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Essay on World War II

Histology (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador)

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Introduction
Considered the most important war in history due to its enormous influence on political and
military events, World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945. This war was preceded by the First
World War, which resulted in a peace agreement between the Allies and Germany under the
Treaty of Versailles. This led to resentment when the country was defeated and thus became one
of the main causes of World War II. Adolf Hitler, German politician, military man and dictator,
was one of the main protagonists of the war, who sought to destroy the Soviet Union with his
ambitions for power and conquest. The war was triggered when Britain and France declared war
on Nazi Germany following its invasion of Poland. The two groups involved in the conflict were
the "Axis", formed by Germany, Switzerland and Japan, while France, Great Britain, the United
States and the Soviet Union formed the "Allies".

Developments
One of the reasons for the war was the end of World War I, which ended with the Treaty of
Versailles, and Germany was greatly affected by the defeat. Germany needed a leader to help it
recover from this blow, and thus Hitler's government was born, which convinced the entire
country to move forward and become a great nation. Hitler became leader of the German Workers'
Party and transformed it into the National Socialist Party, whose ideology was totally anti-
Marxist. In 1938 he began a policy of territorial expansion, incorporating Austria into his
possessions, and it was in this year that Hitler threatened war if he did not obtain a small part of
Czechoslovakia. France, Great Britain and even Italy agreed to avoid conflict, but the following
year Hitler broke this agreement and seized the entire territory.

World War II officially began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's German forces invaded
Poland and fired the first shots. The attack angered France and Britain, resulting in the deaths of
many soldiers and civilians, and a group of countries sought revenge. After the conquest,
Germany suspended its reorganization, while Britain and France remained on the defensive. This
period is known as the "spy war." French and British troops took refuge behind the defensive line
created during the First World War, which the French considered untouchable. Following this
period of calm, the Soviet Union launched an offensive on Finland, an offensive that resulted in
numerous casualties, but in the end the Soviet army did not achieve its main objective of
conquering Finland. Little by little, Hitler began to play his cards well and managed to attack
several countries, such as Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium and even France.

After simultaneously attacking Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and France, the famous rogue met
his end in May 1940, when he used the same methods he had employed in attacking Poland,
driving tanks through the "Ardennes Forest", which was considered impossible for a modern
mechanized army to invade. At this point, France seemed lost, and at the end of the month the
"Great Retreat from Dunkirk" took place, considered one of the largest evacuations in military
history: more than 300,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated across the English Channel. On June
22, an armistice was signed between France and Germany at the request of French officers, and
the battle for France ended. Hitler chose the same train carriage in which they had gathered during

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World War I when the armistice with Germany was signed, but this time the positions were
reversed, and it was Germany that took the winning side. Thereafter, Germany intensively
attacked major British cities for five months, which they endured silently, giving Hitler a sense of
victory.

Hitler succeeded in getting the new countries, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, to join the Axis
forces and in 1941, thanks to a change of government, he also invaded Yugoslavia. Hitler's dream
was to rule a great German empire, encompassing as many countries as possible, and it was then
that he decided to expand his borders and carry out Operation Redbeard, aimed at invading the
Soviet Union. Between three and four million soldiers were sent into battle and the operation
gradually progressed successfully until they reached Moscow and winter arrived.

At this stage of the Second World War it was important to understand the "Roman-Berliner axis",
which expanded with the entry of Japan. Japan was very advanced in all aspects and aimed to free
the colonies of Eastern Europe from the yoke of the West.

With the invasion of China in 1931, Japan's imperialist ambitions grew ever bolder until France
fell to Nazi Germany in 1931 and Japan gained control of French Indochina. The American
response was swift: Japan's financial assets were frozen and an oil embargo was imposed. Japan
had only two options: withdraw from Indochina or suffer economic defeat. Japan was well aware
that it could not compete with the United States in a naval war due to its lack of economic and
military power, but it decided to go to war anyway. In 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on
the American base at Pearl Harbor. The attack was successful and exceeded their expectations, as
they lost 64 men compared to the 3,649 that the United States lost in that war. Following this
attack, the desire for revenge was rekindled and the "Shame Speech" was written, declaring war
between the United States and Japan, but the Japanese continued to invade many countries, such
as Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

