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The Causes and Effects of World War What were the causes and effects of World War I? The answer to this seemingly simple question is not elementary. There was more to the onset of the war then the event of an Austrian prince being murdered in Serbia, as is what most people consider to be the cause of World War I. Furthermore, the effects of the war were not just concentrated to a post-war era lasting for a generation of Westerners. No, the effects of the war were widespread throughout the world and can be traced to generations after the war. It is not a rare occasion that when a person is asked what the causes of World War I were, that they answer with the simple comment of an Austrian Prince being shot in Serbia.
However the assignation of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo was not the main cause of the Great War. Rather, it was the breaking point for Austria in its dealings with Serbia. The truth of the matter is that several factors played a role in the outbreak of the catastrophic war the engulfed the nations of Europe for over four years. World War I truly was the result of building aggressions among the countries of Europe which was backed by the rise of nationalism. To add to the disastrous pot, there was also imperial competition along with the fear of war prompting military alliances and an arms race. All of these increased the escalating tensions that lead to the outbreak of a world war. (Mckay, pg. 904) Two opposing alliances developed by the Bismarckian diplomacy after the Franco- Prussian War was one of the major causes of the war.
In order to diplomatically isolate France, Bismarck formed the Three Emperor s League in 1872, which was an alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. Then in 1882, Bismarck took advantage of Italian resentment toward France and formed the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungry. In 1890 Bismarck was dismissed from his office and France took the opportunity to gain an ally, therefore, in 1891 the Franco- Russian Entente was formed. Then in 1904 Britain and France put aside their conflicts and formed the Entente Cordiale. As a result, the Triple Entente, a coalition between Great Britain, France, and Russia, countered the Triple Alliance.
Now Europe was divided up into two armed camps. (World Book Encyclopedia, WXYZ, pg. 367) Nationalism also played a major role in developing tensions in Europe; for it had been causing dissatisfaction since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In that settlement the presentment of peace was chosen over nationalism, therefore, Germany and Italy were left as divided states, though they did unify in the future. The Franco- Prussian War in 1871 resulted in the France s loss of the province of Alaska- Lorraine to Germany, and the French looked forward to regaining their lands. Then there was Austria- Hungary which controlled many lands that their neighbors felt belonged to them. Serbia wanted Bosnia and Hercegovina, Italy wanted the Trentino and Trieste regions, and the Czechs and Solvaks wanted independence from Austria- Hungary.
There was also Russia which had problems within it s own boundaries; for Russia contained many different nationalities and many were also seeking independence in the name of nationalism. (World Book Encyclopedia, WXYZ, pg. 366) Another major conflict that caused the outbreak of the Great War was what is known as the arms race. With the hostile divisions of the nations of Europe there came the expansion of armies and navies. Furthermore, the great powers came to copy Germany s military organization and efficiency, which called for universal registration for military duty, large reserves and detailed planning. Efforts were made for universal disarmament, but the international rivalry caused the arms race to continue to feed on itself. (Karpilovsky, World Wide Web) Imperial competition also played a major rule in the act of increasing the ever growing tensions among the divided countries of Europe. In Africa there were two crises in Morocco.
The first time, in 1905, Germany full heartedly supported Morocco s call for independence from France, and with the British defending the French war was only avoided because of an international conference which made Morocco a French protectorate. The second crisis occurred in 1911, and it was in protest to French supremacy in Morocco. The Germans finally gave the French a free hand in Morocco, but with a price. They demanded in exchange a portion if of the French Congo.
Around this same era there was also a Bosnian crisis, which began with Austria- Hungary s takeover of the province of Bosnia in 1908. For this Serbia threatened war on Austria- Hungary with the pledged backing of Russia. As they began to mobilize, Austria- Hungary, with the alliance of Germany, threaten war on Russia. When Russia backed down, the soon to be war was postponed, but left was a greatly strained relationship between Serbia and Austria Hungary. (Karpilovsky, World Wide Web) On June 28, 1914 the battle lines were drawn with the assassinations in Sarajevo. It was believed that the crime was committed by a Serbian nationalist, and immediately following it Germany, with its full support pledged, pressed Austria- Hungary into declaring war on Serbia. At this same time, France was strengthening its backing of Russia.
