The World after the Second World War - Essay Example

Running Head: World War Two/Focus on Europe World War Two/Focus on Europe [Institute’s World War Two/Focus on Europe If someoneasks a student of history or world affairs to pick one event in recent history that changed the dynamics of world, he or she would instantly pick the Second World War. The reason behind this quick decision would be the immense changes in the international theater during and after the war. Apart from the loss of hundreds of millions of lives, many new countries emerged after the war and Cold War started between the communist and capitalist blocks. Simply put, the war created a new world, a world that was entirely different from the one before the start of the atrocities. Europe was the center stage of the Second World War and suffered the greatest damages. Millions died in the six-year long war; millions of European Jews also lost their lives at the hands of Nazi forces. As Europe was the catalyst and precursor to the war, it also suffered the most casualties. The onset of WWII is widely attributed to the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. If taken on a global scale, Manchurian war precedes this even but its geographical location outside of Europe excludes it from this deliberation. Immediately after the invasion of Poland, United Kingdom and France jumped into the war theatre and started their offensive against Germany on Sept. 3. This event was the precursor to the six-year long “war of wars” that engulfed the whole world in its flames. Reasons behind Germany’s expansionist plans Germany suffered heavily during the First World War and lost its sovereignty over a significant area of Eastern Europe. In addition to its shameful defeat, allied forces also forced Germany under the Treaty of Versailles to pay magnanimous reparation to the victims of its war crimes (the list included the countries suffered from German atrocities). There were limitations on the establishment of armed forces and development of weapons. Additionally, the country also faces many financial and economic sanctions that damaged its domineering role in Central and Eastern Europe. The German government was weak and the onset of Great Depression in the 1930s eroded its popularity in the masses. Germans were looking for a leader that can take them back to their glorious past with immense prosperity. Adolf Hitler rode high on these emotions and his National Socialist Party clinched the 1933 elections; making him the Chancellor of the Third Reich. Germany under Hitler saw a relative prosperity and exaltation among the German citizens; this of course excluded Jews and minorities as they started feeling the heat of German nationalism. The internal stability soon encouraged Hitler to resume his plans of German dominance over Europe and diverted his attentions to the construction of military might and German superiority (Kegley, 2008). Before the invasion of Poland, Germany had already secured its position in Eastern Europe by entering into a pact of nonaggression with the Soviet Union; the latter invaded the eastern parts of Poland and the ‘conquistadors’ share the country amongst themselves; Germany occupying the western part of the country while the Soviet Union sitting in the eastern Poland. France and UK, which entered the war after the invasion, failed to exert any pressure on the invading forces. The invasion was quick and smooth and did not result in massive retaliation by the Poles; in fact, many of them joined the invaders to improve their conditions in the changed political conditions of their country. Soviet Union, with all its military might, united with Germany as their conflicts intermingled in Eastern Europe and the communist found it easier to unite with an autocratic regime rather than finding alliances with the more democratic western Europeans; their geographical proximity was also a factor as they were not able to exert any direct influence. Interestingly, Germany and the Soviet Union did not share a cordial relationship before the invasion of Poland. In fact, Germany, Italy (under the leadership of Fascist Mussolini), and Japan had entered into an “Anti-comintern” pact that envisaged a military cooperation between the signatory countries in case of a communist invasion. Italy and Germany also signed a “Pact of Steel” to bolster their relationship; their alliance got the name of “the axis” during the time. The entry of UK and France As mentioned earlier, UK and France declared war on Germany on Sept. 03, two days after the invasion of Poland; they were acting on behalf of a protection guarantee extended to the Polish government. British forces entered France to wage a war on Germany but remained largely unsuccessful in even entering the border regions. Germany and Soviet Union cemented their positions in Poland and exercised greater influence over all of Eastern and Southern Europe. Allied forces, which only consisted of Britain and France at the time, remained calm as well and didn’t attacked the German borders; though they remained stationed in the Franco-German border region