World War 2

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WW2 CAUSES, EFFECTS, AND
RESULTS
By Rayan Hussain, April 09, 2023.

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Introduction
Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to
declare war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six
years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property Hitler’s
invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war
on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the
conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe
than any previous war. y around the globe than any previous war. By (History.com
Editors on November 16, 2020)

Causes
On September 17, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the east. Under attack from
both sides, Poland fell quickly, and by early 1940 Germany and the Soviet Union had
divided control over the nation, according to a secret protocol appended to the
Nonaggression Pact. Stalin’s forces then moved to occupy the Baltic States (Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania) and defeated a resistant Finland in the Russo-Finnish War.
During the six months following the invasion of Poland, the lack of action on the part
of Germany and the Allies in the West led to talk in the news media of a “phony
war.” At sea, however, the British and German navies faced off in heated battle, and
lethal German U-boat submarines struck at merchant shipping bound for Britain,
sinking more than 100 vessels in the first four months of World War II. By
(History.com Editors on November 16, 2020)

“Defend Paris to the last, destroy

all bridges over the Seine, and
devastate the city.”
Adolf Hitler—August 1944

Germany Around mid-August, the ceasefire in Paris collapsed, and fighting resumed.
French Forces of the Interior were busy erecting barricades in the streets of the city
to hold back German reinforcements. Choltitz, the last commander of Nazi-occupied
Paris, was given the demand by Hitler in Berlin but ultimately ignored it. By
(Wargaming.net.1998–2023). World War II moved on to the Pacific (1941-43) With
Britain facing Europe, the United States was the only nation capable of combating

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Japanese aggression, which by late 1941 included an expansion of its ongoing war
with China and the seizure of European colonial holdings in the Far East. On
December 7, 1941, 360 Japanese aircraft attacked the major U.S. naval base at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii, taking the Americans completely by surprise and claiming the lives
of more than 2,300 troops. The attack on Pearl Harbor served to unify American
public opinion in favor of entering World War II, and on December 8 Congress
declared war on Japan with only one dissenting vote. Germany and other Axis
Powers promptly declared war on the United States.

Effects
By the end of World War II, much of Europe and Asia, and parts of Africa, lay in ruins.
Combat and bombing had flattened cities and towns, destroyed bridges and
railroads, and scorched the countryside. The war had also taken a staggering toll on
both military and civilian lives. Shortages of food, fuel, and all kinds of consumer
products persisted and, in many cases, worsened after peace was declared. War-
ravaged Europe and Japan could not produce enough goods for their own people,
much less for export. (History.com Editors on November 16, 2020) The Second World
War (WWII) was one of the major transformative events of the 20th century, with 39
million deaths in Europe alone. Large amounts of physical capital were destroyed
through six years of ground battles and bombing. Many individuals were forced to
abandon or give up their property without compensation and to move on to new
lands. Periods of hunger became more common even in relatively prosperous
Western Europe. Families were separated for long periods of time, and many
children lost their fathers. Many, including young children, would personally witness
the horrors of war as battles and bombings took place in the very areas where they
lived. Horrendous crimes against humanity were committed. Due to WWII, political
and economic systems in many countries would be permanently altered. By
(Kesternich I, Siflinger B, Smith JP, Winter JK. The Effects of World War II on Economic
and Health Outcomes across Europe. Rev Econ Stat. 2014 Mar 1;96(1):103-118. doi
10.1162/REST_a_00353. PMID: 24850973; PMCID: PMC4025972.)

The Key People Involved in WW2

Neville Chamberlain

The prime minister of Britain from 1937 to 1940, advocated a policy of Appeasement toward the territorial
demands of Nazi Germany. This appeasement policy essentially turned a blind eye to Germany’s 1938
annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland.

Winston Churchill

The prime minister of Britain during most of World War II. Churchill was among the most active leaders in
resisting German aggression and played a major role in assembling the Allied Powers, including the United
States and the USSR.

James Doolittle

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A U.S. Army general best known for leading the famous “Doolittle Raid” in 1942, in which B-25 bombers were
launched from an aircraft carrier to bomb Japan and then crash-landed in China.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A U.S. Army general who held the position of supreme Allied commander in Europe, among many others.
Eisenhower was perhaps best known for his work in planning Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe.
After the war, he was a very popular figure in the United States and was elected to two terms as U.S. president,
taking office in 1953.

Hirohito

SN PLUS 1

Emperor of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. Despite the power of Japan’s military leaders, many
scholars believe that Hirohito took an active role in leading the country and shaping its combat strategy during
World War II. After Japan’s defeat, he was allowed to continue to hold his position as emperor—largely as a
figurehead—despite the fact that Japan was under U.S. occupation. Although many countries favored it,
Hirohito was never tried for war crimes.

