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A Text of Report

Presented to

Dr. GENEVIVE DATUL GARCIA

Subject Instructor

In partial fulfillment of the Requirements

For the subject SED SS 313: WORLD HISTORY 2 (MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY)

by

PIANO, ROMNICK E.

BSE SOCIAL SCIENCE 3

SY. 2024-2025
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Outline of Report:
THE WORLD AT WAR
(World War 2)

i. Introduction
I. The Greatest War of all Time
A. Totalitarianism and the Underlying cause of the war
1.) Fascist Italy
2.) Nazi Germany
3.) Militarist Japan
B. New Weapons and Methods of Warfare
II. When Humanity Crumbles: The Tales of War
A. The Failure of Peace: Aggression Leads to War
1.) Hitler Gained Power and Violates the Treaty of Versailles
2.) Aggression in East Asia
3.) The Intensifying Aggression of Nazi Germany
4.) Reactions to Expansion
B. The Outbreak of the War: Europe Falls to Axis Power
1.) Blitzkrieg Overwhelms Western Europe
2.) The Battle of Britain Begins
3.) War in Eastern Europe and the Invasion of the Soviet Union
4.) Europe Under Nazi Rule: The Brutality in Racism
C. A Chaotic World: Hostility Reach the Pacific
1.) A declaration of War: America's Response after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor
2.) United States Forces Regained Power
D. Keeping Alive: A Fight for the Future Civilization of Mankind
1.) Invasion of Italy and the Abidance of Mussolini
2.) The Liberation of Paris, Allies Invaded France
3.) Victory in Europe, Germany Surrenders
4.) Turning the Tide in the Pacific: New Weapons End the War
III. A New World Awaits: The Shadow of War and Restoration of Peace
A. A Disaster on a Global Scale: War Impacts Across the World
1.) Effects of the Holocaust
2.) War Criminals are Tied
B. An Effort for Peace and Advancement: A Trans
1.) Political Issues and Tensions
2.) The International Organization for World Peace, and the Rise of U.S. into
Global Domination
3.) The 20th Century after the Second World War and Beyond
ii. Summary
iii. Evaluation
x. Reference
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THE WORLD AT WAR

(WORLD WAR 2)
Introduction

Ending the first world war pave the way for the establishment of new parliamentary
governments in Europe, hoping that democracy would make the world safe from destruction.
However, the postwar years brought serious challenges for all these new governments specially
for the more established Western democracies. Peace settlements caused bitterness and
resentment, creating tensions in both Europe and Asia, intensified by economic problems
brought by the worldwide depression. People began to doubt that democratic governments
could solve these problems. Alongside with the fear of the spread of communism rising from
the Soviet Union, authoritarian leaders gained the support of the people in a promise to restore
national power and solve their nations’ problems through strong state control, and so
totalitarianism was born. To think, the world seems to have no rest after the global catastrophic
event and now leading to a more chaotic occasion.
Challenging the democratic governments and the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles,
Hitler ascend into power; intrench totalitarianism across Europe. Carrying the will to redeemed
Germany from its loss in the previous great war, Hitler implies Nazism with his strong
determination to create a new German empire that would dominate the continent. This new
order would be based on the concept of race. ‘Races’ such as the Jews were so poisonous that
there was literally no place for them in this new Europe. Other inferior races would be handled
ruthlessly: the Slavs unless they sided with Hitler would not be permitted any national existence
and could only hope for a servile status under their Aryan masters. Italy under Mussolini with
his fascist rule sided with Germany and starts an aggression. In the Pacific, Japan’s strong
militarism starts a conflict with China’s Manchurian Dynasty. At first, Western democracies
seemed unwilling to thwart this expansion, wanting to avoid another bloody incidence in
human history. Though, the aggression of these totalitarian nations is unstoppable. Refusing to
stand back and watch smaller nations be gobbled up by authoritarian regime, democratic
nations intervene and the war which they so desperately tried to avoid was suddenly thrust
upon them. The world was once again in crumble, the greatest war on human race - the World
War 2 which battled across the globe.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the topic, the students should be able to;

1. State the causes of the second world war and how it differs from the first great war.
2. Explain why racism is central to Nazi thinking.
3. Evaluate the totalitarian rule of Germany, Italy and Japan on the 20th Century.
4. Create a timeline of the events occurred in World War 2.
5. Discuss how the war transitioned the globe into contemporary world.
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Learning Content:
I. THE GREATEST WAR OF ALL TIME
Although international efforts were made to keep peace in the decades after World War
I, the world was soon caught up in another widespread and destructive conflict. World War II
involved far more of the world’s peoples than the earlier war. It was fought in all parts of the
globe – on land, in the air, at sea, and under the sea. The combatants are the Allied nations
composing Britain, France, United States, and the Soviet Russia; against the Axis power which
includes Germany, Italy, and Japan. Some nations chose to remain neutral. Among these were
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, and Egypt. Regardless, the war brought
tremendous damages on both victors and vanquished, causing major changes around the globe.
A. Totalitarianism and The Underlying Causes of the War
The Second World War was the most destructive conflict which man has so far
witnessed. The causes of it can be traced from the years of aggression of Germany and Italy in
Europe, and Japan in East Asia. It’s not a war that each armies wanted, but the desire of the
leaders who demands for war. The failure of peace had brought by the totalitarianism that
challenge liberty.
Soviet Union’s government is the first nation who impose totalitarianism – a form of
government in which the state completely controls individuals’ lives by demanding that they
give up their own interests and goals to serve those of the state. This form of government
emerges in the country after Lenin died in 1924 where the Soviet Union struggled for power
arose between two top Communist party leaders. In 1929, Joseph Stalin became the sole leader
and began to exert even more control over its citizens. Stalin’s government may see as
totalitarian, but it was only enforced inside the country. In the years following WW1
democratic government of Italy and Germany seems to have failed in restoring the country’s
condition, and so, dictators gained the support of the people; giving up their life with the
totalitarian rule.

FASCIST ITALY
Unlike the Germans who have been in the central power during the World War I and
having a great defeat, Italy had been on the winning side but it seems not like a victorious
nation. The treaties ending WWI awarded Italy little of the territory its people had expected in
return of their war effort. Half a million Italian soldiers had died and a million more had been
wounded. There were food shortages, rising prices, unemployment, and business failures. A
series of weak governments seemed helpless in the face of these problems. In this postwar
environment, many people began to desire a strong government that would bring law and order,
and rekindle nationalist pride. Soon, Benito Mussolini, who promised such government,
emerged as a new leader. Mussolini’s plan for ruling Italy led to a new form of totalitarianism
called fascism, an ideology that stressed nationalism and placed the well-being of the state
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above the welfare of individuals. With that ideology, authority rest in a single leader and a
small group of devoted party members, believing that a rival political opinion divided and
weakened a nation.

