A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 48 World War II

The Second World War was the result of Adolf Hitler's intention to retaliate against Germany's defeat in the First World War and make Germany aspire to Europe and even the world.His policy is the same as Bismarck's, advocating the policy of iron and blood.On the other hand, the war was possible because the League of Nations was not given the power to enforce the covenant.

[-]. Hitler at home

Uniting the Germans Hitler's Mein Kampf, written in prison many years ago, was promoted as if it were the German Bible.In addition to this book, coupled with his eloquence, he soon discovered that crazy speeches can stir up crowds.He made all promises to everyone except the Jews, and he accused the Jews of many crimes.He fortified himself with armed partisans, and made the masses do what he commanded.He trained a "SA" in brown shirts with swastikas (the swastika), and a small team of "SS" in black shirts with skull badges.

Program and Propaganda Hitler based all of Germany's efforts on training soldiers, manufacturing weapons, and preparing supplies.He eliminated all rebels and concentrated all power in the hands of the Nazis.Outlaw all communists and pacifists, dissolve trade unions, confiscate funds.He also swept away moderates and dubious elements in his own party.Tens of thousands of Catholic and Protestant Germans from all parties, along with Jews and Communists, were all arrested and put in concentration camps, where they were brutally tortured.Many Jews and some of those who were murdered fled to foreign countries for refuge.Public opinion and thought were subject to the directives of the Reichs Minister of Indoctrination and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.All must respect the leader and obey him blindly.People do not live for themselves, but for the glory of the country.The Germans were exalted as a privileged and superior race.

To plant these ideas firmly in the minds of every German, Goebbels repeated them endlessly in newspapers, magazines, films and radio programmes.The Nazis held all kinds of frenzied parade scenes, men, women and children flocked to the streets, singing and cheering together, and waving flags and shouting.Education and science were all used to reinforce the Nazi program.According to the program, young men were trained to be soldiers, and young women gave birth to children at home, cooked and served soldiers.

Anti-Christian Movement The pope protested when the Nazis began looting church property, imprisoning Catholic officials and closing Catholic schools.Their relationship is even worse than it was during the culture wars of the 19s.Several Protestant churches were ostensibly united under the bishop of the empire.The Nazis also tried to replace the Bible with a Germanic scripture, portraying Christ as a typical Nazi soldier.The more conservative Christians, of course, were disgusted with all this. They did not recognize the bishops of the empire, so many priests were imprisoned or killed.

The control of the Nazi economic government extended to production, trade and banking.Economic life has to cooperate with the need to create a strong armament.With less foreign trade, scientists have created substitutes for key raw materials such as rubber and petroleum, and for various foods.They did everything they could to make Germany self-sufficient, though still importing indispensable imports, preferring to get them from nearby areas, such as the Balkans.But Hitler did not achieve all the economic reforms he had envisioned. After 1933, the big department stores did not close; the big landowners still owned their estates; the wealthy capitalists (not Jewish) kept their factories, mines, and banks under government control.

War Machine multiplied tanks and planes, and Hermann Göring, the flying hero of the First World War, expanded his air force. In 1935, in open violation of the Treaty of Versailles restrictions on German armaments, the Nazis ordered universal military service.

[-]. Hitler Abroad

Aggressive foreign policy Hitler was emboldened by the withdrawal of the Saar Valley and Mussolini's brutal conquest of Ethiopia.He called not only the Austrians, but also the Germans living in Danzig, Memmer, Schleswig and the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to gather in the Third Reich.Germany openly provoked France in 1936, and troops entered the Rhine region and began to deploy their defenses.That same year, the Nazis assisted Franco in Spain and established the Berlin-Tokyo axis, which was soon joined by Italy. In 1938, Austria was captured and incorporated into the Third Reich.The following year, Czechoslovakia was captured, and the town of Mermeer, where the Germans lived, was captured from Lithuania. In September 1939, because of the conflict in Danzig, the German army attacked Poland, and the Second World War broke out.Britain and France had publicly declared that they considered the invasion of Poland a war against them.

Poland was partitioned again, Germany got the western half of Poland, and the Soviet Union annexed the eastern half.Britain and France failed to provide timely and effective support to Poland.The French did attack the Germans in the Saar Valley.However, when Hitler's "blitzkrieg" forces defeated Poland and turned to attack France, the French could only retreat to the line of defense.They settled behind the Maginot Line, a powerful fortified system against Germany built along the frontier, and awaited British reinforcements.France and Great Britain began preparations for a protracted war, but they lagged far behind Germany in terms of aircraft and some war equipment.Unfortunately, France was greatly weakened not only by Nazi propaganda, but also by the revolt of various political parties and the discontent of all sectors of society.

Soviet aggression In order to keep pace with Germany, the Soviet Union forced Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to open troop stations, airfields, and naval bases for the Soviet Union.Finland disagreed, and the Soviet Union invaded in November 1939.The weak Finnish army resisted witfully and bravely, obtained arms from Britain and France, and borrowed money from the United States, but four months later, they still had to give up important territories to the Soviet Union.The League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union, but soon it took Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania openly.Soon after, with Hitler's help, the Soviet Union annexed part of Romania.

