The Second World War: Causes, Early Conflicts, and Global Consequences (Chapter 26-27)

The Causes of the War: Unsettled Quarrels, Economic Fallout, and Nationalism

• Unsettled Quarrels
  • Many disputes from World War I remained unresolved after the war.
  • The Treaty of Versailles imposed heavy reparations on Germany, fueling resentment and a desire for revenge.
  • Territorial disputes simmered in Europe and Asia.
• Economic Fallout
  • The Great Depression devastated global economies, creating fertile ground for extremist ideologies.
  • In Germany, mass unemployment helped Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party gain support by promising jobs, military expansion, and national revival.
• Nationalism
  • Rising nationalism in Germany, Italy, and Japan encouraged expansionist policies.
  • Fascism in Italy under Mussolini and militarism in Japan drove aggressive conquests.
  • Hitler’s ideology of racial superiority fueled ambitions for Lebensraum (living space) in Eastern Europe.

The 1930s: Challenges to the Peace and Appeasement

• The League of Nations proved weak in stopping aggression (e.g., Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia in 1935).
• Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland (1936), annexed Austria (Anschluss, 1938), and claimed the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
• Britain and France pursued appeasement, believing concessions could prevent war, culminating in the Munich Agreement of 1938. This policy ultimately emboldened aggressors.

The Beginning of the War in Europe

• Poland’s Invasion (1939)
  • Germany invaded Poland on 1\,\text{September}\,1939, prompting Britain and France to declare war.
• Blitzkrieg Tactics
  • Rapid mechanized attacks combining tanks, aircraft, and infantry to overwhelm opponents.
  • By mid-1940, Germany had conquered much of Western Europe, including France, forcing Britain to stand alone.

Not Alone: The Battle of Britain and the Beginnings of a Global War

• Battle of Britain (1940)
  • Britain’s Royal Air Force repelled the German Luftwaffe in the first major campaign fought entirely in the air.
• Global Conflict Emerges
  • Japan expanded its war in China and targeted Southeast Asia.
  • The United States began supplying Britain and the USSR through Lend-Lease.
  • By late 1941, the war spanned multiple continents, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor bringing the US fully into the conflict.

The Rise and Ruin of Nations: Germany’s War in the East and the Occupation of Europe

• Operation Barbarossa (1941)
  • Germany invaded the Soviet Union, seeking to destroy communism and seize resources.
  • The Eastern Front became the deadliest theater of the war, with massive casualties at battles like Stalingrad and Kursk.
  • Occupied Europe suffered severe repression, forced labor, and exploitation.

The Racial War, Ethnic Cleansing, and the Holocaust

• Nazi ideology drove genocidal policies, especially against Jews, Roma, Slavs, and other groups deemed “inferior.”
• Holocaust
  • The systematic extermination of about 6{,}000{,}000 Jews in ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination camps.
  • Ethnic cleansing and mass killings also occurred in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Total War: Home Fronts, the War of Production, Bombing, and the Bomb

• Total War required mobilizing entire economies for war.
  • Factories converted to produce weapons; women entered the workforce; propaganda campaigns kept morale high.
• Strategic bombing
  • Targeted military and civilian infrastructure; exemplified by the Blitz in Britain and firebombing in Germany and Japan.
• Scientific advances
  • Led to the creation of the atomic bomb under the US Manhattan Project.

The Allied Counterattack and the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb

• Turning Points
  • Victories in North Africa, Italy, Normandy (D-Day, 1944), and the Soviet push from the East.
• The Pacific War
  • Fierce island battles like Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
• The Atomic Bombings and Japan’s Surrender
  • In August 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan’s surrender.

Conclusion

• WWII reshaped global power, leading to US and Soviet dominance, decolonization movements, and the formation of the United Nations.
• The war left deep scars but also sparked a new era of geopolitical rivalry—the Cold War.

Key Dates, Terms, and Concepts (quick reference)

• Treaty of Versailles reparations imposed on Germany; resentment and revanchism.
• Lebensraum: idea of living space for Germans in Eastern Europe.
• Manchuria invasion: 1931; Ethiopia conquest: 1935; Rhineland remilitarization: 1936; Anschluss: 1938; Sudetenland: 1938; Munich Agreement: 1938.
• Poland invasion: 1\,\text{Sept}\, 1939; War declared by Britain/France.
• Battle of Britain: 1940.
• Pearl Harbor: 7\,\text{Dec}\, 1941.
• Operation Barbarossa: 1941.
• Stalingrad: 1942-1943; Kursk: 1943.
• D-Day: 6\,\text{June}\, 1944.
• Atomic bombs: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945.
• Death toll: Jews killed ≈ 6{,}000{,}000.