War might have been avoided if Serbia had excepted Austria- Hungary s harsh ultimatum, however they faithfully refused. Almost at once the war fell into place. Austria declared war on July 28, 1914. The next day Russia mobilized against Austria- Hungary, on August 1 st Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later on France.
When Germany disregarded Belgium s neutrality, Britain declared war on Germany. Finally war had begun, and unlike the predictions that had been made the resulting war was long, indecisive, and reeked havoc on the nations of Europe. (Karpilovsky, World Wide Web) The Great War officially ended in January of 1919 with a peace conference in Paris which represented twenty- seven triumphant nations. However almost immediately the great powers, United States, Great Britain, and France, were at odds with each other. President Wilson, the representative of the United States, was insist on first and foremost dealing with the creation of the League of Nations; while France and Britain on punishing Germany. In the long run France gave up on having a buffer zone between itself and Germany for a defensive alliance with the United States and Britain, and Wilson got the formation of the League of Nations. These developments were not the key items at the conference, rather it was the Treaty of Versailles.
This treaty was made between the Allies and Germany, and it began to re-establish order. In the treaty, all of Germany s colonies were divided among the nations, thought it sustained minor losses of territory within Europe. Its ending army was reduced to 100, 00 men, and they could not have forts in the Rhineland. The clause that angered most people was the one that made Germany claim responsibility for the war, and imposed reparations. Thought Germany s new republican government found the treaty to be harsh, they signed it and their discontent set the stage for the Second World War. (McKay, pg. 926 - 927) Germany was not the only country to suffer because of the war; the world had been wiped clean of millions of people, and there was also extensive damage throughout Europe. However, these were not the only sufferings for the generation of the post- war era.
The era followed with a great many economic difficulties throughout the world. The many industries that had been based on the war effort were no longer needed, thereby unemployment was on the rise, and the government had secured many debts to succeed in the war. With these aspects, and poor economic policies in many nations present it seemed that an economic crisis would occur sooner or later; which it did. In 1929 the American stock market came to a crashing halt, leaving many investors wiped out and the wealthy and confident without money. In the aftermath, banks began to fall because many loans feel through. With the financial crisis also came a decrease of production, and naturally this lead to widespread unemployment.
This in turn lead to the fall of peoples spirits, and homes and ways of life were disrupted in millions of personal tragedies. (Mckay, pg. 957 - 958) The era of the Great Depression was also the era of the rise of political dictatorship throughout Europe. These dictatorships involved a new form of tyranny and were most evident in Stalin Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. (Mckay, pg. 967) With hardships rising, people became more willing to put up with leaders like Stalin and Hitler. It is believed by many that Hitler would never have came to power if it had not been for the German peoples feelings of nationalism, and their discontent with the economy and the restrictions from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler played on the people s emotions, and he officially won the game when he legally took over as the dictator of Germany. The rise of Hitler is a very important effect of World War I because it lead to the Second World War.
The leaders first tried to please Hitler by giving him what he asked in order to avoid war, however Hitler did not stop he kept on pushing for more. When Germany invaded Poland, war became inevitable. Britain and France declared war on Germany. The United States joined in on the war effort against Germany, Italy, and Japan after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. World War II was the last major effect of the First World War. (Mckay, pg. 986 - 989) The war solved no problem. Its effects, both immediate and indirect, were either negative or disastrous.
Morally subversive, economically destructive, socially degrading. Confused in its causes, devious in its course, futile in its result, it is the outriding example of European history of meaningless conflict. These words of C. V Wedgewood are the perfect description of the Great War. World War I had many complex causes, rather than one simple which is what is believed by many people. Furthermore, the effects were widespread throughout generations all over the world.
