Why Allies Won World War Two - Essay Example

Why Allies Won World War Two Name Institution Date The world war two started in the year 1939 and ended in the year 1945. In the war, two antagonistic sides fought each other. Each side sought to advance their ideology which culminated into world war Two and the consequential need to have the world reconstructed due to the effects of the war. This gave birth to the idea of forming the united nations from the League of Nations with a view to unite the world and rebuild the countries which had undergone massive destruction during the war. This paper puts into perspective the causes of the war and the opposing sides in the war as well the reasons why the allies won the World War Two. The causes of the World War Two/Background The causes of the world war Two can be divided into long-term cause and short term causes. To start with, long-term causes include violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the inability of the league of nation to address major international issues as well as the Japanese militarism. Contrastively, the immediate cause of the world War Two was the invasion of Germany by France and Britain in September 1939. Martel (1999), puts into perspective the origins of the world War Two. John (2009), expounds on the causes, course and the outcomes of the world war Two. After signing of the treaty of Versailles, dissatisfactions emerged about the provisions of the treaty with Germany opposing the requirement of demilitarization and the prohibition of Germany uniting with Austria. Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, Germany embarked on expansionism campaign to unite all Germans all over Europe into a single nation. Using the Nazi ideologies, Hitler embarked on colonizing the territories that people of German identity inhabited. Further, he sought to exclude the super human race from the “sub-humans” most of whom were Jews and Slavs. It was these insurgents that made other European nations to start violating the Treaty of Versailles. For instance, Japan embarked on expansion mission beyond in china by 1937 using its military force. Moreover, Germany violated the treaty of Versailles by systematically embarking on re-armament, remilitarization of the Rhineland and annexing of Austria between 1936 and 1938. Marshal (2004), identifies the violation of the treaty of Versailles as the major cause of the world war two. The responsibility to restore order in the world was the custodian of the leagues of nations. However, the response of the League of Nations to the Nazi ideologies was ineffectual that it never deterred Germany from further violation of the treaty of Versailles. This triggered other European nations such as Britain and France to form a war front against Germany. In this war front, Britain and France went into alliance with Poland. Germany felt no threat because they had signed a non-aggression pact with USSR. The stage for the world war Two was set when France signed armistice agreement. This triggered the agitated Japan to respond by joining Axis powers and invading French Indochina in order to improve their military occupation of China. This triggered the previously neutral United States to respond by attacking Japan in 1941. In a retaliation move, Japan attacked a U.S. pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This is because Japanese objective to invade China was to dominate the Asia-Pacific. Evan (2009), expounds on the manner in which the world War Two spread across the pacific to Asia. Opposing powers In the background, the world war Two was a product of varied interests from two opposing sides. One side was led by Germany and Japan while the other pact was led by the United States, Britain and France. These two opposing powers would earn their respective names as Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Romania, and Hungary) and the Allies Powers (U.S. Britain, France, Poland, Netherlands, South Africa). After the stage was set, it was time for the powers in each side to showcase their ideology, efficiency and military prowess. At the end, the allies won the world War Two after massive destruction on the soil of Axis powers. Besides, the end of the world War Two ushered in the zeal to restore world order and global economic prosperity. Antony (20012), identifies the major powers that made the Axis front and the Allied powers front. Why the Allies won the world War Two Various reasons are attributed to the winning of allies in the World War Two. Some of the reasons include, but not limited to the following. It is undisputed truth that the combination of allies such as U.S. Britain and France meant strong industrial nations joining hands to fight against countries which had poor industrial machinery to manage the war. Similarly, the industrial output of the allied powers was great compared to that of Axis powers. This meant that the allies could produce more sophisticated weaponry than Axis powers. In actual warfront, the side with efficient weapons would eventually win the war. Mark (2000), argues that the economic potential of the allied powers was able to raise the resources required during the world war two. Additionally, Germany had fallen out with close other powers such as the USSR who later joined the allies. This left the Axis powers with enemies from all sides to respond to. Germany was at the center stage of storm from all sides and responding to attacks posed a major challenge. Moreover, the Axis powers could not involve themselves in proper planning given that attacks from allies were constant. Eubank (2006), expounds on the impacts of USSR and soviet union in joining the allied powers during the world war two. Notably, the Soviet Union had huge manpower to withstand the continuous attacks by the Nazi Germany for close to two years. Although, Soviet Union suffered massive losses, her Red Army was able to finally turn the tide against the Nazi Germany and eventually drive them into their original territories. The ideology advanced by the U.S. states coined as Island Hopping Campaign meant that united states would occupy one island after another from the hands of Japan Military in pacific. The Japanese military lacked reinforcement as Americans surrounded them, pounded them, and then invaded those using tanks and marines. Although the Japanese were brave enough to withstand this ideology, they lacked tanks and artillery support until they resulted into applying suicidal “BANZAI” attacks that failed miserably. In addition, U.S. marines functioned well without much firepower and this earned the U.S victory in the pacific encounter with Japan they advanced the ideology of island hopping. The bombing offensive carried out by allies, particularly U.S.