5.second World War
5.second World War
5.second World War
CAUSES OF WW2
1. The Versailles Treaty has been blamed for filling the Germans with bitterness and the
desire for revenge due to the fact that the provisions were deemed too harsh for the
defeated powers and also because the treaties were viewed by the Germans as favouring
the Victors’ club i.e. the Allied Powers.
2. The League of Nations and the idea of collective security have been criticized because
they failed to secure general disarmament and to control potential aggressors.
Furthermore the League was viewed as a “toothless bulldog” which “had been tried but
found wanting”.
3. The world economic crisis/Great depression of 1929 enabled Hitler to come to power as
he was viewed as the “Messiah” who could rescue Germany out of the Great Slump
which affected most nations. Hitler was a good and great orator who used his oratory
skills to persuade and motivate people to support his ideas.
4. Appeasement was equally to blame as other historians argue that Britain and France
should have taken a firm line with Hitler before Germany had become too strong.
- An Anglo- French attack on Western Germany in 1936 at time of the Rhineland
occupation would have taught Hitler a lesson and might have toppled him from power.
- By giving way to Hitler’s demands and actions, the appeasers increased his prestige at
home.
- Success and the absence of resistance tempted Hitler as he might not have had definite
plans for war but after the surrender at Munich, he decided to gamble on war with
Poland.
- Chamberlain has also been criticized for choosing the wrong issue over which to make a
stand with Hitler.
- It is argued that Germany claims for Danzig routes across the corridor were more
reasonable than her demands for the Sudetenland which contained almost a million non-
Germans.
- Poland was difficult for Britain and France to defend and was militarily much weaker
than Czechoslovakia.
- Chamberlain hence should have made his stand at Munich and backed the Czechs.
- Chamberlain’s defenders claim that his main motive at Munich was to give Britain time
to rearm for an eventual fight against Hitler.
- However, his critics pointed out that if he had genuinely intended to curb Hitler, it would
have been better for Britain to have fought alongside Czechoslovakia, which was
militarily and industrially strong.
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5. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (Russia) has been accused of making war
inevitable by signing the non-aggression pact with Germany.
- It is argued that she ought to have allied with the West and with Poland, thus frightening
Hitler into keeping peace.
- However, the British were most reluctant to ally with the Russians.
- Like the Poles, Chamberlain looked down upon them because they were communists
and he thought they were militarily weak.
- Russian historians justify the pact on the grounds that it gave the USSR time to prepare
its defenses against a possible German attack.
6. The Spanish civil war provided Hitler, with a fertile ground to test new weapons,
increase friends abroad and gain military experience which would be useful in his future
plans of conquering the world and destroying powerful nations such as Britain and
Russia.
7. The Acts of Aggression committed by the dictators were the matchsticks that lit the
bonfire.
- German’s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 culminated in various declarations
of war by nations in support of either party i.e. Germany or Poland.
- Further invasions of Denmark, Norway in April 1940, Holland, Belgium and France on
10 May 1940 left most nations without an option but to fight for their allies who had been
attacked by the dictators or who had the potential to be attacked.
- Unlike the 1914-1918 war, the Second World War was a rapid movement and was a
much more complex affair, with major battles in the far East, in North Africa and Pacific
and the heart of Russia, as well as in central and Western Europe and the Atlantic.
- The war falls into four fairly clearly defined phases which are as follows:
1. Opening moves: September 1939 to December 1940
2. The Axis offensives widens: 1941 to summer 1942
3. The offensives held in check: Summer 1942 to summer 1943
4. The Axis powers defeated : July 1943 to August 1945
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- Very little happened in the West for the following five months.
- In the east, the Russians took over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and invaded Finland in
November 1939, forcing her to surrender frontier territories thus enabling the Russians to
defend themselves better against any attack from the West.
- The French and Germans manned their respective defenses i.e. the Maginot and
Siegfried.
- Hitler hoped that the pause would weaken the British and French and encourage them to
negotiate peace.
- The lack of action pleased Hitler’s generals, who were unconvinced that the Germany
army was strong enough to attack in the West.
- It was the American press which described this period as the “phoney war” i.e.
a period when enemies were officially at war but not actively engaged in armed conflict, e.g. the
period of relative calm at the beginning of World War II.
