Second World War (1939 – 1945)

- Fascism: is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by

dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of
society and of the economy. Aggressive and racist governments.
- Nazism: the ideology of the Nazi party (National Socialist German Workers’
Party): the type of government that rule Germany from 1933 to 1945 under
Hitler’s dictatorial power. It was a racist government that promoted German
pride and anti-Semitism. He persecuted Jewish all over Europe and killed 6
million of them in his “Final Solution”: The Holocaust.
- Communism: a theory or system of social organization in which all property is
owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to
their ability and needs.
- Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates
that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or
regulated by the community as a whole.

Causes

Between 1918 and 1933, Hitler rose from member of the defeated Germany army to
become the Führer: dictator of Germany with almost unlimited power and a great
ambition. He became chancellor in 1933. On January 30, 1933, President Paul von
Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler, leader or Führer of the National Socialist German
Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany.
Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler,
leader of the Nazi Party, rearmed the nation and signed strategic treaties with Italy
and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. Hitler’s invasion of Poland
in 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, marking the
beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more
lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war.
Among the estimated 45-60 million people killed were 6 million Jews murdered in
Nazi concentration camps as part of Hitler’s “Final Solution,” now known as the
Holocaust.

As early as 1923, in "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle), Adolf Hitler had predicted a
general European war that would result in "the extermination of the Jewish race in
Germany”.

He secretly began the rearmament of Germany, a violation of the Versailles Treaty.

After signing alliances with Italy and Japan against the Soviet Union, Hitler sent
troops to occupy Austria in 1938 and the following year annexed Czechoslovakia.

Hitler’s plans were:

 Abolish the treaty of Versailles: since he believed it was unjust and it was a
constant reminder that Germany had lost the Great War and had been
 humiliated by the Allies. Hitler promised that if became leader of Germany he
would reverse it.
 Expand German territory: the treaty of Versailles had taken away territory from
Germany and Hitler wanted to get it back and also he wanted to unite with
Austria because he wanted all German minorities from other countries to
become part of Germany. Obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure”
German race, which he called Aryan, Hitler believed that war was the only way
to gain the necessary living space for the German race to expand. He pursued
Aryan supremacy and for that he persecuted Jewish people, since he believed
they were the reason for all bad things that were happening. He made
concentration camps and by the end of the war he had killed 6 million Jewish.

 Defeat communism: he believed that Bolsheviks helped to defeat Germany in

the WWI and he also believed that they wanted to take over Germany.

Ways in which Hitler violated the treaty:

- Rearmament.
- Rhineland.
- Anschluss between Germany and Austria.
- Invasion of Poland.

Rearmament.

Hitler came to power in 1933 and one of his main aims was to increase Germany’s
forces. Thousands of unemployed workers were drafted into the army, so this
helped him to reduce unemployment, which was one of the biggest problems that
Germany was facing. That’s when he started to challenge the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles.
Rearmament began in secret at first because he had previously made it clear that
he didn’t want to rearm Germany but that he was doing it because other countries
refused to disarm, that’s because many countries were using rearmament as a way
to fight unemployment. Then he withdrew from the League of Nations.
Britain believed that the limits put on Germany’s forces by the Treaty of Versailles
were too tight because the permitted forces were not enough to defend Germany
from attack. Also, Britain considered Germany to be a good buffer against
communism.
Britain signed a naval agreement with Hitler in 1935, allowing Germany to increase
its navy, which the French didn’t take well but there’s wasn’t too much they could
do.

The Saar plebiscite.

The Saar region of Germany had been run by the League of Nations since 1919 and
in 1935 the League promised to let people vote whether they wanted to return to the
German rule and almost everyone voted in favour.
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland.

Rhineland: the area that’s on both sides of the Rhine river in Germany.
In 1936, Hitler moved the troops into the Rhineland area, knowing that the
demilitarisation of the Rhineland was one of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Meanwhile, France signed a treaty with the USSR to protect each other in case of a
German attack and Hitler used this pact to claim that Germany was under threat
and that he would have to send the troops to the frontier.

The Spanish civil war.

In 1936 a civil war broke out in Spain between communists, who were supporters of
the Republican government, and right wing rebels under the rule of the fascist
Francisco Franco. Hitler saw this as an opportunity to fight against communist and
try out his new armed forces.
In 1937, German aircraft bombed the civilians in Spain.

The Anti – Communism Pact.

In 1937, leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan signed an anticommunism pact in

order to limit communist influence around the world. This new alliance was called
the Axis Alliance.

Union with Austria, 1938.

Austrian people were mainly German and Hitler wanted the two states together to
be one. Many Austrian people supported this idea because they were economically
weak.
By this time, Hitler and Mussolini were Allies.
Hitler had a strong Nazi party in Austria to promote trouble against the government
so he could use political union as an excuse to solve the problems. Austrian
chancellor asked Britain and France for help but they refused, so the chancellor
called a referendum to see what Austrian people wanted and almost everyone voted
in favour for the union.
The British Prime Minister believed that Austrians and Germans had the right to be
united and that the Treaty of Versailles was wrong to separate them.
Now, Austrians soldiers, weapons and deposits of gold and iron were part of the
German industry and army.

The Sudetenland, 1938.

