newly united Germany had attacked another European country. After massive landings on the Polish and French coasts in 1939–1940 and the Battle of Britain, the military offensive drove the British from Europe and into Egypt, where the Expeditionary Force was interned. In March 1941, Japan began a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, the United States' Pacific fleet base, in Hawaii. Three days later, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched an attack on Dutch colonial possessions in Southeast Asia, capturing the islands of Brunei, Borneo, and Sumatra. The following month, Japanese forces invaded Indonesia and captured the Dutch East Indies.
The fourth phase, 1944–1945
The Allied victory in World War II was achieved by Allied forces, comprising Canada, the United States, and Britain, defeating Axis forces in North Africa, Italy, Normandy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In Europe, Canadian forces participated in the advance on the Siegfried Line (the last German defence line against the Allied forces) in northern Germany in the Battle of the Bulge, while US and British forces fought for control of the Ruhr Pocket in northwest Germany. Allied forces and Nazi Germany later fought a long guerrilla war in the Ardennes forest of Belgium. In Southeast Asia, Australian and New Zealand troops fought alongside US forces against the Japanese in the Pacific campaign.
The final phase, 1945–1946
Germany agreed to the unconditional surrender of all its armed forces on May 8, 1945. By mid-May, Japan had surrendered to the Allies. Soviet forces in Eastern Europe joined the Western Allies and Soviet troops joined the Americans, with some reaching the gates of Berlin. This phase of the war lasted about two years from July 1944 to May 1945. The Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France defeated Germany and Japan, while the United States fought Japan. The victory in World War II left the United States and Soviet Union as the dominant world powers, but the bloody fighting demonstrated the increasing importance of political and cultural factors in international relations.
The immediate aftermath
War in Europe had started following the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, with the United Kingdom, France and Russia on one side, and Germany, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria on the other. By the end of September 1939, Britain and France had fought a successful defensive battle, forcing the Germans to retreat through neutral Belgium into Northern France and the Netherlands. When Hitler then ordered the German forces to invade France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940, France was at the height of her economic and military power, but still a very weak country. The French army failed to defend the cities and suburbs of Paris, resulting in the evacuation of 80,000 French troops as well as 75,000–80,000 civilians.
Summary
In 1939, with the threat of war imminent, the U.S. shifted its position towards isolationism, instigating the appointment of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President. With the onset of war, the U.S. built a massive military machine and on April 6th, 1941, Roosevelt called for the US to enter the war on the side of the Allies. For the next five years, the U.S. and its allies defeated the Nazis in all major fronts, including the Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean. In 1944, Allied forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower were victorious in the Battle of the Bulge. In 1945, at the conclusion of the war, the Soviet Union took over from the Allies. In the aftermath, an estimated 70 to 85 million people died, with more civilians than military personnel killed.
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