- Hitler’s troops occupied Denmark and landed at the main Norwegian ports on 9April
1940.
- The invasion was aimed at securing the North sea Route which was used for shipping
Swedish iron-ore when the Baltic was frozen.
- Germany wanted control because Narvick was the main outlet for Swedish iron ore,
which was vital for Germans armaments industry.
- When a British destroyer chased the German vessel, Altmark and rescued the 300 British
prisoners abroad, Hitler decided it was time to act.
- On 9 April, the Germans landed at Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim.
- Although the British and French troops arrived a few days later, they were unable to
dislodge the Germans, who were already well established.
- The Germans were assisted by the local Nazis under their leader, Vidkun Quisling who
gave the invaders every assistance they needed.
- In these operations, the Germans used parachute troops to capture and immediately
launched an expedition to Narvik and severely damaged Norwegian naval forces in the
areas.
- Allied plans were ill co-ordinated and confused.
- The Germans made superior use of air power to support their land and naval forces.
- The British had no air support, whereas the German air Force (Luftwaffe) constantly
harassed the allies.
- The Norwegian campaign had vital results:
(i) Germany was assured of her bases and her iron ore supplies, but lost three
cruisers and ten destroyers. This made the Germany navy less effective than it
might have been.
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- Attacks on Holland, Belgium and France were launched simultaneously on 10 May and
again Blitzkrieg (lighting war) methods brought swift victories.
- The Dutch, shaken by the bombing of Rotterdam which killed almost a thousand people,
surrendered after only four days.
- Belgium held out longer, but her surrender at the end of May Left the British and French
in Belgium previously exposed as German motorized divisions swept across Northern
France and only Dunkirk remained in Allied hands.
- The British navy played a pivotal role in evacuating over 338 000 troops, two thirds (2/3)
of them British, from Dunkirk between 27 May and 4 June.
- This was a remarkable achievement in the face of constant Luftwaffe attacks on the
beaches.
- Events at Dunkirk were vital because a third of a million Allied troops were rescued to
fight again and Churchill used it for propaganda purposes to boost British morale with the
“Dunkirk spirit.”
- It was a serious blow for all their arms and equipment, so it became impossible for
Britain to help France.
- The Germans swept southwards and Paris was captured on 14 June and France
surrendered on 22June.
- Due to Hitler’s insistence, the armistice (cease fire) was signed at Compiegne in the same
railway coach that had been used for the 1918 armistice.
- Germans occupied Northern France and the Atlantic coast, giving them valuable
submarine bases, and the French army was demobilized.
-Operation Sea lion was the codename given to the planned invasion of Great
Britain/England in 1940 by Hitler.
- Hitler laid out four conditions that had to be met to ensure success. These included:
i. The elimination of the Royal Air Force (RAF) to ensure air superiority.
ii. Clearing of the English Channel of mines and the laying of German mines.
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- For the first time, the Germans had been checked and so they were not invincible.
- Britain was able to remain in the struggle, hence facing Hitler (who was about to attack
Russia) with the fatal situation of war on two fronts.
- The efficiency of the Luftwaffe was severely compromised.
- Not wanting to be outdone by Hitler, Mussolini sent an army from the Italian colony of
Libya which penetrated about 60miles into Egypt in September 1940, while Italian army
invaded Greece from Albania in October 1940.
- However, the British soon drove the Italians out of Egypt, pushed them at Bedaform,
capturing 130 000 prisoners and 400 tanks.
- The Greeks forced the Italians back and invaded Albania.
- Mussolini was beginning to be an embarrassment to Hitler.
OPERATION BARBAROSSA
- Operation Barbarossa was the codename given to the invasion of Russia by Hitler on 22
June 1941.
- Barbarossa was the largest military attack of World War Two and was to have appalling
consequences for the Russians.
- Three army groups namely Army Groups North, Center and South attacked Russia on 22
June 1941.
- Russia was defended by four army units.
- The attack started at 0300hours, Sunday morning 22 June 1941.
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- In total, German and her allies used 3million soldiers, 3580 tanks, 7184 artillery guns,
1830 planes and 750 000 horses.