Benito Mussolini became the leader of the Italian in the war. Born in 1883, Mussolini
taught school for a short time and then became a political journalist. In 1912, he was made
editor of the Italian Socialist Party newspaper Avanti!. Mussolini left the socialist party and
became a fervent nationalist and joined the army when Italy went to war in 1915. After the war
in 1919, Mussolini and his follower organized the fascist party. Hoping to gain control of the
government, he sought support from Italian industrialists, large land owners, military leaders,
and high government officials. Support flooded on fascist side, by early 1922, the Fascist party
had over 300,000 members and controlled the governments of several major Italian cities. In
October 1922, Mussolini made his bid for national power, he suppressed all other political
parties, created secret police to spy on possible enemies. The natives of Italy swear an oath of
loyalty to the Fascist state “Believe! Obey! Fight!”.
NAZI GERMANY

Germany after World War I suffered much the same unrest and confusion as did Italy.
However, the Germans bore the additional burden of having lost the war. In 1920, the Treaty
of Versailles changed German borders and government, forbade the nation to re-arm and
ordered it to pay reparations to the Allies. The Germans found the Treaty humiliating and
deeply unfair. During the 1920’s, as inflation, hunger, and unemployment increased, Germans
longed for the days when their nation had been a world power with a strong army. Nationalism
grew in strength while loss confidence in the postwar government – Weimar Republic,
decreased. The decreasing faith to democracy under the Weimar Republic leads by president
Friedrich Ebert were due to its strong affiliation with Communism and Social Democrats.
German nationalist, military leaders, industrialist, large land-owners, and judges favored
authoritarian rule. Militarists and nationalists spread the rumor that Germany had not truly been
defeated in the war. They claimed that the leaders of the Weimar Republic had betrayed
Germany by urging peace. They wanted to reject the Treaty of Versailles, rebuild the German
army, and restore Germany to a position of power in world affairs. Many Germans were ready
to listen to radical new ideas and leaders who promised to restore Germany’s greatness and
who he won will gain enthusiastic support for his totalitarian state.
Hitler seeks power for the NAZI Party. Along with many other new political parties,
the National Socialist German Workers’ party appeared in Germany after World War 1. It was
also called Nazi party, a short name taken from the German pronunciation of the first two
syllables of National. In 1921, party membership stood at only 6,000. That year, Adolf Hitler
became the party’s leader.
Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889, the son of a customs officer. A poor student
and rebellious youth, he yearned to study art. At 19, he moved to Vienna but he failed the
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entrance examination to the Art Academy there. For a few years he made living doing odd jobs,
but he did not like the life in Vienna. He disapproved of almost everyone – the aristocracy,
capitalist, Marxist, and above all, Jews, many of whom had risen to influential positions in the
city. Considering himself as a “true German”, Hitler moved to Munich in 1913. When World
War I broke out, he joined the German army. He reached the rank of corporal during the war
and was decorated for bravery. After the war, he returned to Munich and with a few other
soldiers funded the party which in 1920 became the Nazi party which he led into a revolution
against the Weimar Republic, but was soon arrested and convicted for a year. While in jail, he
wrote Mein Kampf, or “My Struggle”, an account of his hatred for democracy, communism,
and Jews. In 1929, when depression hit the United States and Europe, foreign loans to
Germany dried up. Without financial aid, building and manufacturing ground to a halt. By
1932, about one third of Germany’s work force was unemployed, this resulted into a dramatic
growth of support for the Nazis and became the most powerful political force in Germany.
Blaming factors outside German control such as the Treaty of Versailles and
communism for Germany’s problems, Hitler aimed to return Germany to the Status of great
power. He began an extensive program of rearmament and military expansion. In secret,
German began to manufacture arms and ammunition. Hitler’s military buildup helped the
German economy recover by fueling industrial growth and creating jobs. A larger military also
prepared German for expansion. Hitler believed Germany needed more “living space” a goal
he called lebensraum. He promoted the slogan “Today Germany, tomorrow the world”.
Racism is also basic to Nazi thinking. Hitler claimed that the Germans were a “master
race” descended from the Aryans or the Nordic people. He considered Jews, Slavs, and other
peoples to be “inferior races” who weakened the nation. Hitler’s hatred for non-Aryans focused
particularly on the Jews. Taking advantage of the anti-Semitism that already existed, he
accused the Jews in Germany of being responsible for all the nation’s problems. The Nazis
blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in the war, for high unemployment, and for the spread
of communism. The Nuremberg laws of 1935 denied German citizenship to Jews, took away
their jobs, and forbade them to marry non-jews. Jews were also required to wear a yellow star
of David in public. Mobs beat and killed Jews, destroyed their places of worship, looted their
shops, and wrecked their homes. Thousands of Jews fled Germany during 1930’s. prominent
among them were many scientists and mathematicians such as Albert Einstein, who emigrated
to the United States. Many other Jews, however, remained trapped in Germany because most
nations, including the United States, would not eases their restrictive immigration policies and
accepted only some of the refugees.
MILITARISM IN JAPAN

During the reign of the Meiji emperor from 1868 to 1912, Japan was being transformed
from a feudal farming society into a modern industrial state. Japan then sided with the Allies
during the World War I, hoping to win territory in China that was held by Germany. By the
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end of the war, Japan had become the most powerful nation in East Asia. Liberal spirit was
leading to a broader democracy in Japan after the first war. Japanese way of life improved, and
increasingly heard and read about the political ideas and fashions of the West. They also formed
new political parties – democratic, socialist, communist, an anarchist – modeled on those of
the west. Democracy advances more when Hara Kei became the prime minister in 1918. Young
people in cities began to adopt western styles of dress and music. Baseball became popular, as
did movies. More important, young Japanese began to resist centuries-old traditions of family
authority, such as marriages arrange by their parents. Even Japan’s foreign relations in the early
1920’s seemed marked by a spirit of liberal, international cooperation.

Despite the changes, many Japanese were not content with the new shape their nation
was taking. Industrialization and western influence had produced rising expectations for
improved standards of living, yet few Japanese felt that the changes of the past few decades
had benefited them directly. Discontent among workers, youths, and intellectuals increased
during 1920s, fueling tensions between those who wanted broader social changes and those
embraced traditional ways. Many Japanese leaders reacted to this unrest with alarm. They
believed social conflict within Japan would weaken the country and threaten its security.
Gradually, Japan began to run away from liberal reform. Leaders emphasized tradition as a
source of national strength. They suppressed protest by promoting traditional Japanese respect
for authority and strengthening feelings of nationalism. As the Japanese government became
more conservative, the military gained increased influence over the country and its civilian
rulers. Japan moved toward a policy of militarism, and the liberalism of the early 1920s gave
way to increasingly authoritarian rule. Japanese government was set up as an oligarchy, in
which power was in practice shared by an emperor, his unelected advisors, a prime minister,
and a military leader.
Members of the government had close ties to the Zaibatsu – the huge corporations that
ran most of Japan’s industry and business, and were often active in politics and contributing to
the political leaders. Economic problems in the late 1920’s also brought the country closer to
military rule. A financial panic gripped the nation in 1927, followed by the depression in 1929.
By 1930, one million Japanese were out of work. Many of them returned to their home villages,
only to face famine as crops failed. Many Japanese threw their support behind military because
military leaders made clear their sympathy with suffering peasants and because military ideas
for territorial expansion seemed to offer a solution to economic problems. While military
leaders gained more power within Japan, increasing discrimination against Asians by Western
nations in the 1920s fed the fires of militarism and turned Japanese away from international
cooperation. After the worldwide depression began in 1929, the Japanese lost western markets
for silk and other goods, as many nations imposed high tariffs to protect their own industries.
In the face of such policies, the Japanese felt less obligation to cooperate internally.
Expansionist and militarist groups inside and outside of government began to have stronger
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voices. If the Japanese could not emigrate and if other nations’ tariffs limited Japanese export
income, they said, then the nation had only one alternative: territorial expansion.
From that pieces of will and desire, Italy, Germany, and Japan lights up the greatest war
of all time. The underlying causes could be simply view in the reasons of: (1) a clash between
2 political ideologies, the defender of democracy – the Allied nations, and the propagandist of
totalitarianism – the Axis power. Soviet Russia, although not a democratic country, joined the
Allies because of Hitler’s anti-communist propaganda. (2) Democracy seems to be inefficient
to respond the needs of the people following the aftermath of the first war, continuous civil
wars, and economic instability due to worldwide depression. (3) Other causes of the crisis are
the unchecked aggressions of Germany, Italy, and Japan; (4) the fantastic dream of Hitler to be
masters of the world, believing that German race is a descendant of the Aryan Race which
theory states that “They the white are the only civilized and have the obligation to conquer and
civilized the world”; (5) lastly, the failure of the League of Nations to settle international crises.
B. New Weapons and Methods of Warfare
What differs the second world war to the first war aside from the scope and occurrences,
what makes it more destructive is the new weapons and methods of warfare. Among the new
deadly weapons appeared during the second world war are: (1) the tommy gun and automatic
rifle; (2) the bazooka, a small jet-propelled anti-tank gun; (3) heavily armored land tanks with
rotating guns; (4) amphibian tanks which travel on land and sea; (5) the booby-trap, a mine set
to explode at the slightest touch; (6) powerful anti-aircraft guns that shot explosive shells in
the air to destroy attacking planes; (7) radio-controlled rockets filled with high explosives; (8)
balloon barrages, which were huge balloons that held up wire nets in the air to protect cities
and fleets from raiding planes; (9) new types of planes , such as dive bombers and the flying
fortresses; and (10) the nuclear bomb, the most destructive weapon ever used by man.
Other than new, new methods of warfare were also introduced. The Nazi German’s
Blitzkrieg (lightning war), brought a fast defeat among their enemies. By this new war method,
bombers first blasted the enemy fortifications, cities, and communication lines, after which the
troops, supported by tanks and planes, assaulted the enemy position. Later, paratroopers and
commandos were flown by planes and dropped behind enemy lines. Battles were thus won or
lost in a much shorter time than during the World War I. Trench warfare was no longer used.
Naval warfare underwent radical changes. Submarines had greater cruising ranges and inflicted
heavier damages on enemy shipping. The fleets had aircraft carriers, loaded with combat
planes. The planes played a decisive role in naval battles. The landings of troops on enemy
shores were facilitated by the use of amphibian barges that could travel on land and sea.
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II. WHEN HUMANITY CRUMBLED: THE TALES OF THE WAR