-British air force forced the Axis powers to use massive resources to defend their production plant for war goods. In this encounter, Germany suffered massive losses of pilots and warplanes as they tried to defend their production plant in Germany. Many Germany warplanes were shot down defending the cities in 1944. This gave the allied powers air superiority enabling them to move with speed and destroy Germany power plants and all war related sites. Massive destruction would follow on Germany airfields, railway stations, bridges and dams. This was made to cut essential supplies to the Axis fighters by starving them of transport means, weapons, food and water. By 1942, Germany and Japan had won many victories and eventually acquired new territories hence dominating much of the world. Consequently, the two empires relaxed their advancement and this gave the allied powers humble time to undertake technological innovations and converted their economies to war oriented. In retaliation, the allied powers utilized their improved technology to defeat the Axis powers. Moreover, the Axis powers experienced inconveniences in technological advancement because many manufacturers of war machinery wanted to push their models into the battle ground to earn profit and reputation. Contrastively, the allied powers turned their economic potential into military strength bearing in mind that to win the World war Two was a matter of life and death for their citizens and generations to come. Richard (1997), argues that the mismatch between the economic potential of the Axis and Allied powers had a great effect in determining the winner of the World War Two. Paul (2013), examines how the tide turned against the Axis powers during the second world war. The Japanese overstretched the war front beyond their capability hence scattering their soldiers all over Asia such as china, Korea, Vietnam and southern pacific Islands. This meant that Japan fought in many warfronts than they could sustain. Moreover, Japanese industrial might at the time could not process the amount and caliber of weaponry that the allied powers used to attack them. In addition, the Japanese could not match the United States and British in replacing ships and planes destroyed during the war. The United States was able to replace their planes and ships during the world war Two because women manned the factories thereby preventing the Axis powers from bombing the factories. The Nazi racist ideology of segregating other people from certain ethnic groups prevented their potential allies from joining them. For instance, the Nazi occupation of the Baltic states was embrace as liberation from the Soviet Union colonization, but later the Nazi rule on the Baltic states turned brutal and eventually enmity emerged between the Nazi rulers and the people of Baltic nations. Similarly, Nazi became enemies with Belarus, Yugoslavia and Ukraine. These populations could have formed alliance with the Axis powers which could have resulted into winning the World War Two but due to Nazi brutality, that opportunity was lost and the Allied powers won the World War Two. Dan (2011), expounds on the atrocities that Nazi committed against the states they invaded. The bureaucratic tendencies that Nazi administration was run could not enable the empire to strategically plan for the World War Two. The Nazi state was run inefficiently and that meant a weakness during the war. For instance, government agencies in Nazi state competed for manpower, resources and machinery. Thus Nazi could not effectively and efficiently utilize their resources to fight during the World War Two compared to the allied powers. The allied powers would bank on their effectiveness in utilizing resources to defeat the Axis powers during the World War Two. The Normandy invasion caught many people by surprise given that both France and the United States were allied powers. The United States assembled massive fleet and aircraft on French soil in 1944. This was a strategic point that the United States used to smash the Axis powers. It was on the D-day when the impact of Normandy invasion was felt. This was followed by the Operation Cobra which destroyed all the Germany lines of operation. The bases for planning were destroyed during this attack thereby leaving Axis powers with no strategic basis to use in planning for the world war two. In addition, the Allied powers intensified their air-force campaign to the extent of gaining air-force superiority throughout the war. This was an added advantage to the allied powers as they could easily monitor the airspace and counter any air-force attack from the axis powers. The communication systems of Nazi Germany and Japan were cut off by massive air force campaign by the allied forces. This made that the Axis powers had no direct contact between each other and could not exchange military aid. This was a stabling block for the Axis powers to win the war while because it enabled the Allied powers to plan for constant attacks against the Axis powers. John (1996), points out at the need for intelligence information during any war. Moreover, the interrupted communication lines that Axis powers used made intelligence leakages which in turn reached the Allied forces, enabling them to plan for counter actions against the plans of the Axis powers. Besides, the fighters in the Axis front could only move via submarine which took several months. Contrastively, fighters on the Allied powers front could use air transport to share information and food among themselves thereby standing a better chance to execute more attacks against the Axis powers. The allied powers used this