- Hitler’s motives seem to have been mixed because of:
i. Fear that the Russians might attack Germany while she was still occupied in the
West.
ii. Hope that the Japanese would attack Russia in the Far East.
iii. The more powerful Japan became, the less chance there was of the USA
entering the war or so as Hitler thought.
iv. Above all was his hatred of communism and his desire for Lebensraum (living
space).
- Important cities such as Riga, Smolensk and Kiev were captured.
- The Russians had been caught off their guard still re-equipping their army and air force
and their generals were inexperienced.
- However, the Germans failed to capture Leningrad and Moscow.
- They were severely hampered by the heavy rains of October which turned the Russian
roads into mud, and by the severe frosts of November and December when in some
places, the temperature fell to -38oC.
- The Germans had inadequate winter clothing because Hitler had anticipated the
campaigns to be over before winter.
- In the spring of 1942, no progress was made in the north and centre as Hitler decided to
concentrate on seizing the Caucasus oil fields.
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THE HOLOCAUST
- This was the almost complete destruction of Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany and its
collaborators during WW2 (1939-1945).
- The leadership of Germany’s Nazi Party ordered the extermination of 5, 6 to 5, 9 million
Jews.
- The Holocaust was the worst genocide in history.
- Those who carried it out methodically created the means to efficiently round up and kill
millions of people.
- Many harbored a prejudice against Jews that is known as anti-Semitism.
- Jews were accused of having accepted the harsh and cruel Versailles treaty and were
labeled “November criminals.”
- In the minds of anti- Semites, Jews represented mysterious, mythical and evil forces who
played a sinister role in world history.
- Hitler, on the basis of his anti-Semitic views attacked the impressive role Jews had
played in German society during the Weimar era and referred to them as a plague and a
cancer.
- In Mein Kampf, Hitler blamed the plight of Germany at the end of WW1 on an
international Jewish conspiracy and used terms such as extermination in relation to the
Jews.
- Hitler claimed that Jews had achieved economic dominance and their own merit.
- He wrote of the need to eradicate their physical removal.
- On 1 April 1933, the Nazi party instigated a boycott of Jewish owned shops and Jewish
professionals such as lawyers and doctors.
- On 7 April 1933, the Reichstag enacted a law that allowed the government to dismiss
Jews from the German civil service.
- Later, quotas were adopted to limit the number of Jewish students.
- However, Hitler and the other Nazi leaders viewed these piecemeal regulations as
insufficient, and so they decided to implement a comprehensive legal framework for
their anti-Semitic policies.
- After the outbreak of WW2 in September 1939, the Nazis searched for what they termed
a “final solution to the Jewish question.”
- Leaders of the SS were put in charge of solving “Jewish question.”
- All Jews who occupied official positions were interpreted to mean all adult Jews, who
were immediately shot.
- In August 1941, the killings were expanded to include Jewish women and children.
- In the autumn of 1941, the Holocaust was extended to Jews in parts of Poland and
Serbia.
- For these killings, Hitler used gas vans, specially sealed vans in which exhaust fumes
from the engine were piped into a storage compartment filled with victims to asphyxiate
them.
- In the spring of 1942, the intensive killing resumed to include Jewish slave Laborers.
- They used cyanide gas produced from Zyclone-B, the commercial name of a pesticide
based on hydrocyanic acid.
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- America’s entry into the Second World War on the Allies’ side was chiefly caused by
Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor and later by Hitler’s declaration of war on the USA.
- America’s entry boosted the Allies morale at a time when the chips were down.
- America brought in fresh soldiers, advanced weapons and brilliant new ideas, a feat that
the Central Powers could in the Pacific (June 1942), the Americans beat off a powerful
Japanese attack, which included five aircraft carriers, nearly 400 aircraft, 17 large
warships and an invasion force of 5000 troops.
- The British, with only three carriers and 233 planes, destroyed four of the Japanese
victory against heavier odds:
i. They had broken all the Japanese radio code and knew exactly when and
where the attack was to be launched.
ii. The Japanese were over confident and made two fatal mistakes of:
1. Splitting their forces, hence allowing the Americans to concentrate on the main
carrier force.
2. Attacking with aircraft from all carriers simultaneously, so that when they were
all rearming, the entire fleet was extremely vulnerable.
- At this juncture / stage, the Americans launched a counter attack by dive bombers which
swooped unexpectedly from 19 000 feet, sinking two of the carriers and all of their
planes.
