Second World War

We explain what the Second World War was and what its causes and consequences were. In addition, its background, stages, protagonists and the participating countries.

What was World War II?

The Second World War was an armed conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945 and that directly or indirectly involved most of the world, especially the military and economic powers of the time.

It is considered the most devastating war in contemporary history due to the number of people involved, the enormous territorial dimensions of the conflict, the amount of military weapons used and its catastrophic consequences. It is estimated that between forty and sixty million people died during this conflict.

World War II It was developed mainly in three settings: Europe, North Africa, and East Asia and the Pacific. In them, troops from two opposing sides faced off, the Allies and the Axis Powers, in a conflict that affected both the military forces and the civilian population of the countries involved.

In the context of this war, especially dramatic events occurred, such as the mass murder of people in extermination camps and forced labor from Nazism (mostly the Jewish population, which was called the Holocaust or Shoá).

Furthermore, during this confrontation they used first and only time in history nuclear weapons which caused the massive destruction of two cities and the instant death of tens of thousands of civilians (this was the case of the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

See also: Vietnam War

Which sides faced each other?

The two opposing sides in World War II were:

• The Axis Powers. Led by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan, together with their partners and puppet states such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Thailand, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Iraq and Albania. This alliance was formalized with the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact (1936-1937) and the Tripartite Pact (1940).
• The allies. Led by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union and China, along with other countries and governments such as Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, the British Raj and some countries of minority participation or diplomatic support.

Features of World War II

The Second World War had the following characteristics:

• It was the most devastating war and with the greatest international reach in history.
• He faced the Axis Powers (led by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan) with the Allies (led by the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, the United States and China).
• It began after the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 and ended with the surrender of Germany in May 1945 and the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.
• It was fought on several fronts which mainly involved the territories of Europe, North Africa, East Asia, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
• It involved the application of new technologies both for weapons and for transportation and communications, such as radars, sonar, jet planes, computers and the atomic bomb.
• It caused an unprecedented number of casualties which is estimated between forty and sixty million dead (military and civilian), in addition to a large number of wounded. In addition, it caused the complete destruction of cities in Europe and the Pacific.
• It included the application of the Nazi plan to exterminate the European Jewish population which was called the “final solution” and caused the Holocaust: the murder of six million Jews in concentration and extermination camps, joined by other social groups that were also victims of Nazism.
• One of its most dramatic innovations was the dropping of two American atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, which caused the instant death of tens of thousands of people and precipitated the end of the war.

Background to World War II

In the 1930s, some events occurred that anticipated the outbreak of World War II. The historical context was that of the Great Depression that began in 1929, which fueled social discontent and facilitated the political rise of nationalist movements that questioned both liberal and democratic values ​​and the advance of socialism.

Nazism came to power in Germany in 1933 and promoted a policy of rearmament which violated the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles signed after the First World War. Meanwhile, the Italian leader Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and, together with Nazi Germany, supported the rebel side in the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), which strengthened the military alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.

German expansionism led to the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938. The democratic governments of the United Kingdom and France responded with restraint and accepted the annexations with the intention of appeasing Hitler. However, in March 1939 Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and in August signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union that left it free to invade Poland.

In East Asia and the Pacific, the Empire of Japan intensified its military expansionism at the initiative of nationalist sectors of the government that wanted to create the “great sphere of East Asian co-prosperity” under Japanese hegemony.

In 1931 Japan invaded the Chinese region of Manchuria and In 1937 the Sino-Japanese War began. In those years, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany, which anticipated its military alliance with Hitler and Mussolini, formalized with the Tripartite Pact of 1940.

Causes of World War II

The Second World War was due to various reasons, which can be summarized as:

• The terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The surrender of Germany and its allies in the First World War led to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which imposed very severe conditions on Germany, such as the loss of its colonies in Africa and other territories in Europe, the reduction of his army and the imposition of war reparations that led to an unpayable debt with the victorious countries.
• The rise of fascism and Nazism. Benito Mussolini created fascism in Italy as a reaction against the attitude of the victorious countries in the First World War that had not recognized all of Italian territorial demands despite their collaboration with the Entente. Adolf Hitler was inspired by Mussolini and created Nazism in Germany, a nationalist movement motivated by popular discontent over the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles and which came to power during the economic crisis of the 1930s. Both movements sought to recover the past glories of their countries through the militarization of large sectors of society, the establishment of totalitarianism and the expansion of national borders.
• Sino-Japanese tensions. After the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Japan had become an imperial power with expansionist ambitions in East Asia and the Pacific. In 1905 it defeated Russia, in 1931 it occupied Manchuria (which belonged to China) and in 1937 it began a second Sino-Japanese War that intensified tensions with the United States in the Pacific.
• The German invasion of Poland. Germany began its territorial expansion with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, without a war breaking out. However, in 1939 Hitler established a pact with the USSR to divide Polish territory and proceeded to invade it, which caused the Western European powers to declare war and began World War II.