TIMETABLE The destruction caused by World War I made

WORLD WAR II most countries of the world eager to prevent future
war. In 1930’s however, the rise of fascist dictators
1925 European nations agree to the Locarno
pact. in Europe and militaristic leaders in Japan worked
1935 Hitler announces German rearmament. against efforts for peace. Fascist Italy lacked the
Fascist Italy invades Ethiopia. unity and strength to dominate Europe, but Nazi
1936 German troops occupy the Rhineland.
1937 War breaks out between Japan and China. Germany was a totalitarian state with growing
1938 The Anschluss brings Austria into the Third military and industrial power. When other European
Reich. nations resisted German aggression, the continent
The Munich agreement allows Hitler to take
the Sudetenland. was plunged into war. Japan’s leader was seeking to
1939 The Nazi-Soviet Pact is signed. expand their empire in Asia. Their ambitions led to
Germany invades Poland. war with China and increased the tensions among
Britain and France declare war on Germany.
1940 Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the the world powers.
Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France fall to
Hitler. A. The Failure of Peace: Aggressions Leads to
The Battle of Britain begins. War
1941 Germany invades the Soviet Union.
The United States enters the war. The League of Nations, President Wilson’s plan
1942 Stalingrad, El Alamien, and Midway Mark
for world peace, had been established under the
turning points in the war.
1943 Treaty of Versailles. Its goal was to promote peace
Italy surrenders following an Allied invasion.
1944 Allied forces invade Normandy (D-Day).
and encourage cooperation among nations.
1945 The war ends in Europe (V-E Day).
Members of the league promised to bring their
Japan surrenders (V-J Day).
quarrels together for settlement, rather than going to
war. The league also set up the mandate system to provide colonies with a stable transition
period to independence. Although more than sixty nations joined, the organization was severely
weakened by the United States’ refusal to join. Moreover, the league lack power to enforce its
decision. Still other efforts to maintain peace were made in the 1920’s by diplomats from the
world’s great powers. At conferences in London and in Washington D.C., they discussed
disarmament and agreed to limit the size and strength of their navies. In 1925, the European
nations met at Locarno, Switzerland. They promised to seek peaceful ways to settle disputes,
paying specific attention to trouble spots such as the French-German border.
Early 1930’s, Hitler Gained Power and Violates the Treaty of Versailles
As part of his policy of fulfilment, Gustav Stresemann let Germany joined the League
of Nations in September 1926 and took part in some of the postwar efforts to maintain peace.
Nevertheless, some Germans bitterly resented the Treaty of Versailles, which disarmed the
country, taken away its quests and colonies, ordered the payment of huge sums for war
damages. However, when Hitler gained power in the early 1930’s, he vowed to destroy the
treaty altogether. His first step in restoring Germany’s power was to rebuild its military forces,
which the Versailles Treaty forbade. Under the Weimar Republic, Germany had begun secretly
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rearm on a small scale. In 1935, Hitler openly declared that Germany would build a peace time
army of 550,000 men. This was a clear violation of the Treaty provision that limited the army
to 100,000. Britain and France denounced German rearmament, but neither nation took action.
Both wanted to preserve peace. Britain was not prepared for war, and France was not ready to
fight alone.
Beginning of this violation, Europe’s two fascist – Mussolini of Italy and Hitler of
Germany – made other aggressive moves that were only weakly opposed. In 1935 Mussolini
invaded Ethiopia, the African kingdom that had resisted earlier Italian invasions. Haile
Selassie, Ethiopia’s emperor appealed to the league of nations, which condemned Italy for
committing an act of aggression. The league also urges its members not to sell arms or strategic
raw materials to Italy. However, only a few nations cooperated, and the boycott failed. Ethiopia
was defeated and became a part of an Italian colony. In March 1936, Hitler sent troops into the
Rhineland, and the region between the Rhine River and the French border. This too violated
the treaty, which had demilitarized the region. German generals warned Hitler that this move
was dangerous, for the German army was still weak. Hitler, however, felt certain that French
and British leaders would take no action that might lead to war. Certainly, European leaders in
the League of Nations could not decide how to respond to this treaty violation. Not believing
Hitler wanted war, they thought he was only trying to correct injustices in the Versailles treaty.
The British would not risk war to keep Germany from its own territory, and the French did not
want to act against Hitler without British help.
Both the fascist powers displayed their growing military strength. In Europe, as forces
favoring conflict grew stronger, peace became less certain. Internal struggle for control in Spain
soon erupted into a full-scale civil war that eventually involved other nations. The battle is
between the loyalist who defends the republic and the nationalist who want dictatorship. Hitler
and Mussolini backed the nationalist leaded by Francisco Franco, they send troops and
equipment. With Franco’s victory, another totalitarian regime was established in Europe.
France now found itself surrounded by fascist governments: Franco’s Spain, Hitler’s Germany,
and Mussolini’s Italy.
Aggression in East Asia

