Major Events of World War II - Assignment Example

 Major Events of World War II World War II claimed more lives and involved more countries than any war that preceded or has followed this truly global conflict. Japan invaded Manchuria, China; Italy invaded Ethiopia under fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and, most importantly, because Adolf Hitler came to power and began Germany’s renewed conquest of Europe. However, none of these incidents contributed significantly to the decision of America to enter the war, making it truly a global action. There are many important events that happened during this war that helped determine its outcome. Among these are the attack on Pearl Harbor that began America’s involvement with Japan in such famous events as the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Coral Sea and the alliance that developed between America and the Western European nations as they engaged with Germany in battles such as the D-Day battle at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. The major events of World War II, such as those just listed, came to an end with the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan following Germany’s defeat, finally and decisively ending the last global war of the 20th century. On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked America’s Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. The two-wave assaults came at 7:53 and 8:55 AM. It ended by 10 AM and by 1 PM, the planes had rejoined the Japanese carriers and were headed on their way home to Japan. In the wake of the chaos that followed the attack, 2,403 American servicemen were dead, 188 planes were destroyed and eight battleships were either heavily damaged or completely destroyed (“Attack at Pearl Harbor”, 1997). The U.S. immediately began fighting on both European and Pacific fronts fully supported by the American public. The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, President Roosevelt made his famous ‘a day that lives in infamy’ speech to Congress that requested this body declare war against Japan. Congress quickly agreed to that request then declared war on Germany and Italy on December 11 (Holt, 2006). The Pacific War was the largest naval conflict in history. At the start of 1942, the United States was decidedly outmatched by the Japanese. As a way to raise the morale of the troops, Army Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle was sent to guide 16 bombers to raid Tokyo, and three other Japanese cities in April 1942. The bombing raid was not intended to nor did it inflict much physical damage to Japan, but the psychological damage of the attack was significant as the Japanese thought this type of maneuver was impossible. It therefore proved their own susceptibility not only to the Japanese, but to the American soldiers contemplating fighting them. The following summer, America took the offensive against Japan. The Japanese were defeated both at the Battle of Midway, a strategic island base and then again at the Battle of the Coral Sea. America invaded Guadalcanal in August, 1942 and had freed the Aleutian Islands in May of 1943. U.S. and Australian military forces combined to isolate one of Japan’s most important bases, Rabaul, then began ‘island hopping’ across the Pacific toward Japan. The allied forces achieved a series of victories at sea including prominent 1944 battles such as the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The allies were also victorious on several island campaigns including Iwo Jima, the Philippines and Okinawa in 1945. During this time, submarines were progressively cutting off the oil and material supplies of the Japanese by sinking merchant vessels. (Kelly, 2007). While the battles for the Philippines and Okinawa were taking place, President Truman, who had become president following the death of Roosevelt, was considering an invasion of the Japanese mainland. By now, the U.S. Navy had ships stationed just off the Japanese coast while its submarines were deployed in the Sea of Japan. Because the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa were very fierce, it was estimated that half a million to a million soldiers would be killed if the scheduled November 1, 1945 invasion of Japan occurred (“Decision to Drop”, 2003). “President Truman authorized use of the atomic bomb anytime after August 3, 1945. On the clear morning of August 6, the first atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima” (“Atomic Bomb”, 2007). The blast leveled more than half of that city. Seventy thousand of its citizens were instantaneously killed. On August 9, another bomb destroyed Nagasaki. On August 14, the war with Japan formally ended with Japan signing the surrender papers onboard the battleship Missouri. America made its initial attacks against German forces on June 1942 at the Ploesti oil fields in Romania by using B-24 Liberator heavy bombers based in Egypt. A-20 Havocs attacked rail-yards in northern France in an effort to disrupt the enemy supply line in the first strikes against Germany in Western Europe. This July 1942 and future operations originated from English airfields. The first aerial raids by the ‘Flying Fortress’ B-17 bombers began during August 1942. They continued unceasingly until Germany surrendered to the allies in May 1945. These nonstop attacks are attributed with weakening Germany’s morale and war-making ability by bombing military, industrial and populated cities. The first U.S. and allied military