Causes of World War II in Europe - Report Example

The Second World War Professor: Date: Question 1 Causes of World War II in Europe The Second World War II in Europe was the one of the longest wars in European history and it resulted to much enmity between countries. Max (283) outlines that Adolf Hitler who was the German dictator had the desire to control the entire Europe and resettle German farmers. However, His move to do so was opposed by many countries in Europe and the United states, as well. Adolf Hitler was determined to make Germany a powerful country that could oversee all other activities in Europe and keep invaders away. Max (336) outlines that the First World War had reduced Germany into a mere military base and powerful countries such as Great Britain and the United States had restructured Europe for their own benefits. Adolf Hitler, therefore, had a desire to detach Europe from the rest of the world and establish an independent European Empire that could stand on its own. Establishment of the axis alliance Adolf Hitler was a racist and national socialist who believed that his race was superior to all other races. His main goal as to downturn the Versailles Treaty that was signed by the United States, France, and other countries. This treaty required Germany to pay for the damages they had caused in the First World War. Germany was hit by depression as their economy could not grow to a level that could sustain its citizens. The political parties in Germany could not agree on ways to end the depression and many citizens decided to support Hitler. In 1933, Hitler was voted in as the German Chancellor and he later established himself as a dictator. Hitler formed alliances with Japan because as it had also adopted the totalitarianism leadership. They signed the Anti-Comintern pact that was against disarmament and Italy later joined in the alliance which came to be known as the Axis alliance (Max, 388). The rise of totalitarianism After the First World War countries, made a resolution to adopt democracy with the belief that it would lead to global peace. However, most European countries realized that a democracy could not work in their countries. For instance, Benito Mussolini the Italian chancellor abandoned democracy and introduced adopted totalitarianism as it seemed to be more effective. Many European countries later adopted totalitarianism and this led to unrest in Germany and France, as well. Other races that were in Germany suffered under Hitler’s rule and this caught the attention of the international community. Alliances were made against Germany and Hitler started arming his country in preparation for war. Military bases were strategically set up in Germany and all this tension later led to War II (Anthony, 83). The universal depression The effects of World War I were still being felt and rebuilding Europe after this war was very costly for most countries. Max (372) outlines that Europe got into debts that they could not afford to pay the United States. Germany in particular had large debts that were increased as a result of the Versailles treaty that required Germany to compensate the United Nations for the damage caused in World War I. The Rise of dictators in Europe slowed down the economy as people could not increase their productivity. The European economy finally collapsed and the great depression began and later to spread to other countries outside Europe. Germany aggression According to Max (369) Germany rearmament was another major cause of World War II and neighboring countries raised concerns over this rearmament. Hitler came to Germany’s defense arguing that the rearmament exercise was an internal affair and countries should have no reason to worry about it. Hitler did not convince France and this prompted them to go ahead and seek help from the United States. The United States responded to this by creating an impartiality policy that prohibited any assistance to Germany. This was in a bid to stop Germany from carrying out the rearmament exercise. Hitler worsened the situation by threatening to go to war with Czechoslovakia who were their immediate neighbors. Other countries made alliances against Germany and this forced Germany to stop the rearmament. Failure of peace efforts Anthony (563) states that the League of Nations was established in 1920 in a bid to ensure that all conflicts between countries in the west were solved to avoid a repeat of World War I. However the League of Nations faced a lot of challenges as countries did not agree on major issues. Some countries like France and Poland refused to remove economic sanctions on Germany and this frustrated the efforts of the League of Nations. Question 2 Turning Point of World War II German invasion to Poland According to Max (567) one of the major turning points of the Second World War is the German invasion to Poland. Germany destroyed all the major cities in Poland and bringing down all business buildings down. The Soviet Union that was siding with Germany joined and attacked the Eastern part of London. France and Great Britain came to Poland’s defense and officially declared war on Germany and its allies. Adolf Hitler had a strong army that was able to capture to capture France and its capital. This left Great Britain to fight Hitler and his allies, but it finally managed to defeat the Germans. The Stalingrad battle Anthony (561) outlines that the Stalingrad Battle was one of the major turning points in World War II. During this battle, the German army that had been waging war on all countries that opposed it was finally weakened by Russia. The German army had specifically targeted Stalingrad as it was Russia’s main communication center and most of Russia’s manufacturing companies were located in Stalingrad. The Russians were, therefore, not willing to let the Germans capture Stalingrad. The Russians were also afraid that once the Germans got hold of Stalingrad, then the next target would be Caucasus where their oil fields were located. War finally broke out between the Germans and the Russian army and Hitler was sure that his army would defeat the Russians. However, the German army had a difficult time as the war was fought during the winter and their soldiers had to face the harsh cold conditions that eventually led to the death of many German soldiers. Max (610) outlines that the most interesting thing about Stalingrad Battle was the manner in which the battle was fought. The towns that the Germany army captured during the day were recaptured by the Russians at night. The Russian army managed to capture German soldiers and imprison them and this marked the defeat of the Germans. This defeat also marked the end of the dictatorship in most countries and democracy was now adopted. Battle of midway According to Anthony (583), the Battle of midway was another major event that occurred in World War II and it involved the United States and Japan. The Japanese government wanted to dominate the Pacific and the only way of doing this was to eliminate the United States that had already dominated the pacific. For the Japanese to dominate the Pacific, they had to occupy the Midway region which strategic for setting the defense military that could