World War II: Global Conflict and Consequences
World War II
| World War II | ||||||||||||
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 From left to right from top: Commonwealth troops in the desert to be buried alive, Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers, a German submarine under attack, Soviet forces in a winter campaign, Soviet troops in Berlin, Japanese aircraft about to take off an aircraft carrier. | ||||||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||||||
| Shaft :
Nazi Germany (1939-1945), Italian Fascism (1940-1943), | Allies :
Great Britain (1939-1945), Free France (1940-1945), Soviet Union (1941-1945), United States (1941-1945) | |||||||||||
| Commanders | ||||||||||||
Adolf Hitler (†)
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Winston Churchill ,
Charles de Gaulle , Joseph Stalin , Franklin Roosevelt (†) Harry S. Truman | |||||||||||
| Low | ||||||||||||
Dead: over 12,000,000
… More | Dead: more than 49,000,000
… More |
Italian Social Republic (1943-1945), 
Vichy France (1940-1944), 
Japan (1941-1945) 
Romania (1941-1944) 
France (1939-1940), 
Poland (1939-1945) | [Hide] Theaters of World War II ( September 1 of 1939 to September 2 of 1945 ) |
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| Europe and North Africa – Middle East and Africa – Asia and Pacific – Atlantic |
The Second World War was the conflict largest and bloodiest in world history , which faced the Allied and Axis powers , between 1939 and 1945 .Armed forces more than seventy countries participated in fighting air , naval and land . As a result of the war died about 2% of world population at the time (about 60 million people), mostly civilians. As World War began on September 1 of 1939 (although some historians argue that the Asian front was declared on July 7 of 1937 ) to end officially on September 2 of 1945 .
Content[ hide ]
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Background
The causes of World War II more immediate to the outbreak of the same are, firstly, the invasion of Poland byGerman and Japanese attacks on China , the United States and the colonies British and Dutch in Asia . World War II broke out after these aggressive actions in response received a declaration of war , armed resistance or both by the countries attacked and those with whom they dealt. At first, the allies were formed only by Poland , Great Britain and France , while the Axis forces consisted only in Germany and Italy , united in an alliance with the Pact of Steel . 1
As the war progressed, countries were entering the same (to be on a voluntary basis, or being attacked) is ranked one of the two sides, depending on your situation. That was the case in the United States and the USSR , attacked by Japan and Germany respectively. Some countries, like Hungary , changed its alignment in the final stages of the war.2
In Europe
During preparation of the Treaty of Versailles , presented the problem of compensation that Germany must pay to the victors. The United Kingdom had the highest part of the German colonies in Africa and Oceania (although some went to Japan and Australia ). For its part, France , on whose soil is developed most of the battles of the Western Front, was to pay a large indemnity and the recovery of Alsace and Lorraine , which had been annexed to GermanyOtto von Bismarck after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 . 3
In the Russian Empire , the Romanov dynasty had been overthrown and replaced by a provisional government which in turn was overthrown by the Bolsheviks of Lenin and Trotsky . After signing the humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , the Bolsheviks faced a civil war , who beat, creating the USSR in 1922. However, it had lost vast territories because it withdrew prematurely from the war. Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania and Poland re-emerged on the map from a mix of Soviet and German territories after the Treaty of Versailles.
In Central Europe, new states emerged after the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary : Austria , Hungary , Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia , he also had to cede territory to the newPoland, Romania and Italy .
In Germany, the popular view of the Treaty of Versailles was very negative: under legal coverage had dismembered the country, the German economy was subjected to payments and easements to the Allies considered inappropriate, and the state lacked the strength of defense against external threats, especially by the USSR , which had been willing to expand their political ideology by force. This perceived helplessness and victimization abusive, combined with the fact that never came to fight in Germany, gave rise to the theory of Backstab , the idea that in reality the war could have won if foreign groups had not conspired against the country, making it even more unfair to be treated as losers. Thus emerged a social level grudge against the Allies, its treaties, and any idea that may arise from them.
