World War II: A Brief History

A Crisis in the Making

The economic depression of the 1930s left much of Europe devastated and desperate for reform. Germany was particularly damaged, and was open and vulnerable to being dominated. The National Socialist German Workers party, or the Nazi party, appealed to the working class and nationalist feelings in Germany, however what they appeared to appeal to and what they stood for were not the same. By working Nazi politicians into the Reichstag (lower German Parliament) they were able to draw supporters. During the depression, Germans desperately voted for radical parties, including the Nazis, in an attempt to force an economic change. When Hitler became more powerful, he set to work rebuilding the German military, which was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

Japan faced similar conflicts with limited resources. Due to the fact that many people in Japan believed they were destined to conquer East Asia, they invaded Manchuria to gain resources. The Japanese head of state attempted to stop the invasion, but he was assassinated, and was replaced by a supporter of the military putting them in control. Americans were disappointed with the dictatorships and turned to isolationism. European leaders did little to stop Hitler; they did not want another war. They thought they could satisfy his demands, and strongly believed that World War I was the "war to end all wars". Some also didn’t think his desire for the unification of all German-speaking nations was unreasonable, and assumed the Nazis would be more peaceful when they gained more territory. As a nation largely composed of European immigrants, American citizens did not hold a unified view, furthering the desire to remain isolated from the conflict.

The War Begins

In 1939 Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War Two. The Soviets countered the attack from the east. On September 3rd, 2 days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. With Germany’s blitzkrieg warfare, Poland stood no chance. By October, the Polish army was defeated. Germany had been avoiding France up until this point, and after the defeat of Poland they turned to Denmark and Norway. They needed iron shipments from Norway, and didn’t want to risk the British blocking it. After conquering the north, Germany was able to set their attention on France. To get around the French Maginot Line, the Germans needed to possess the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The British and French retaliated to the invasion quickly, but in the wrong way.

The Germans sent their tanks and troops through the Ardennes Mountains, in eastern Belgium. With the Allied troops in the wrong place, the Germans easily pushed through the small French Lines at the border making their way to the English channel, as Britain and France were isolated in Belgium. Luckily, they were able to evacuate at the port at Dunkirk. Unfortunately, the British lost massive amounts of army equipment. The war proved too much for the French and they surrendered on June 22, 1940, which allowed Germany to control much of Northern France along with their coastline. Britain, however, remained defiant.

Just how determined the British were could be seen at the Battle of Britain, when the German air force launched a massive attack against the British air force. The only goal of the Germans was to terrorize the British people into surrendering. However, they British had developed radar and were able to inflict much more damage than they suffered. Hitler called off the attack and withdrew forces on October 12, 1940. The United States at this point was still neutral; however, the horror stories of the Holocaust caught the attention of the American media. Though still remaining neutral on the books, the United States began to offer aid to Britain, allowing them to lease military equipment.

The United States Enters the War

At the time Germany was perceived as the main threat, which made Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor very unexpected. The Japanese government appeared to be practicing negotiations with the United States, but decoded Japanese messages didn’t back up the supposed peace. A war warning was sent to Pearl Harbor prior to the attack, but Hawaii was not a suspected target and no measures were taken to prepare for an attack. Officials didn’t think that such a long range attack would be launched; however they couldn’t have been more wrong. The lack of effort in obtaining information and the failure of examining the information available lead to a devastating attack. The attack on December 7, 1941 lead to 21 ships of the Pacific Fleet being damaged. 188 airplanes were damaged to the point that they were beyond repair and no longer useable. Over 2000 lives were lost in the chaos, and almost 2000 more were injured. The next day President Roosevelt asked Congress to formally declare war. The Senate voted unanimously with all 82 votes to declare war. The House also favored the war, with the support of all but 1 representative. Later that same week on December 11, Italy and Germany officially declared war on the United States. The Nazi regime had long been agitated with the United States’ navy attacks on German submarines, and with Japanese support against the Soviet Union, a war with the United States seemed both possible and necessary.

President Roosevelt had not wanted to fight this war on two fronts, because he did not believe the United States had a sufficient navy. The struggles involved with fighting a global war greatly weighed on Roosevelt’s mind, but the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill viewed the United States the powerhouse needed to change the tide of the war. He felt that a nation’s industrial power was the key to winning a modern war, and the United States certainly had that. The Axis powers had underestimated just how quickly the United States could covert their economy from peace time to being oriented towards war production. Factories, financed in part by the government, switched from creating consumer goods to producing useful war supplies. The assembly lines of the automotive industry were fantastically suited to creating war vehicles such as tanks and trucks. They also contributed to the manufacturing of helmets, cooking pots, artillery, rifles and other useful items.

Aside from increasing war production, the United States was quickly able to build up their armed forces with the assistance of the Selective Service Act. This was introduced after the surrender of France to Germany, making it the first peace time draft in American history. With the draftees already registered it was easy to quickly put them in training camps, however some facilities were overcrowded. Basic training was rushed and sometimes ineffective in preparing soldiers, but it did help the soldiers to learn to work together, which is a vital skill in any branch of the military. One of the first things the United States and Britain wanted to do was invade France and drive the Germans out. They also enlisted the help of the Soviet Union. During a conference between the three countrie's leaders, an important agreement was reached. Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, promised to help the United States defeat Japan after Germany had been defeated, and they also agreed to divide Germany into zones to prevent conflicts like this from occurring again.

