The Basics of WWII (Causes & Timeline)
The destruction of the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the Pacific, 7 December 1941. The Japanese attack was certainly one of the events that changed the history of war.
The Start Of WWII
The Second World War was one of the defining events in human history. It began on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and ended in August 1945 with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent surrender of Japan.
The causes of the war were many and varied and were rooted in the politically and economically complex period of the 1920s and 1930s. At the end of the First World War, the major European powers were in economic crisis. The defeated Germany experienced an unprecedented economic, political and social crisis and only managed to survive thanks to loans from the United States. With the economic crisis that hit the US in 1929, these loans were cut off and Germany again found itself in an unprecedented recession. For several years, nationalist movements of a fascist nature had been gaining ground in the country, exploiting the desire for revenge against France and Britain, the most important of which was National Socialism, led by the charismatic Adolf Hitler.
Other European Countries & Their Involvment
Meanwhile, a dictatorship had been in place in Italy for several years. In 1922, the leader of the National Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, had been appointed Prime Minister by the King following a real coup d’état. Mussolini’s rise to power was also due to the widespread dissatisfaction of Italians with the political class, which had failed to capitalize on the success of the First World War. The socialist and communist movements were also highly developed, which was frowned upon by the Western powers, who somehow welcomed the rise of Mussolini and fascism, which was seen as a possible containment of these movements. Meanwhile, in 1933, the National Socialist Party won the elections in Germany and Hitler became the head of the German government. Hitler played on the desire for revenge of the Germans, who had not accepted the defeat of the First World War and especially the heavy economic sanctions imposed, which had brought society to the brink of the abyss. Hitler immediately embarked on a very aggressive policy towards his neighbors: in 1938 he completed the annexation of Austria and a few months later also managed to gain control of the Sudetenland region in Czechoslovakia. In the meantime, Italy had also started its colonial expansion in Ethiopia, to which France and Great Britain reacted with major and heavy economic sanctions. Strengthened by the support he enjoyed at home, he soon turned his attention eastwards to conquer the territories of the former Prussia, now in Poland. His expansionist ambitions were aided by the fact that he had signed a treaty with the Soviet Union (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), which provided for a ten-year non-aggression pact between the two powers and the division of Polish territory in the event of war.
Germany's Power In WWII
The German war industry seemed unstoppable in those years, having pulled the country out of economic crisis, and the army was one of the best-equipped and most disciplined in the world. Hitler and Mussolini formed an alliance against France and Britain: they were soon joined by Japan, which had great ambitions of conquest in Asia and was being thwarted by the United States, France and Britain. Hitler, strong in his army and alliances, felt ready to start a conflict. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the west and the USSR from the east, in accordance with the treaty between the two states. Britain and France joined Poland in declaring war on Germany.
After conquering Poland, Hitler set his sights on northern Europe (Denmark and Norway) and, to the west, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium, which were soon occupied. Meanwhile, the French had prepared their lines of defense along the Rhine and the Moselle, using the areas that had been crucial in resisting German offensives during the First World War. But this time Germany was much stronger, better prepared and better armed: the French defenses quickly fell and Hitler was able to enter Paris in May 1940. The Führer began to press for the intervention of the Italian ally, and Mussolini decided to declare war on France and Britain in June 1940. Italy fought a disastrous war, suffering numerous defeats in North and East Africa (Libya and Ethiopia), Greece and Yugoslavia, and slowing the Nazi advance. Meanwhile, in 1941, Hitler broke the pact with the USSR and decided to attack it: a campaign that appeared to be successful but was interrupted by winter and the fierce Soviet resistance at Stalingrad. In December 1941, the Japanese attacked American positions in the Pacific, notably Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into the conflict.
Coming To An End
In 1942 the Nazi-Fascist forces began to suffer heavy defeats and in 1943 the Anglo-Americans, having gained control of the Mediterranean, landed in Italy. Mussolini was deposed and Italy signed an armistice with the Allies, leading to its occupation by the Nazis. In 1944 the Allies completed the Normandy landings on the north coast of France, beginning the liberation of the country, while the Soviets advanced rapidly to the east. A collapsed Germany was soon encircled and defeated between April and May 1945: Hitler committed suicide in his bunker to avoid capture. The Americans decided to hasten the end of the conflict in the east as well, to prevent the Soviets from reaching Japan: in August 1945 they dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing the Japanese to surrender unconditionally.