Chapter 13. World War II

Causes. Unresolved grievances from World War I, the Depression, aggressive expansion by Germany, Italy and Japan, and the failure of appeasement and collective security all contributed [23].

The war. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and Britain and France declared war. Germany conquered much of Europe by 1941 and invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, bringing the United States into the war. The Allies (principally the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and China) fought the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan). Major turning points include Stalingrad, Midway and the D-Day landings (6 June 1944). Germany surrendered in May 1945. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Japan surrendered, and the war formally ended on 2 September 1945 [23].

Human cost. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, with an estimated 70 million or more deaths, most of them civilians. The Holocaust was the Nazi regime’s systematic murder of about six million Jews, along with Roma, disabled people, political opponents and others [23].

Aftermath. The United Nations was founded in 1945, the Nuremberg trials prosecuted Nazi leaders, and the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 [25].

Review: In what year did World War II begin in Europe, and with what event? (Answer: 1939, with Germany’s invasion of Poland.)