WWII: Causes, Development, and Consequences
Causes of World War II
Aggression of the Fascist Powers
- Japan: 1931 conquest of Manchuria.
- Italy: Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia.
- Germany: Hitler’s actions, including the Sarre (1935), re-militarization of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria, and the Sudetenland (Munich Agreement).
Fascist Allied Powers
The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo (EJE) axis.
Appeasement of the Democratic Powers
The democratic powers’ appeasement of the fascist powers.
Development
(1939-1941) – Offensive Axis
The German army invaded Poland thanks to the”Blitzkrie” (military tactic is to concentrate all offensive force at a point the front. After breaking the front car formations penetrated through the opening forming pockets enemy, attacked by aircraft and isolated, just surrendered. (Offensive).
When you invade a country the population may have two positions: – resistance (guerrillas) collaboration with the Germans.
(1942-1945) – The Allied Victory
Since 1942, the Allies took the initiative, allowing them to defeat the Germans and Japanese in 1945.
- 1942: Hitler’s defeat at Stalingrad, El Alamein (North Africa), and the defeat of Japan at Midway (Battle of the Coral Sea).
- 1943: Allied counter-offensive: Kursk-Italy: Monte Cassino. Pacific: Guadalcanal.
- 1944 to 1945: Latest offensives – Normandy invasion.”Bombing strategy against German cities.”Hitler commits suicide (1945). Defeat of Japan (1945).
The Organization of Peace
All countries of Eastern Europe were liberated by the Soviet communist regimes will (as in the USSR). Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria… fall into the orbit of the USSR. The rest, those of the western part of Europe fall into the U.S. orbit (they release them.)
Yalta Conference (February 1945)
(Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill discussed what would be the situation in Europe once it was liberated from the Nazis). Germany is limited, demilitarized and occupied, administered by the Soviets, Americans, French, and English. AND NO GERMAN STATE EXISTS. The capital, Berlin, is also divided into 4 parts, so that each manage their part of the city. Vienna is also divided into four parts: part Russian, American, English, and French. He suggests the creation of the UN, whose objective would be peacekeeping.
Potsdam Conference (July 1945)
They began to have strong disagreements among the allies. Stalin raised territorial expansion beyond the initially agreed borders. Wanted to start a series of lawsuits against those responsible for Nazi crimes.
Consequences
Demographic and Humanitarian
To end the war, human beings faced the greatest catastrophe in history. There were more than 60 million dead and millions of missing, injured, etc. The survivors suffered a moral crisis, and the Allies were discovering the Nazi concentration camps. Military tactics were also intended to massacre the civilian population, which initiated an important debate over the conduct armies must have in war.
Economic
There was a very great material destruction. The communications network was gone, scarce oil, and industrial production had fallen. To prevent this in the future, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were created. Its objectives were to help countries rebuild their economies after the war and create a new global financial system.
Political
Western Europe lost its hegemony in world politics after the Second World War, which was taken over by the USSR and the United States. European countries lost their colonial empires arose the need for unification of Europe. The relations between the U.S. and the USSR were strained, which led to the Cold War.
Territoriality
The victorious countries decided to create a new forum: the UN. In June 1945, the Conference met in San Francisco, where he drafted the founding of the UN Charter, which sets out the four objectives of the organization:
- The rights of the individual.
- The maintenance of peace.
- The self-determination of peoples.
- The cooperation among peoples.
The most important decisions are taken by the Security Council.