World War II: Causes, Development, and Aftermath

Posted on Nov 16, 2024 in History

World War II and Its Consequences

1. Causes and Contenders of World War II

1.1 The Causes of the Conflict

  1. Treaty of Versailles: The new international order after World War I led to humiliation and resentment in Germany and Italy, fueling a desire for revenge.
  2. The Great Depression (1929): Economic hardship favored the rise of fascism. Germany and Italy adopted aggressive, expansionist foreign policies, leading to a military arms race.
  3. Isolationism of Democracies: Many democratic nations remained isolated or uninvolved in international affairs.

1.2 The March Toward War

  • Asia: Japan expanded its territory into coastal China.
  • Africa: Italy invaded Ethiopia and occupied Albania.
  • Spanish Civil War: Italy and Germany intervened, while Britain and France remained largely uninvolved.
  • Germany’s Expansionist Policy:
    • 1936: Remilitarization of the Rhineland
    • 1938: Annexation of Austria and demands for the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia
    • Munich Conference (France and Great Britain appease Hitler)
    • Czechoslovakia’s dissolution
    • Bohemia and Moravia become German protectorates
    • Slovakia becomes a satellite state

1.3 The Partnerships and the Outbreak of Conflict

  • Axis Powers:
    • 1936: Pact of Steel (Italy and Germany)
    • 1936: Anti-Comintern Pact (Germany and Japan)
  • 1939: France and Britain form an alliance with Poland.
  • 1939: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Germany and the USSR)
  • Germany invades Poland.
  • France and Britain declare war on Germany.

2. The Development of the Conflict (1939-1945)

2.1 Axis Victories

  • Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics
  • Germany invades Western Europe (Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of France)
  • Summer 1940: Bombing of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic
  • April 1941: Conquest of North Africa, Yugoslavia, and Greece
  • June 1941: Operation Barbarossa (invasion of the Soviet Union)
  • December 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.

2.2 Europe Under Nazism

  • Organization of Territories:
    • Incorporated regions: Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and Bohemia
    • Colonized regions: Eastern Poland and the Baltic states
    • Satellite states: France, Ukraine, and the Netherlands
  • Industries reorganized to serve German interests
  • Requisition of essential products
  • Forced labor in Germany
  • Widespread terror and repression
  • Civilian responses: Collaboration and Resistance
  • The Holocaust

2.3 The Allied Victory

  • June 1942: The USSR and the United States join forces with the existing Allies.
  • The United States engages Japan in the Pacific.
  • Britain halts German advances in North Africa.
  • Germany’s defeat at Stalingrad
  • June 1944: D-Day landings in Normandy
  • Advance of US and British forces from the west and Soviet forces from the east
  • May 8, 1945: Hitler’s suicide
  • Japan’s continued resistance
  • August 1945: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

3. The Consequences of War

3.1 The Impact of War

  • Devastated Europe:
    • Approximately 50 million deaths, with the highest losses in the USSR, followed by Germany and Poland. A significant portion of the casualties were civilians.
    • Widespread material destruction
    • Canada, Australia, and Sweden, which had remained neutral, become major suppliers.
    • Border changes
    • Expulsion of ethnic minorities
    • Social and economic reintegration challenges
  • Emergence of two superpowers: The United States and the USSR
  • Psychological trauma from the Holocaust and the atomic bombings

3.2 The Peace Conferences

  • Tehran Conference (November 1943): Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin meet to discuss strategies for ending the war.
  • Yalta Conference (February 1945): Allied leaders agree on the elimination of the Nazi regime, the division of Germany and Austria into four occupation zones, and a similar division of Berlin and Vienna.
  • Potsdam Conference (August 1945): Atlee, Truman, and Stalin discuss Germany’s future, including territorial adjustments, demilitarization, and the prosecution of Nazi leaders. Mutual distrust between the US and USSR becomes evident.
  • Paris Peace Conference (1946): Peace treaties are signed.

3.3 The Creation of the United Nations

  • Founding Conference in San Francisco (May 1945) to replace the League of Nations
  • Objectives: Maintaining peace and international security, promoting cooperation, rejecting the use of force, non-intervention in internal affairs, and upholding the right of self-determination
  • Representation of all states in the General Assembly
  • Security Council with five permanent members holding veto power

4. The Formation of Antagonistic Blocs

4.1 The Deterioration of Relations Between Allies

  • Division of Europe into spheres of influence (US and USSR)
  • Soviet suspicion of US intentions due to the atomic bomb
  • US wariness of the Red Army
  • Ideological, political, social, and economic differences

4.2 The Rupture: The Iron Curtain

  • Truman Doctrine (1947): Condemns the establishment of communist regimes and proposes intervention
  • Marshall Plan: Offers economic aid for reconstruction in exchange for increased US military presence
  • Zhdanov Doctrine: Criticizes the US and encourages Soviet aid to countries rejecting US assistance. Leads to the formation of the Cominform
  • The Iron Curtain: Europe becomes divided, with each bloc developing its military power.
    • US forms NATO
    • USSR forms the Warsaw Pact

4.3 The Partition of Germany into Two States

  • Conflict over Germany, initially divided into four occupation zones
  • Western Allies unite their zones to create the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
  • Soviet blockade of Berlin
  • Creation of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
  • 1961: Construction of the Berlin Wall

5. Cold War and Peaceful Coexistence

5.1 What is the Cold War?

A state of geopolitical tension between the US-led Western Bloc and the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc after World War II. It was characterized by an arms race, espionage, and proxy conflicts, but without direct military engagement between the superpowers.

5.2 Conflicts of the Cold War

  • Korean War:
    • Division of Korea into North (Soviet-backed) and South (US-backed) in 1949
    • 1950: North Korea invades South Korea
    • 1953: Armistice signed at Panmunjom
  • Vietnam War:
    • Conflict between Soviet-supported nationalist forces and the French colonial army, backed by the US
    • 1954: War ends with the division of Vietnam
    • US intervention to prevent reunification
    • 1975: War ends with communist victory and reunification
  • Cuban Missile Crisis:
    • 1959: Fidel Castro’s communist revolution in Cuba
    • US opposition and Soviet support for Cuba
    • 1962: Soviet attempt to install missiles in Cuba
    • US naval blockade of Cuba
    • Soviet withdrawal of missiles
    • US lifting of the blockade

5.3 Peaceful Coexistence


· Presence of a new generation of leaders: U.S. and USSR Khrushchev Kennedy
· More tolerant attitudes. They talk by phone red. Dialogue.
· Final 1970 conflict in Afghanistan, the USSR invaded; ial’illa of Grenada, the U.S. supports dictatorships in Latin America.