Causes of WWI The First World War had many causes; the historians probably have not yet discovered and discussed all of them so there might be more causes than what we know now. The spark of the Great War was the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife by a Serbian nationalist on the morning of June 28, 1914, while traveling in a motorcade through Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Archduke was chosen as a target because Serbians feared that after his ascension to the throne, he would continue the persecution of Serbs living within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Serbian terrorist organization, the Black Hand, had trained a small group of teenage operatives to infiltrate Bosnia and carry out the assassination of the Archduke. It is unclear how officially active the Serbian government was in the plot.
However, it was uncovered years later that the leader of the Black Hand was also the head of Serbian military intelligence. In order to understand the complexity of the causes of the war, it is very helpful to know what was the opinion of the contemporaries about the causes of the Great War. In the reprint of the article What Started the War, from August 17, 1915 issue of The Clock magazine published on the Internet the author writes: It is thought that this war that is been ongoing for over a year, began with the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. However, many other reasons led to this war, some occurring as far back the late 1800 s. Nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and the system of alliances were four main factors that pressed the great powers towards this explosive war.
According to the article above, the author stresses that the nationalism was one of the primary causes of the war. In the ninetieth and twentieth centuries, especially after the French Revolution nationalism was becoming a powerful force in Europe so people that had the same culture, language wanted their own country. And that was the problem for the government of Austria-Hungary that did not want to lose their power and control. The Slavs in the southern part of the empire were their main concern since they wanted to join up to Serbia.
Militarism is the second cause according to the article above, which comes after the nationalism. To understand what the author means by militarism one should be familiar with the situation of the world in the beginning of the century, which was the result of both industrial and democratic revolutions. Britain at that time was the largest empire in the world, and it also had the largest navy. The navy was so big and strong because the Britons needed to protect their empire and maintain the sea routes between the different colonies. The Kaiser William II of Germany hated and envied Britain for having a stronger navy than his. He increased the German navy and built many warships.
Britain responded with building more ships and increasing its navy too. This started a race for building more and better warships and it created tension and competition between those two countries. Imperialism and the system of alliances are the last two major causes of the War. There was a quarrel between France and Germany about controlling the colonies, and especially Morocco, which leads to a greater conflict, the Great War. Europe at that time was divided into two rival alliance systems: Triple Entente that included Great Britain, France, and Russia and the Triple Alliance, which included the Central Powers of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and eventually the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Austria-Hungary must take a large proportion of any blame for the outbreak of war in 1914.
The reason for Germany's part in the causes involves Germany's blank Check policy. Before sending its ultimatum to Serbia, Austria needed to be sure of the support of its ally, Germany. Such support was forthcoming in the form of a telegram to the Emperor Franz Joseph on 6 July 1914. The telegram has become known to history as the Blank Check. In order to balance the power, France and Russia signed an alliance. Russia saw itself as the protector of Slavs in the war, and immediately mobilized.
When the war began, the German decision that if they were going to have to fight Russia and France, they would strike at France first according to its Schlieffen Plan, and then turn West to Russia. Germans believed that Russia at the time was unprepared for war, and that it will take a long time for Russia to mobilize its army. On July 28, 1914 Austria declared war against Serbia. Russia responded by partially mobilizing against Austria as a protector of Slavs, and Germany insisted that Russia immediately demobilize. Russia refused to do so, and on August 1 and 3 declared war on Russia and France. When war was declared in August people involved on all sides felt that it would be a short war, and will be over by Christmas.
In order for Germany to accomplish its Schlieffen Plan, Germany occupied Belgium. By August most of Belgium was under German occupation and the Schlieffen Plan appeared to be going well, but it brought Britain into the war because they had made a treaty with Belgium before, and Schlieffen Plan involved the invasion of neutral Belgium. One of the problems during the Great War that military staffs and thinking were far behind new weapons and logistics. In other words military commanders like General Haig or Marshall Joffre were not quite ready to the war with its modern weapons and new technologies such as machine guns, bunkers and railroad systems that allowed to bring troops quicker into defensive positions. This was the first war in the human history where the weapons of defense were superior to offensive. The First World War is also known as a war of attrition.