Stages of World War II

The Second World War went through different stages that can be ordered according to various criteria. In simple terms, three stages can be identified characterized by successful German expansionism in Europe and the Mediterranean (1939-1941), the entry of the Soviet Union and the United States into the war that opened new fronts and changed the course of the conflict (1941 -1943) and the progressive victory of the Allies (1943-1945).

First stage (1939-1941)

The first stage of World War II It was characterized by rapid German advance in Europe and other Axis operations in the Mediterranean. German troops began the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 and took Warsaw on September 28. The Soviets also invaded Poland, which was then divided between Germany and the Soviet Union in accordance with a pact signed by both countries.

In 1940, Germany invaded Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. The military success was due to the application of Blitzkrieg (“blitzkrieg”), a tactic that consisted of making rapid advances with tanks, artillery, planes and infantry. However, the attempt to invade England by air raids failed, although bombing raids on English cities continued (called blitz by the British).

In the Mediterranean and the Balkans, Italy attempted to invade Egypt and Greece but its plans were thwarted by the British. The German army came to the aid of Italy and managed to dominate Yugoslavia and Greece. In addition, he managed to get other countries in the region to subordinate themselves to the Axis. In North Africa, the African Korps (German Expeditionary Army) recovered territory lost to the British in Libya.

Second stage (1941-1943)

The second stage of World War II was characterized by the entry into the war of the Soviet Union and the United States. Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, opening the Eastern Front. For its part, Japan launched an attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, which opened the Pacific front (although Japan had already been at war with China since 1937).

Since then, the Allies formed a grand coalition led by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States. In the Soviet Union, the German army conquered Ukraine but failed to take the Russian cities of Moscow and Leningrad. In 1942 he entered Stalingrad but faced stiff resistance. In January 1943, the Germans occupying Stalingrad surrendered and a Soviet counteroffensive began.

In the Pacific, Japanese forces undertook a successful campaign of conquest until they suffered a first adverse outcome at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. The American victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 changed the course of the war in favor of the United States, which has since achieved successive military successes.

In North Africa, British troops managed to defeat the African Korps in the battle of El Alamein in November 1942 and the German troops resisting in Tunisia surrendered in May 1943. This fact left the way open for the Allied landing in Sicily and southern Italy.

Third stage (1943-1945)

In July 1943 Allied troops in North Africa landed in Sicily and the Italian government dismissed and imprisoned Benito Mussolini. In September, the Allies arrived in southern Italy and the new Italian government signed the armistice, while the German army occupied northern and central Italy and established a puppet state there presided over by Mussolini, whom it liberated through a rescue plan.

The Allies continued to advance and entered Rome in June 1944. Two days later The Normandy landings took place, leading to the liberation of France. The Allies entered Paris in August 1944. Meanwhile, Soviet troops advanced through eastern Europe and reached Poland. Germany began to be surrounded, while receiving Allied bombings in its urban and industrial areas.

The Germans attempted a final counteroffensive in the Ardennes in December 1944 but were defeated in January 1945. The Allied armies advanced into German territory and, When Soviet troops arrived in Berlin in April, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. Mussolini was shot two days earlier in northern Italy, after being caught by a group of partisans while trying to escape. Germany signed the surrender on May 7 and 8, 1945.

In the Pacific, the American offensive faced stiff Japanese resistance. In February 1945 he managed to conquer the Philippines and in March he defeated the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. The Battle of Okinawa was also a victory for the United States but resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.

Finally, in August 1945 The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria and part of Korea. These events precipitated the Japanese surrender, which was signed on September 2, 1945 and ended World War II.

