Various Aspects About World War II - Assignment Example

Various aspects about World War II Second World War has influenced the twentieth century as well as the twenty first century in manyways. It educated the people all over the world about the consequences of a possible third world war. The consequences of using nuclear weapons were made clear to the world by the Second World War. It taught us the fact that the outcomes of a third world war would be total destruction of the entire world. This paper analyses the causes and effects of World War 2 and the reasons for selecting this topic for analysis Causes of World War II The major reason for Second World War was Hitler’s ambitions to expand the German empire. He pretended that the Aryans (Germans) are superior to other people in the world and they have the right to rule the entire world. During Hitler’s period, Jews were the prominent community in the world because of the immense contributions they have given to the world in the form of scientific discoveries and other political and sociological aspects needed for the advancement of human civilization. Hitler’s blind and revenging attitudes towards Jews community have forced him to perceive everything against his views as the contributions of the Jew’s community. Moreover, Hitler believed that communism and democracy were the contributions of the Jew’s community and encouraging this political system will destroy the true values of the people. Many of the prominent scientists and world leaders were of Jewish origin which was not acceptable to Hitler. Hitler thought that the Germany’s lost lands during the previous wars were occupied by Jews and he has started the war against the Jews. “The Nazis basic intent was to make survival for the Jews more difficult and to create a loss of identity for the Jews. The Nazis occupying the towns asserted that the consequence of dissension was severe punishment or death” (LEBENSRAUM: LIVING SPACE FOR THE GERMAN RACE) Communism and democracy argue for equality rather than domination which were unacceptable to Hitler. In his opinion, communism and democracy were the means of spreading corruption. He has rejected the political systems like judiciary, parliament, and executive like entities and argued that these systems were in place in order to save the corrupted people from punishments. Hitler believed that only through dictatorship, corruption can be eliminated and a country can grow further. In a famous speech Hitler once declared that "We want to liberate Germany from the fetters of an impossible parliamentary democracy — not because we are terrorists, not because we intend to gag the free spirit. On the contrary, the spirit has never made themselves its master" (Brundage) Lebensraum was another major reason for the Nazi expansion into its neighbouring territories and the subsequent WW 2. The meaning of the word ‘Lebensraum’ is living space. Hitler believed that the Germans are living without enough space in Germany even though they were the major race in the world. Adolf Hitler considered Aryans race as the ancestors of Germans and he believed that Aryans are far superior to other races in world. It was not tolerable for him to accept the fact that the Germans/Aryans are living without enough living spaces in Germany. Hitler accused that some of the lands controlled by other countries near the boundaries of Germany actually belong to Germany and he has demanded a territorial revision of lands. He was of the opinion that Germany has lost many of its territories to neighbouring countries in previous wars which needed to be regained. He has gathered support from the German people to expand German territories using his mesmerising speeches in which he made the German people aware of the shame of living as slaves. The Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919 to end the WW 1 was a shock treatment for to the German pride. This treaty put the entire blame on Germany for causing WW 1 and asked Germany to pay heavy amounts as compensation. Moreover, Germany forced to sacrifice some of its land areas as part of the agreement reached through The Treaty of Versailles. Moreover, Germany forced to disarm fully because of this treaty (The Treaty of Versailles). In short, the terms of The Treaty of Versailles was painful to the Germans and when Hitler came to power, he has decided to take revenge for this which finally resulted in WW 2. Tragically, it was not only Hitler and his Nazi supporters who wanted Germany's rearmament, but many influential figures in Britain and elsewhere. Churchill was probably the only world leader who has perceived German plans correctly under Hitler’s fascist Nazi regime. However his efforts failed to educate the rest of the global leaders about the dangers of allowing Hitler gaining strength. The German re-armament was a massive effort led by Hitler’s political party, NSDAP early in the 1930s. Hitler has promised the German people that they will take every effort to regain the lost German pride in the World War 1. The public speeches and other measures taken by Hitler and his allies succeeded in getting the much needed power and support for them in the German elections. Hitler has undertaken one of the greatest efforts to boost the German economy by heavy industrialization Germany has ever witnessed. Hitler’s main aim during this period was to prepare Germany for a possible Second World War. The rearmament process which started in early 1930’s has strengthened and equipped Germany for a possible Second World War by the end of the 1930’s. In 1938 an international crisis developed around Czechoslovakia, populated mostly by ethnic Germans known as Sudetenland, has started to shake the global peace and Hitler has threatened to go to war with Czechoslovakia unless so-called Sudetenland was immediately ceded to Germany (Zuljan) In order to avoid a possible war, the British Prime Minister Chamberlain flew to Germany and signed an agreement with Germany under the mediation of Italy’s fascist ruler Mussolini. As per this agreement Czechoslovakia was forced to surrender its disputed land to Germany. The victory in Sudetenland issue motivated Hitler to put forward more claims on other lands in its neighbouring territories. The next war front he opened was in Poland. He has realized that Poland was a weak country and their allies Britain and France may not put many efforts to save Poland if he attacks it. His calculations were right in this case also. However, the additional claims put