In order to protect themselves from modern weapons, men dug in along the whole of the Western Front. They built networks of trenches that ran 500 miles. The First Battle of the Marne was the wars first major turning point. German army has almost reached its objective Paris in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan, but the Battle of the Marne stopped the movement of Germans in the west.
Unfortunately for the Germans, the plan did not work as expected. The result was a partial success, which failed in its ultimate goal of knocking the French army out of the war early. The Battle of the Marne marked the end of the Schlieffen Plan, the end of movement in the war and the start of Trench Warfare. Eventually the trenches were stretching 25, 000 miles, from Switzerland to the North Sea. On the other hand, Germans were much successful on the Eastern Front and had a series of quick victories over Russia. Only in a single Battle of Tannenberg 92, 000 Russian prisoners were taken.
After the failure of the German offensive, both sides made various local attempts at achieving breakthroughs. Most of these attempts failed due to the effects of modern weapons. The First World War was the first war to use poison gas as a military weapon. Germans also had the first submarines and used them to blockade Britain by sinking British ships. The sinking of Lusitania is the famous example of the submarine warfare during the World War I. The Lusitania had civilians on board, where 100 passengers were American citizens.
After sinking Lusitania a letter was sent to the German Government by President Wilson to warn the German government against killing Americans citizens. In October 1915 Ottoman Turkish Empire enters war on German side. Turkish army began invasion of Russia and was very successful until Great Britain attacked Turkey. British, French, Australian and New Zealand were unsuccessful in invading Turkey. The action was confined to the Dardanelles Strait and the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula near Istanbul. The same year, Italy had withdrawn from the Triple Alliances when war started, and on the Eastern Front Russians were loosing their lands and over 750, 000 soldiers were taken as prisoners.
By the end of 1915 the whole society of Europe mobilized for war. This was to be the worlds first Total War. Women were taking on the jobs, and most male population was sent to war. The total war started when Germans used their first gas attack: Gassing was the start of total war, because it broke all limits, the social taboos, the gentleman's etiquette of other wars.
Sometimes the shot would miss the mark and kill innocent civilians. Before the introduction of gas bombing, soldiers found it easier to overlook the fact that they were fighting on opposite sides of the field, because they had no personal motivation to fight. In 1916 there 139 British and French Divisions were fighting against 117 German Divisions. Two sides were facing each other across the no mans land of mud, shell holes and barbed wires. Sometimes the distance between two fighting powers was so close that on first Christmas both sides were singing carols to each other. One can find a good description of trenches by reading Erich Remarques novel All Quite on the Western Front were he gives the reader some insight and a look at a group of young German friends who are also fighting in World War I.
It covers the horror of this war through the eyes of a young German solider, Paul Buyer. This book is not like other books and stories that glorify wars. It tells the horrors of war in detail. The story recalls the bloody details of bombing, gunfire, gas, hand-to-hand combat, barbed wire, trench warfare and etc.
Remarque tells the story in the first person that makes the reader feel as if he or she is one of the soldiers, that makes the novel even more dramatic for the reader: We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off, they stagger on their splintered stumps into the next shell-hole; a lance-corporal crawls a mile and a half on his hands dragging his smashed knee after him; another goes to the dressing station and over his clasped hands bulge his intestines; we see men without mouths, without jaws, without faces The two biggest and horrifying battles of the World War I are the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme. John Keegan, a military historian in his interview tells about the Battle of Somme: It was the biggest barrage that had ever been. So, they were firing over 100, 000 shells a day; relentless, relentless banging and booming of this tremendous bombardment. So loud, you could hear it in England, if the wind was in the right direction (60 or 70 miles away). Over million soldiers were killed on both sides only in a single battle of Somme during 1916. The second biggest battle of Verdun was fought at the cost of the French Army, and it is often compared to a sausage machine, because 315, 000 Frenchman died.
The human kind had never sees such battles throughout the whole history, with so many losses, which was quite shock full experience for the soldiers who fought the First World War. This war resulted shortages in practically everything, and rising prices. By the end of 1916 America was still not involved in the war. Fateful year of 1917 marked the beginning of the modern world. Several important events took place in 1917. First and the most important event was the Russian Revolution and the rise of a Communist Power in the World.