The leader of Czechoslovakia, Benes, was horrified by the union of Austria and
Germany because he knew that eventually Hitler would want to take over
Czechoslovakia as well (because there were a great number of Germans living
there), so he sought guarantees from Britain and France that they would honour
their commitment to protect Czechoslovakia if Hitler invaded. The French said they
would and the British would to support the French.
In 1938, Hitler made it clear that he was going to fight against Czechoslovakia if
necessary, so Europe was on full war alert since Britain, France and the Soviet
Union promised to support Czechoslovakia in case of war.
The French and the British plan was to give Hitler the part of Czechoslovakia that
he wanted, but Hitler increased his demands and asked for all the territory. Britain
mobilised its navy. Finally, the Munich Agreement was made: Hitler would have
what he wanted, so German troops marched into the Sudetenland, meanwhile
Poland and Hungary helped themselves.
The Czechs felt betrayed and the chancellor resigned.

The end of appeasement.

Although the British welcomed the Munich Agreement, they didn’t trust Hitler.
Czechoslovakia was in chaos and Hitler took over the rest of the country, making it
even clearer that he couldn’t be trusted. And since the Czechs were not separated
from their homeland by the Treaty of Versailles, what Hitler did was invasion.
His next target was likely to be Poland. Britain and France told Hitler not to do that
or they would declare war on Germany. This was the end of appeasement.

This appeasement was controversial. There was 2 points of view:

 That it was the wrong policy because it encouraged Hitler (there were people
that claimed that if Britain or France had faced him from the beginning, he
would have backed off)

 That it was the right policy because Britain was not ready for war.

The Nazi – Soviet pact.

Stalin was worried about the German threat to the Soviet Union because Hitler
wanted to conquer Russia.
Russia joined the League of Nations in 1934, hoping they would guarantee security
against Germany. However, it was useless so Stalin signed a pact with France in
1935 that stated that France would help Russia if Germany invaded.
In 1939 Russia, Britain and France formed an alliance.
That same year, Hitler and Stalin reached to an agreement not to attack each other
and to divide Poland between the two of them.
Stalin signed the pact because he wasn’t convinced that Britain and France were
strong and reliable. However, he didn’t trust Hitler but hoped that the pact would
buy him some time to build up his forces against the German attack that would
eventually come.
War.

In 1939 Germany and Russia invaded Poland because Hitler was sure that Britain
and France wouldn’t go to war over that country, but he was wrong because both
countries declared war on Germany.

How did the war become a World War?

Germany conquered Poland and in 1940 Hitler invaded France. In 1941, he invaded
Russia. It was known as Operation Barbarossa.

Pearl Harbor.

In 1941, USA naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese
with bombs and torpedoes because Japan wanted to dominate the Pacific.
The USA and Japan had been rivals for years. During the First World War, Japan
was able to take over much of the trading activity in the Far East and the rise of
Japan was something that the USA was worried about because Americans also
wanted to dominate the trade in the Pacific.
Japan was pressured by the USA to limit its influence over China and reduced the
size of the Japanese navy.
In 1937, Japan declared war on China.

USA’s concern.

American president, Roosevelt, was worried about the pact that Germany had
signed with Japan in 1936 and that then, in 1937, Italy signed because now there
was an alliance that reunited three aggressive regimes together.
American public opinion was not to go to war and to remain in isolation. However,
when in 1940 France fell, Americans started to be more interested in the war,
interest that grew bigger when Germany, Italy and Japan signed a pact.
Although the USA was supposed to remain neutral, Roosevelt supported Britain
and he helped the country, allowing the USA to give Britain vital supplies for free.

Japan’s dilemma.

Japan invaded China and it was a success.

Roosevelt restricted the supplies to Japan in 1940.
Japan wanted to create an empire that would be self-sufficient in vital materials.
This was a threat to the USA and Russia.
In 1941, Hitler solved the second problem by invading Russia and after that Japan
took control of French Indo China. Roosevelt cut supplies of iron to Japan, making
it clearer to Japan that they needed to build an empire.
Japan made a plan to knock out the USA’s pacific fleet in order to have more time
to create the empire. This plan was the Pearl Harbor attack. USA declared war on
Japan and Germany declared war on the USA.
Toward Allied Victory in World War II (1943-45)

In North Africa, British and American forces had defeated the Italians and Germans
by 1943. An Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy followed, and Mussolini’s government
fell in 1943, though Allied fighting against the Germans in Italy would continue
until 1945.
In 1944 the Allies began a massive invasion of Europe. British, Canadian and
American soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy, France.
Soviet troops soon advanced into Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania,
while Hitler gathered his forces to drive the Americans and British back from
Germany.
An intensive aerial bombardment in February 1945 preceded the Allied land
invasion of Germany, and by the time Germany formally surrendered on May 8,
Soviet forces had occupied much of the country. Hitler was already dead, having
died by suicide on April 30 in his Berlin bunker.

The war ends.

1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Churchill in Britain and Stalin in Russia,
discussed the ongoing war with Japan as well as the peace settlement with
Germany. Post-war Germany would be divided into four occupation zones, to be
controlled by the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and France.
Truman to authorize the use of a new and devastating weapon: the atomic bomb
that was unleashed on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan
surrendered.

World War II casualties and legacy.

World War II proved to be the deadliest international conflict in history, taking the
lives of 60 to 80 million people, including 6 million Jews who died at the hands of
the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The legacy of the war would include the spread of communism from the Soviet
Union into eastern Europe as well as its eventual triumph in China, and the global
shift in power from Europe to two rival superpowers–the United States and the
Soviet Union–that would soon face off against each other in the Cold War.