Consequences of World War II

Although World War II began as a result of the expansionism of the Axis powers, Its end was marked by the triumph of the Allies The main consequences of the Second World War were:

• The destruction of part of Europe. Extensive aerial bombardment of many major European cities by the Germans and the Allies caused significant destruction that required large postwar economic investments for reconstruction, such as the Marshall Plan proposed by the United States.
• The destruction of Japanese cities. Allied bombing destroyed many Japanese cities. The most significant event was the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which almost completely destroyed both cities and caused the immediate death of tens of thousands of civilians, in addition to many deaths from the effects of radiation. Japan remained occupied by the Allies until 1952 and, after a reconstruction process, became one of the world's economic powers.
• The beginning of a bipolar world. The European powers, both Allied and Axis, were weakened economically and politically at the end of the conflict. World hegemony came to belong to the two new superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union, which began the Cold War.
• The division of Germany. Once Germany was defeated, its territory was under the control of the Allied countries, which created four occupation zones divided between the United States, the United Kingdom and France (in the west) and the Soviet Union (in the east). This separation led to the division of the country into two different nations: the Federal German Republic (Western Germany), with a capitalist system and under American hegemony, and the German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany), with a communist system and under Soviet administration. Germany was reunified in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall that separated the eastern and western halves of the city.
• The emergence of new technologies. The development of technologies that eventually became common, such as computers, radar, sonar, jet aircraft, and nuclear energy, were a product of the military innovations of World War II.
• decolonization. The loss of political and economic power of the European colonial countries, the pressure of the newly created United Nations (UN) and the struggle of nationalist movements, led to the independence of the countries of Africa and Asia that had been colonies. European.
• The death of millions of people. The fighting, bombings and mass executions led to the death of between forty and sixty million people, including military and civilians. Several million died in the concentration, forced labor and extermination camps of Nazi Germany.

Important figures of World War II

The main political leaders of World War II were:

• Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). Chancellor of Germany since 1933, he promoted German rearmament and territorial expansion that led to the invasion of Poland and sparked the start of World War II. He took his own life in his Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945 in the face of imminent defeat.
• Benito Mussolini (1883-1945). Leader of Fascist Italy since 1922, he allied himself with Nazi Germany and decided to enter Italy into the Second World War in 1940, when the German army occupied France. He was dismissed in 1943 after the Allied landing in Sicily and led a Nazi puppet state in northern Italy until April 1945, when he tried to flee and was shot by partisans.
• Hirohito (1901-1989). Emperor of Japan since 1926, he approved the aggressions promoted by the military leadership in the Pacific that led to war with the United States in December 1941. Under his reign the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany (1936) and the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy (1940). When the war ended, he retained the title of emperor.
• Hideki Tojo (1884-1948). Prime Minister of Japan between 1941 and 1944, he was one of the main promoters of Japanese expansionist policy and was politically responsible for attacking Pearl Harbor and starting the war against the United States. He resigned in 1944 due to Japan's successive military defeats and, at the end of the conflict, was convicted as a war criminal and executed by hanging.
• Winston Churchill (1874-1965). First Lord of the British Admiralty during the beginning of the war and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1940 and 1945, he successfully directed the United Kingdom's war efforts against the German offensive of the early years and played a leading role in the strategic decisions of the Allies for the rest of the war.
• Joseph Stalin (1878-1953). Leader of the Soviet Union since 1924, he signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler's Germany in August 1939, leaving the way open for the German invasion of Poland. In June 1941, the German army breached the pact by invading the Soviet Union and Stalin joined the Allied side. The entry of the Soviet Union and the United States into the war changed its course and led to Allied victory.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945). President of the United States from 1933 to 1945, he helped countries attacked by the Axis powers with economic measures since the beginning of the war. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he signed the declaration of war on Japan. He died in April 1945, a few days before the German surrender and a few months before the Japanese surrender. His position was then filled by Harry S. Truman.
• Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970). Leader of the Free French movement who resisted the German occupation of France from exile between 1940 and 1944. When the Allies liberated France in 1944, he was recognized as president of the provisional government of the French Republic and settled in Paris. He held that position until 1946. He was president of the French Fifth Republic between 1959 and 1969.

References

• Beevor, A. (2012). World War II. Past and present
• Hughes, T.A. & Royde-Smith, J.G. (2023). World War II. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
• Stone, N. (2013). Brief history of World War II. Ariel.