The same year America enters the war against Germany. Two great non-European leaders with two different ideas of what is good for humanity emerge, and the European History becomes a World History. Vladimir Inch Lenin, who was hiding in Switzerland at that time, was helped by some German agents to be able to go to Russia in a sealed train. Germans helped Lenin, because they knew that if the Revolution occurs, the war with Russia would eventually finish. As a matter of fact Lenin and the Bolsheviks takes over the country on November 7, 1917. Everything that was planned by Germans came true and Russians made peace with Germany.
The Western front was the only show in town, and Germans moved all their power from Eastern to a Western Front to break through the line of the enemy. In March of 1918 Russia signed a treaty in Brest-Litovsk which put a formal end to the war and agreed to stop fighting. Russia was also forced to give up some of its land to the enemy. The war that was supposed to be over by Christmas seemed endless; however, in 1918, after great Franco-American Offensive Germany gave up, and became a liberal Republic. It happened at 11: 00 am, on November 11, after 4 years and over 8 million military deaths on both sides.
Germany agreed to President Wilsons 14 points, issued in January 1918 where Germany agreed no to have secret treaties with other countries, most importantly to end submarine warfare and to free the seas, to give up their colonial claims and etc. Germany also had to take the responsibility for the cause of the Great War and accordingly pay reparations to Allies. By signing the treaty Germany also agreed to disarm, and give up the colonies. The world war one had tremendous consequences on the world. World War I killed fewer victims than World War II, destroyed fewer buildings, and uprooted millions instead of tens of millions, but in many ways it left even deeper scars both on the mind and on the map of Europe. The Old World never recovered from a shock.
According to many historians, and in particular Edmond Tailor the trench warfare was the cruelest among all wars since the Ice Age. The reason why historians think that way is because the people of the XIX and early XX century were not ready to this kind of war. People were very optimistic about the future with all the great inventions. The last twenty years of the 19 th Century, say 1880 to 1900, those years were characterized by an immense optimism. It was thought that public health, invention, the telegraph, the telephone, ultimately the wireless and the radio, were going to civilize human life in a way that it had never been civilized before. And, then, all of a sudden, what happens is ghastly war breaks out and spoils everything.
The inventions that were supposed to improve the standards of living for humanity in fact made the war more tragic. The age that died in 1914 was a brilliant one so extravagant in its intellectual and aesthetic endowments that we who have come after can hardly believe in its reality. In Eric Remarques novel All Quite on the Western Front one can clearly see what war had done to the people, especially to the young generation who fought it. The soldiers who fought in the Great War often lost their interest in life. The only significance in the lives of the soldiers was comradeship. Eric Remarque also mentions in his novel what was the opinion of the soldiers about the progress, We are not youth any longer.
We dont want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress.
We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war. That was the mentality of the soldier of the Great War. Nothing in the world meant anything to a soldier, other than the war. Remarque also shows in his novel how meaningless was the war for the soldier. There is a place in the novel were Paul kills a French soldier, and feels very guilty about it.
It shows one more time how artificial was the cause of the war. There was no real cause why German would hate a Frenchmen and voiceover's. Erik Remarque shows that when Paul talks to a dead French soldier where he says, Comrade, to-day you to-morrow me. But if I come out of it, comrade, I will fight against this, that has struck us both down; from you, taken life-and from me-?
Life also. Despite being alive, Paul considers his life without any meaning after all the horrible experiences of the war. All people who came out of the First World War were either physically or psychologically wounded. The impact of the First World War is still with us.
In many respects the events of modern Europe are a direct result of what happened in 1914 - 1919. Had there be a World War I, of course have been no Second Adolph Hitler himself was a product of the First World War. World War I also gave Lenin an opportunity to overthrow the government in Russia and proclaim communism The Causes of War War is one of the responses by which one society tries to reduce the capacity of another society to obtain its objectives, when one or several of these are conflicting with those of the first society. By this response, society A tries to get the society B to do what is not convenient for B, but of convenience to A. In other words, A tries to get B to do something unnatural, namely NOT to try to reach its own objectives.
