World War 2 Consequences Cause and Effect Essay

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Updated: Oct 31st, 2023

Causes of World War 2

The World War 2 began in 1939. This is when France and Britain declared war on Germany. This occurred when Germany invaded Poland and therefore, this is what triggered the outbreak of war. However, the causes of the war are more complex.

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The major causes of this Great War were the unresolved issues that resulted from the World War 1. Another reason was due to the effects of the Great Depression. This occurred in the 1930s. Another reason is the interwar period in Europe. Several events accumulated and led to the outbreak of the war.

One of the events that contributed to the series of events includes the invasion that occurred in Poland in 1939. Soviet Russia and Germany were responsible for this invasion. Another event that had a great effect was the invasion into Republic of China. The Empire of Japan was responsible for this and this occurred in 1937.

Several European powers such as the United Kingdom, Russia and France expanded their territories using force and aggression. This is a process that was referred to as expansionism or imperialism. Germany and Italy were not as successful as the other nations when it came to gaining territory under colonial rule.

When Germany lost land to the other nations, it led to their relocation. This cause the Germans to get bitter and this interfered with their relations with their neighbors. This contributed to the feeling of revanchism. Under Nazism, Germany started a program that would lead to the restoration of the country’s rightful boundaries.

These were the boundaries that were in place before World War 1. This lead Rhineland to reoccupied. When Hitler saw the success of this action, he believed that he could further invade Russia and Poland without causing any major war.

Another leading cause is the failure of appeasement. The actions by Germany were thought to be reasonable since they thought that Germany had the right to re-arm herself in order to be ready to defend itself.

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Therefore, the Munich Agreement was signed. This was between Germany, Italy, Britain and France. Czech was not invited and this made them feel betrayed.

However, Hitler went ahead to break the terms and conditions of the Munich Agreement. He invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. It was evident that the policy of appeasement had failed. Another thing that led to the World War 2 was the failure of the League of Nations.

The reason why the U.S. was involved in the war

The United States had remained neutral in the war but they were provoked into it. This was when the Japanese bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. This made the Japanese official enemies of the United States.

The Japanese later bombed the U.S. fleet in the Philippines. This then agitated U.S., which decided to declare war on the Japanese. A few days later, Hitler decided to declare war against the United States. This led the U.S. to respond with fire. This then led to the full involvement of the United States in World War 2.

FDR also wanted the United States to be involved in the war. He made public statements about Germany’s attacks. The Germans had made three separate attacks on U.S. vessels that had carried civilians. The U.S. pressured the Japanese with embargoes and caused their economic fall.

It was after that when Hitler did what has been referred to as the ‘greatest military blunder in history’. This was when he declared war against the United States. He also wanted the Japanese to attack Russia on the eastern side. However, this did not happen.

Since the Japanese were not involved, Germany had to fight on both sides and this is the main reason why Germany did not succeed. Hitler tried to help the Japanese because he was not aware how badly off they were. He believed that Japan had an army that had not seen defeat for more than a century.

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Since the Japanese were misguided, they made a mistake of attacking Pearl Harbor. This gave the Americans an incentive.

The reason why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor dates back to the time when the U.S. banned any form of trade with the Japanese. This was because the Japanese had been aggressive towards the Chinese. As the U.S. embarked fully in the war, it ended up spending 42 billion dollars towards the war.

Why the allies in Europe and the Pacific won

The allies included the U.K., U.S., France, Soviet Union, Republic of China and Poland. The emperor of Japan had underestimated the abilities of the U.S. to make war in the Pacific. However, the Japanese army did not have sufficient resources to go ahead with the war.

The British, on the other hand, pushed the Japanese killing all those who appeared on their path. As a result, almost a half a million of them were killed. The U.S. also continued to capture the islands and drew closer to the Japanese territory. China, Russia and Britain then liberated the portions of China that had been occupied by the Japanese.

The attempts of the Italians and Germans to greedily capture and expand their empires were not successful. This was because they had bad strategy and morale. The Russians came in from the east and killed more than half of all the German soldiers. This led the allies to land in Normandy and they liberated France.

Consequences of the war

World War 2 had diverse effects throughout the world. The consequences included both positive and negative effects. Firstly, millions of lives were lost as a result of the war. Millions more were left homeless. Another consequence was the division of Germany.

It was divided into four and each was governed by the allied powers. These included the United Kingdom, United Nations, Soviet Union and France. These were the direct effects.

However, there were indirect effects and consequences of the war. One of the direct effects was that the war acted as a catalyst for various local, regional and global phenomena. This included the redrawing of the borders of Europe. U.K.’s welfare state was also born as a result of the war.

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Another result of the war was the creation of Israel. Various organizations also rooted as a result of the world war. Such organizations include the World Bank, the United Nations, World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund.

The war also led to the emergence of new technologies. One of such technologies was nuclear fission. This was necessary for the nations to produce nuclear weapons in order to protect themselves from future attacks. Another technology was the invention of the jet engine and electronic computer.

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IvyPanda. (2023) 'World War 2 Consequences'. 31 October.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "World War 2 Consequences." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/world-war-2-3/.

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