The Second World War was the most devastating conflict in the history of humanity. It is estimated that 50 million people perished during the war, approximately 20 million of whom were civilians (Foner 888). The conflict started in Europe, initiated by the German Nazis led by Hitler, who was helped by other far-right forces. The U.S., despite initially trying to be neutral, was also dragged into the conflict. The war ended with the defeat of the far rights; however, conflicts of interests of the winners led to the tension that persisted for long years after the war.
In Eurasia, a number of events occurred in the 1930s that led to the war. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria (a Chinese province); later, they moved farther to China, slaughtering people. In Europe, Hitler came to power in Germany; he started rearming the country (violating the Versailles Treaty) and occupied Rheinland in 1936.
Italian fascist Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. A far-right General Francisco Franco led a coup d’état in Spain (for which aim he received support from Hitler), and achieved victory in the civil war in 1939. In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and a part of Czechoslovakia in his pursuit to “unite the Aryan race.” Hitler also launched mass persecutions of Jews, deporting them to concentration camps. At first, Britain and France kept to the policy of “appeasement,” trying to talk Hitler into promising peace.
In 1939, Stalin offered to oppose any further German claims on territory, but Britain and France refused. Then the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a treaty of non-aggression between the USSR and Germany, and Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Germany followed the method of Blitzkrieg, “a lightning war,” which involved fast and unanticipated attacks in order to defeat an enemy who was not ready to defend oneself quickly.
Hitler planned to capture all the Europe fast and spread his Nazi policy further. Within a single year, the Nazis seized Scandinavia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. In 1940, the Axis, a military alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, was forged (Foner 853-856).
The U.S. initially attempted to remain neutral. In addition, in America, there also were followers of Hitler. Many others strongly wished not to participate in the conflict. The country adopted the policy of “appeasement” and isolationism. However, Roosevelt showed support to Britain and China, who were fighting Germany, by selling them weapons. The U.S. gradually found itself in closer and closer relationships with the countries fighting the Nazis.
However, these countries run out of finances to buy American supplies at some point. In March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was passed by the Congress; it permitted the USA to provide military supplies for the enemies of the Nazis (in particular, Britain, China, and later the USSR when it joined the war), as long as the recipients promised to pay back after the war. America also froze all the Japanese assets in the U.S., which stopped the trade between the two countries (Foner 855-857).
An aggressive reaction followed in December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, an American naval base in Hawaii, killing over 2000 people and destroying a number of ships and aircraft. Soon, Congress voted for the U.S. to join the war. Germany declared war on the USA the next day after the vote. From this point, the U.S. joined the worldwide war (Foner 857-858).
In 1943, during the Casablanca Conference, Roosevelt offered the Allies (the coalition of countries opposing the Axis) to accept no less than unconditional surrender from the enemy. It meant that the Allies would offer no guarantees to the leaders of the countries surrendering to them in the war.
With time, the Allies started to achieve progress in battling the enemy. In particular, there were a number of important victories against Japan. In response, Japan started using Kamikaze aircraft, suicide bombers that crashed into enemy ships. Such assaults were more precise and effective than regular attacks.
In 1945, the forces of the Allies were winning. However, before that time, a secret project had been launched in the U.S. to develop a nuclear bomb before that could have been accomplished by Germany. The bomb was created, and Truman dropped two bombs on Japan in August 1945. The decision is hard to estimate; on the one hand, an invasion into Japan would have cost the estimated 250,000 American lives, as well as more lives of Japanese people.
On the other hand, the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, when Japan had already been going to surrender. It is stated that the profound dehumanization of Japanese, which took place in the U.S., also played its role. The decision to drop the nuclear bombs remains controversial until these days (Foner 886-888).
In 1945, the Yalta Conference took place. During it, the USA and Britain did not object much to the USSR reclaiming the Baltic states and a part of Poland. Stalin, however, agreed to allow “free and unfettered elections” in Poland. Also, Britain did not agree to help India and other British colonies to become independent. Still, the participants of the conference had conflicting views about the future of the post-war world. It is stated that the conference planted the seeds of the future conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (Foner 889-890).
To sum up, it should be noted that German and other far rights initiated a large-scale conflict in Europe, and many countries, including the U.S., were dragged into the most devastating war in history. After six bloody years, the Axis failed to achieve victory, but different members of the Allies had conflicting interests, which led to long-term tension in the post-war world.
Works Cited
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Vol. 2. 4th ed. 2013. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Print.