WORLD WAR – II

World War 2 also known as:

• Total War
• Global War

1st September 1939 (1937 – Sino Japanese War )

CASUALITIES In World war 2

• 60-80 Million dead:
• 50 million civilians
• 25 million soldiers
• Deadliest conflicts in human history

The Belligerents In World War 2

ALLIES-

• UK
• France
• USA
• USSR
• China
• Poland
• Yugoslavia
• Greece

AXIS POWERS:

• Nazi Germany( Third Reich)
• Italy
• Japan

CAUSES

• Rise of Militarism in Japan
• The unjust treaty of Versailles (1919)
• France’s vengeful behavior with Germany
• Demands of Imperialism- New Imperialists vs Old ones
• Rise of nationalism and dictatorships in Germany, Japan
• Failure of League of nations – Manchuria, Ethiopia, Germany
• Irrational boundaries drawn after WW1

RISE OF HITLER AND NSDAP

• Nationalist socialist German workers party
• Anti – Semitic (Anti JEWS)
• Anti Marxist
• Superiority of ARYAN RACE – Exclusion of all others
• Hitler become chancellor in January 1933
• Carried out re arming of German army, air force
• Marking of Jews, suspending civil liberties
• ‘Restoring the glory of Fatherland’j

2nd Sino Japanese War

• 1910,s Korea invaded
• 1931 – Manchuria invaded
• Civil War ongoing in China – Japan chips away territory
• 1937- Full blown invasion of China
• Went on until 1945

Events in Europe

1936

• Remilitarisation of Rhineland
• Rome-Berlin axis
• Germany- Japan pact

1938- German Annexations

• Anschluss – annexation of Austria
• Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) annexed
• APPEASEMENT POLICY OF ALLIES

1939

• Entire Czechoslovakia attacked and conquered by Germany in March
• Next target was Poland – But it was promised protection by UK & France
• MOLTOV RIBBENTROP PACT between Germany & USSR

WAR BREAKS OUT – 1939

• 1 September – Germany attacks Poland
• France and England declare war on Germany
• USSR attacks Poland from East

1940 – BLITZKREIG

• Germany invades Denmark and Norway
• Belgium & Netherlands fall to Blitzkrieg of Germany
• USSR occupies Baltic states and Finland
• Italy joins in invades France in June

1940

• Germany invades France
• Fall of PARIS on 14 June
• Battle of Britain – Aerial bombing – The Blitz
• The Tripartite pact between JAPAN, GERMANY and ITALY – AXIS POWERS
• Later Hungary Bulgaria and Romania joined too

1941

• British forces from Egypt push back Italians in Libya but German reinforcements arrive and send British back to Egypt
• Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
• Axis powers attack USSR in June
• Operation Barbarossa
• ‘Lebensraum’ – Living space
• Winter sets in and German army bogged down

The Pacific

• Japan had conquered large parts of China by 1940.
• After joining AXIS, it attacked western colonies
• Indochina, Philippines, Burma, Hong Kong, Guam, Indonesia(Dutch East Indies), Singapore

The Pearl Harbour Attack

Japan attacked US and at multiple locations on December 7/8 of 1941

Hawaii, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong

Bombings over Australia, Papua New Guinea

1942 – ENTRY OF USA

• Multiple battles between US and Japan throughout the islands of Pacific and South east Asia from 1942-44
• Japan loses at the crucial Battle of Midway and later at Guadalcanal

1942- The Tide Turns

• Russians start to pushback Germans
• Heavy loss of life and war crimes on the Eastern front.
• Siege of Leningrad and Battle of Stalingrad

1942

• Allies push back Germans and Italians from Libya while US army attacks from Morocco
• Tunisia won finally in 1943

1943

• Island of Silcily and later Italy mainland attacked by Allied armies
• The dictator Benito Mussolini deposed and arrested

1944

• Soviet army liberates most of the Eastern Europe from Germany.
• Allied armies push through Northern Italy
• Allied navy gets closer to Japanese mainland
• Japanese attacks in Assam repelled

D-DAY

• 6th June 1944 – Allied landings in Northern France
• France liberated, Germans pushed back

1945

• 29 April- German army surrrenders
• 30 April- Hitler commits suicide
• Burma, Indonesia and Philippines retaken by allies

The Nuclear Bombs

To avoid a full scale invasion of Japan mainland, nuclear bombs dropped on

Hiroshima – 6 Aug – Little Boy

Nagasaki – 9 Aug – Fat Man

Japan surrenders on Aug 15**

AFTERMATH

• Beginning of Cold war (1947 – 1991)
• Rise of superpowers – USSR USA
• World divided into two blocs
• USSR, USA, UK and France divided Germany into two blocks – East and West
• ‘Berlin wall’
• Huge forced transfer of populations in Eastern and Central Europe
• Heavy loss of men, material, industry in Europe
• UK and France’s stature as global powers diminished greatly
• Decolonization
• UNO was established
• Occupation of Japan and its Pacific island territories by USA
• Korea divided into two – USSR and USA
• Chinese civil war resumes and ends in 1949
• Israel created

HOLOCAUST

• Planned killings of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, mentally challenged, physically challenged, soviet PoWs
• Gas chambers, labour camps, death camps
• ‘The final solution’
• 6-11 million deaths

INDIA in WW2

• Supported the war effort as part of the British Empire
• 25 Lakh soldiers fought for the allies in Burma,Africa and South East Asia
• Bengal Famine – 30 lakh dead due to starvation

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WORLD WAR – I

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