operations in the Mediterranean were invasions of North Africa, Sicily and then Italy. The Allies landed in North Africa in November 1942 and by May 1943 had removed the Germans from North Africa. The next campaign commenced in Italy where the government soon surrendered, but German forces continued fighting during much of the entire war and were pushed progressively northward in Italy. The Allied victory in Italy secured a vital supply link to Asia from the Mediterranean side of the world (Pike, 2005). In August 1943 the Western allies decided to launch a major attack crossing the English Channel to Normandy, in Southern France. Germany expected an invasion force but was deceived by a phony communication between the allies which announced an invasion between Dover, England and Calais in Northern France. These deceptive communications also described a massive troop and armament build-up by General Patton’s army which was known to be the most aggressive unit the Americans had. The Germans, specifically Hitler, were convinced the assault would be by Patton at Calais and kept two divisions of the elite Panzer tank unit there. Operation Overlord (D-Day) began, on the morning of June 6, 1944 on the beaches of Normandy and the invasion force continued into the heart of France. Rather than withdrawing, Hitler ordered his army to repel the invading force back into the sea. This was his second big mistake of the battle. By the time the allied forces were firmly established in France, they had annihilated two German armies. These events determined the future eventuality of the war. The battle lasted six weeks and had left the Germans discouraged and tactically vulnerable to all further advances by the allies (Pike, 2005). The Allied ground attack, spearheaded by Patton’s army, had reached the Rhine River by mid September 1944. In a desperate attempt to halt this steady advance, Germany launched a massive counteroffensive later known as The Battle of the Bulge in mid-December 1944 where 29 German divisions overran the Allied ground troops in the Ardennes Forest region of Belgium. However, by late January 1945, the Allied counterattack, again by Patton’s army which had turned northward had succeeded in pushing back the German forces into their homeland which stopped any further threats of German offensive tactics. In April of that year, the Russian and Allied armies met in Berlin which ended the war in Europe (Pike, 2005). The decision to bomb Nagasaki rather than invade Japan as planned was made by use of sound military, humanitarian and political reasoning. Thousands died as a result of the bombs but hundreds of thousands or millions would have been killed by an allied ground invasion of Japan. Although fire bombings had all but destroyed the capital city of Tokyo, the Japanese showed no signs of surrender and only an atomic bomb could produce this result. An unconditional and total surrender was the only assurance the Japanese would end the fighting. The second bomb was viewed by some as unnecessary, however as Major General Leslie Groves stressed, there were three primary reasons for the second bombing. First, he cited that the U.S. did not know if Japan would soon surrender after just one bomb. Second, he argued that “one bomb would be necessary to show the Japanese the power of the bomb, and the second would be needed to show them that we had the capacity to make more than one” (Loebs, 2005). Thirdly, the U.S. had no way of gauging the damage inflicted by the first bomb or the extent of its effect on the leadership of Japan. In addition, had the war been prolonged, the threat posed by the Soviets was immanent and daunting. Had they had a hand in postwar affairs in Asia, the boundaries of the world would be very different today. Because the Soviet Union was not allowed to play a part in the aftermath of Asia and was not directly affecting American interests, a conflict with them was unnecessary. The atomic bombs released on Japan also helped avoid an invasion of the Soviet Union. Millions of soldiers and civilians had perished during the six years of fighting, but Germany and Japan were defeated by the war’s end and democracy was restored except in Eastern Europe where the former Soviet Union was in control. The United States had become the world’s mightiest military, economic and thus political leader. World War II was a defining moment in the history of the world and the United States where technologies that were developed during wartime provided an unprecedented economic prosperity following the war. The U.S. also gained world respect as it spent billions of dollars rebuilding the countries devastated by the war including its former enemies. References “Atomic Bomb – Truman Press Release: August 6, 1945.” Truman Presidential Museum and Library Accessed November 19, 2007 from “Attack at Pearl Harbor, 1941.” (1997). EyeWitness to History. Accessed November 19, 2007 from “(The) Decision to Drop.” (2003). National Atomic Museum. Accessed November 19, 2007 from Holt, Pat M. (August 12, 2006). “Pearl Harbor 65 years later.” GulfNews.com. Accessed November 19, 2007 from Kelly, Martin. (2007). “Overview of World War II.” About American History. Accessed November 19, 2007 from Loebs, Bruce. (August 18, 1995). “Hiroshima & Nagasaki: One Necessary Evil, One Tragic Mistake.” Commonweal Journal. LookSmart Articles. Accessed November 19, 2007 from Pike, John. (April 27, 2005). “World War Two.” Military. Global Security.org. Accessed November 19, 2007 from Read More