World War II: 80 Years Later
This year of 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. World War II was such a profound event, that it defined modern society in its aftermath socially and technologically. It was the bloodiest war in human history when almost 100 million human beings died in multiple battlefields. The war was so vast, that it has been divided into the various parts like the Western Front, the Eastern Front, and the Pacific Theater. World War II started as a product of many factors. One factor was the competition among imperialistic powers found in Europe and Asia. After World War I, the League of Nations was formed to handle international affairs. It failed, because the League of Nations couldn't stop the rise of fascism, its policies were not enforceable, and it wasn't heavily funded at Switzerland. Britain, America, Germany, Italy, and Japan competed for the world's resources from oil, gas, and other land resources. The Great Depression caused many people to experience high inflation, total economic devastation, poverty, and desperation emotionally plus physically. So, some people allied with fascists as a means to escape economic deprivation, and some people allied with fascists for racist and xenophobic reasons too. Japan invaded Manchuria, China, and other Asian nations rapidly to get economic resources. Italy formed a racist and anti-Semitic empire that attacked Ethiopia. The Nazis made their views very clear via Mein Kampf that they wanted a racist empire to exterminate Jewish people and people of color.
The UK at first compromised with Hitler, but Hitler illegally invaded many countries. America had to be inspired to escape its previous isolationism (Charles Lindbergh was a prominent isolationist) to invest in the Allied Powers and participate overtly in World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor. World War II was vicious, bloody, and lasted for over 6 years. Yet, the Allied Powers legitimately prevailed by determination, the work of allies, and courage. The Allies freed victims of the Holocaust, liberated continents, and inspired the world. Also, I don't agree with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of the obvious reason. The end of World War II caused the growth of the American empire, the Cold War, technological development, and a new epoch of world human history in general. With fascism on the rise now in 2025, it is very relevant to write on this subject to inspire current and future generations to stand for justice for all, defend democracy, and never compromise to evil. It is important to recognize the African American heroes of WWII too from Doris Miller to the black women of the 6888 all-black women Battalion who helped to deliver mail on the frontlines courageously. I dedicate these words to God, to my people, and to freedom loving people of all colors. At the end, goodness and righteousness will always prevail. To understand World War II in a comprehensive way, it is important to know about many of the persons involving in the war. The following are some of the people on the Allied Powers and Axis Powers of World War II:
The Allied Powers
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: He was one of the most influential, greatest Presidents in American history. He was the 32nd President of the United States of America heading the American military response for the majority of World War II. Roosevelt shown great leadership, he had imperfection, and he passed the progressive New Deal legislation. His cooperation with the rest of the Allied Forces, his strategies, and his foresight contributed heavily to the Allied victory by the end of World War II. President Roosevelt was so popular among the American people, that he was elected for an unprecedented four consecutive terms. He passed away in April of 1945.
Winston Churchill: He was the famous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was very aggressive and persistence to try to allow America to join the Allied cause in an overt fashion. He was successful in doing so beyond the Lend Lease program. Churchill agreed with Franklin Roosevelt on most issues, but they had disagreements on the Atlantic Charter, on imperialism (as Churchill supported colonialism and imperialism), and on how to deal with the Soviet Union. After WWII, Churchill was clear to be an enemy of communism and the Soviet Union in general. His Iron Curtain speech clearly outlined his disdain for Communism. Churchill won the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize in Literature for his many books on England and world history.
President Harry Truman: During the war, he was Vice President at first. Later, he became President after Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away. As the 33rd President of the United States of America, he would be very aggressive towards the Soviets, and he would support the Cold War ideal of containment.
Joseph Stalin: He was the famous, controversial leader of the Soviet Union. He wasn’t perfect (and I don't agree with many of his actions), but he courageously led Soviet armies to defeat the evil Nazi Empire. During World War II, he allied with Roosevelt and Churchill. He was friendlier with Roosevelt than with Churchill. He passed away in 1953.
Vyacheslav Molotov: He was a Soviet politician who worked with Stalin on various agreements with the Allied Powers.
General Georgi Konstantionovich Zhukov: He was one of the greatest and courageous Soviet generals during World War II. He was very successful in his military actions against the evil Nazi Empire. He was one of the greatest war generals in history.
General George Patton: He was a famous General who led invasions of Sicily and Western Europe. He passed away on December 21, 1945, after he had an automobile accident. We know about books and other historians like Robert Wilcox who say that the OSS was involved in the accident, which caused General George Patton to pass away. There are many scholars who disagree with this view to be clear. General George Patton had a charisma and courage to defeat the Axis enemy.