- The Americans maintained their lead in carriers and aircraft, especially dive-bombers.
- The Americans under General MacArthur began to recover the Pacific Islands, beginning
in August 1942 with landings on the Solomon Islands.
- The struggle was longer and bitter and bitter and continued through 1943 and 1944.
- On 6 August 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima killing 75 000
people and leaving tens of thousands more slowly dying of radiation poison.
- 12 American navy fliers in Hiroshima city jail were also killed in the raid.
- On 9 August 1945, a second bomb (plutonium) was dropped on the city of Nagasaki
killing nearly 40 000 people and destroying property and infrastructure.
- The Japanese government surrendered unconditionally and Far East war came to an end
as Japan was Germany’s only remaining ally in the Far East.
- The dropping of these bombs was one of the most controversial actions of the entire war.
- President Harry Truman’s justification was that he was saving American lives, since the
war could have dragged on for another year.
- The effects of the bombings are still being felt today as blind and disabled children are
still being born in Japan today.
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- The Americans wanted to end the war quickly but the Japanese fought stubbornly.
- The USA also feared loss of American lives in the war against Japan.
- Some military commanders wanted to fight to the last, but the bombings forced
Emperor Hirohito to surrender.
- Hirohito did not know that Americans had no more atomic bombs.
- However, the Japanese economy was already collapsing as many factories were
destroyed.
- Japan had been defeated at the battles of Coral Sea, Midway and Leyte Gulf.
- In 1945, many people were starving and industrial production collapsed.
- Japanese resources were over stretched.
- Japan had a too large area to control and defend
- The Germans had bombed London and other important British cities and ports during
1940 and 1941, but these raids dwindled during operation Barbarossa which required
all the Luftwaffe’s strength
- The British and Americans retaliated with what they called a “strategic air offensive’
which involved massive attacks on military and industrial targets in order to hamper
the German war effort.
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- Use of inexperienced soldiers and forced labour added more salt to the already bleeding
wound.
- The USA provided its vast resources which tilted the scales in favour of the allies
- The USA’s sea power was effective in defeating Japan i.e. 75% of Japan’s merchant
ships were sunk by USA submarines
- USA atomic bombings destroyed Japanese homes and factories
- The bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 caused Japan to surrender
unconditionally
- The USA supplied war equipment to Britain and Russia
- The USA defeated Japan at the Battle of Midway, USA and Pacific Fleet defeated
Japanese attack, sinking four enemy aircraft and destroying 296 aircraft.
- USA General Eisenhower led the allied forces on the D-Day landings and liberation
of France
- The USA helped Britain in defeating Germany and Italy in North Africa
- However other f actors also played a part
- There were resistance movements against Germany in France, Czechoslovakia,
Austria, Denmark and Poland.
- Chinese resistance to Japan and the eventual defeat of Japan in China
- Failure of Germany to defeat Britain in Operation Sea Lion.
- Failure of Operation Barbarossa and the Russian winter also caused Germany’s
demise
- Weakness of Italy also contributed to the Axis powers defeated as Germany
constantly helped out.
Tanks
Machine guns
Submarines/ U-boats
Torpedo boats
Warplanes (Spitfires)
Bayonets/Knives
Bombs
Landmines
Radar
Armoured cars
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- Poland
- Czechoslovakia
- Romania
- Yugoslavia
- Bulgaria
- Hungary
- Albania
Economic
Political
- Division of Europe into two Political and economic blocs, East and West;
Communism versus Capitalism, NATO versus Warsaw Pact.
- Creation of a new international organization, the United Nations Organization
(UNO).
- Emergence of new states e.g. North and South Korea, East and West Germany
- Fall of dictatorships in Italy and Germany
- The map of Europe was recreated
- Self-determination for some minorities e.g. creation of Jewish homeland
- The Cold War between the East and west
- The status of women changed e.g. they were given the franchise in some countries.
- There was no all-inclusive peace settlement like in the First World War
- The war caused the production of nuclear weapons
- Europe’s domination of the rest of the world ended
- Emergence of super powers e.g. USA and Russia
- Decolonization was encouraged and achieved in some countries as people of different
nationalities who had fought alongside their colonial masters/colonizers could not and
were not willing to return to European rule.
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