The demobilization of the military forced up to the maximum force of 100,000 men allowed by the treaty (a size almost the previous testimonial) left on the street to an enormous amount of professional soldiers who were forced to find a new livelihood in a defeated country with an economy declining, and social tension. All this promoted the creation and organization of the Freikorps and other paramilitary groups . The struggle of the Freikorps and their allies against the German revolutionary movements such as Spartacus League (sometimes with the complicity or even support of the authorities) was that they and the segments of the population who supported them will be tilting increasingly toward a reactionary and authoritarian ideas, which emerge the Nazis as a large umbrella to the late 20 ‘s and early 30 . Until then, it had been a match on the rise, but still a minority, a premature attempt to seize power by force (theBeer Hall Putsch) ended with several deaths, the outlawed party and Hitler in jail. It is during this period of incarceration he wrote the Mein Kampf (My Struggle), the book that summarized his political ideology to Germany.
The culture broth existing social, combined with the Great Depression of the early 30 made the weak Weimar Republic was not able to maintain internal order, the continuing unrest and conflicts in the streets increased the demand for order and safety by sectors of the population ever wider. On this wave of discontent and resentment, the Nazi Party , led by Adolf Hitler himself as the necessary element to bring peace, strength and progress to the nation. The ideologues of the party established rationalizations that justified all the ideas that are controversial today in their thinking: the re-militarization was essential to escape the oppressive yoke of the former Allied powers, the country’s instability was caused by foreign-based social movements ( communist ) or non-German pressure groups ( Jews ), also guilty of stabbing in the back to Greater Germany in 1918 , in addition, Germany is entitled to recover the territories that were his, and make the necessary living space to ensure growth and prosperity. All these ideas were condensed in Mein Kampf .
Based on the real and verifiable wrongs caused by the Treaty of Versailles, the Nazis managed to streamline the hardest parts of its ideology, so that fostered, nurtured and expanded the need for repair in German society, mixing the real problems needs their own political agenda, introducing themilitarism and adherence to the discipline fascist as the only means capable of rectify the situation. In the same way justified the brutal repression of anyone who did not think the same way or be perceived as an enemy state. And the current climate because of the Covenant made to society in general does not care less about the failure of any international treaty. Until 1932 , the NSDAP was increasing its voting share in federal elections, maintaining a political style equally harsh and aggressive than that practiced in the street.
In November of 1932 take place octaves German federal elections , in which the NSDAP lost more than 4% of the vote, remaining at 33.1%. To be the most voted, and the impossibility of achieving a consensus choice among the other political forces, President Hindenburg appointed Chancellor Hitler and ordered to form a government. On February 27 of 1933 , a fire devastates the inexplicable Reichstag , the seat of German parliament. Following the same, Hitler declares state of emergency. Soon emerges from the Nazi Party’s accusation that the Communists are the instigators of the burning, and Hitler and Hindenburg achieved a very strong health undermined the Reichstag Fire Decree , abolishing both the Communist Party as to any similar organization at the same . With its main outlawed political enemies, Hitler proceeded to convene the ninth German federal election theMarch 5, 1933 , this time achieving 43.9% of votes going to govern in coalition with the DNVP , an absolute majority. Having achieved political power, the night of June 30 to July 1 of 1934 , Hitler takes away the main political opponents who still had both his party and the other, on the ” Night of Knives long . This action also managed to force the support of the army and industry.
Quickly restored Hitler in Germany widespread military service was prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles, the Rhineland remilitarize in1936 and implemented an aggressive foreign policy, the pan-Germanism , inspired by the pursuit of Lebensraum , designed to bring together, within the same state to the Germanic population of central Europe , beginning with Austria ( Anschluss ) in March 1938 . The main stated objective of German foreign policy in the period immediately prior to the war was, on the one hand, the recovery of those territories, and the Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig , the former territories of Prussia lost by Germany after 1918 . These constant territorial claims were important elements of international instability, as Berlin openly claimed refunds in an increasingly aggressive, with the intention of rebuilding the Greater Germany .
