Introduction
The Second World War is one of history’s most significant events, referring to the global war between 1939 and 1945. World War II involved the majority of the world’s countries, including the superpowers, which formed different opposing groups, including the Allies and the Axis. It was the deadliest global war, involving over 100 million people from more than 30 countries around the globe and killing 50 to 85 million people (Gilbert).
The tensions that caused the Second World War had begun years earlier and included the wave of fascism in Italy and the invasion of China by Japan, as well as Japan’s increasing militarization. The war brought the world extremely close to “total warfare,” which resulted in an average of 27,000 people dying every day in the chaos and violence between September 1939 and Japan’s surrender in September 1945. Due to the introduction of Western technological developments, the war involved the use of destructive weapons that were among the deadliest in human history.
The war’s primary combatants were the two groups: the Axis, which included Nazi Germany and its reliable allies, i.e., Imperial Japan and Fascist Italy, and the Allied group of nations, which included Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. The war included several events that were marked in history as the deadliest incidents, such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Holocaust.
Body
Causes of the Second World War
The First World War ended in 1918. It was predicted that many events could lead up to a second world war after the first had taken place. These events included the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, which was a brief colonial war that ended in May 1936. The Italian Kingdom aimed to capture the Ethiopian Empire, also known as Abyssinia (Taylor, 102-153). The war was seen as a display of the weakness of the League of Nations, which was meant to keep peace among countries. While the League was against Italy’s actions in invading Ethiopia, which violated Article X, Germany proved to be the only supporter, which convinced Italy to favour Germany in its invasion of Austria. During this time, fascism had increased in Italy and Germany, which reacted to international communism and the intentions of superpowers to capture surrounding countries (Gilbert).
Furthermore, the civil war in Spain broke out due to nationalism in the country. This Nationalist rebellion was backed by Germany and opposed by the Soviet Union. The proxy war involved 30,000 foreign volunteers, which provided a platform for Germany to test its new advanced weapons and war tactics (Taylor, 102-153). When the Nationalists won the war in April 1939, the Spanish dictatorship favoured Germany and the Axis in the global war.
Japan’s invasion of China and militarism ignited matters and set the foundation for the Second World War (Paul, 13-45). Between 1931 and 1932, the Japanese captured Manchuria from China, and since the Chinese failed to resist the increased military power of Japan, the Japanese controlled Manchukuo as a puppet state. Meanwhile, the Chinese had begun an internal war against the communists in Shensi, and Japan built an active military base in northern China (Eastman). In July 1937, Japan invaded China’s former capital, Peking, after initiating the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which furthered Japan’s agenda to rule the rest of China. Here, the Soviets saw the need to interfere and provide material support to China to reduce the threats from Japan (Paul, 13-45). China had to put an end to its cooperation with Germany. The war continued to rage, and the Japanese forces succeeded in capturing major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Nanking, and Taiyuan. However, by 1938, the Nationalist Chinese won their first war at Taierzhuang (Hoyt, 38-50).
The Second World War was ignited by the intentions of expansionism and militarism. Nations, including Japan, Germany, and Italy, used fascism and focused on strengthening their armed forces in order to invade surrounding countries. This gained the attention of the Allies, the Soviet Union and the United States, which became involved in the war to resist invasions (Taylor, 102-153).
Developments
On the 1st of September 1939, Germany initiated the war with the invasion of Poland, to which the British reacted with an ultimatum to cease military operations. However, the British ultimatum was ignored by Germany, which encouraged Britain, France, and British Commonwealth countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, to declare war on Germany. This created an alliance between the Western countries. The German forces, on the other hand, responded with the Battle of the Atlantic. Nazi dictatorship in Germany was a major contributor to the war, as its aim of expansion worsened matters.
When the war commenced in Europe, the Japanese were still caught up in their war with China despite gaining victory in several battles. Japan’s military forces continued their expansion into China and conquered many Chinese territories. This meant that half of the Japanese military was tied down in China, while the Western Allies initiated a war against Germany, which opened possibilities for Japan’s conquest of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Moreover, Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands and France during the summer of 1940 encouraged the Japanese to look at the defeated powers and also at the positions of Britain and the United States of America.
Japan’s Interests
Japan had the intention of expanding into China since the beginning of its first victory and its increased military strength. However, the islands of the archipelago, now Indonesia, and nearby regions held by the French and British contained raw materials such as tin, rubber, and petroleum, which proved to be important to Japan’s economy. Hence, Japan saw an incentive to capture the lands, as this would provide an opportunity to become self-sufficient, which would make it one of the most powerful nations in the Pacific Ocean (Obstfeld).
Great Britain was occupied with the fight in Europe against the Axis nations; therefore, the Japanese were opposed by the United States in their mission to occupy surrounding nations and become a superpower. Japan first began its strike in northern Indochina in September 1940, to which the United States responded with a protest. Japan gained the attention of Germany and Italy, which recognized it as an ally with growing power in the Far East. The three countries signed a pact to play the role of the Axis in the Second World War.