A naval battle took place in the Pacific, in which more than 900 ships were sunk by a large
number of German submarines in 12 months. It was then that Britain and the United States
decided to form an alliance. Six months later, the Americans succeeded in avenging the sneak
attack on Pearl Harbour at the Battle of Midway, dealing a severe blow to the Japanese, who lost
four aircraft carriers, and even authorising a massive bombing of the German population, and the
situation began to change considerably. Meanwhile, in North Africa, the German and Italian
armies managed to emerge victorious from several battles, but were then defeated at the Battle of
El Alamein. It was at this point that the war took a major turn, as the Germans were unable to
reach the Suez Canal and their plans to capture the oil reserves of the Middle East failed. As a
result, the Germans decided to conquer the oil fields of the Caucasus. It was then that Hitler
divided his forces to set his sights on Stalingrad in order to carry out a coup against Stalin, after
whom the city was named. But it was an unfortunate decision, because although Germany
managed to capture much of the Caucasus, its forces decided to withdraw and deploy specifically
for the invasion of Stalingrad. At the end of this campaign, in 1943, Germany surrendered. As the
bloodiest battle of all mankind, it marked the defeat of Nazi Germany and became one of the great
turning points in history, decisive for the outcome of the war. From then on, the Russians began to
conquer the territories ceded to the Nazis.

In July 1943, the "Battle of Kursk" took place, known as the largest tank battle in the world, in
which the Germans were defeated because they could not stop the Red Army. Other events also

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occurred that same month, such as the Allied bombing of Rome, which inspired Italians to believe
that a city as sacred as Rome would not be bombed.

Shortly afterwards, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was arrested. In 1944, Rome was liberated by
the Allies and the famous "Normandy Landings" took place on June 6. A large number of Allied
troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to complete the liberation of the territories of Western
Europe occupied by Nazi Germany. Advancing with victories and conquests, they did not
immediately reach Paris. When the Allies crossed the German border, the Germans launched an
offensive in the Ardennes, known as the "Battle of the Bulge", without much success. In January
1945, the Red Army arrived at the Oswestry complex in Poland, a group of Nazi German
concentration camps, where a large number of prisoners were liberated. As a result, the entire
world began to understand the reality of life at that time. The Jewish Holocaust had an impact on
society because its objective was the total annihilation of the Jewish population, in short, a
genocide whose victims were more than six million people.

In February 1945, the Allies carried out the "bombing of Dresden", destroying the entire city and
making it one of the largest civilian bombings of the entire conflict. In April, the Russians
captured Berlin, winning the last battle in Europe, and in the same month Benito Mussolini was
shot. Just a few days later, the event that marked the end of World War II occurred when Hitler
committed suicide, described as "the most important shot of the war", and it was at this point that
Nazi Germany capitulated to the Allies, ending World War II in Europe. Despite this, the war
continued in Asia and Japan. The famous event that finished off Hirohito's army took place on
August 6, when the city of Hiroshima was completely destroyed by the first atomic bomb used
against civilians, and on August 9, when a similar device was used to destroy the city of Nagasaki.
It marked the definitive end of the war.

The consequences of World War II were brutal, especially for civilians. The war brought with it
important political, economic, social and hegemonic changes. After several years of intense war,
much of the European territory was destroyed. The infrastructure of several cities, constantly
bombed by Axis and Allied forces, suffered serious damage. At the end of the war, Germany was
divided into two parts, according to the ideologies of the Allies and the Soviet Union.

This led to the construction of the Berlin Wall, which marked the division of German territory. In
1991, the wall was torn down and Germany was reunified. The Marshall Plan was a $12 billion
economic aid program offered by the United States government to Western European countries
for reconstruction and industrial development. After the war, the countries that remained under
European control launched a series of decolonization campaigns, and between 1945 and 1975,
these countries gained their independence.

Conclusion
In conclusion, World War II not only brought something negative to the future of humanity, but
also had a positive impact on it, as it made human beings aware of their benign and malignant
potential in certain areas, allowing them to evolve to begin to give answers to things they
previously ignored, while beginning to explore new areas of knowledge. It should be considered
as a war in which man has gained experience to make decisions in future events, since man has
always learned from his mistakes and experiences throughout his history.

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