Support for the military uprising of General Francisco Franco in Spain from Italy and Germany with troops and weapons openly challenged non-intervention agreement in the civil conflict ( Spanish Civil War ) of foreign nations. Hitler had signed the Pact of Steel with Mussolini, the only European leaders with a similar ideology. Support for Franco’s forces was an attempt to establish a fascist state controls access toMediterranean with a view to a future European war, something that only worked their socks.
Western Czechoslovakia (the region known as the Sudetenland ) was home to a large population of Germanic descent, whose rights, as the German government, were being infringed. The annexation of the Sudetenland was accepted at Munich in September 1938 following a tripartite conference between Germany, France and Britain, where France’s Edouard Daladier and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , following a policy of appeasement , they trusted would be the last claims of Nazi Germany . Hitler had personally conveyed this idea to Chamberlain, after giving a series of reports on alleged atrocities committed against Germans in the Sudetenland. The English and French position was due largely to the reluctance of people to be involved again in a global war, and the belief (especially by certain sectors of British society) that really the Treaty Versailles had been excessive.
However, in March 1939 the German armies entered Prague and took control of the remaining Czech territory. The next day Hitler, from Prague Castle proclaimed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , while that led to the appearance of the puppet state of Slovakia . They also seized the territory of Memel , a memberLithuania. The failure of appeasement showed Western powers could not rely on any treaty could be signed with Hitler, and that their aspirations for power and expansion could no longer be tolerated. Poland and France signed a mutual defense agreement on 19 of May of 1939 , which was subsequently signed Great Britain .
For its part, Germany and the USSR signed the 23 August the same year the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact , which included a secret protocol in which both powers were divided Central Europe into spheres of influence, including military occupation . The treaty established the trade and exchange of oil and food of the USSR to Germany, thus reducing the effect of a future blockade by Great Britain as he had almost drowned in Germany in the First World War . Hitler then turned to focus on the preparation of future conflict with the Allies when, as claimed, invaded Poland in order to incorporate it into Germany. The ratification of the defense treaty between Poland and the United Kingdom did not alter their plans.
Benito Mussolini had become the undisputed leader of Italy during the same period between the wars. Expelled from the Italian Socialist Party to support the participation of Italy in World War I in 1919 founded the Fasci italiani di combattimento , military group composed of former combatants, to suppress the so-called workers’ movements and the socialist party, was thus similar to German Freikorps both in ideology and in action. The fascism of Mussolini created a system advocated militaristic , authoritarian , nationalist , to centralize power in one person and one movement ( National Fascist Party in the Italian case) and contrary to democratic institutions . The fascists took as emblem the fascio , ancient symbol of power betweenRomans, consisting of a bundle of rods with an ax in the middle.
In recent years the movement workers and peasants marched more radical to take over the factories and lands under their control, in an attempt to imitate the Russian Revolution . Industrialists and landowners, frightened by this threat to their interests, financially supported Fasci di combattimento. In September 1922 the black shirts , were also known as the fascists, organized a march on Rome , to press the government for its inability to resolve the economic situation. In response, Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini prime minister . This began to call himself Duce (“Leader”), and established a totalitarian government. Created the Fascist Grand Council which controlled Parliament. Pursued the unions , the Socialist Party, the press against his government, and the Church . Suppressed individual liberties and the right to strike. Controlled media and propaganda allowed only exalt nationalism and fascism. He also introduced the militarism in the Italian educational system.
Just as Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini in Italy defended the right to territorial expansion, willingly or unwillingly. Mussolini began a major campaign known as the expansionist Italian colonialism . Established colonies in Somalia , Eritrea and Libya , and conquered by force Abyssinia andAlbania, ignoring the protests of the League of Nations .