It was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries.
The Belligerents :
Axis Power
Allied Power
◆Allies included Uk, France ,USA ,USSR ,China, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece
◆Axis power included Nazi Germany ,Italy ,Japan
Causes of world war 2:
● Rise of militarism in Japan
●Unjust treaty of Versailles
●France vengeful behaviour with Germany
●Demand of imperialism
●Rise of nationalism and dictatorship in Germany ,Japan , Italy
●Failure of league of nations
●Irrational boundaries drawn after ww1
Many other factors also contributed in arousal of war but the main reason was Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party .
◆◆Hitler and world war 2:
Hitler sought Lebensraum ("living space") for the German people in Eastern Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and, on 1 September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declaring war on Germany, and by 1941 Nazi forces had occupied much of Europe. Hitler’s obsessive pursuit of Aryan supremacy fueled the murder of some 6 million Jews, along with other victims of the Holocaust. After the tide of war turned against him, Hitler committed suicide in a Berlin bunker in April 1945.
◆◆The War :
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially known as the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a secret neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939, by foteign ministers Joachim Von Ribbentrop and Vycheslav Molotov respectively. So now if he attacks Russia will help Germany as Poland was also promised protection by UK and France .
Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa , and the Fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans ,the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the long Battle of Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched An invasion of the Soviet union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history.
As the war went on the Axis started facing difficulty in further extent started in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway later, Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and then, decisively, at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, and Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies Invaded German occupied France while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia, in Central China ,South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands.
◆◆How did the war end ?
◆The war ended when Germany was invaded by the western allies and the Soviet Union resulting in capture of Berlin .
◆The suicide of Adolf Hitler ,concluding the German surrender.
◆Refusal of Japan to surrender ,the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively.
As a result Japan also surrendered on 15 August 1945 making allied victorious over Asia.
◆Tribunals were set up by the Allies, and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and against the Japanese.
◆◆Causality and legacy of war:
World War II was the deadliest international conflict in history, taking the lives of 60 to 80 million people, including 6 million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis during The Holocaust. Civilians made up an estimated 50-55 million deaths from the war, while military comprised 21 to 25 million of those lost during the war. Millions more were injured, and still more lost their homes and property.
Aftermath of the war :
Aftermath of the world war 2 had a great aftermath as it gave rise to two superpowrsc the USA and the USSR .
As a consequence of the war, the Allies created the United Nations , an organization for international cooperation and diplomacy, similar to the League of nations.
The end of the war also increased the rate of decolonization from the great powers with independence being granted to India (from the United kingdom), Indonesia (from the Netherlands), the Philippines (from the US).
Countries started focusing on developing their country rather than expanding their territory.