with occasional skirmishes with the German forces. This relatively peaceful period, known as the “Phoney War” and lasted until May 10, 1940, ended when Germany attacked and invaded the French Third Republic, Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Belgium. However, before that invasion, Germany had already attacked Norway and Denmark on April 9, 1940 in a bid to cut the supply lines of Britain and France. Baltic states had already fallen under the custody of Russia by then; on the whole, British and French efforts to exert control in Northern Europe had failed with the latter facing an intense security situation on its own land. Germany was quick to exploit the worsening security situation in France and wasted no time in invading that country. This invasion practically broke the back of French resistance for some time and the allied war machine fell into the hands of British. Southern France remained under the control of the French government though the German-friendly “Vichy France” (as it was located in the Vichy region of France) had constitutional control over both parts of the country. General de Gaulle did not accede to this bifurcation of the country and continued his resistance movement for a free France. Italy ultimately entered the war on June 10 and sided with Germany and Russia against the allies. United States was still reluctant to join the war, as it did not face any direct danger from the war; it, however, lent its diplomatic support for the allies. The London Blitz Hitler was intent on brining Britain on the talking table while the British were not eager to accept the atrocities of Nazis. Despite many covert and open invitations for peace talks, Britain remained firm on its position and continued supporting the resistance forces in the occupied Europe. Hitler ordered the clustering of German fighter plan in the German-occupied northern French region of Normandy; he wanted to invade Britain by crossing the British Channel – the operation was codenamed “Seelowe” (Sea Lion). Royal Air Force, which played a crucial role in the resistance movement against the Germans, was the main target of this invasion. German planes carried out massive air raids on RAF bases but failed to cause any serious damage (except from certain successes in the start). They later turned their attention to British cities and industrial towns; London was bombed regularly for many months; this period is known as the London Blitz. The air raids on London and other cities of Britain caused substantial loss of lives and property but did not cripple the military might of the UK. On the contrary, RAF launched a counter-offensive on a smaller scale in order to draw the German planes out of their country. The technological edge was in favor of RAF as they had Lancaster, B-17 and B-24 bombers. War at the southern front Italy was an important part of the axis and ready to display its influence in Southern Europe. After the invasion of Albania in 1939, Greece was the next possible target but a strong allied presence in Egypt and failed attempts to capture Malta crippled the military strategy of Italy. It faced tough resistance from the Greeks and the allied forces. A German invasion of Greece thus became imminent and it happened on April 27, 1941. Allied forces, with their base in Egypt, failed to counter the advancing German forces due to poor strategy and lack of coordination. The Soviet connection and Holocaust Germany solidified its hegemony over Western and Southern Europe and did not need Russia as its ally on the eastern frontier. On the contrary, Soviet Union was its archrival since the First World War and the pact of nonaggression was only a temporary ploy to avoid any direct confrontation with Russia during the initial stages of the war. Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia, as he was not ready to accept another superpower in close proximity to Germany. Before the invasion of Russia, Hitler already ordered the extermination of Jews in the occupied lands, millions died in concentration camps spread all over Eastern Europe along with homosexuals, physically challenged and prisoners of war. The operation was code-named “Operation Barbarossa” and aimed at total invasion of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin, despite all his military shrewdness, did not realize the chances of a German invasion and instead relied on the geographical and military power of Russia to overcome any dangers. German forces, along with token support of Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops, marched towards Moscow on June 22, 1941. Although their strategy remained flawed with no focus on the tough winters of Russia and securing the supply lines, Nazi forces were able to capture around one-third of European Russia, excluding Leningrad and Moscow. They laid a siege on Leningrad in connivance with the Finnish army; they did not capture the city but forced millions of Russians to die from starvation as the siege lasted for 506 days. Facing tough resistance from the Red army, Hitler had to cancel the plans of an invasion of Moscow and