This is in direct contradiction with the definition of an IS, and resisted by B. Societies, since they are ISs, always act as best they see fit to reach their objectives. When there is a conflict, the first thing they do is to appeal to a super society. If such a super society does not exist, it is inevitable that the societies do what they consider best to reach their objectives. Sometimes this will be a war. A society, by waging war, takes a natural response, namely trying to reach its objectives.
We see that it is no wonder that two societies with conflicting objectives go to war. In a nation, the governing sub society makes the decision to attack or cooperate according to how it sees the best way to reach its objectives. Once it has taken the decision, the general population acts according to the emotions evoked by the governing sub society and according to existing habits and regulations for civilians and the military forces. The governing sub society will present the adversary as cruel, greedy, barbarian, and nasty. It will appeal to patriotism and ideals. For all this it will use existing communications media that appeal to emotions and preexisting mental inclinations.
Below we mention subjective causes for war that have their root in human nature and the present culture: Belief by the governing sub society that, in the long run, the war will be beneficial to itself or its society. Errors of appreciation of the political, economical and social situation of its own society and of the adversary. Accidents, where a critical situation gets out of hand, against the wishes of the governing sub society. A fight over resources.
Emotions and attitudes that cause wars: Greed, trying to increase prestige or power, the wish to participate in a heroic undertaking, the aggressive impulse, frustrations, insecurity. All these are often given a helpful hand by the producers of military material. We have to take into account that in a war nearly always someone gains: some nation, a social class, an enterprise or a political society; even if most of the involved ISs loose The War in Brief At the end of World War I the victorious nations formed the League of Nations for the purpose of airing international disputes, and of mobilizing its members for a collective effort to keep the peace in the event of aggression by any nation against another or of a breach of the peace treaties. The United States, imbued with isolationism, did not become a member. The League failed in its first test. In 1931 the Japanese, using as an excuse the explosion of a small bomb under a section of track of the South Manchuria Railroad (over which they had virtual control), initiated military operations designed to conquer all of Manchuria.
After receiving the report of its commission of inquiry, the League adopted a resolution in 1933 calling on the Japanese to withdraw. Thereupon, Japan resigned from the League. Meanwhile, Manchuria had been overrun and transformed into a Japanese puppet state under the name of Manchukuo. Beset by friction and dissension among its members, the League took no further action. In 1933 also, Adolf HITLER came to power as dictator of Germany and began to rearm the country in contravention of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. He denounced the provisions of that treaty that limited German armament and in 1935 reinstituted compulsory military service.
That year the Italian dictator Benito MUSSOLINI began his long-contemplated invasion of Ethiopia, which he desired as an economic colony. The League voted minor sanctions against Italy, but these had slight practical effect. British and French efforts to effect a compromise settlement failed, and Ethiopia was completely occupied by the Italians in 1936. Alarmed by German rearmament, France sought an alliance with the USSR.
Under the pretext that this endangered Germany, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. It was a dangerous venture, for Britain and France could have overwhelmed Germany, but, resolved to keep the peace, they took no action. Emboldened by this success, Hitler intensified his campaign for Lebensraum (space for living) for the German people. He forcibly annexed Austria in March 1938, and then, charging abuse of German minorities, threatened Czechoslovakia. In September, as Hitler increased his demands on the Czechs and war seemed imminent, the British and French arranged a conference with Hitler and Mussolini. At the Munich Conference they agreed to German occupation of the Sudetenland, Hitlers asserted last claim, in the hope of maintaining peace.