Chiang Kai-Shek: He was the Chinese leader of the National Party of the Republic of China or KMT (Kuomintang). He was the disciple and brother in law of the nationalist Sun Yat-sen. His forces engaged the Japanese occupiers in China. After WWII, he was involved in a civil war with Mao’s Communist forces. The Communists won the civil war and Chiang including his followers went into Taiwan where he called himself. President of Taiwan. He passed away in 1975.
Charles de Gaulle: He was a French general and he fought the Vichy government. He worked with the French resistance movement and he was the President of the provisional government from October 1945 and he resigned in January 1946. He would serve as Premier of France after the War.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower: He was the famous U.S. Army General who held the position of the Supreme Allied commander in Europe among many others. He planned the Operation Overload, which related to the Allied invasion of Europe or D-Day. After WWII, Eisenhower became even more popular in America. He was elected to two terms as U.S. President. He took office in 1953, and he became a Republican President.
General Montgomery: He was the Commander of the British Eighth Army in the North African campaign. He defeated Erwin Rommel’s forces and Erwin was forced to retreat from Egypt after the Second Battle of El Alamein. Under Eisenhower’s command, he successfully led the Allied invasion of Sicily of 1943. He was involved in commanding the ground forces during the Normandy landings.
General Douglas MacArthur: He was the famous American general who had a leading role in Asia during and after World War II. He was the son of General Arthur MacArthur, who was involved in the Civil War. Douglas MacArthur took back the Philippines from Japan forces in October 1944. After WWII, he led an UN coalition to fight North Korea during the Korean War. He was fired by Harry Truman since MacArthur wanted to attack China as a way to end the war more quickly, but Truman feared that this action would cause WWIII. MacArthur would speak and continue to work his private life until his passing in 1964. Ironically, General MacArthur would advise President John F. Kennedy to not send U.S. ground military forces to fight in Vietnam.
Admiral Chester Nimitz: He was the famous Commander in Chief of the Pacific Forces of the United States and the Allied Forces during World War II. He hauled down his flag at Pearl Harbor on November 26, 1945. He passed away on February 20, 1966.
General Curtis LeMay: He was the commander of the U.S. Air Force’s 21st Bomber Command in the Pacific Theater during WWII. He was known for creating the strategy of using massive incendiary bomb attacks on Japanese cities in order to break the Japanese will near the end of the war. Civilians died by his attacks, and he was a notorious war criminal and reactionary.
The Axis Powers
Adolf Hitler: He was the evil Fuhrer or leader of Nazi Germany. He was complicit in so many evils and he was a liar, a racist, an anti-Semite, and a murderer. He was very successful during the beginning of the war, but he was ultimately defeated. He committed suicide.
General Hideki Tojo: He was the Prime Minister of Japan from October 1941 to July of 1944. Tojo was an aggressive General. He tried to improve relations between Japan and America, but he failed. He ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor. Tojo resigned when he knew that Japan was going to lose the war. Tojo was executed after the war for his responsibility in Japan’s war crimes.
Benito Mussolini: Being the prime Minister of Italy from 1922, he was a dictator. He was a fascist, and he was a member of the Axis Powers. He hated socialism and communism. He wanted strict nationalism, and he executed aggressive militarism. He was overthrown in 1943 and in April of 1945, Communist Resistance units executed Mussolini.
Hermann Goering: He was the commander of the Luftwaffe or the German Air Force. He was an early member of the Nazi party. Heinrich Himmler: He was the leader of the SS or the Schutzstaffel. The SS was Hitler’s personal bodyguard group. Himmler caused the SS to be the paramilitary group of the Third Reich. He was a racist and he died by suicide.
Karl Doenitz: He was the leader of the German U-Boat campaign during World War II.
Iosroku Yamamoto: He was the Japanese Navy admiral who planned the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the attack on Midway on 1942.
Johnness Erwin Eugen Rommell: He is known as The Desert Fox. He was a German Field Marshall during World War II. He served in the Wehrmacht (armed forces) of Nazi Germany. He is famous for fighting in North Africa against Allied Forces. He committed suicide by eating a cyanide pill on October 14, 1944.
Walther von Brauchitsch: He was a German Field Marshall and Commander in Chief of the German Army during the first two years of World War II. He oversaw the Nazi invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece. Plus, he played a key role in the Battle of France from May 10, 1940, to June 25, 1940.