Europe was not the only spot where military aggressors were threatening world peace.
Those in Japan who favored territorial expansion looked first to Manchuria, a province of
Northern China, due to its mineral resources that lacking in Japan, as well as rich farm land
and new markets for Japanese products. In 1931, a group of Japanese officers stationed in a
part of Manchuria under lease to Japan blew up a section of railroad near the city of Mukden,
then blamed the act on troops of the Chinese warlord who controlled the area. Using this
“Mukden Incident” as an excuse, the Japanese officers directed their soldiers to attack the
warlord’s army and “restore order”. Japanese forces quickly took over much of Manchuria.
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The League of Nations condemned the move but took no action, and in 1933 Japan resigned
from the league. Japan’s attacks on the Asian mainland continued.
In 1937, Japanese and nationalist Chinese troops clashed near Peiping (Peking). This
incident led to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, which is often considered the real
beginning of World War II. Japanese troops began an all-out invasion and soon overran much
of eastern China. Chiang Kaishek’s nationalist government was forced to retreat westward,
establishing new headquarters at Chunghing in western China. By 1938, Japan held Canton,
Shanghai, and other coastal cities and its navy blockaded the China coast.
The Intensifying Aggression of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany, meanwhile, continued its steady expansion in Europe. Using the
principle of self-determination for nationalities to justify his actions, Hitler now sought to bring
together all the German-speaking peoples. These included large populations in Czechoslovakia
and in Poland, as well as the people of Austria, Hitler’s homeland. A union, or Anchluss,
between Austria and Germany was specifically prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler
nevertheless proposed a plan by which the two “German” states would cooperate. Some
Austrians tried to preserve the country’s independence, but in March 1938, Hitler’s troops
entered Austria and declared it a province of the German Third Reich.
After conquering Austria, Hitler moved to Czechoslovakia using again the principle of
self-determination to justify his moves. While Czechoslovakia’s 15 million people were Slavs
(Czechs and Slovaks), only 3 million are Germans. Hostility had existed for centuries between
Sudeten Germans and Slavic Czechs. With encouragement from Germany, the Nazis among
the Sudeten Germans now began to denounce the Czechoslovakia government for
“persecuting” the German minority and depriving it of the right of self-determination. While
their demands were self-rule, the real goal was annexation by Germany. The young Czech
Republic has alliances with France and Russia, a large armaments industry, and strong border
of defenses. As Hitler began to threaten Czechoslovakia, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
of Britain asked for a conference among the great powers.
Despite the increasing aggression of Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930s, the western
democracies had continued to give in to their demands. Such a policy is called appeasement.
Britain and France were following this policy because, after the horror of the World War I,
both desired peace at almost any price. In addition, neither Britain nor France felt prepared to
go to war against Germany. Help from the United States in case of war seemed unlikely because
of the American people’s wish to stay out of European wars. Britain and France also were
unsure of the position of the Soviet Union and its unpredictable leader, Stalin. For the Soviet
leader, they suspected that Britain and France were allowing Germany to grow strong enough
to attack the Soviet Union. In September 1938, Chamberlain, Hitler, Mussolini, and Premier
Edouard Daladier of France met in Munich, Germany to decide Czechoslovakia’s fate.
Continuing the policy of appeasement, Chamberlain and Daladier agreed to Hitler’s claim of
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the Sudetenland. As before, Britain was not willing to go to war. France, although it had made
an alliance with the Czechs, would not risk defend its ally without British help. With no
support, Czechoslovakia surrendered the Sudetenland without a fight. Hitler promised to seek
no more European territory. Opposite to what he promised, Hitler did not stop with the
Sudetenland. In March 1939, German troops took Prague, the Czech capital, and
Czechoslovakia ceased to exist as an independent nation.

With the conquest of Czechoslovakia – a non-German speaking state, it was now

apparent that his goal was to dominate Europe. And now, his next move to occupied Poland
feared the world for another war. The Polish Corridor, created after WWI, was a strip of land
that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany and gave Poland access to the sea. The
city of Danzig, predominantly German, had been made a free port tied economically to Poland.
In March 1939, Hitler demanded that Danzig return to German rule and that Germany be
granted a railroad and a highway through the corridor. The Polish government refused this
demand and Britain and France declared that they would help defend Poland’s independence.
Reactions to Expansion

Events in the Czechoslovakia led the British and French governments to change their
policy toward Hitler. It was clear that Hitler was no longer simply protecting the rights of
Germans living in other nations. He had caused an entire nation to disappear from the map. As
Hitler gained more power and territory in the 1930s, Stalin began to fear invasion from the
west. Stalin’s own purges during the 1930 had weakened his Red Army. By the end of the
decade, a treaty with his strongest enemy seemed to be the most strategic move. Hitler, on the
other hand, sought a treaty so that he could move into Poland without opposition from the
Soviets. In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a nonaggression pact in which the two nations
agreed to respect each other’s borders. Secret provisions of the pact divided Poland between
the Nazis and the Soviets and allowed the Soviets to move into the Baltic states and the
Romanian province of Bessarabia. Seeing that Stalin could not be trusted and that Hitler’s
appetite for territory could not be appeased, Britain and France prepared for war.
B. The Outbreak of the War: Europe Falls to Axis Forces
It’s the first day in the month of September when German forces launch their attack and
invaded Poland. In two days, they had taken over the Polish Corridor, and in a week, they had
moved to just outside the capital city of Warsaw. The Poles were unprepared for this blitzkrieg,
or “lightning war”. For a day, the Allied powers – Great Britain and France – which had
pledged to stand by Poland, tried in vain to negotiated with Hitler. Then, on September 3, they
declared war on Germany. World War II had begun. After a day of bombing on September 27,
1939, Warsaw surrendered and Poland falls to the Nazi force.
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Blitzkrieg Overwhelms Western Europe

During the World War I, the Allies had trapped the Germans in the Baltic Sea,
preventing their access to the Atlantic. Hitler, determined not to let this happen again, he then
invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940. Preparing to invade France, Hitler conquered the
Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg and succeeded on May 14, 1940 after heavy bombing
had devastated cities and terrorized the civilians. Hitler’s purpose in invading these nations was
to gain access to France through Belgium. The fall of Belgium allowed the German army to
move around the end of the Maginot line, the invasion cut off thousands of British and French
troops in the north of France. Some 330,000 Allied troops retreated to Dunkirk on the English
Channel. Hitler used air power to destroy the Allied forces trapped in Dunkirk. The Luftwaffe,
the German air force, bombed Dunkirk and the English Channel, but Britain’s Royal Air Force
was able to fight back so the evacuation could proceed.
The early years of the war makes Germany the victor after winning a series of battles
on the continent of Europe that staggered the world. Apprehensive at the outset, the German
people were intoxicated by military success; all that Hitler had done appeared justified. The
nightmare that the experiences of the First World War would be repeated seemed for the
Germans no more than a bad dream in 1940. Europe learned the reality of the Blitzkrieg. The
German armies advanced steadily across northern France. Millions of French civilians fled
south, by train or car, on foot or bicycle. On June 10, Mussolini also declared war, and Italian
troops invaded France from the south. The French declared Paris an “open city” to save it from
destruction, and the German troops marched in on June 14. A few days later the French
government asked for an armistice. Hitler arranged for it to be signed in the same railway car
where Germany had agreed to the armistice in 1918. Under the terms of the armistice, Germany
occupied northern France (including Paris) and the coast. In the south a “puppet” French
government was set up at Vichy. It was headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, a hero of the
world war.

The Battle of Britain Begins

Hitler was not satisfied with what he had achieved so far. He had not won sufficient
Lebensraum in the east or the undisputed hegemony of Europe. Any ‘peace’ for him now would
have been tactical and short-lived, he regarded the victory over France as only a prelude to
greater conquests. Plans for a great fleet had been carried forward. With the fall of France,
Britain now stood alone. Hitler had made plans for an invasion, but he hoped the British would
agree to a surrender beforehand.
On May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill became British prime minister, replacing Neville
Chamberlain, who was responsible for the appeasement policy toward Hitler. When Britain
refuses to surrender, Hitler launched an invasion attack through massive bombing of Britain’s
factories, airfields, seaports, and cities. On August 8, 1940, hundreds of bomber and fighter
planes attacked, beginning months of terrifying air raids. Day and night, German bombers
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unleashed destruction on British cities, concentrating on London and industrial centers. In an

