In a wrap
World War II
On September 1st, 1939, Adolf Hitler began his invasion of Poland. Germany's attack was seen as an act of aggression by France and Britain, who quickly declared war on Germany. Germany then began their Blitzkrieg, a swift attack that was meant to topple France as quickly as possible. By June of 1940, France had fallen to the Nazi invaders followed by much of the rest of Eastern Europe. Germany wanted Allies who were seeking the same thing, retribution for World War I, and thus they created the axis powers. On September 27th, 1940, Italy, Germany, and Japan signed their allegiance to each other, soon more nations like Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia join as well. The axis power’s push continues and in 1942, they controlled almost all of Europe and much of Northern Africa. Germany and Russia had a non-aggression pact when the war began, agreeing to split Poland after the war, but on June 22nd, 1941, Germany invaded Russia and broke their agreement. On December 7th, 1941, Japan was tired of America's support of China. This resulted in this decision to bomb the American fleet station in Pearl Harbor. Their attack killed 1,100 Americans and destroyed 16 of Americas ships. A day later, America declared war on Japan and soon after on the 11th, declared war on Germany. With the influx of troops from America into Europe, alongside with the incoming armies of Russia from the north, and Germany and the axis powers, slowly lost their grip on the war. The turning point in Europe was the battle of Stalingrad, after victory after victory, it was the first loss they faced in their fight against the soviets. The beginning of the end of the war in the European theater was the invasion of Normandy or D-day. On June 6th,1944, America, Brittan, and Canadian troops executed their attack on 5 separate beachheads. This attack led the allied forces to Germany and to the end of the war in Europe. The war with Germany was over but Japan had not yet surrendered. America began an Island Hopping campaign which took over island after island in the Pacific as they attempted to reach Japan. Their campaign proved successful and by the end of the war they had pushed Nazi forces back far enough to attack the mainland. Two options faced the allied forces when it came to how to best defeat Japan, first was the Army's solution which was to send troops into attack island to island, the other option proposed by the Navy was to cross through the Marinara islands reach China and bomb Japan from there. The Allies opted to choose the ladder and began firebombing Japanese cities. This campaign continued until the Allies realized they would not be able to force Japan into surrender unless they created an attack so devastating that Japan would have to surrender. This attack came in the form of the use of the only two uses of atomic weapons in warfare. On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and over 90,000 people died instantly. Three days later on the 9th they dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and once again the loss of life was horrendous. Six days later Japan surrendered and the war was over but was it worth it?
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United states of America
goals and policies
After World War I, the world wanted to avoid conflict whenever possible. America took this opportunity to adopt an isolationist policy. Isolationism is a policy is separation from other entities, in this care other countries. America avoided involvement in European conflict and politics throughout the 30’s and early 40’s and instead focused its efforts inwards to dealing with the rebuilding after the great depression. As World War II began in Europe, America first tried to avoid the conflict, but as time went on the government soon realized they would not be able to stay out of the war without detrimental effects. American public opinion still favored isolationism because they had been told it was keeping them safe for the last decade. The major push to change our foreign policy was the attack on Pearl Harbor. American public opinion changed the very next day and America went to war. Our foreign policy changed from isolationism to collective security as America joined other nations in the fight against Germany and other aggressors. Collective security varies from isolationism with its core principle, working together with other nations. In a collective security situation, several entities work together to provide a stronger defense together then they would have alone. America used this policy for the rest of the war, working together with nations such as Britain, Australia, Canada, France and many more to provide a stronger defense together then they would have on their own.
Our goals during World War II were quite straight forward compared to later wars. America first wanted to stop the attack of the Japanese on the Chinese mainland, prevent Nazi Germany from taking Britain, and later to remove the Japanese Emperor from a state of power after they had attacked us.
Our goals during World War II were quite straight forward compared to later wars. America first wanted to stop the attack of the Japanese on the Chinese mainland, prevent Nazi Germany from taking Britain, and later to remove the Japanese Emperor from a state of power after they had attacked us.
Driving questions
- How does war impact the individual?
- How does war impact society?
- What are the costs of war?
- Can war, with all of its destruction, be beneficial?