World War Two

WORLD WAR TWO

The second World War was resulted from the rise of a dictatatorship, military regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan, an event that was a result of the Great Depression that swept over the world in the early 1930s and from the conditions created by a peace agreement following World War I.

After World War I, Germany was defeated, Italy was disappointed and Japan was ready to and determined to get back the power they lost. All three are now dictatorships. These three countries also set themselves up as champions against Communism, to gain a sort of understanding from the rest of the world. Also important was a desire for peace on the part of the democracies, which resulted in their military unpreparedness. The United States weakened the League of Nations by not joining the First World War. The long economic depression sharpened national rivalries, increased fear and distrust, and made a lot of people vulnerable to the promises of leaders.

The failure of the League to stop the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1931 was followed by a rising increase of treaty violations and acts of aggression. Adolf Hitler, when he rose to power in Germany, recreated the German army and prepared it to defeat the war. Benito Mussolini conquered Ethiopia for Italy; and while that was taking place, the Spanish civil war raged, with Germany and Italy helping the fascist forces of Francisco Franco to victory. Germany annexed Austria, and the British and French policy of pacification toward the Axis reached its height.

When Germany occupied all of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and when Italy seized Albania, Great Britain and France abandoned their policy and made an alliance with Turkey, Greece, Romania, and Poland. Germany and Italy signed a alliance treaty.

The invasion of Poland on September 1, was the beginning start of World War 2. Britain and France declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, and all the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, except Ireland, followed. The fighting in Poland was brief. The German blitzkrieg(lightening war) crushed the Polish defenses with its new mechanical engineering, and the conquest was almost complete when Soviet forces entered East Poland. The British and the French spent an stationary winter behind the Maginot Line, content with blocking Germany by sea.

The inactive period ended with the surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway which was conquered by June 9. On May 13 they defeated the Maginot Line. France later signed a peace agreement with Germany, followed by an truce with Italy.

Though determined to maintain its neutrality, the United States was gradually drawn closer to the war by the force of events. To save Britain from collapse the Congress voted lend-lease aid early in 1941. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with Churchill. To establish bases to protect its shipping from attacks by German submarines, the United States occupied Greenland and later the same with Iceland. Despite repeated warnings from the US, the attacks continued.

Efforts to reach a peaceful settlement were ended on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan without warning attacked Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and Malaya. War was declared on Japan by the United States. Within a few days Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

The first phase of the war in the Pacific was disastrous for the Allies. Japan swiftly conquered the Philippines Malaya, Burma, Indonesia, and many Pacific islands. They completely destroyed the US fleet.

The first Allied naval successes against Japan were made in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, when U.S. bombers pulled a mini Pearl Harbor on Japan's carrier fleet and forced Japan into retreat. Midway was the first decisive blow against the Axis by Allied forces.

The end of summer of 1942 was perhaps the period of the war for the Allies. In the Atlantic, German submarines were sinking Allied shipping to shores of the US and in the Gulf of