instead ordered his forces to secure the oil-rich Caucus region, including the major river port of Volgograd. This proved to be another military blunder as Nazi forces failed to sustain their invasion of the region due to flawed strategies and rift among the military ranks (Davies, 2008). The entry of the United States U.S, which was primarily watching the war from the sidelines, entered full-fledge into the European theatre after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Germans were fully supporting the Japanese and the U.S thus deemed it essential to help the allies in rooting out the German war machine. Soviet Union was essentially a major ally after the failed German invasion and despite their differences; Stalin and Eisenhower shook hands for the time being. The entry of the U.S forces was the turning point of the war as before that, allied forces were mostly weak with low technological edges over the Nazis. The inclusion of the U.S forces in the war brought new military technology, fighter jets, aircraft carriers and other war machinery. U.S Air Force stationed a significant number of its personnel and fighter jets in the UK to offset any plans of German invasion (Hixson, 2003). Additionally, it also took over the planning of military strategy and introduced new methods of warfare; some of them opened new avenues of military planning. Amphibious landing, used heavily during the D-Day war and other military efforts, changed the dynamics of war forever. The turning of tables The entry of the U.S in the European war theatre along with German defeat in Russia ushered in a change of fortunes for the allies. German war machinery in Northern Africa also suffered badly at the hands of Allied forces and French resistance under General de Gaulle was strong enough to draw the Germans out of France. Russia was hell-bent on taking revenge and U.S and UK were fully supporting the Red army. The first defeat for Germany came in the form of Allied forces’ invasion of Italy; British forces led this campaign with s sizable support from the U.S forces. British forces, which had a significant proportion of soldiers from India, invaded one Italian town after another – they finally captured Rome on June 4, 1944. It was, however, not easy for the allied forces as Germany gave a tough resistance to the allies; at one time, they even thought of retreating after suffering heavy losses. The eventual capture of Rome did not end the Italian campaign, as Germans were not ready to leave northern Italy (Keegan, 1989). While allied forces were slowly inching forward in Italy, Eisenhower planned an invasion of France. British, American, Canadian and Australian forces jointly launched a massive amphibian landing on the Normandy beaches; this landing later gained fame as the D-Day landings. Thousands of allied troops marched ahead to Paris as Germans retreated to their safe havens. French resistance forces under Gaulle aided the allied forces with the much need geographical and strategic information about France. Seeing an imminent defeat, Germans fled the occupied regions of France as the allied forces followed them to the Franco-German border region. Allied forces also launched an offensive from the Mediterranean region of France and both columns of allied forces ultimately met in Paris on Aug. 25, 1944; the day of French liberation. Germany was facing a double whammy as Soviet forces continued their assault on the German-occupied lands of Eastern Europe. One country after another fell into the hands of the Red army and a sizable number of Nazi forces eliminated during this process; the rest went to Gulags and military prisons where most of them died of starvation and hard labor. Victory Germany virtually lost the war in the early months of 1945 and Nazis suffered heavy damages during regular air raids from the Soviet and allied forces. Hitler faced a number of assassination attempts and there was a widespread rebellion against the top echelon of Nazi party. The fall of Italy and allied invasion of France destroyed the military might of Germany and it was unable to save even its own land against the onslaught of allied forces. Hitler committed suicide with his long time companion Eva Braun on April 20, 1945. He would have eventually face death even if he had abstained from suicide as the Red army had surrounded Berlin and his capturing was imminent (Gilbert, 2004). The geographical and ethnical boundaries of Europe changed after the fall of the Third Reich. The allied invasion of Germany and its subsequent division among the American and Soviet forces changed the history of Europe forever. References Davies, Norman. (2008). No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945. Penguin Group USA Gilbert, Martin. (2004). the Second World War: A Complete History. Henry Holt and Co. Hixson, Walter L. (2003). The American Experience in World War II: The United States in the European theater, Volume 5. Routledge Keegan, John. (1989). the Second World War. Penguin Books Kegley, Charles W. (2008). World politics: trend and transformation. Cengage Learning EMEA Read More