effort to soften up Britain for invasion, German bombers at first aimed at airfields and radar
stations. However, the new technology of radar served the British well, allowing them to detect
German places in advance. British fighter planes then met German bombers and fought them
back before they could unload their bombs, this inflicted a heavy loss on German aircraft and
on ports across the Channel. In late fall, it seemed that Hitler had abandoned his invasion plans
but a large area in British cities were destroyed and thousands of civilians killed.
Aside from the damages taken by Britain, a German naval blockade prevented the
shipment of food and supplies to the British, and people faced severe shortages. Britain could
no longer afford to buy supplies or military equipment. Although the hardship to British
civilians was severe, Churchills fiery speeches boosted their spirits. He encouraged the people
with these words: “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be … we shall never
surrender”. Hitler’s change in tactics - bombing cities instead of military bases – saved the
Royal Air Force from almost certain destruction. While German bombers were attacking
London, British airplane factories rebuilt. Before long, German planes were again being
challenged by British fighters. The moment for an invasion was lost. Island Britain survived.
The United States watched the bombing of Great Britain with horror. Throughout the
late 1930’s the United States had tried to stay neutral and would not ship military supplies to
any warring nation. As Axis aggression increased, however, American sentiment began to
swing away from isolationism and toward aid to the Allies. The US began a buildup of military
strength. A change in American neutrality laws allowed Britain to buy American goods and
arm itself against the threat of Nazi invasion. At the end of 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt
proposed a lend-lease program under which the US could sell, lend, or lease military goods to
the Allies for any kind of payment the President thought satisfactory. Despite fears that the
plan would pull the US into war, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941. As the
United States drew closer to entering the war, Roosevelt and Churchill met in August 1941.
Out of the conference came both a strong friendship and Atlantic Charter, a document outlining
the democratic principles for which the war was being fought. The charter included statements
that neither nation sought to increase its territory and that any territorial changes must be
approved by the people in the areas involved.
War In Eastern Europe and the Invasion of the Soviet Union
In 1940, as France fell and Britain continuously bombed by the Nazi, Stalin Invaded
the Baltic states and Bessarabia. Seeing the Soviets move westward, Hitler resolved to take the
remaining independent nations in eastern Europe; having these nations in his power would
clear the way for German troops to move on the Soviet Union – one of Hitler’s longstanding
goals. Early in 1941, he forced Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Mussolini who had taken
over Albania in 1939, used that nation as a base from which to invade Greece in October 1940.
He expected an easy Victory, but the Greeks fought hard with the aid of British planes and
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troops. However, Hitler assisted Italian war effort in Greece, and ordered a massive bombing
and invasion in the island of Crete.
Even though Hitler and Stalin had made a nonaggression pact, one of Hitler’s aims had
always been to destroy communism and seize Soviet territory. He wanted land for German
settler, rich grain fields to feed the German nation, and oil, coal, and iron ore to supply German
war machine. By June 1941, Germany had 3,300 tanks, 5,000 planes, and nearly 4 million
soldiers. On 22nd of June in that year, Hitler launched a surprise attack on Soviet Union in one
of the largest campaigns of World War II. Hitler’s attack brought the Soviet Union immediate
offers of help and support from Britain and the United States. Promises of mutual aid were
made, and the Lend-Lease agreement was extended to include the Soviet Union. At first,
blitzkrieg moved with its usual speed, but the Soviet Union proved difficult to defeat. Stalin’s
“Scorched-earth” policy required that soviets burn crops and kill livestock as they retreated.
The Germans were conquering a dead land. Still, the Nazis move on. By October, Hitler forces
were near Moscow, the capital. Stalin stayed behind when most of the officials of the Soviet
government moved out of Moscow. In stirring speeches, Stalin urged his people not to give up.
The arrival of autumn rains and winter snow slowed the German offensive, for blitzkrieg tactics
were not effective on muddy, snowy roads. When winter brought end to German advances in
the Soviet government, the Germans still not taken Moscow. Fierce resistance combined with
brutal winter weather ended Hitler’s plans for a quick victory over the Soviet Union. Ironically,
the 1942 winter was the harshest in a hundred years. Even though their advance into Russia
had been stopped, German forces held large areas of the soviet. Early in 1942 Hitler’s empire
included all of Europe, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, as well as some of the colonial
possessions. Only Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain remained neutral. Hope
grows in Soviet Union after wining the battle in Stalingrad in 1943. The Soviet victory marked
the turning point in the war in Eastern Europe. Soviet troops had begun to move westward.
South of the European Continent at the North of African region, in the first year of the
war, while Hitler was expanding westward in Europe, Mussolini began campaign to establish
Italian control over the Mediterranean. In the fall of 1940, Italian forces from Libya invaded
Egypt. Their aims were to capture the Suez Canal, which was vital to Allied shipping, and to
open the way to the oil fields of the Middle East. Germany aided Italy on a battle against the
British power on the land – sending desert fighters of Afrika Corps led by Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel. His troops and the British fought back and forth for a year, Rommel’s skill and clever
tactics earned him the nickname “the desert fox” and rule the land over the year.
Europe Under Nazi Rule: The Brutality in Racism
After a successful conquest of Europe, Hitler imposes a new order where all nations
serve the German as the “master race”. Nazi racial policies were administered by Hitler’s police
chief Heinrich Himmler, who was a fanatical believer in Hitler and in “Aryan superiority”. The
policies called for the enslavement or extermination of all “non-Aryan” or “inferior” peoples.
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To Nazis, that meant not only the Jews of Europe, but also millions of Slavs, Gypsies, and
other. The Nazis regarded peoples of Germanic descent, such as the Norwegians and Dutch, as
racial cousin. They were to undergo re-education to make them valued citizens of a “Greater
Germany”. Ukrainian, Polish, and Czech children who “looked German” – blond and blue eyed
– were taken from their parents and sent to Germany to be brought up by German parents and
trained in German Schools.

Persecution and exploitation on resources of the conquered land were also done by the
Germans. When Poland fell in 1939, a sweeping program of murder and terror are rampant. A
million of Poles were also transported in from their land into the Nazi’s labor and concentration
camps. Among those are religious leaders, student political leaders, business owners,
government officials, and anyone else. Germany also used its new territories to support its war
effort, taking food, raw materials, oil, and machinery from conquered areas. The Nazi’s also
made use of conquered peoples, who were forced to work for the German war effort or were
drafted into the Nazi army. By war’s end, about 4 million foreigners were working for
Germany. The Nazis used brutality to maintain control over captured territories. People who
resisted Nazi control were tortured, killed, or imprisoned in concentration camps.
For the Jews, Nazi’s rule may the most brutal in human history as they face the
Holocaust. Himmler’s Deputy, Reinhard Heydrich was the chief planner of the Nazi program
to wipe out the Jews in Europe. Heydrich’s plan was entitled “The Final Solution to the Jewish
People”, and it was a genocide. This systematic murder of an entire people has come to be
called the Holocaust. From all over Europe, Jews were rounded up, loaded into sealed cattle
cars, and shipped to death camps. Many were herded into gas chambers devised for mass
murder. Others were beaten, starved, and tortured to death by their guards. Some prisoners
were the victims of cruel medical experiments. Some six million Jews perished in the
Holocaust, about one and a half million of them children. The most notorious of the death
camps was Auschwitz in Poland, where between three and four million died. After the war,
Rudolf Hoess, the commandant at Auschwitz was tried for crimes against humanity and
executed.
Nevertheless, resistance movements grew in the conquered nations. Resistance fighters
called, partisans, could not form armies and wage open war against the Germans, but they
aided the Allies with information and rescue efforts that saved thousands of people from the
Nazis. They also sabotaged the German war machine, leading strikes and damaging factories,
roads, and railway lines. Even in Germany and Italy, people worked secretly against fascist
rule.
C. A Chaotic World: Hostility Reach the Pacific

The militarists leaders who came to power in Japan in the 1930’s had already increased
Japan’s holdings in Asia and the Pacific. Attracted by the aggressiveness of Nazi Germany and
Mussolini’s Italy, Japan joined the two European nations in a pact against world communism.
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On September 1940, Japan became the third member of what was called the Rome-Berlin-
Tokyo Axis. Japan’s plans and policies for expansion, as well as its aggression in China,
brought opposition from the west, especially the United States. With the ongoing war in
Europe, British, French, and Dutch colonial possessions in Asia and Pacific Ocean left
undefended. Japan sought to incorporate these lands into what it termed the “Greater East Asia
Co-Prosperity Sphere” (which already included Korea, Manchuria, and parts of China). These
possessions would supply markets for Japanese products; oil, rubber, and tin needed by
Japanese industry; and enough rice to feed the nation.
A Declaration of War: America’s Response after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor

