World War II Causes and the Course of the Conflict
Germany lost World War I, but it did not lose its desire for global status and influence. On the contrary, Germanys ambitions intensified. Thus conditions were ripe for the second great conflict of the twentieth century, as Germany pursued an aggressive course of reasserting itself. The growing nationalistic tendencies among Germans rationalized the expansion of German borders both to regain provinces previously lost to others and to absorb Germans living in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Incidentally, the largest slice of territory that had been German before 1918 belonged to Poland.
The rise of fascism the Nazi regimes ideology which championed racism, flag and the fatherland became the driving force for this renewed imperialistic push. Germanys machtpolitik viewed the expansion of state power and territory by use of armed force as a legitimate goal. It justified the forceful expansion of the German state and the other Axis powers aligned with Germany.
Germany also resented the punitive terms imposed by the victors of World War I (France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States). Reflecting mostly the demands of the French, the Treaty of Versailles insisted on the destruction of German armed forces, the loss of territory (such as Alsace-Lorraine, which Germany had absorbed following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871), and the imposition of heavy reparation payments to compensate the Allies for the damage that German militarism had caused. In addition, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire was splintered into several political units. The Treaty of Versailles sought to prevent Germanys reentry into the global system as a coequal member. And Germany sought to recover by force its perceived rightful status as a great world power (Historyworld.net).
Meanwhile, as absurd as it would seem to the later generations, both the British people and their government during the pre -Second World War era grossly overlooked the terrible menace that was looming over the horizon in the form of Adolf Hitler, in spite of all the signs pointing to it.
Adolf Hitler, who by mid-1930s was in charge of Germany, at first declared his intention not to expand German territory by force. Britain had navely built up fond hopes that Hitler would stand by his word. However, in March 1938 he forced Austria into union with Germany (the Anschluss), thereby betraying his earlier promise. Shortly thereafter, he demanded the annexation of the German-populated area of Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Fear of further German expansion led to the September 1938 Munich Conference attended by Hitler, Chamberlain, and leaders of France and Italy. Based on the erroneous conviction that appeasement would halt further German expansionism and lead to peace, Chamberlain and the others acceded to Hitlers demands (Keegan 34).
Therefore when Hitler attacked Czechoslovakia, Britain was in for a rude awakening. When Hitler launched his first major Blitzkrieg operation on Poland, the British had to per force open their eyes and face the truth of the situation, although they would fully rise to the occasion only during the Battle of Britain. Britain was pushed into war with Germany simply in order to defend itself. Because, in the nine months leading up to the Second World War during 1939, it became gradually clear for everyone that Hitler represented an evil that would soon pounce upon Britain if allowed to proceed unobstructed.
Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler had refused to abort his invasion of Poland. Poland, however, was not the main consideration it was Europe. In question was not the territory of Poland but the future of the world. While America did not join with Britain and France, it too heavily supported Britain by providing vital supplies.
The first battle of the World War II was the Battle of the Atlantic that took place between British naval convoys and German U-boats. In Europe, Germany continued its blitzkrieg incursions into European nations unchallenged. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in the first months of 1940, and while Denmark fell immediately Norway put up some meager resistance. The German war machine marched on unstoppable. In May, Germany invaded Holland, Belgium and France. At this time, Winston Churchill became the Prime Minister of the Great Britain.
If Hitler was the biggest villain of the Second World War, Winston Churchill could be considered one of its greatest heroes, and the closest counterpart to the evil dictator. If only the British government had heeded Churchills lonesome voice alerting Britain of Germanys growing menace during the 30s, the Second World War could have been averted, or at least Britain could have been in a much more prepared position to face Germany. But Britain woke up very late and had to pay dearly as a consequence. It was Churchill who inspired the nation which had just come to its senses to gather its reserves of strength and courage and counter the enemy effectively. Churchill had been a member of Parliament for 40 years, from 1900 to 1940 (Spartacus Educational). When the British people finally realized that he would be the best person to lead the country to war, they did the right thing and Churchill never disappointed them. And even as Churchill became the Prime Minister, the enemy was closing in rapidly.
Holland and Belgium fell by the end of May of 1941, and Paris was taken a little later. Paris was the cultural capital of Europe, and Hitler took great pride in capturing the great city. Despite being present in large numbers, the British and French troops in Europe could not face the might of the Germany army, and hundreds of thousands of British and French soldiers had to be hastily evacuated from the port of Dunkirk on the Belgian coast. The Battle of Dunkirk was a humiliating defeat for Britain. By now Europe was virtually in the hands of Hitler. Germany next eyed Britain. Since Britain was separated from the mainland, Hitler had to resort to air force to attack Britain. The Battle of Britain was fought from July to September of 1940, between German Luftwaffe and British RAF. London and other cities of Britain were mercilessly pounded by Luftwaffes blitz attacks. Thousands of civilians died, and millions of ordinary people were terrorized. Those was dark and challenging times for Britain and Winston Churchills leadership proved decisive in boosting the morale of the nation and stall Germanys vicious attacks. The RAF finally managed to ward off the Luftwaffe and Britain scored a tenuous victory in the Battle of Britain. Germany had to indefinitely postpone its invasion plans. However, Germanys bombing of Britains cities continued frequently till the end of the war, as well as Britains equally ruthless retaliations.