forward by Hitler were unacceptable to the rest of the world and finally many of the global powers forced to declare war (Second World War) with Germany. Reasons for selecting WW2 War and terrorism are growing day by day in the contemporary society. At present war on terror is going on along with various terrorist activities at different parts of the world. Both war and terrorism are considered as threats to human civilization because of the immense damages these things can cause to human life and properties. The ultimate result of war and terrorism are poverty and financial crisis because of the huge wealth utilization in the non productive sector. So, nobody wants to be involved in a war because of the casualties and negative effects it may cause to the human generation; but still war in different forms is a reality in our society. Even though most of the outcomes of war are destructive, some constructive outcomes may also come out after the wars. Wars can cause advancements in technology which can be utilized in the constructive sectors later. Moreover, war can help countries in clearing out the misunderstandings between them and also it can destroy evils from the society. For example, the old enemies Germany and France are good friends now even though they fought fiercely in the Second World War. They were engaged in severe fighting for almost three generations, but after all that fighting and the wars that have taken place; they learnt to cooperate with each other. The outcomes of the two world wars are unforgettable, especially that of the Second World War. The fist use of nuclear weapons have been witnessed in the Second World War which gives us a clear indication of what would happen if a third world war occurs. The major reasons for many of the wars are the cultural conflicts. In most of the wars, one culture tries to dominate over other culture. In the Second World War also, the cultural conflicts played an important role. The major reason for selecting Second World War is the fact that this war has all the basic features needed to study wars and its consequences. How the event could have been developed differently? The destiny and the history of WW 2 would have been different had Hitler not decided to attack the Soviet Union. Earlier, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact which allowed Germany to focus more on other fighting warfronts in Western Europe. However, Hitler’s ambitions were sky high and he miscalculated that he can open another war front with Soviet Union also. He was overconfident about the abilities of German troops and underestimated the abilities of Soviet Union. Hitler thought that the Slavic people were genetically inferior to his Aryan race and hence it is their right to rule the Soviet people also. It was difficult for the Germans to fight in different warfronts at the same time. Moreover, the climatic changes spoiled Hitler’s ambitions of conquering Soviet Union. Many German soldiers died from the cold and starvation during the invasion of Russia and hence Hitler forced to suffer defeat in the WW2 finally. If Hitler was able to avoid the temptation of attacking Soviet Union, he could have easily won the Second World War. If Hitler was successful in WW2, the entire history of the world would have been different. In fact, Hitler’s foolishness helped the world to breathe the air of freedom freely. If Hitler was able to rule the world, all the people except the Germans would have faced the same destiny of the Jews. In short, Hitler’s foolishness helped the world from a big danger. Conclusions Hitler’s ambitions and illusions were the major reasons for the Second World War. Hitler believed that the Germans were superior to other races and hence it is their right to rule the rest of the world. When I selected this topic, I never thought that a single person was the major culprit for causing a world war. I thought various other political reasons might be the reasons for the WW 2. However, Hitler’s arguments about the supremacy of German race were surprising and interesting to me. It clearly educated me that most of the wars are occurring in this world not mainly because of any serious reasons, but because of silly reasons. The recently concluded Iraq war can be cited as another example for my claim. Works cited 1. Brundage Matthew. “Adolf Hitler's Views and Opinions of Democracy”. 2009. Web. 07 February 2011. 2. LEBENSRAUM: LIVING SPACE FOR THE GERMAN RACE, Web. 07 February 2011. 3. “The Treaty of Versailles”. 2011. Web. 07 February 2011. 4. Zuljan Ralph Munich 1938 Web. 07 February 2011. Annotated Bibliography 1. Brundage Matthew. “Adolf Hitler's Views and Opinions of Democracy”. 2009. Web. 07 February 2011. This article gives us a clear idea about Adolph Hitler’s views and opinions of democracy. Hitler was a severe critique of democracy and believed that democracy is a mean for political leaders to loot the country. Hitler’s definition of democracy and views about socialism, nationalism, German culture, Jews etc are well portrayed in this article which helped me a lot in identifying the exact reasons of WW 2. 2. LEBENSRAUM: LIVING SPACE FOR THE GERMAN RACE, Web. 07 February 2011. This article defines the term LEBENSRAUM. LEBENSRAUM was one of the major reasons for the Second World War and it is difficult to write the history of WW 2 without mentioning few words about LEBENSRAUM. This article helped me a lot in understanding the term LEBENSRAUM and its relevance in Second World War. 3. “The Treaty of Versailles”. 2011. Web. 07 February 2011. The treaty of Versailles is believed to be another motivating factor for WW2. The terms and conditions of this agreement were unacceptable to Germany. Germany forced to sacrifice many of its land areas as part of this agreement. Moreover, Germany forced to pay heavy amounts as compensation for the victims of WW 1. Disarmament of Germany was another controversial clause in this treaty which forced Germans to violate this treaty later and prepare Germany for another war. This article has everything needed to understand the significance of The Treaty of Versailles in the WW 2. 4. Zuljan Ralph. Munich 1938. Web. 07 February 2011. Sudetenland issue is believed to be the beginning of WW 2. The success tasted by Germany in this issue served as a motivating factor for Germany to put more claims on other neighbouring lands. This article explains everything related to the Sudetenland issue which forced me to select it as another reference for completing this paper. Read More