advantage to advance their attacks against the axis powers leading to the allied powers overpowering their opponents. The Japanese economy and machinery industry depended much on raw materials from foreign countries. The U.S. navy and submarines sunk many cargo ships ending to Japan hence cutting off the supply of raw materials to Japanese industries. The retaliation efforts to sink U.S. cargo ships were thwarted by escorting planes which guarded the U.S. ships on transit. The inadequacy of raw materials meant that Japan could not manufacture weaponry for the fighters in the Axis warfront. On the other hand, Allied powers could make enough artillery for their fighters. This hurt the Axis powers a great deal given that Japan was a key player against the United States of America during the World War Two. The Axis forces made many strategic mistakes during the war that made the Allied powers win the World War Two. For instance, during the battle of Dunkirk Germans blocked British Channel near Abbeville. This was possible because Germany had split the Allied powers into two battlefronts and cornered the British and French forces around the cost. The commander in charge of British army embarked on evacuation mission of his troops. Germans never imagined of any possible evacuation of the British troops across the channel. Therefore, an order came from Adolf Hitler that the Germany troops had to rest. This action made the Germany troops miss the opportunity they had to defeat the British troops. In fact, this opportunity could have enabled the Axis powers to win war on one front were it not for the strategic mistakes that they made. In addition, the failure to utilize that opportunity would later come to haunt Germany forces and the entire Axis powers when they lost the world war two to the Allied powers. DiNardo (2005), sheds light into how the Axis powers fall from a coalition to a collapse. Moreover, the axis powers relaxed their advancement and that gave the allied powers enough grace period to arrange for massive attacks against the axis powers. It is worth noting that Germany was too aggressive and acted too quickly with complete disregard to the fact that Europe was still recovering from the adverse effects of the First World War. The treaty of Versailles sought to do away with any possibilities of war. The minds of the people of Europe wanted to rest from the impacts of the war. They wanted peace and stability. If perhaps Germany had taken the advantage of a peaceful environment to build up her military tactics, she could have build up a strong war infrastructure to win the World War Two. Germany could have waited a little bit longer to plan for the war before executing their plans and this could have given the Axis powers the upper hand in the war against the Allied powers. Thus the allied powers won the war due to the fact that the Axis powers did not take enough time to plan and build their machinery for the war. The story of the world war Two is difficult to tell without the mention of Adolf Hitler. However, his strength would lead him to try unorthodox and reckless ideas. For instance, after Hitler invaded France and began engaging in Africa, the Allied powers could strategically study his motives. The allies came into conclusion that a better method to win against the axis powers was to prevent Germany from overseas engagements. Thus restricting German’s mobility was a sure way of ensuring a fair battle between the allied powers and the axis powers. When Americans joined the war, their mission was clear; to find the Germans, pin Germans down, and force them into submission. The clear understanding of their opponents gave the allied powers upper hand in the World War Two which eventually paid off with a great victory. It is argued that Germany could have won most of the battles during the World War Two were it not for the reckless mistakes that Adolf Hitler made during the war. The final stage of the World War Two was set when the united states won the air-force campaign in Europe and a decision was made that similar version of the attacks was to be executed in Japan. Series of Bombings at strategic places in Japan followed with the deadly nuclear Bombings that struck the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Conway-Laz (2006), portrays the American action on Japan as atrocity which was committed after the war. After the World War Two, there followed the cold war, which was purely a war of words between different countries as Isaac (2008), argues. Concluding this essay, it is prudent to point out that to understand the antagonistic powers that fought the Second World War calls for a brief layout of the events that preceded the World War Two as well as the causes of the World War Two. It is in light of this that a connection of the Allied and Axis powers comes into being and their explanations therein becomes crucial. The success of air power in Europe motivated the United States to end the war in Japan in similar way as she did in Europe. This is because airpower created a short way to achieve victory. There are other factors that contributed to the winning of World War Two by the allied powers beside the reasons explained in this paper. However, soviet resistance of the Nazi dominance, western airpower, American artillery and the ability of United States, Britain and France remain the major reasons why Allied powers won the World War Two. Bibliography Richard, E. (1997). Why The Allies Won. W.W. Norton and Company. John, K. (1996). Intelligence In War. vintage. Evan, M. (2009). World War Two: A New History. Cambridge University Press. Isaac, J. & Downing , T (2008). Cold War. London: Abacus. Conway-Laz, S. (2006). Collateral Damage; American’s Non-combat Immunity and Atrocity After World War Two. New York: Routledge. Eubank, K. (2006). World War Two: Roots And Causes. Topeka Bindery. Paul, D. (2008). The Causes of World War Two. Paw prints. John ,P. (2007). Causes, Course and Outcomes of World War Two.Palgrave Macmillan. Marshall, C. (2004). History of World War Two. Marshall Carvedis. Jim, C. (2005). Causes of World War Two.OTTN Publishers. Dan, P. (2011). 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