Meanwhile the theater of war shifted to outside of Europe. Large contingents of German forces were stationed in North Africa at the beginning of 1942. Germany also defeated Greece and Yugoslavia in the Eastern Europe. This was the time when millions of Jews in Germany were deported to concentration camps. The holocaust was happening. Over six million Jews and Slavs and other peoples would perish in its burning fires.
Now Hitler undertook a major offensive by invading Russia in the Operation Barbarossa. The lightning speed of the German advance struck fear and panic in the Soviet people. The Nazi army swiftly conquered vast territories, killing and capturing hundreds of thousands of troops, pillaging, plundering and massacring civilian populations. Smolensk and Kiev fell in September. Leningrad was under siege. Over one million people died in Leningrad due to starvation and cold. The German army marched relentlessly on the road to Moscow, blazing a trail of destruction, murder and mayhem on its path. By December, however, Germany became heavily susceptible the bitter cold of Russian winter, and the Russians used this opportunity to begin their counter attack.
The Soviet-German conflict raged between June 1941 and May 1945. It was a particularly brutal and destructive war, unprecedented in its ferocity and lack of any moral constraint. This barbarized warfare exacted an immense death toll of over 25 million people on the Soviet side, a majority of them being civilians.
Meanwhile the Japanese entered the scene by launching a surprise attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1942. Till then the US saw the savage battles that were going on as being part of a European war, and it did not want to interfere in the European scene to the extent possible. Many American politicians had advocated an isolationist stance toward Europe. The initial reluctance of America to join Britain and France stemmed from the reluctance of American people to get involved in wars (America in the World). There was a wide-spread anti-war sentiment among many sections of the American population. But being attacked unprovoked on its own soil left America no option but to join the bloody conflict. America declared war on Japan, and Germany declared war on America. The Allied and the Axis sides were consolidated America, Britain, Canada and Australia vs. Germany, Japan and Italy. The Second World War now assumed global proportions.
Japan went on to invade Philippines and Burma. The Pacific War was underway. There were already numerous American military bases in the Pacific. However, American had to yet enter Europe. American soldiers landed in England by January of 1942. In the first few months of that year, the mutual German and British air raids and the unrestrained killing of civilian populations intensified. Meanwhile Rommel led his Afrika Corps to one victory after another, and Japan continued its expansion in the Pacific, capturing Indonesian islands. Singapore too fell into the hands of the Japanese and thousands of British soldiers were taken prisoners of war. From June of that year, however, the tide began to turn. Japan suffered defeat in the hands of America in the Battle of Midway. And for the first time, the German forces were effectively thwarted when General Montgomery leading the British troops gained an upper hand over the Germans on the North African front (Britannica.com). The first complete defeat of the Germans would soon come at Stalingrad.
The Battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in the Second World War and marked one of its few major turning points. The battle lasted from 13 September 1942 until the final German surrender on 2 February 1943. In the titanic struggle that raged on the shores of the River Volga, the German Wehrmacht faced a crushing and humiliating defeat from which it would never manage to recover. To the Germans, Stalingrad signified the first and the most catastrophic defeat.
One defeat followed another for Germany. In May of 1943, German U-boats retreated and the Battle of Atlantic was over. The German forces in North Africa surrendered to the Allies. For some time, the theater of battle shifted to Italy. In September, Italy surrendered to the Allies, but German troops entered Italy and there were many encounters between the opposite sides.
The British and Indian troops were fighting the Japanese in Burma, and the American army successfully resisted Japanese forces in Guadalcanal. After Stalingrad, Russia continued advancing and recapturing the fallen cities from the Germans. Japan penetrated deeper into China. The clashes between the Germans and the Allied forces continued in Italy until Rome was liberated in June.
The biggest operation ever undertaken in the military history of the world, dubbed Operation Overlord, commenced on June 6, 1944 the D-Day. The Allies landed 6,500 vessels full of soldiers on five beaches of Normandy on the French coast. Much of this area was guarded by barricaded Germans. Allied casualties were expected to be very heavy in the first hours of landing. However, clever use of decoys and misleading information previously by the Allies minimized the causalities. Upon overcoming the initial upsets after landing, the Allies were virtually unstoppable, mirroring the might of the German army during the first months of the war. The Allied troops were supported by air fleet. The advance of the Allied forces was, however, relatively slow because of the nature of the terrain of the French countryside. Paris was liberated in August, and the Germans were now on the run everywhere. Nevertheless the Germans initiated one last and desperate counteroffensive against the Allies in December, in the Battle of Bulge at Ardennes. During this tragic episode, the Germans managed to kill 20,000 Americans, before the Allies finally took control of the situation.
The only German offensive after this would be the continued dropping of bombs, including the V-1 and V-2 long-range ballistic missiles, on Britains cities. However, at this stage, these attacks did not inflict great damage. The Soviets advanced unimpeded across the Eastern Europe and arrived in Berlin by 21st April, 1945. Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered on 7th May 8th May, 1945 was celebrated as the VE (Victory in Europe) Day.
On the Pacific front the war continued to rage. During the course of 1944 and 45, major battles took place in Burma, Philippines, and the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima. On 6th August, 1945, America dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima and dropped another bomb three days later on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on 14 August.
The Second World War was the bloodiest conflict in human history. Over fifty million people were dead in all, a majority of whom were civilians. It was an immense tragedy, but it also helped usher in the world into the modern times.
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