World War II

World War II, was a massive global conflict that started in 1939 and concluded in 1945. It engaged around 100 million people from over 30 countries. Unfortunately, it became the deadliest war in human history, resulting in the loss of 70 to 85 million lives. The devastating impact included genocides like the Holocaust, intentional starvation, massacres, and widespread disease, leading to the tragic deaths of tens of millions of people. Regrettably, even today, it stands as the most catastrophic conflict in our shared history.

Origin of World War II

World War II had numerous causes, but at its core were the assertive and expansionist policies of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The harsh Treaty of Versailles, established years earlier, set the stage for future conflicts. Events like the Spanish Civil War and the Japanese invasion of China underscored the League of Nations’ inability to prevent aggression. These conflicts involved future Axis powers, revealing that they could pursue imperialistic goals without facing consequences from other nations. Ultimately, these factors made the outbreak of World War II seem inevitable.

Beginning of World War II

World War II kicked off on September 3, 1939, just two days after Hitler’s forces marched into Poland. The conflict unfolded between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the Allies, which included Britain, France, the Commonwealth nations, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

Initially, Hitler had a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union, but the Soviets later invaded Poland from the east and expanded their influence over Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and launched campaigns against Finland. Meanwhile, Nazi Germany swiftly conquered Denmark, Norway, and Belgium in the spring of 1940, and the invasion of France from May 10 to June 25, 1940, marked the high point of the German Blitzkrieg campaign. Facing the might of Germany, only Britain remained steadfast. Italy joined the war in June 1940.

For the Germans to invade Britain, achieving total air superiority was crucial. Consequently, the German air force, the Luftwaffe, launched daylight raids on southeast England and London. The Battle of Britain unfolded in August and September, during which the outnumbered British Royal Air Force managed to defeat the Luftwaffe, putting a halt to German plans for a full-scale invasion. Despite this victory, the bombing campaigns continued, causing extensive damage to many British cities and towns in the following months.

Expansion of the Conflict

In September 1940, a new front opened up when Italian forces rolled into Egypt, colliding with the British troops stationed there. The Brits showed their mettle, turning the tables by February 1941 and even pushing into Italian-held Libya. Victory was in the air, but enter Field-Marshal Rommel and his German troops, who managed to hustle the British forces back to the Egyptian border.

Meanwhile, riding the wave of success in Europe, Hitler decided to shake things up in June 1941 by declaring war on the Soviet Union, bringing Finland, Hungary, and Romania into the mix. But by the end of 1941, the tide started turning in favor of the Allies, especially with the entrance of the United States into the fray after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese air force.

As the war expanded, the Pacific front heated up from December 1941, with Japan quickly seizing control of Southeast Asia, including places like Burma, Singapore, the Philippines, and New Guinea. The threat to Australia loomed large. However, by May 1942, the United States Navy flexed its muscles, winning key battles at the Coral Sea, Midway Island, and Guadalcanal. This victory streak continued, reclaiming several Pacific islands from Japanese control by August 1942 and establishing bases for strategic bombing raids on Japan.

Tide Turns Against the Axis

In the heat of Africa, the British, led by the indomitable Field-Marshal Montgomery, scored a major win at El Alamein during October and November of 1942. Montgomery’s forces swiftly surged through Libya, rendezvousing with Allied troops in Morocco and Algeria. This pincer movement left Axis armies with no choice but to surrender come May 1943.Over in the vast expanse of Russia, German troops faced tough times. Despite glimpsing Moscow in November 1941, the resilient Russians fought back, clinching victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. It wasn’t until August 1944 that the last German forces were ousted from the Soviet Union, just in time for them to pivot westward, defending Germany from the looming Allied invasion.

The grand Allied invasion of Europe kicked off on June 6, 1944, with a million troops storming the Normandy beaches by July 2. Their march through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was relentless. Even a spirited German counter-attack in December 1944, fueled by reinforcements from the Soviet Union, couldn’t alter the course. By January 1945, the offensive had fizzled. In March, Allied troops breached the Rhine and reached the Ruhr Valley, Germany’s industrial heart. Simultaneously, the Soviet army pressed in from the East.

As the tides turned, Hitler, realizing the inevitable, tragically ended his own life on April 30, 1945, in his bunker. Soviet troops stormed Berlin on May 2nd, and the curtain officially fell on World War II with the surrender of Nazi Germany in Reims, France, on May 7th. The surrender documents were formally inked on May 9th in Berlin, marking the poignant end of a tumultuous era.

End of World War II

As the war in Europe came to an end, the struggle in Asia persisted. In September 1944, US forces began reclaiming the Philippines, and British troops advanced into Burma after the battles of Imphal and Kohima. While plans for an Allied invasion of Japan were in motion for late 1945, resilient Japanese resistance prompted commanders to seek alternatives. The solution emerged in the form of an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by another on Nagasaki on August 9th. The devastating casualties from these events led the Japanese government to surrender on August 14, marking the end of the war.

The widespread devastation caused immense military and civilian losses on both sides, with the Jewish population of Europe bearing an especially heavy burden. Out of the 9 million Jews in Europe in 1939, 6 million perished in concentration camps established by the Nazis in Germany and occupied Poland.

Post-war, Allied troops occupied Western Europe, while the Soviets took control of eastern Germany. The delicate alliance between the two eventually transformed into the Cold War.