The Failure of the League of Nations
There can be no full understanding of World War II without understanding about The League of Nations. The League of Nations desired world peace and international cooperation among nations to stop conflict. Such a goal was promoted by Immanuel Kant in his 1795 work of Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. Lord Bryce and Jan Smuts promoted The League of Nations system. It was created on January 10, 1920, by the Paris Peace Conference, which officially ended the First World War. It ended completely by April 18, 1946, when many of its components were sent to the United Nations. It has many Secretaries-General with French and English used as its official languages. Its headquarters were in Geneva, Switzerland. The first Secretary General was Sir Eric Drummond. The League of Nations wanted disarmament and collective security. It expanded its role by dealing with labor, human trafficking, drug trafficking, the arms trade, global health, and the prisoners of war. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the leading architect of The League of Nations. There were many weaknesses of The League of Nations. A growing isolationism in the world caused many nations to not adhere to the provisions found in The League of Nations. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the dictator Benito Mussolini ignored The League as the League of Nations accused Italian soldiers of targeting the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent Movement medical tents.
One major failure of the League of Nations was that it should stop the rise of the fascist Axis Powers found in Japan and Germany plus Italy. America also never joined The League of Nations officially. Japan and Germany left in 1933, Italy left in 1937, and Spain left in 1939. The Soviet Union was in it in 1937 and expelled in 1939 after invading Finland. The League of Nations lacked the action of use further sanctions for fear of decreasing its power. The League of Nations failed in many respects, but it set up a foundation for the creation of the United Nations. It caused more international discussion about solving foreign policy matters in a multinational way. It helped to increase the awareness of consciousness about epidemics, slavery, child labor, colonialism, refugee crises, and working conditions in its commissions and committees. It helped to promote statehood and the mandate system.
The Rise of Tyrants
There is nothing new under the sun. The same authoritarianism promoted by Trump, leaders in Hungary, and other places of the existed decades ago in the Axis Powers. The Axis Powers were made up of Italy, Nazi Germany, and Japan. Many fascists movement have grown by financial crisis, scapegoating of certain human beings, culture war distractions, and overt bigotry. Italy, Germany, and Japan were angry over the Treaty of Versailles involving land and money. They wanted revenge. Many of these nations promoted dictatorships and totalitarianism (which allowed a government where one leader or a single party control all of the lives of the people culturally, socially, and economically). Totalitarianism grew. Italian totalitarianism developed after WWI and peace treaties. Italy didn't get land along the Adriatic coast. The government in Italy had issues, a communist movement was growing, and returning veterans couldn't find jobs. Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party (a far-right party called Fasci di Combattimento) in 1919. It promoted nationalism and used the Black Shirts to fight socialists and communists. In 1922, the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III asked Mussolini to make a government. The government had an army in a few years. Mussolini indoctrinated young people, banned political parties, took over the press, created a secret police, and suppressed strikes. Mussolini hated liberalism and socialism. Sound familiar. Later, Mussolini would illegally invade Ethiopia. In 1929, In 1929, the Papacy signed the Lateran Treaty with Benito Mussolini. It recognized the Vatican as an independent state, with Prime Minister Benito Mussolini agreeing to give the church financial support in return for public support from the pope at the time. Under the Lateran Pact, Vatican City was granted independent statehood and placed under Church law—rather than Italian law—and the Catholic religion was recognized as Italy's state religion. The Catholic Church also regained authority over marriage, Catholicism could be taught in all secondary schools, birth control and Freemasonry were banned, and the clergy received subsidies from the state, and was exempted from taxation. Pope Pius XI praised Mussolini, and the official Catholic newspaper pronounced: "Italy has been given back to God and God to Italy." Mussolini, according to the Vatican, violated the treaty by the Italian racial laws of 1938 (which banned marriages between Jewish people and non-Jewish people, including Catholics. The Vatican mentioned in Article 34 of the Concordat mentioned that they recognize all marriages performed by the Catholic Church, regardless of the faiths of those being married).