The Nazis' Northward Advance In the spring of 1940, when Britain laid mines off the coast of Norway to prevent iron ore from being shipped to Germany, Germany quickly occupied the major cities of Denmark and Norway, although Britain tried to help.By the beginning of May, the whole of Norway had practically fallen into the hands of the Nazis, and Sweden was already under the control of Germany and Russia.

France flanked that same month, Germany raided France from the northwest of the Maginot Line across the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium.Though all these countries resisted, they were soon conquered.As a result, the German army quickly entered France from behind the Maginot Line in the east, and advanced towards the English Channel in the west, causing hundreds of thousands of French and British troops along the coast to fall into a trap.However, with the intensified efforts of the British navy and auxiliary ships, and at a high price, part of the army was rescued and transported from the French port of Dunkirk to the United Kingdom.

The remnants of enslaved France fought valiantly, but on June 1940, 6, the Nazi regiments entered Paris without resistance.The French government was disbanded, and Pétain, the old hero of Verdun in World War I, signed an armistice agreement, stipulating that Germany would occupy the north and west of France. Apparent control of the rest of France.Pétain refused the British to allow him to retreat to French colonies in Africa, although some French troops did and are still fighting there.

Looting Italy Mussolini saw France disintegrate and wanted to share the spoils with his Axis ally Hitler.Thus, while the Germans swept down from Paris, Mussolini captured Nice and some of the French coast near Italy that the Italians had long claimed.

Three, the lion blocking the way
When Britain, which was ready to fight, collapsed in France, Britain did not seek peace, but planned to carry the war to the end.England's coasts were bombarded by artillery from the French coast, its cities were bombed from the air, its ships were torpedoed and sunk at sea, but it persisted with characteristic tenacity.The daring Winston Churchill replaced Chamberlain as prime minister, while King George and Queen Elizabeth restored hope and courage to the nation.The fugitive governments of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium were all welcomed by Britain.These governments brought with them what remained of their control over vast colonies and some money and ships.France was condemned because it had signed an armistice with Germany, and there was great fear that the French fleet would be handed over to Germany and Italy.

The British Empire in Arms As in the First World War, the Dominions and Dependencies of the British Empire were as loyal as ever.Armies in the British Isles received support from Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Canada.Canada quickly became a great arsenal, providing ships, planes, and munitions, and helping to train personnel, especially for the Air Force.The war soon proved the importance of the Air Force as never before.

The main reason why Britain, a western democratic country, can still fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy without France is the support from the powerful republics in the Western Hemisphere, especially the moral support and material help that can be counted on by the United States .Just when France fell, in June 1940, President Roosevelt strongly opposed the aggressive dictatorship and proposed "to help Britain with all its strength". In August, the United States provided Britain with 6 warships in exchange for the right to use defense bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda and the British West Indies.At the same time, the United States accelerated the production of aircraft and munitions, not only for its own defense, but also for shipment to Britain.Parliament passed bills to train the army, expand the army, and strengthen the navy, realizing that the grave threat to the British Empire meant jeopardizing democratic governments and free institutions around the world.Germany and Italy are openly hostile to democracies; Japan threatens the Pacific; the Soviet Union is a dangerous unknown; dictators and representatives of Communist organizations are active in all democracies.

[-]. Battlefields all over the world
Blitzkrieg in the Balkans Romania was conquered by Germany and Russia in August 1940, after which southern Dobruja was assigned to Bulgaria and half of Transylvania to Hungary.In the same month, the Italian army captured British Somalia in East Africa. In September, they crossed the Libyan border from the north and invaded Egypt.The next month, when Greece refused to resist the British, Italian troops entered from Albania and attacked Greece.

"Glory of Greece" In Greece, the army of the Italian fascist leader suffered an unexpected and disastrous defeat.Greece drove them out, and with the help of Britain, pursued the victory to Albania and occupied the important base there.Then, in 1941, Hitler moved from the north across Bulgaria and Yugoslavia to Greece and its allies.At that time Bulgaria was lured into joining the Axis powers, but Yugoslavia refused and was ruthlessly defeated.The Greek and British reinforcements had to surrender because they were outnumbered.The rest of the army retreated to Crete under a heavy rain of Nazi shells, and the King of Greece was with them.One place where the Greeks fought tenaciously with their allies was the famous Thermal Pass in history.

Battles in Africa While the Greeks defeated the Italians, the British and their imperial armies repelled the Italian invasion of Egypt, recaptured about half of Libya, and took thousands of prisoners.The British army in East Africa conquered Italian Somalia and Eritrea, recovered British Somalia, and restored the throne of Ethiopia's own emperor.

In the Far East the powers signed a treaty in April 1941 recognizing Russia's "rights" over Mongolia and Japan's "rights" over "Manchuria".Feeling encouraged, Japan accelerated its aggression against China and adopted a more aggressive attitude toward Britain and the United States in the Pacific.Germany and Japan gained a foothold in Thailand (renamed in 4) and eventually captured the British base of Singapore.

