World War II
1939-1945
World War II, which included a large portion of the world, formed two military groups: the Allies and the Axis Powers. The Holocaust and the use of atomic weapons made this war the deadliest in history. It started on September 1939 with the attack on Poland by Germany. In 1941, the European Axis Powers attacked the Soviet Union. That same year Japan joined the Axis Powers and went to war with the United States. The Axis Powers started to lose in 1942 after Japan lost navel battles in the Pacific and the European Axis troops were crushed in North Africa and Stalingrad. In 1944 the Allies attacked France and the Soviet Union invaded Germany. The war in Europe finished with the Soviet Union obtaining Berlin by Soviet troops and the surrender of Germany in May of 1945. In 1944 and 1945, the United States defeated the Japanese Navy and dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war in Asia finished on August 1945 when Japan surrendered.
How did the world respond to the Axis Powers' aggression in the 1930s?
There wasn't much of a response because the axis powers were following a policy of appeasement and the people didn't want war. As 1939 came and Germany took control of Poland, the world started to respond because of the alliances they had made.
Axis Meeting February 1932: German politician Rudolf Hess (second row, centre) at a meeting of leaders of the Axis powers in Germany (front row, left to right) Hermann Goering, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Count Galeazzo Ciano. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)
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UN Declaration 1942: The declaration of the United Nations, signed by 26 nations, and later adhered to by six others, pledging them to the principles of the Atlantic Charter, and binding them together in the common aim of victory over the Axis Powers and justice and peace for all peoples. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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The signing of the Tripartite Pact by Germany, Japan, and Italy on 27 September 1940 in Berlin. (Heinrich Hoffmann)
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"British mobilizing: Navy raised to its full strength, army and air reserves called up" -The New York Times.
What were the keys to victory in Europe and the pacific?
Countries used militarism, alliances, and nationalism to succeed in war. Germany's location also played a big part because they were fighting on multiple fronts, therefore weakening them.
May 1942: American and Filipino prisoners of war during the Bataan Death march when the Japanese force-marched them across the Philippines. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)
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"6th June 1944: Allied soldiers, tanks and ships take part in the D-Day landings at Arromanches beach in Normandy, Northern France. (Photo by Steck/MPI/Getty Images)"
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"The day after Pearl Harbour (Pearl Harbor) and following evacuation orders for Japanese living in America the owner of this shop in Oakland California, who is a University of California graduate of Japanese descent, put this notice across his shop front. (Photo by Dorothea Lange/Getty Images)"
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What were the justifications and repercussions of the Nazi policies that led to the Holocaust?
They justified the Holocaust through their beliefs of social Darwinism, lebensdrum, the beliefs in the racial supiorety of the Aryans, and the conspericy that the Jews were at fault of World War I. The repercussions were the death of 6 million Jews and the split of Germany between East and West Berlin.
Arriving At Auschwitz A group of women and children arriving at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland, circa 1943. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Nazis Into Poland September 1939: German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945) salutes as he oversees his military troop during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The troops march in formation toward a wooden bridge, constructed by the Nazis across the San River, near Jarolaw, Poland. The Nazis and Soviets had divided Poland by the end of that September. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Storming Austria Nazi storm troopers and Nazi sympathisers in the Austrian Corps of Gendarmes destroying frontier barriers as Nazi troops pour into Austria. (Photo by Evans/Getty Images)
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