World War II
World War II
World War II
Introduction:
World War II began in September 1939 when Britain and France declared war
on Germany following Germany’s invasion of Poland. The war ended in Europe
on 6th May 1945 when Germany surrendered. The war with Japan ended on 15 th
August 1945, following the dropping of two atomic bombs on the islands of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Historians do agree that it is necessary to look beyond the immediate events
preceding a war when looking for an explanation of the causes of wars. The
events that contribute to the break out of war can be divided into long term
causes, short term causes and a trigger event. 1
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16.Imperialist policy of Germany, Russia, Japan and Italy;
17.Conflict of ideologies;
18.Rise of two rival armed camps
19.A series of international crisis and failure of League of Nations;
20.Weakness of the League of Nations – established 1920;
21.The Munich agreement
22. Anschluss with Austria annexed – 1938
World War II started after these aggressive actions were met with an official
declaration of war and/or armed resistance.
The above pinpoints are shortly described.
Treaty of Versailles:
After the World War I, the victorious Allies powers met to decide Germany’s
future. It’s called Paris Peace Conferences. Germany would be forced to sign
the Treaty of Versailles. Germany had to accept guilt for the war and to pay
reparations. Germany was deprived of all her overseas colonies, and even in
Europe her size stood substantially reduced. Poland, France, Belgium had others
gained at her cost. Her army and navy were severely curtailed. She was told not
to have any air force. These are the reasons that the Versailles agreement can be
termed as a scandalous document.
Marshal Foch said, “This is not peace; it is an armistice for
twenty years.”
Germany was declared guilty of war crimes and made to promise to pay a
massive amount of reparation to the victors. Treaty of Versailles mutilated and
humiliated Germany. Twenty years later, it was the turn of Germany to take
revenge. Hitler had came on the centre stage, led his proud people to avenge
their humiliation and thus paved the way for the Second World War.
In fact, in the Versailles treaty, I thought that the seeds of war were thrown.
Rome–Berlin Axis and the Anti- Comintern Pact
A treaty of friendship between Germany and Italy was concluded in October
1936, and in November Mussolini first suggested the idea of a Rome–Berlin
Axis around which the other European countries would revolve. Hitler
broadened his alliance base when Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact
with Japan in November 1936. In 1937 Italy joined the pact. The Nazi Foreign
Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, believed Japan could be used as a force to
counter Britain and Russia in Asia. The intention was that, by using Japan to
apply pressure in Asia, Hitler would meet less resistance to his expansionist
aims in Europe
Hitler’s rise to power
As soon as he rose to power, he rebuild Germany’s army by creating a German
air force, increasing the size of the army, began building warships and created a
German air force.
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Consequences of World War II
1. Heavy loss of lives: about 12 million soldiers were killed and 25 million
civilians were killed because of hunger, diseases etc. about 24 million
people became injured and handicapped in the battle. The atomic bombs
dropped by US in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a whole, Second World
War was a very bad tragedy to mankind.
2. Loss of property: the Second World War destroyed huge amount of
properties. It was estimated that 1000 billion dollars was spent in the war.
The war had completely destroyed building, roads, infrastructures,
warships and fighter planes.
3. Division of World into Two Blocks and Beginning of the Cold War:
the Second World War resulted the division of world into two blocks:
capitalist and communist. The capitalist block was led by the USA where
as the communist block was led by Russia. They started criticizing each
other and resulted the cold war.
4. Wave of Democratic changes in the world: Most of the countries got
freedom and democracy after the Second World War. Imperialism was
ended.
5. End of colonialism: the imperialist countries became very weak after the
Second World War. National movements against colonialism started in
Asia and Africa due to which countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka got
independence from British Empire.
6. The U.S. and USSR both became world superpower: Before the US and USSR
became superpowers it was the European powers like Britain and France that were the
heavy hitters in the world. But after the Second World War the U.S and USSR became
world superpower.3
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Consequences of Second World War
End of colonialism and imperialism.
Germany was divided into West Germany and East Germany. West Germany was
controlled by Britain, France and USA. East Germany by USSR. (Read more about
the re-union of Germany in 1989 when you check our post about the fall of the Berlin
wall).
Emergence of two power blocks – USA and USSR. This resulted in cold war.