The Causes, Course and Consequences of World War II
By Mira Syed
Standard 6: Understand the causes and course of World War II, the character of the war at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the United States role in the post-war world.
"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable." (Albert Einstein, November 4, 1945). World War II was the most horrific time in our world’s history. World War II was fought between the Allies and the Axis powers. The main Allied powers consisted of the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China. The main Axis powers were Germany, Japan and Italy. World War II left a path of destruction; cities and lives were extirpated as Adolf Hitler made his way through Europe. Millions of people were killed through combat and through the Holocaust. The causes of World War II, such as the Treaty of Versailles and the Appeasement after World War I, made for a hellish six years of war that altered our world forever.
After World War I there was a peace meeting in Versailles that was aimed at making a treaty to end World War I. One of the main provisions of the treaty was that Germany was required to take full responsibility for causing World War I, to disarm, and to pay heavy reparations, which in 2011 would have been 385 billion dollars. The Treaty of Versailles enraged many German citizens and Adolf Hitler used that anger to fuel the start of World War II. Prussian militarism was another driving force of Germany and Adolf Hitler. When Germany was dismantled after World War I the country seemed to be a peaceful one with diplomatic views and no military threat to its neighbors. However, Germany was still the Prussian Germany that now thirsted for the return of its past military strength. Adolf Hitler seized his opportunity and took control of Germany with Nazi intentions at heart. The rise of the German military after World War I was mostly due to the Appeasement after World War I. The Appeasement was aimed at avoiding war diplomatically, but it also allowed for France and Britain to ignore the threat that Germany posted to the world. Britain and France’s ignorance was a major cause of World War II. President Roosevelt wanted to remain “neutral”, but he was forced to declare war on Japan when they attacked Pearl Harbor. After the United States declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and the United States Congress declared war on Germany and Italy. The declaration of war on Germany and Italy by the United States officially brought the United States into World War II.
In 1935 Congress created the Neutrality Acts that were designed to help keep the United States out of war. Congress replaced the Neutrality Acts with the Cash and Carry Policy. The Cash and Carry Policy allowed the sale of certain materials to belligerents if they arranged their own transportation and paid in cash. The Lend-Lease Act was passed by Congress and allowed the shipment of food, equipment, or weapons to any country that was fighting against the Axis powers. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939 World War II had officially begun. Between the years 1939 and 1940 the Soviet Union invaded Finland and Germany invaded Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg. During World War II Germany created the most horrific genocide in history. The Holocaust claimed the lives of six million Jews and five million others. The Manhattan Project lasted from 1939 to 1945 and with the participation of the United States, Great Britain, and Canada the first atomic weapon was created. President Harry Truman executively decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war with Japan. The first atomic bomb, named Little Boy, was a uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima by a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay. Charles Sweeney dropped the second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan. Over 160,000 people were killed during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Most of Europe was completely devastated after World War II. Entire cities had been blown away and Germany was forced to pay for everything that had been damaged or destroyed. Germany also gave up some of their land and reduced their army. Germany was split into four different sections that were run and monitored by the Allied powers. Millions of Jews, Germans, and others became refugees. Germans were expelled, sent to camps, or had fled from their homes. After World War II ended the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in another war known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union’s intentions were to take over where Germany left off; they wanted total power and to rule the world. The Cold War was not fought with ground combat, but with a nuclear arms race. There were a total of over 70,000 nuclear warheads during the Cold War. This amount of war heads could annihilate the world and everything in it thousands of times over. The United States and the Soviet Union both had different views which they thought should be implemented into the world and that caused a lot of unnecessary conflict. The League of Nations that was created after World War I had failed to prevent another world war, so after World War II the United Nations was created and is still working to create peace today.
World War II had cataclysmic consequences that forever changed the world. Events such as the Treaty of Versailles and Prussian militarism were major causes of World War II. During the course of World War II there was a vast array of technological advancements that made the world a much smaller place. The mass amounts of people that were killed during the Holocaust had never been seen before in history. The Cold War and the millions of refugees are just some of consequences World War II created. The world before World War II and the world after World War II are two completely different places. Not just the lives, but the mind set of millions of people changed after World War II.