In the summer of 1941, the Imperial Conference declared that the Japanese move southward would continue even though there was a risk of war with the British and the Americans. The Japanese soon moved their forces to the south to capture Indochina for personal gain.
The United States didn’t take Japan’s actions lightly this time and reacted fiercely by freezing the country’s assets and stopping supplies of oil in order to weaken the country economically. This hit Japan strongly, which led the country to seek other oil importers. When it failed to satisfy its oil requirements, the Imperial Conference decided to wage war against the United States and Great Britain if an agreement wasn’t reached with the Americans (Frey, 468-496).
By November 1941, the U.S. Secretary of State warned the Japanese forces to stop their activities in China and put an end to the war. It was a clear threat to the country, to which they responded with strong opposition. The Japanese couldn’t find a way to sign an agreement with the States and create peace; hence, they initiated a war against the United States of America and Great Britain (Tsurumi, 99-213).
Pearl Harbor
On the 7th of December 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This marked the beginning of the conflict between the United States and Japan that changed the course of the Second World War. Since the United States had severely damaged the Japanese economy and development in China, the country responded with sudden strikes on the American base, with the first bomb appearing at 7 in the morning over the harbor. This was the first wave of 200 aircraft that followed, which included destructive torpedo planes, fighters, and bombers that completely devastated the region (Martin, 285-292).
The U.S. base was entirely assaulted in the first 30 minutes of the strike, which damaged United States battleships. These battleships included the Arizona and Oklahoma, while the California, Nevada and West Virginia ships sank in the water. This weakened the forces of the States. It proved to be a crippling moment for the Americans, as their territory was completely shaken by sudden attacks from an unexpected enemy. The damage caused to the States was big enough for them to reciprocate with similar attacks on Japan.
Japanese Surrender and U.S Victory
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States of America responded with an even more deadly war waged against the Japanese to put an end to the conflict. America tested its atomic bombs during this time and attacked the Japanese, destroying the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This resulted in the country being completely shaken to its foundation and suffering thousands of casualties. Even though Germany had surrendered by May 7, 1945, after the suicide of its leader and dictator, Adolf Hitler, the Japanese continued their war against the Allies nearly four months after the other Axis nations had backed off (Tsurumi, 99-213).
Realizing a major defeat by the U.S., the Japanese chose to surrender to the new superpower of global recognition. The war proved beneficial to the economy of the United States of America, as the country’s Gross Domestic Product rose to its highest level ever. Moreover, the Soviet Union and the United States became global superpowers after the destruction of Japan by atomic bomb attacks from the U.S. (Martin, 285-292).
After the successful atomic bomb testing in Japan by the United States, the country was forced to accept the terms of surrender imposed by the States and the Soviet Union. Japan fell to the ground, as its military had weakened, and the economy was already suffering due to the damage caused by the embargo on oil. The Japanese were asked to give up their plans for expansionism and war crimes, which had led to a disastrous global war. The U.S. promised not to enslave the Japanese economy for their actions.
Conclusion
The Second World War is one of the most prominent events in history. It led to the creation of the United Nations to avoid further conflicts among countries; the United States of America emerged as a global superpower when its economy flourished; and Japanese atomic bombing demonstrated the strength of the United States. The surrender of the Japanese after the bombings and the complete destruction of its cities, economy, and military helped the United States gain strong ground and become a superpower.
Works Cited
Gilbert, Martin, and Bernard Mayes. The Second World War: A Complete History. H. Holt, 1989.
Taylor, Alan John Percivale. Origin Of The Second World War. Simon and Schuster, 1996. (102-153)
Fussell, Paul. Wartime: understanding and behavior in the Second World War. Oxford University Press, USA, 1990. (13-45)
Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. Pearl Harbor Attack. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2008. (38-50)
Calvocoressi, Peter, and Guy Wint. “Total war: causes and courses of the Second World War.” London: The (1995).
Tsurumi, Kazuko. Social change and the individual: Japan before and after defeat in World War II. Princeton University Press, 2015. (99-213)
Obstfeld, Maurice, Kenneth S. Rogoff, and Simon Wren-lewis. Foundations of international macroeconomics. Vol. 30. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996.
Gilbert, Martin (2001). “Final Solution”. In Dear, Ian; Foot, Richard D. The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 285–292
Eastman, Lloyd E. (1986). “Nationalist China during the Sino-Japanese War 1937–1945”. In John K. Fairbank and Denis Twitchett, eds., The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912–1949, Part 2.
Frey, Bruno S., and Marcel Kucher. “History as reflected in capital markets: the case of World War II.” The Journal of Economic History 60.2 (2000): 468-496.
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