This hope was short lived, for in March 1939, Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia and seized the former German port of Memel from Lithuania. There followed demands on Poland with regard to Danzig (Gdansk) and the Polish Corridor. The Poles remained adamant, and it became clear to Hitler that he could attain his objectives only by force. After surprising the world with the announcement of a nonaggression pact with his sworn foe, the Soviet Union, he sent his armies across the Polish border on Sept. 1, 1939. Britain and France, pledged to support Poland in the event of aggression, declared war on Germany two days later. As the Germans ravaged Poland, the Russians moved into the eastern part of the country and began the process that was to lead to the absorption in 1940 of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
They also made demands on Finland. The recalcitrant Finns were subdued in the Winter War of 1939 - 1940, but only after dealing the Russians several humiliating military reverses. Meanwhile, Japan had undertaken military operations for the subjugation of China proper, and was making preparations for the expansion of its empire into Southeast Asia and the rich island groups of the Southwest Pacific. Mussolini watched the progress of his fellow dictator, Hitler, while preparing to join in the war at a propitious moment. Military Course of the War The bitter struggles and the enormous casualties suffered by Great Britain and France in World War I had engendered in their military leaders a defensive attitude with a reliance on such permanent fortifications as the Maginot Line and on blockade as means of subduing a resurgent Germany. Placing their faith in the impotent League of Nations, both countries neglected the development of armaments and allowed those they possessed and their armed forces to deteriorate.
The Germans, on the other hand, smarting under their failure in World War I to capitalize on initial breakthroughs of the Allied lines because of lack of sustained power, developed fast, hard-hitting tank-airplane forces and the strategy of the blitzkrieg (lightning war). Since they had been disarmed by the Allies, they were unencumbered by obsolescent armaments and could equip their forces with the most modern weapons. As a result, initial German operations met with surprisingly rapid success. In less than a month, Poland had been conquered.
There followed an inactive period (dubbed the Phony War) that lasted until April 1940. Then, despite Allied intervention, the Germans quickly seized Denmark and Norway. In May the blitzkrieg struck the western front in all its fury. Within six weeks the British had been driven from the Continent, and the French had been forced to surrender. The speed of the advance also surprised Hitler, who was not ready to follow his success with an invasion of the British Isles. The Luftwaffe, called upon to soften the islands and gain air superiority while preparations were made for invasion, received a stunning defeat at the hands of the small but highly competent and brave Royal Air Force.
Frustrated in the west, Hitler turned against the USSR in June 1941. In a series of brilliant military maneuvers in which several million Russians were captured, he reached the gates of Moscow in December, only to be stopped by bad weather and Russian reinforcements rushed to defend the city. Meanwhile, Mussolini sought to realize his dream of an Italian Mediterranean empire. In the late summer and fall of 1940 he launched an offensive from Libya against the British in Egypt and an invasion of Greece from Albania (which he had occupied in 1939). Both enterprises eventually proved disastrous for the Italians, and German forces were sent to their rescue. Greece fell to the Germans, but they met stiff British opposition in Africa.
In December 1941, Japan thought the time ripe to extend her empire into a Greater East Asia Co prosperity Sphere which it did very rapidly against meager opposition. It was the Japanese plan to fortify this area so strongly as to withstand American counterattacks and eventually gain a negotiated peace based on the status quo. The attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines brought the United States into the war and greatly altered the balance of power in favor of the Allies. The year 1942 saw the turn of the tide for the Allies. In June, Japanese naval airpower was decimated by the United States Navy in the Battle of Midway. Having been repulsed at Moscow, Hitler turned to the Caucasus, but the Germans were severely defeated and turned back at Stalingrad (now Volgograd) by the Russians in the closing months of the year.
At the same time the British dealt the Germans and Italians a defeat at El Alamein that sent them reeling in retreat westward along the African Mediterranean coast. In Tunisia they encountered newly landed British and American forces and were expelled from Africa in May 1943. The Allies now had the initiative and, with the vast production facilities of the United States in full operation, took the offensive on all fronts. Resistance was bitter, and progress slow though inexorable.
From bases in Africa the Allies invaded and captured Sicily in July-August 1943. In September, Italy was forced out of the war. British (The term British, as applied to military forces, includes where appropriate other Commonwealth forces Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South African, and Indian which performed outstandingly during the war. ), American, and French forces began a methodical and relentless advance up the Italian Peninsula against the Germans, who had been rushed in to defend it. After Stalingrad the Russians, in a series of alternating offensives, gradually forced the Germans back with heavy losses, until by late April 1945 they were approaching Berlin. Following a massive buildup of troops, air and naval power, and equipment in the British Isles, American, British, and French troops landed on the Normandy coast of France in June 1944 and pressed the Germans back to the West Wall. There, in December, the Germans launched a final counterattack, which failed.