counter all future attacks on Japan. The United States found out about Japan’s plan and they responded to this by ambushing six Japanese aircrafts that were to be used for the attack and this paralyzed the Japanese military. The United States also heightened up security around its borders and Midway region was put under surveillance. This Battle had a great impact on the pacific region and the United States opened more aviation schools that equipped American Pilots with advanced skill. Attack on Pearl Harbor In 1941, the Japanese carried out a surprise attack at the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and this caught the entire world by surprise. Max (363) outlines that this attack intensified the rivalry between the United States and Japan. Hitler who hated the United States was very impressed by Japan’s move and he went ahead to form an alliance with them. Hitler argued that if Japan could successfully attack a super power, than an alliance with Germany that had a strong military base could enable the two countries gain victory. Italy later joined in the alliance and the three countries launched an attack on the United States. This forced the United States to officially join the Second World War II. Justifications for using an atomic bomb in 1945 According to Anthony (371), the United States president at that time Harry Truman argued that using the Atomic bomb was the only way to end the war. This is because Japan had refused to surrender and they continued launching a series of attacks in the United States and other countries. Most countries wanted to end the War so that they could rebuild their country and create peace within and around their borders. However, this justification was dismissed and other world leaders condemned the action of the United States. Although the war finally ended and Japan surrendered to the United States. The effects of the Atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still being felt. Another justification for the atomic bombing was the Manhattan project that was a very costly affair for the United States. This was a secret program that was aimed at making atomic bombs and setting up monitoring devices that could detect any foreign ships and plans that invaded the American soil. Millions of dollars had been used in this project and the United States and had to carry the project to completion. President Harry Truman decided to invest a lot in ending the war and he wanted to do so in a manner that kept the American soldiers out of danger. In his opinion, the use of the Atomic bombs would be more effective and would finally end the War (Anthony, 511). Theodore (429) outlines that the United States wanted to impress the Soviets who in the past had gone into War with Japan. The Soviets had influence on Eastern Europe and they too had well-established military bases. The United States knew that working with the Soviets would strengthen their economy after the war ended. Before President Harry Truman made the decision to make the atomic bombs, he had consulted with Soviets who supported the idea as they too wanted the War to end. Max (537) outlines that another Justification for making the Atomic bomb was to seek revenge on the Pearl Harbor attack. This attack was very humiliating to the United States and President Harry Truman was, therefore, determined to revenge. Anthony, (677) outlines that the Pearl Harbor attack was the main reason that made the United States engage themselves in the war as their peace was disrupted. Despite objections from other countries, Truman felt that there was need to teach Japan a lesson never to invade the American territory. The United States government defended their decision arguing that the bomb did not target civilians. Their main strategy was to target the main industries in Japan’s capital and warn civilians in that region of the attack. Max (699) outlines that the United States had earlier intended to inform Japan of their intentions to use the Atomic with the belief that this would make Japan surrender. However, President Harry Truman feared that if the weapon failed to work, the American government would be the world’s laughing stock. Question 3 Criticism on the use of the atomic bombs The American Churches condemned the act stating that it was immoral and the United States had no respect for human life. Some critics refer to the whole ordeal as crime against humanity and even the scientists who made the bomb were against its use. American citizens also criticized its government for using much tax payer’s money to carry out massacres. President Harry Truman was criticized for his aggression that prompted the decision to make the atomic bombs. According to Anthony (429) some countries stated it as an act of terrorism because of the many civilians that had been killed. Some argue that if the United States wanted Japan to surrender, they would have weakened the government by setting up economic sanctions on Japan rather than bomb its capital and kill innocent civilians. According to Max (448), the Nagasaki bombing was unnecessary as it came three days after the Hiroshima one. The Nagasaki bombing was enough to make the Japanese government surrender. Anthony (388) refers to the Americans as racists because of the remarks made by President Harry Truman made a day after the Hiroshima bombing. He outlined that the only language that the Japanese understood was that of bombs and disaster. Theodore, (416) also criticizes the move of the Americans arguing that this was a coward act that was only intended to hurt the Japanese civilians. Anthony (456) also argues that the atomic bombings had nothing to do with the surrender of Japan outlining that the Emperor had made a personal decision to surrender. Max (719) outlines that even before the atomic bombing; Japan was already on its knees hence the bombing was purely unnecessary. Japan was already on the verge of giving up because of the high costs of planning attacks. Anthony (429) also referred the Americans as racist arguing that such a weapon should not have been used on whites. After the attack is when the United States came to learn about the secret memorandum that Japan had in place. They wanted to bring the war to an end but before they could do so President Harry Truman ordered for the bombing of the two towns. In conclusion, the atomic bombing was not necessary and the United States government should have looked for alternatives of ending the war. Anthony (493) outlines that failure of the American government to state its stand prolonged the War. President Harry Truman still argued that the atomic bombing saved many lives as it brought an end to the war. The United States is the first country in the entire globe to ever use a nuclear weapon on another country. The effects of the atomic bombs are being felt to date and other countries are making attempts to reconcile the two nations to ensure that such an incidence is not repeated. Work cited: Max, Hasting. Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945, Chicago: Vintage Publishers. 2012 Anthony, Beeror, The Second World War, London: Ridgeway Publishers. 2012. Theodore, Ferlin. Europe Goes to War, Illinois: Rimpa publishers. 2009. Read More