Adolf Hitler

Chancellor and self-proclaimed Führer, or “leader,” of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. After a rapid
political ascent as the leader of the far-right Nazi Party in the 1920s, Hitler achieved absolute power and
maintained it throughout his time as chancellor. During his rule, he took a very active role in the government of
Germany, making military decisions and implementing edicts regarding the treatment of Jews and other
minorities, such as the notorious “Final Solution” that condemned Jews to death at Concentration Camps in
German-controlled parts of Europe. Just before Germany surrendered in 1945, Hitler committed suicide
together with his wife, Eva Braun, in his bunker in Berlin.

Yamamoto Isoroku

The Japanese navy admiral planned the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the attack on Midway in
1942.

Curtis LeMay

The commander of the U.S. Air Force’s 21st Bomber Command in the Pacific theater during World War II. LeMay
is best known for developing the U.S. strategy of using massive incendiary bomb attacks on Japanese cities in
order to break the Japanese will near the end of the war.

Benito Mussolini

A fascist prime minister who came to power in 1922 and ruled Italy as an absolute dictator. In many ways,
Mussolini served as an inspiration to Adolf Hitler, with whom he chose to ally himself during World War II. In
1943, Mussolini was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by some of his subordinates, and in 1945 he was
executed by Italian partisans just prior to the end of the war in Europe.

Friedrich Paulus

A field marshal in command of the German Sixth Army at the Battle Of Stalingrad. Paulus surrendered what was
left of the German forces in February 1943, despite Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s express orders not to do so. While a
prisoner of war in the USSR, Paulus publicly condemned Hitler’s regime.

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Erwin Rommel

A field marshal in the German army’s Afrika Korps who specialized in tank warfare. Rommel came to be known
by both friends and enemies as the “Desert Fox” for his brilliant strategies and surprise attacks in Germany’s
North Africa campaign.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The 32nd U.S. president, led the country through the bulk of World War II until his death from a cerebral
hemorrhage in April 1945, just a few months before the war ended. Together with Winston Churchill and Joseph
Stalin, Roosevelt played a decisive role in holding together the Allied coalition that ultimately defeated Nazi
Germany.

Joseph Stalin

General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. In some ways,
Stalin was responsible for the USSR’s severe losses at the beginning of World War II, as he failed to heed the
warnings of his advisors and did not allow the Russian military to prepare a proper defense. At the same time,
he did succeed in holding the country together and inspiring among his people an awesome resistance against
Germany, which ultimately forced a German retreat. Stalin’s own regime in the USSR was just as brutal as the
Nazi regime in many ways, and the alliance between Stalin and the Western Allies always remained rather
tenuous because of mutual distrust.

Harry S Truman

The 33rd U.S. president succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt upon Roosevelt’s death in April 1945. Truman, who led
the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to
use two Atomic Bombs against Japan in August 1945. After the war, Truman was crucial in the implementation
of the Marshall Plan, which greatly accelerated Western Europe’s economic recovery.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNotes: World War II (1939–1945).” SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005,

Results
After a long string of Japanese victories, the U.S. Pacific Fleet won the Battle of Midway in June 1942, which
proved to be a turning point in the war. On Guadalcanal, one of the southern Solomon Islands, the Allies also
had success against Japanese forces in a series of battles from August 1942 to February 1943, helping turn the
tide further in the Pacific. In mid-1943, Allied naval forces began an aggressive counterattack against Japan,
involving a series of amphibious assaults on key Japanese-held islands in the Pacific. This “island-hopping”
strategy proved successful, and Allied forces moved closer to their ultimate goal of invading mainland Japan By
(History.com Editors on November 16, 2020)

What was needed to pull Europe and Asia back into the international economy? The answer was money - but
what kind? The currencies of war-torn countries? Gold? Dollars? By (© Corbis)

Reference List
 History.com Editors, World War II, November 16, 2020 [Accessed on April 09, 2023]
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 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history
 International Monetary Fund, The Post-War World, [Accessed on April 09, 2023]
https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/center/mm/eng/mm_dr_01.htm#:~:text=Combat%20and
%20bombing%20had%20flattened,worsened%20after%20peace%20was%20declared.
 Wargaming.net, Famous Quotes of World War II, [Accessed on April 09, 2023]
https://wargaming.com/en/news/famous_quotes/
 Kesternich I, Siflinger B, Smith JP, Winter JK. The Effects of World War II on Economic and Health
Outcomes across Europe. Rev Econ Stat. 2014 Mar 1;96(1):103-118. doi: 10.1162/REST_a_00353. PMID:
24850973; PMCID: PMC4025972.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4025972/
 SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNotes: World War II (1939–1945).” SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005,
https://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/ww2/key-people/

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