America is now the only remaining great power who’s not busy dealing with the on-
going war. With its position, Only United States stood between Japan and its plans to expand
its Asian empire. As the Japanese joined the Axis power with its fear of the spread of soviet
communism, President Roosevelt responded to the alliance by ending the export of steel, scrap
metal, and oil of Japan. The Japanese also signed a nonaggression treaty with the Soviet Union
in an attempt to prevent Stalin from offering aid to other Asian nations. In October, General
Hideki Tojo became prime minister of the country. Committed to war, if necessary to achieve
Japanese goals, Tojo also wanted to remove all Western Influences in Asia.
To prevent interference with its expansion into new areas, the Japanese needed to
cripple the American naval forces stationed in Hawaii. In December, 1941, the diplomatic the
diplomatic talks were still going on when the Japanese struck suddenly at the American fleet
in the pacific. Early in the morning of December 7, 1941, 350 Japanese planes took off from
aircraft carriers to attack pearl harbor, the US naval base in the Hawaiian Islands. American
radar picked up the movement of the planes, but officers in the military information center
thought that they were American. No alert was sounded. At 7:55 am, Japanese torpedo planes
and dive bombers roared out of the sky, catching the Americans by surprise where some of
them are still asleep or eating breakfast. The warships in Pearl Harbor and the planes standing
in neat rows on the airfields were easy targets for the low-flying Japanese planes. The attack
destroyed much of the United States Pacific fleet and air force. At almost the same time,
Japanese planes attacked other American island bases, as well as British holdings in Malaya
and Hongkong. Enraged, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan on December 8.
A few days later on December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
The next several months were a dark time for the Allies. In eastern Asia, Japan struck
one quick blow after another. By the end of March 1942, the Japanese had taken most of the
Philippine Islands, which had been under American control since 1898, and was under the
headship of General Douglas Mac Arthur. Thousands of American and Filipino soldiers died
on a forced “death march” to railway cars waiting to take the troops to prisoner-of-war camps.
Other than the Philippines, Japan also conquered Burma and Singapore, the Dutch East Indies,
and other southeastern territories. The United States and Britain had underestimated the
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strength and ability of the Japanese war machine, and for six months the Japanese maintained
the advantage. In addition, relatively few Asians within the former colonies of European
nations wanted to oppose the Japanese. In fact, at first the other Asians welcomed the Japanese
troops and the end of the Western control, but these Asians soon found the Japanese occupation
to be harsh. Under the Japanese rule, thousands of Asian laborers and prisoners of war were
forced to build railways and roads through steep mountains and dense jungle. From conquered
lands Japan took vital rubber, tin, oil, and tons of food. Embittered by Japanese exploitation,
the conquered people began to organize resistance movements that carried out on guerilla
warfare against the occupying Japanese troops. Local peoples also cooperated with the Allied
troops in Asia.
United States Forces Regained Power
The attack on Pearl Harbor had crippled the Pacific fleet, but by the spring of 1942, the
United States forces had begun to rebuild and were ready to fight back. Planes from American
aircraft carries attacked Pacific Islands and the Japanese capital of Tokyo, putting the Japanese
on the defensive for the first time in the war. The Japanese, however, still planned to capture
the Island of New Guinea and the attack Australia. In May, American and Japanese ships and
planes clashed in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Surprised by the strength of the American fleet,
the Japanese gave up their plans to invade Australia. A month later, Japan suffered its most
serious defeat of the war so far at Midway, an isolated island 1,135 miles northwest of Peral
Harbor.
Both sides were prepared for a major battle over Midway, which was near enough to
Hawaii to give Japan a strategic air base. The Japanese admirals also hoped to destroy the
American fleet by drawing it into an all-out surprise battle. American intelligence, however,
had broken the secret Japanese code, and the fleet was ready, though still outnumbered. And
so, the Battle of Midway starts on June 4 1942 and last up to the 7 th of June. Though a naval
battle, most of attacks are waged in the air. None of the ships fired its big guns. Carrier-based
American torpedo planes divided low at Japanese ships. Although nearly all were shot down,
the attack scattered the Japanese ships and forced the Japanese fighter pilots to fly lower low
over the water. Before they could regain altitude, high flying American dive bombers roared
down out of the sky at the Japanese carriers. When the battle ended, the Japanese had lost their
four best aircraft carriers, along with the planes on deck and many well-trained and skillful
pilots. Despite its loss of the carrier Yorktown, the US had regained naval superiority in the
Pacific. The tide of battle in Asia was beginning to turn for the Allies.
D. Keeping Alive: A Fight for the Future Civilization of Mankind
A war of such world-wide scale required careful strategy, and the Allied leaders met
several times to coordinate plans. In their August 1941 meeting – which yielded the Atlantic
Charter – Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed that the top priority of the war was defeating
Hitler. The Axis minor defeats became a turning point for the Allies.
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Finally, Nazi’s blitzkrieg began to slow down after Hitler’s considerable greatest defeat
in Stalingrad, where half of the German troops was trapped by the Soviet. The battle continued
through the bleak winter months, until fewer than half the Germans survived to surrender in
February 1943, a crucial turning point. Not only did it break the German offensive in the Soviet
Union, it also demonstrated the strength and staying power of the Soviet Red Army. In the
desert of Africa, German forces soon suffered another major defeat. November 1942, the
Allies, led by the American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed in north Africa and moved
in from west on the fleeing Germans. Finally, in May 1943, Axis forces made a final retreat.
With North Africa liberated from the Axis orbit, the Allies now held a base from which to
invade Italy.
Invasion of Italy and the Abidance of Mussolini
In January of 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill had decided to attack Italy, whose ports
and air bases would be strategically important for the bombing campaign they were planning
against Germany. Moreover, eliminating Mussolini’s fascist forces from the war would raise
the morale of Allied soldiers and civilians alike. The loss of North Africa had already shaken
Mussolini’s rule, and in July 1943, he was overthrown and imprisoned. However, German
troops stationed in Italy freed Mussolini and set him up in a puppet state in northern Italy. In
this state, Mussolini’s government appeared to be independent but was controlled by Germany.
Meanwhile, the Allies moved slowly up the boot of Italy, in the face of fierce German
resistance, and liberated Rome in June 1944. As the Allies approached Milan in April 1945,
Mussolini tried to escape but was recognized and executed by partisans.

The Liberation of Paris, Allies Invaded France

In November 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin had all met together for the first
time. Meeting at Tehran, Iran, they agreed on a major assault the following spring, an invasion
of Europe through Northern France. Planning for this offensive, whose code name was
“operation Overlord” had begun a year before. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who
had led the Allied forces in North Africa, would be supreme commander of all the Allied troops
in this invasion. The troops would invade from England, crossing the English Chanel. By early
June 1944, southern England was filled with troops, tanks, and aircraft. June 6, 1944, was set
as D-Day, the date of the invasion along the coast of Normandy. Three million troops were
ready, but fewer than 200,000 made the first assault. Four thousand ships carried the troops,
and 12,000 planes protected them. Paratroopers began the invasion, dropping behind German
lines before dawn. Within a month, a million troops had landed in France and by August, Allied
forces had reached Paris. After 4 years, of humiliating occupation, Paris was liberated on
August 25, 1944, with the help of French resistance groups. General Charles de Gaulle, leader
of the Free French resistance movement, marched through the city to loud cheers. By the end
of the summer, the Allies had driven the Germans out of both France and Belgium.
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Victory in Europe, Germany Surrenders

Hitler’s regime was slowly degrading. Desperate, Hitler made one last attempt to stop
the Allied advance into Germany. In mid-December, 1944, German troops and tanks attacked
the American troops in Italy forests near Germany’s border with Belgium and Luxembourg.
The attack took the Americans by surprise, and the Germans broke through their lines.
Outnumbered – 5:1 – the Americans stubbornly held key towns and roads in what is called the
Battle of Bulge. Unable to crush this resistance, and short of gasoline for tanks and trucks, the
German offensive halted. At the beginning of January, the Allies launched a counter offensive
that soon wiped out the German gains. The Allies now could advance into Germany from both
east and west. Marshal Zhukov’s Soviet troops, pushing through Poland, reached the outskirts
of Berlin on April 21. American and Soviet troops met a few days later in eastern Germany.
On April 30, 1945, with Soviet troops only blocks away from his underground headquarter in
Berlin, Hitler committed suicide. Two days earlier, Mussolini had been captured and executed
by Italian Partisans. A demoralized and devastated Germany surrendered unconditionally; the
end of war in Europe was announced on May 18, 1945 known as the V-E day.