In the eastern Mediterranean, the Nazis captured Crete from the British in the second half of May 1941, thus gaining a base for attacking Egypt and the Suez Canal relatively close.The French mandate in Syria threatened Egypt and British power in the Persian Gulf.

HMS Hood and HMS Bismarck The British cruiser HMS Hood was sunk by the German HMS Bismarck in the North Atlantic on 1941 May 5.But a few days later, the Bismarck was also sunk while trying desperately to reach the harbor of Brest.

[-]. The decisive summer
Hitler's invasion of the Balkans, east of the Soviet Union towards the Bosphorus, was a wedge that split many alliances.It severed the fragile friendship between Hitler and Stalin.Hitler's attack shocked Stalin, who amassed a large army around the Balkans.So Hitler was afraid to gather all his troops on the western front to carry out the long-planned attack on Britain, because he was afraid that Stalin might take action on the eastern front.In addition, he needs Ukrainian wheat and oil.So on that fateful day in June 1941, he launched the Blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union.Countries that hated the Soviet Union, such as Romania, Hungary, and Finland, joined the war.Tanks rumbled and planes roared along the 6-mile front from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Bothnia.In the first 1000 weeks, the Soviet Union was quickly pushed back.Then they stepped up their resistance, and the tide of aggression was slowed down.

Japanese aggression In the Far East, Japan's attitude increasingly threatened Britain and the United States.The United States sent a force to Iceland to guard British and American shipping in the Atlantic.Japan tried to coerce helpless France to agree to Japan's occupation of French Indochina to aid Germany (and itself), so the United States joined forces with Britain to impose severe economic sanctions on Japan.

Active Nazis in Britain were busy fighting the Soviet Union, and Britain intensified its air raids on Germany and German-held seaports in France and the Netherlands.British troops land in Iraq, overthrowing the local pro-Axis government.They captured Syria under German-influenced Vichy France and fortified Egypt and the homeland.In Iran, Britain and the Soviet Union finally freed themselves from German influence.At the same time, they have also continuously received practical help and sympathy from the United States.

Pearl Harbor On December 1941, 12, when Japan's "peace" envoy was still in Washington, Japanese planes unexpectedly appeared in the sky and bombarded the US ships in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Islands.The U.S. military suffered heavy casualties and suffered heavy losses.The United States declared war on Japan the next day.Three days later, war was declared on Germany and Italy.

Japan is prepared for the less peaceful Pacific Ocean, but the United States is not.So, while the United States was recruiting and training soldiers, Japan trampled on the Philippine archipelago and many other nearby islands.Even in the snowy Aleutian Islands, they created bases to threaten Alaska and nearby areas.The small number of American soldiers in the Philippines, aided by loyal Filipinos, waged a valiant but unsuccessful struggle.This is the case in much of the Pacific Ocean.Soldiers from Australia and New Zealand have been honored on many battlefields, and China is still fighting valiantly in disaster-stricken China.Japan attacked from all directions with its homeland as the core.The United States must travel far and wide, to Oceania and North Africa, and soon to Europe.Its supplies continued to flow to its allies.

In a turning of the tide, U.S. troops entered North Africa in November 1942 to help British troops fight the Nazis.The Germans were defeated by the Soviets at Stalingrad in early 11, and by mid-May they lost Africa.Afterwards, the American and British forces crossed the Mediterranean through the island of Malta, which had been attacked and remained immobile, and began to drive the Nazis north from Sicily and southern Italy.Italy replaced Mussolini, surrendered in September 1943, and soon joined the Allies. In November, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met in Tehran, Iran.

The pincer encirclement of Stalingrad was completely freed from the German attack in early 1944, and the Soviets assembled forces to counterattack westward. In June, the Allies landed in Normandy and began to attack eastward. In August, head north and east from the south of France.That same month, Romania and Bulgaria were freed from German forces, and Paris was liberated.The German army still fought desperately, tried its best to destroy, and frantically trial-produced new weapons. In June, they began firing highly destructive missiles at Britain. In December, they launched a sudden and temporary counterattack in the Ardennes.French patriots went around to aid the Allies.

Year of Decision British, American and Canadian troops forced the Rhine in March 1945, and they joined forces with Soviet troops around Berlin in early May.Publicly announced that Hitler was dead.The Germans surrendered unconditionally on May 3.A few days earlier, Mussolini had been killed by Italian patriots.In the Pacific Ocean, the arduous and desperate battle continued, but the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 5 and 5. The Soviet Union also participated in the war against Japan, and the Japanese asked for peace. .After Germany surrendered, Britain also helped attack Japan. On September 7, aboard the battleship USS Missouri, under the auspices of General Douglas MacArthur, Japan signed the instrument of surrender.

On April 1945, 4, President Roosevelt died and Vice President Harry S. Truman became president. In July, Clement Attlee succeeded Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Prospects After the devastation of war comes the question of peace.One of the two major problems today is how to supervise Germany and Japan for a better and safer future; another big problem is to provide food and rebuild the countries trampled by Germany and Japan.The civil war in China is still going on, and Palestine, India and many Southeast Asian countries are still politically unstable.The biggest problem is creating a world order of permanent peace.

(End of this chapter)