Regaining France

The invasion of France became known as Operation Overload. The Germans did know that the Allies planned an invasion and had taken precautions around the coast; but they still had no idea when to expect the attack to occur. All plans had been put in place by the spring of 1944. On June 6th, 1944 the invasion took place. Over 7000 ships landed on the coast of Normandy. All of the invasion was very successful, however one area nicknamed “Omaha Beach” had a difficult start. American troops were under intense German fire and the beach was almost evacuated. Eventually, German defenses were taken out and the troops were able to advance onto the beach.

At the same time, The United States needed to drive Japan back. To do so, the strategy of island hopping was used to regain lost territory and push the Japanese military forces back. Two campaigns were launched to do this. One campaign hopped throughout the central Pacific while at the same time another fleet set out for the southwest Pacific. This strategy would prove successful. While the island hopping was occurring, Allied forces were strongly devoted to liberating France and moving on into Germany. Three weeks after liberating Paris, the Allied troops were only 20 miles away from the German border. Hitler’s last attempt to harm the Allies was to cut off the supplies they were receiving from the port of Antwerp in Belgium. On a cold, snowy winter day in December, the Germans launched an attack.

This attack would later be called Battle of the Bulge. Lasting over three weeks, the beginning seemed to be in the favor of the Germans. One of their goals was to gain control over the town of Bastogne, however the Allied troops arrived there first, throwing a wrench into the German battle plan. German forces surrounded them, demanding that they surrender. After those troops had been isolated, more were ordered to go to their aid, and they arrived at Bastogne much quicker than the Germans had anticipated. The battle raged on until January 8th, 1945, when the German troops began to retreat.

The Soviet Union was more focused on driving German troops out of Russia, and while the Battle of the Bulge was occurring, the Soviets had been pushing German troops out of Russia and back to Poland. With determined efforts they kept fighting and forcing German retreat until they were only 30 miles outside of Berlin by February, preparing to crash through Germanys east border. American forces had been advancing from the west, reaching the Rhine River and extending onward throughout March. With troops closing in on both sides of Berlin, the end was near. Hitler committed suicide appointing Karl Doenitz as his successor. Doenitz attempted to surrender to the British and Americans, but they wanted an unconditional surrender and for Germany to quit fighting the Soviet Union. On May 7, 1945 that unconditional surrender was issued, and the United States was now able to focus its attention on defeating Japan.

Focusing on Japan

One of the goals of island hopping was to gain possession of an island close to Japan, so that the bombers needed to attack Tokyo could have a station to refuel at. Iwo Jima was selected as the most appropriate location. The violence endured by marines on both sides was some of the most brutal throughout the entire war, and those who survived described the island as displaying some of the most graphic scenes that had occurred in the Pacific tour. After gaining control of the island, exactly how to attack Japan was debated. Firebombing was the topic in question, and it caused a lot of controversy due to the fact that innocent civilians would lose their lives in the process of using them as well. The firebombing technique was used, because it was the fastest way to destroy Japanese war production. Tokyo was attacked on March 9, 1945, a very windy day that only fueled and cause massive fires to spread throughout the city. The fires became so large that oxygen levels decreased and many died of suffocating. Firebombing was done in a total of 67 cities by the end of the war, targeting Japan’s industrial centers.

Firebombing was grusome, but Japan continued to fight persistently. The common opinion was that Japan would not surrender until they were invaded. For this to occur, a military base would be needed closer to Japan than Iwo Jima. Okinawa was selected, it was larger and closer. Unexpectedly, the Japanese didn’t defend the island traditionally; they used the mountains of the island for shelter. In order to defeat them, the American troops had to go up into the mountains and faced severe casualties due to the fact that they were under constant artillery attacks and unprepared for the terrain. In June after 12,000 soldiers had died, Okinawa was finally under American control. After this the Japanese Emperor pushed the government into finding a way to conclude the war, but the American demand for an unconditional surrender made that difficult. The Japanese were overall willing to surrender, as long as their emperor could remain in power. American citizens however blamed him for the war and wouldn’t settle for him to remain in power. President Truman didn’t feel he could go against public opinion and no agreement was reached.

The Manhattan Project

Truman also had knowledge of a secret project that was underway, known as the Manhattan Project that made him weary of accepting anything but an unconditional surrender. The Manhattan project was the program to create an atomic bomb. Prior to the bomb even being tested, intense debates existed about how to use it. Some thought it should never be used and shouldn’t have been invented to begin with, because it killed people indiscriminately. Others, such as President Truman, felt it was a military weapon and a necessary technological advancement that should be utilized. The Japanese were threatened with massive destruction if they didn’t surrender, but they still refused. On August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Over 60% of the city was in ruins, and over 100,000 people died instantly. Later, thousand more would die from the exposure to radiation. Japan was in shock, and only 3 days later the Soviet Union also declared war on Japan. That same day, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, causing even more Japanese casualties.

The horrid destruction and Soviet involvement in the war lead to the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945. The summer of that same year was spent punishing war crimes. The International Military Tribunal was created by France, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union to hear the trials of those convicted. In Nuremberg, Germany 22 Nazis were tried. 7 received imprisonment sentences, and 12 others were put to death. Trials were also held in Tokyo for Japanese leaders. The Japanese Emperor was not prosecuted, in fear that Japanese civilians would protest and riot, leading to a violent uprising.

Aftermath of the War

Even though World War Two ended, the aftermath of the war would be dealt with for quite some time. What to do with Germany was heavily debated. The Soviet Union's economy was greatly harmed by the war, and they demanded that they receive heavy reparations from Germany. The Allies divided Germany into 4 zones controlled by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and France. This decision was reached at the Yalta conference prior to Japan's surrender. Truman believed that it was absolutely vital that the German economy recover, to prevent another war. These disagreements and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were just the beginning blocks in a wall that would turn into the Cold War.