Turning the Tide in the Pacific: New Weapons End the War
Though the war in Europe was over, the war with Japan continued in the Pacific and on
the Asian mainland. In the Pacific, the United States took the offensive against Japan after the
battle of Midway. The plan was to “island hop”, seizing only those islands that were in strategic
positions on the sea route to Japan. In August 1942, American marines and soldiers attack
Japanese base at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, while Australians and other Allied troops
fought in New Guinea. Although jungle warfare was slow and casualties were high, the Allies
move island to island, ever closer to Japan. Strategic victories came at Tarawa in the Gilbert
Islands, and in the Marshalls and Marianas. In the fall of 1944, the Japanese fleet was
shatteringly beaten in the air-sea Battle of Leyte gulf, and American troops began to re-claim
the Philippines. By 1944, American planes were bombing Tokyo almost daily. Casualties ran
high in the Pacific because of the Japanese feeling that surrender meant dishonor. Infantry
soldiers fought to the death rather than be taken prisoner. “Kamikaze” pilots in planes loaded
with bombs deliberately crashed into American ships. In the battle for the island of Iwo Jima,
American planes and ships bombarded the Japanese forces for two and a half months before
marines were sent ashore. Casualties were even higher in Okinawa, the last battle in the Pacific
war, creating an opening for a land invasion over Japan.

For war and peace, Allied leaders once held a meeting in Potsdam, just outside Berlin,
in July 1945 just after Germany’s surrender. The big three – Stalin, Harry Truman (new
American president), and Clemente Atlee (new British Prime Minister) – discussed the use of
a new powerful weapon that the United States had been testing, in response with the Japanese
resistance despite the close defeat over their side. This new weapon has an immense amount
of energy within the atom. At Potsdam, the big three demanded Japan to surrender.
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The Japanese did not respond to the Allied demand for surrender. On August 6, 1945,
the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a Japanese city of 330,000. The
bomb destroyed 60% of the city and killed 80,000 people immediately. Many others died later
from radiation poisoning; a sickness still suffered by some survivors alive today. On August 8,
1945, the Soviet Union carried out the promised made at Yalta, declaring war on Japan and
invading Manchuria. The next day, because Japan’s government had not replied to the demand
for unconditional surrender, a second atomic bomb was dropped. The target was Nagasaki, an
important shipbuilding city. Shortly afterwards, Japanese officials asked for peace. On August
15 – the V-J Day – emperor Hirohito addressed the nation by radio and told the Japanese people
that the long brutal war was over. On September 2, officials of the Japanese government signed
the document of surrender on board the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
At that end, there General Douglas MacArthur expressed the hopes of a war-weary world:
“It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that form this solemn occasion a better
world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past – a world dedicated to the dignity of man
and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish – for freedom, tolerance, and justice.”

III. A NEW WORLD AWAITS: THE SHADOWS OF WAR AND RESTORATION OF PEACE

The crisis of 20th century is not an event that all humans wanted, but the leaders who
desired for a greater power. As treaties for peace failed and the war started, there is one thing
clear, there is no victors as humanity had to experience the greatest loss of all time. Closing the
door of battles, opens the other side of overcoming challenges to restore what had destroyed.
Nations needed to repair devastating damage, but unresolved problems of the past complicate
the rebuilding effort. For peace to last until the new generation arrived, disputes have to be
settled, and that nations should be united for this endeavor.
A. A Disaster on a Global Scale: War Impacts Across the World
World War II was a shattering end to a difficult period in European history. As many
as 50 million people, both soldiers and civilians, may have died as a result of the war. About
15 million died in battle. Many of the wounded would have also died without medical advances,
such as blood transfusions and penicillin, achieved before and during the war. The Soviet
Union suffered the greatest losses – an estimated 7 million soldiers and 13 more civilians. One
out every 22 Soviets, one out of 25 Germans, one out of 46 Japanese were dead or missing at
the end of the war. The high civilian death rate resulted from the intense bombing of cities,
Hitler’s concentration camps, the forced deportation of thousands, and the famines and
epidemics during and after the war.
Property damage was also immense. In monetary terms, the cost of the war is estimated
at more than two trillion dollars. Entire cities such as Stalingrad, Warsaw, and Hamburg lay in
ruins. In Japan, atomic bombs had leveled much of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many cities in
both Europe and Asia that had little or no military significance were totally destroyed or
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severely damage. Nazi murder of the Jews and other groups was the foremost atrocity of the
war, but the Allies also acted harshly. The Soviet army burned and looted many German cities.
In an act of revenge for earlier German bombings, the British deliberately destroyed Dresden
with bombs, killing 135,000 people. The city had little military importance and was filled with
refugees. Such tactics ended the traditional wartime distinction between soldier and civilian. In
addition, World War II saw the invention and use of the most destructive weapons in history.
As scientists in the United States worked to develop the atomic bomb, so did those in Germany,
each side driven by the fear that the other would develop and use the weapon first. Later in
war, Germany began to concentrate on the development of “pilotless bombers”, the rockets
called V-1s and V-2s, which caused extensive damage in London and Belgium.
Effects of the Holocaust
The devastation of entire cities by the new weapons was easy to see, but many people
had never heard of Hitler’s concentration camps. As the Allied forces moved into Germany in
1945, they discovered the horrors of those Nazi death camps. They found survivors who had
been starved and tortured, as well as proof of the extermination of millions. The revelation of
the Holocaust stunned the world. Nazi murder of the Jews and other groups was the foremost
atrocity of the war. The pain of those who had survived the camps did not end with the war.
Freed from the camps, many found themselves homeless, their cities destroyed, and their
families and friends either dead or distant lands, having sought refuge in other nations. Their
dislocation added to the instability of the postwar period.
War Criminals are Tried

The Allies, having learned of the vicious Nazi atrocities, believed that the surviving
German leader should be tried as war criminals, and the United States, Great Britain, France,
and the Soviet Union formed tribunal. Twenty-two of the most important Nazi leaders went on
trial in November 1945 in Nuremberg, Germany, charged with “crimes against humanity” and
“crimes against the peace”. Their testimony went on for 10 months, revealing slave labors,
medical experiments on human beings, force starvation, and mass murder. Trials of less
important Nazi figures – guards at concentration camps, German military officers, doctors who
engaged in the medical experiments – continue to this day. Similar trials took place in Japan.

Aside from the casualties and damages it brought to humanity, other results of the war
could be also view on things such as: (1) it disrupted world economy because of the ravages of
war on agriculture, industries, transportation, finance of many nations; (2) It led to the downfall
of three totalitarian empires – Nazi empire of Hitler, Fascist Empire of Mussolini, and Japanese
Empire of Hirohito; (3) lastly, it gave birth to many independent nations – East Germany, West
Germany, Nationalist China, Red China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaya, Burma, Ceylon,
India, Pakistan, Jordan, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sudan etc.
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B. An Effort for Peace and Advancement: A Transitioning World into Contemporary Times
While fighting together to defeat the Axis powers, the United States, Great Britain, and
the Soviet Union had put aside their differences. As victory fall on their side, a call for postwar
meetings and agreement is urgent, but decisions does not come smooth unlike on war. Though,
having much differences, common ends await. Peace is on the way, and advancement in human
civilization is a goal.