Aided by troops landed in southern France from Italy, the Allies forced the Germans back across the Rhine River and deep into Germany. Assailed on all sides, and their major cities devastated by aerial bombardment, the Germans surrendered on May 7, 1945. Because of a lack of resources, Allied strategy had envisioned the prior defeat of Germany while remaining on the defensive against the Japanese. Only after victory in Europe would the full Allied power be applied to Japan. American industrial production increased so rapidly, however, that limited offensives could be initiated against the Japanese as early as August 1942.
Thereafter, a persistent two-pronged offensive across the Central Pacific and along the Solomon Islands-New Guinea axis steadily pushed the Japanese back. By the fall of 1944, American forces were landing in the Philippines, and they regained the islands the next spring. Then the island of Okinawa, at the threshold of Japan proper, was captured, and preparations were begun for the invasion of the home islands. Meanwhile, the Japanese position in Asia progressively deteriorated.
By the summer of 1945, with its navy and air force virtually destroyed, its cities at the mercy of American aircraft, and cut off from sources of supply of much-needed raw materials, the Japanese foresaw doom. The dropping of two ATOMIC BOMBS on Japanese cities and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria hastened their decision to capitulate, which they did on August 14. Diplomatic History of the War and Postwar Period The League of Nations having failed through inertia and internal discord to prevent war, the major powers aligned themselves in rival groups. In September 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin, formalizing the Axis coalition. Hitlers invasion forced the Russians into the Franco-British camp.
As the war progressed, the United States departed from its policy of strict neutrality and rendered greater and greater aid short of war to the beleaguered Allies. Blocked in negotiations with the United States from furthering its aims of expansion, Japan attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and forced the United States into the war. Meanwhile, in August 1941, Franklin D. ROOSEVELT and Winston CHURCHILL met on shipboard off Newfoundland and subsequently issued the Atlantic Charter, in which they subscribed to certain general principles for achieving peace. The charter forbade territorial changes contrary to the wishes of the inhabitants; recognized the right of people to choose their own forms of government; promised greater freedom of trade and of the seas; and supported international cooperation to improve conditions of labor and social security.
Armaments were to be reduced, and a permanent system of general security was to be created. The aggressor nations were to be disarmed. On Jan. 1, 1942, the United States, Great Britain, France, the USSR, China, and 21 other countries signed in Washington the Declaration by United Nations, pledging mutual assistance and promising not to enter into separate armistice or peace negotiations with the Axis powers. The member nations also subscribed to the Atlantic Charters purposes and principles. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill most probably to allay Joseph Stalin's suspicions of the loyalty of his allies proclaimed a policy of unconditional surrender for Germany, Italy, and Japan as the only means of maintaining the peace. This policy may have prolonged the war, but it solidified the Allied nations and may have forestalled Soviet efforts toward a separate peace with Germany in 1943.
At the Teheran Conference in late 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed on broad principles of operation for an international organization to mediate differences between nations and maintain peace. At Dumbarton Oaks in Washington in the fall of 1944 details were worked out, and it was decided to call the new organization the United Nations. The San Francisco Conference convened on April 25, 1945, to organize the United Nations; its charter was adopted unanimously on June 26. Wars end found the United States and the USSR the two greatest powers in the world. By the time of the signing of the Axis satellite treaties early in 1947, the two countries were drawing apart.
Friction over the treaties with Austria, Germany, and Japan and Soviet aggressive designs in eastern Europe brought increasing tension, and by the end of 1948 their relationship could be considered one of cold war. In 1950 armed conflict arose in Korea between Soviet-backed Communist forces and United Nations forces led by the United States. The cold war between the East and West continued thereafter, with the Communists striving for world domination through subversion and infiltration, and the West seeking to frustrate their designs.
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