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World War II
1939-1945
Kelius Shannon
AP World History
April 29, 2016

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Introduction
On July 4, 1914, a never before experienced event shocked nations and
millions citizens all around the world. Nations around the globe began to
form many different alliances, countries were upheld with war amongst each
other, and many countries were in the middle of a crisis, the Anglo-German
Naval Arms Race, and lastly the assassination. All of these events had the
world boiling with turmoil, but the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the
main event that set off the worlds very first Great War (World War I). Major
Powers throughout the world formed alliances, new weapons and vehicles
were used, and there were many casualties suffered throughout this long and
exhausting war. Four years later, the war resulted in an Allied Powers victory,
the end of the Ottoman, German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires.
The war was finally over and the world was finally at peace, for now.
After the World War I ended, conflict did not end throughout Asia and
Europe. In the 1920s, Italys fascism form of government began to stir up
trouble in Europe. In the 1930s, Japan began to use militarism and started
invading china. Lastly, in the 1933, Adolf Hitler and his Nazis took over
Germany and that is when all conflict began to take place.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland due to false Intel that
they had received. They believed that Poland had been carrying out many
sabotage operations against German targets. Great Britain then stepped in
this situation and then ordered Germany to stand down, but their order was

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ignored by the Nazis and they continued to charge into Poland. France, Great
Britain, and all of the British domains declared war on Germany. A few weeks
later, the Soviet Union began to invade Poland from the east and this caused
the Poles to surrender their army.
When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis invaded Poland, they decided to use a
new and very efficient strategy for attacking other countries. 1This new
strategy was called Blitzkrieg or the lightning war tactic. This tactic
allowed them to destroy all of their enemys military and also reinforcements
while causing chaos and confusion in the area they are attacking. While
using this strategy, first they would send in a first wave of aircraft to drop
missiles and destroy the enemys air force while it was still on the ground.
The second wave on bombers would bomb the roads and rail communication,
assembly centers, and civilian centers to cause panic and confusion. The
third wave of bombers would bomb marching men and gun down any
civilians who tried to flee from approaching soldiers. The next stage of
Blitzkrieg was the ground waves. They use motorized vehicles, tanks, and
motor-draw artillery to push as far in the country as possible. After this was
done, the foot soldiers would come in and occupy the area and kill off any
resistance left if there was anything to deal with. After the Germans would
execute all of this, they would then meet up with the mechanized units to
start the initial strike. In this new advanced time period, weapons, vehicles
1 The United States: Becoming a World Power, Vol 2 (New Jersey: Prentice

Hall, 1991), 703-704.

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and technology were majorly upgraded since the First World War.New
technology had a major effect on the outcome of many battles and the
outcome of the entire war itself! These new technologies consisted of new
aircraft, boats and submarines, ground forces and vehicles, stronger
weaponry, and better medical treatments.
After Germany took over Poland, they signed a peace treaty of
friendship with the Russians. Russia then tried to force certain countries to
let the station their troops there, but Finland refused to allow Russia to do
this. Russia retaliated by invading Finland which caused Great Britain and
France to assume Russia joined in the war on the side of the Germans and
they responded by supporting the USSRs expulsion from the League of
Nations.
After this took place, both sides of the war began to prepare
themselves for war. In 1940-41, Germany began to invade many other
countries in and around Europe. Germany quickly took over Netherlands and
Belgium using the Blitz attacking method. Within a few days or weeks the
Germans had completely overrun those two nations. Allied forces entered
Belgium and tried to support their army but came to find themselves trapped
and helpless. Due to the thickly wooded area that they tried to flank the
Nazi army in, they ended up trapping themselves to where their armored
vehicles couldnt move and this led to their defeat. On 10 June, Italy invaded
France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom. Paris fell to

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the Germans on 14 June and eight days later France signed an armistice with
Germany and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones.
The Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping
and harbors. On 19 July, Hitler again publicly offered to end the war, saying
he had no desire to destroy the British Empire. The United Kingdom rejected
this ultimatum. The German strategic bombing offensive intensified as night
attacks on London and other cities in the Blitz, but largely failed to disrupt
the British war effort. Using newly captured French ports, the German
Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy, using Uboats against British shipping in the Atlantic.
Although Roosevelt had promised to keep the United States out of the
war, he nevertheless took concrete steps to prepare for war.2 In December
1940 he accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out
negotiations as useless, calling for the US to become an "arsenal for
democracy" and promoted the passage of Lend-Lease aid to support the
British war effort. At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact united
Japan, Italy and Germany to formalize the Axis Powers. The Tripartite Pact
stipulated that any country, with the exception of the Soviet Union, not in the
war which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all
three countries.

2 "World War II." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

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The Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the

Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border. Hitler believed that
Britain's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States
and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany. He therefore
decided to try to strengthen Germany's relations with the Soviets, or failing
that, to attack and eliminate them as a factor. On 22 June 1941, Germany,
supported by Italy and Romania, invaded the Soviet Union in Operation
Barbarossa, with Germany accusing the Soviets of plotting against
them. Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military
power, exterminate Communism, and generate Lebensraum (living space) by
dispossessing the native population and guarantee access to the strategic
resources needed to defeat Germany's remaining rivals.
Although the Red Army was preparing for strategic counteroffensives before the war, Barbarossa forced the Soviet supreme
command to adopt a strategic defense. The Axis Powers made significant
gains into Soviet territory, inflicting immense losses in both personnel and
materiel.

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This picture shows the true destruction of the Blitzkrieg bombing tactic
that the Germans used in World War Two. They used this tactic on many
different cities and in many different battles throughout the war.
Japan planned to take over European colonies in Asia to create a large
defensive perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific. The Japanese would
then be free to use the resources of Southeast Asia while tiring out the overstretched Allies by fighting a defensive war. To prevent American intervention
while securing the perimeter it was further planned to neutralize the United
States Pacific Fleet and the American military presence in the Philippines
from the outset. 3On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked British and American
holdings with offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific.
4

These included an attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, the

Philippines, landings in Thailand and Malaya and the battle of Hong Kong.
3 Wood 2007, pp. 112.
4 Wohlstetter 1962, pp. 3413.

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After Japan launched those attacks, that caused many countries on the
Allies side to declare war on Japan as well. These main countries were the
United States, Britain, Australia, and China. This also caused Germany and
other members of the Axis Powers to declare war on The United States.

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Bibliography

The United States: Becoming a World Power, Vol 2 (New Jersey:

Prentice Hall, 1991), 703-704.

"World War II." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
History.com Staff. "World War II History." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan.
2009. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.