Political Issues and Tensions

Meeting among the Allied leaders during the war had tended to downplay political
tensions in order to achieve unity on war strategy. Meeting in February 1945 in Yalta,
Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill knew that the imminent Allied victory meant that plans had to
be made for the postwar world. Stalin wanted the return of territory lost to Japan on 1905, as
well as territory in Europe. His position at the meeting was strong, since soviet troops had
already driven the Nazi’s out of Poland and part of Czechoslovakia and stood ready to invade
Germany. Roosevelt feared the spread of communism but believed he had to make concessions
to Stalin in return for Soviet aid against Japan.

At the Yalta meeting, the leaders agreed to rearrange the borders of Poland, with a new
frontier that gave the Soviet Union some Polish territory and compensated Poland with German
territory. They also designated Allied occupation zones in Germany and Austria and
established a policy of German reparations. The payments were to be made in goods rather
than in cash. The leaders also called for “free elections of governments responsive to the will
of the people” in postwar Europe. Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt also agreed to established a
new international organization after the war to ensure peace. With that agreement, a date was
set for the first meeting of the United Nations, at which a charter for the organization could be
adopted. At the next meeting of the Allied held in Potsdam in 1945 – after the war in Europe
had ended – Germany was divided into four zones to be occupied by the United States, Great
Britain, The Soviet Union, and France. Instead of taking reparations from Germany as a whole,
Allies agreed to structure separate payments for each zone. This decision reflected the lack of
trust that the Soviet Union and the Western Allies had for each other and forecast growing
East-West tensions. Moreover, though Stalin had agreed to democratic government in Poland
and other nations under Soviet Control, it was not all clear whether he would follow through
on his plan. Western leaders at the conference did not press the question, however, hoping to
keep good relations with Stalin.

The International Organization for World Peace, and the Rise of U.S. into Global Domination
In 1942 the Allies had agreed to act as “united nations”, in President Roosevelt’s phrase,
in the war against the Axis powers. Despite their political differences, Roosevelt, Stalin, and
Churchill always agreed on the need for an international organization. In April 1945, delegates
from 50 nations met in San Francisco, California, to write the Charter of the United Nations.
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The organization’s goals were to serve peace and to “save succeeding generations from the
scourge of war”. Although the League of Nations had failed – it was formally dissolved in 1946
– the world held out hope for the new organization. The United States was the first nation to
ratify the United Nations Charter, followed soon afterward by the Soviet Union. The
organization has six divisions: (1) General Assembly; (2) Security Council; (3) the
International Court of Justice; (4) Secretariat; (5) Trusteeship Council; (6) and Economic and
Social Council. All member nations belong to the General Assembly, each nation having one
vote. The Security Council, the peacekeeping division, has five permanent members: the
United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China. Each permanent member
has veto power, the right to cast a vote prohibiting action, on issues taken up by the Security
Council.
This time on history also viewed the start of the advancing power of United States into
global domination, in terms of politics, economic, etc. World War II weakened both Europe’s
economic power and its claim to superiority over nonindustrial nations. The Japanese invasion
of European colonies in Asia served eventually to strengthen Asian resistance to imperialism.
Exhausted by the war, Europe had difficulty holding onto colonies elsewhere in the world. Not
only had the United States been spared physical damage during the war, it had actually
improved its manufacturing capability. Women in the United States and elsewhere played an
important role in keeping industries running. They filled jobs vacated by men who went to war
and extra jobs created by the round-the-clock shifts of the defense industry. Many women
remained in the work force after the war. American leaders saw that they could no more
succeed in peacetime by acting isolation than they could in war. The postwar period brought
an expanded American influence that has continued to this day.

The horrors of the war stimulated a desire for a new beginning in Western Europe.
Leaders called for an end to selfish interests and for the removal of the people and institutions
that had brought failure to Europe. World War II had reduced Europe’s role in the world, but
at the same time it helped start a period of dramatic economic and political revival.
The 20th Century after the Second World War and Beyond
The first half of the 20th century had been a time of crisis and turmoil, marked by two
devastating world wars. The era after the second World War was a time of searching for ways
to maintain peace despite the growing power and fearsomeness of the world’s weapons. It is a
time to be considered as the exploration for humankind. Competition between the United States
and the Soviet Union created a climate of tensions that became known as the cold war. The
postwar years also brought a great change everywhere. Most of the Western European nations
recovered quickly, and many underwent remarkable economic growth. Recovery was
somewhat slower in Eastern Europe, where people continued to challenge Soviet domination
in their countries. The war speeded up the rise of nationalist movements in Asia, and many
former colonial possessions gained their independence. Civil war in several Asian countries
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brought communist governments to power. In Africa, nearly all the colonial territories sough
and gained their independence from European nations in postwar years.
Changes in the Middle East came partly from moves for independence but were also
affected by the wealth and political influence that oil brought many nations in the region. The
establishment of the Jewish state of Israel in a predominantly Muslim area created continuing
conflicts. In Latin America, many nations still struggled with economic problems, while the
United States and Canada – both strong economically – faced other challenges both at home
and abroad. Truly, the world goes far beyond its condition before the wars. After struggling in
the global conflict, countries across the globe flourished and now focusses on how could they
maintain this long-time gift of peace.
SUMMARY
In the decade after the World War I, many nations took part in efforts to preserve peace.
The rise of dictators in Germany and Italy, however, as well as the influence of military leaders
in Japan, led to aggression in Europe and Asia. The leaders of France and Britain at first did
little to halt Germany’s violations of the Versailles Treaty or Hitler’s takeover of the Rhineland,
Austria, and the Sudetenland. At Munich in 1938 they continued the policy of appeasement.
Hitler seized Czechoslovakia and moved to take Polish territory. The quest of Poland, plus a
surprise alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union led Britain and France to declare war
in September, 1939. In the meantime, Japanese aggression against China led to war in Asia.
Japan soon occupied much of eastern China, while German forces rapidly overran Western
Europe. By 1940 Britain alone faced Hitler in Europe. The German invasion of the Soviet
Union, however, brought the USSR into war. In December, 1941, a surprise Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, involved the United States in the war as well. The Axis powers –
Germany, Italy, Japan – were all successful in the early years of the war. By late 1942, however,
three Allied victories – Stalingrad, El Alamein, and Midway – had turned the tide. The Allied
victory in Europe came in May, 1945. War continued in Asia, but the dropping of atomic bombs
on two Japanese cities brought Japan’s surrender in August 1945. At the end of the war, nations
faced a great struggle to rebuild the broken humanity and peace was restored.
EVALUATION

Provide a brief answer in the following questions.

1.) Compare and contrast the 2 world wars in the 20th century.
2.) How does nationalist feelings relate to totalitarian rule that suddenly leads to the second
World War? Site example from the discussed topic.
3.) Why Nazi Germans considered Jews as inferior race? Provide at least 3 situation that shows
Nazi’s racists thinking.
4.) What are the global impacts of World War 2, and how it leads to the world today?
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Task:
❖ Create a comprehensive timeline of the events in the second world war.
❖ (Essay) Explain in no more than 500 words, “there is no victors in war as humanity had to
experience the greatest loss of all time”

Reference

Perry, M. (1989). A History of the World. Hooughfton Mifflin Company.

Zaide, G.F. and Zaide, S.M. (2011). World History. All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.
Zaide, G.F. (1994). World History: In Asian Setting. Rex Bookstore Inc.
Sterns, P. et, al. (2001). The Encyclopedia of World history: Ancient, Medieval, Modern.
Hooughfton Mifflin Company

J.A.S. Grenville (2005). A History of the World: From 20th to the 21st Century. Routledge