Fascism and tyrants spread into Germany and Japan during the WWII era too. After World War I, Germany was a democracy at first. There was the Weimar Republic that was named after the town of Weimar where the government was created. By the 1920s, high inflation, terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and other issues plagued Germany. The internal disunity in Germany caused racists and anti-Semites to dominate Germany. By this time, Germany had a Sexual Revolution where minority groups and the liberal arts flourished too in places like Berlin. The Weimar Republic was weakened and gone by the time Hitler had power in Germany. By the early 1930s, the world saw the Great Depression. The antidemocratic parties gained power by exploiting the economic crisis in Germany. The far right, racist, and anti-Semitic National Socialist German Workers' Party (or Nazis) threatened the Republic. The Nazis were not socialists as they exterminated socialists, communists, and liberals in the Holocaust. They were opposed to workers' rights in opposing capitalist exploitation. Adolf Hitler headed the Nazis, and he was a WWI veteran fighting on the side of Germany. Hitler was born in Austria. Hitler was a failed painter and was about to go insane before the Nazis existed. Hitler was born on April 29, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary (present day Austria), close to the border of the German Empire. His parents were Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. Even when he was young, he embraced German nationalist views. In Vienna, Hitler listened to racist rhetoric after both of his parents died. He became even more anti-Semitic after the Germany defeat at WWI. During WWI, Hitler was part of the Bavarian Army. After WWI, Hitler lived in Munich. By 1919, he worked with the German Workers' Party. DAP Chairman Anton Drexler saw his oratorical ability and gave Hitler a pamphlet named My Political Awakening. It had anti-Semitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Marxist views. Hitler wrote a letter to Adolf Gemlich as early as September 16, 1919, that he wanted the removal of all Jewish people.
At the DAP, Hitler met the occultist Dietrich Eckart, one of the party founders and a member of the occult Thule Society. Eckhart was Hitler's mentor. The Thule Society was an occult group who believed that Aryan people are superior to Jewish people and people of color. They hated Jewish people and Communists. Many of the members were early Nazi supporters from Rudolf Hess to Karl Harrer. Hitler left the Army in 1920 and worked for the DAP (it changed its named to the National Socialist German Workers' Party, NSDAP or the Nazi Party. This is how the Nazi Party was born). The Nazis had their headquarters in Munich. They wanted to end Marxism and undermine the Weimar Republic. Hitler used crowd manipulation to speak to over 6,000 people at a February 1921 rally. Many supporters waved swastika flags and shown leaflets. Hitler blamed Jewish people, Marxists, The Treaty of Versailles, etc. for the troubles in Germany.
Hitler was party chairman by June 1921. Hitler was opposed by some in the Nazi party like Hermann Esser who was expelled from the party. He defended himself against Esser, who called him a traitor. He increased his bigoted, vitriolic speeches at beer halls. His early supporters were Rudolf Hess, Hermann Goring (who was part of the air force), and army captain Ernst Rohm. Rohm was the head of the SA or stormtroopers. The Nazis wanted an attempted coup of German via the Beer Hall Putsch by 1923 with WWI General Erich Ludenforff. He wanted to copy Mussolini's March on Rome coup. First, the SA and Hitler stormed a public meeting a beer hall in Much. The coup failed as German police stopped Hitler and his forces from overthrowing the Bavarian government. 16 Nazi Party members and for police officers were killed in the failed coup. Hitler was arrested on November 11, 1923, for high treason. Some people said that he contemplated suicide before he was arrested. He was tried and convicted by April 1, 1924. He was imprisoned at Landsberg Prison sentenced to five years. He was pardoned by the Bavarian Supreme Court and released from jail on December 20, 1924. He wrote Mein Kampf mostly in the Landsberg prison. The Nazi Party was banned in Bavaria along with affiliated organizations. The ban was lifted on February 16, 1925, after Hitler lying to say that he should get political power by democratic means. He was a bigoted speech on February 27, causing him to be banned from public speaking until 1927. After the stock market crashed on October 24, 1929, Germany saw banks collapsed, millions unemployed, and Hitler plus the Nazi Party to advantage of this situation to gain more support for their party. They wanted to end the Versailles Treaty and promote their agenda.
Later, he joined the small Nazi Party after WWI. He ran it and wrote a book called Mein Kampf (or My Struggle) that outlined his views and agenda in full detail. Mein Kampf wanted the expulsion of Jewish people from Europe, believed that black people were inferior, and condemned Marxist plus communist thought. It harshly criticized communists and Jewish people. Hitler wanted to copy Jim Crow American policies and the genocide of Native Americans to be applied in Germany. Hitler wanted world domination, and we know that Europe had a long history of anti-Semitism. Hitler was made a citizen of Germany on February 25, 1932, by interior minister of Brunswick, Dietrch Klagges, who was a member of the Nazi Party. Hitler lost the election against Hindenburg in the 1932 Presidential elections, but he came in 2nd in both rounds of the elections. He had more than 35 percent of the vote in the final election. Hitler used the slogan Hitler urber Deutschland to promote his politics and used an aircraft to travel for campaigning. Many Germany's industrialists started to support Hitler. Knight of Malta Franz von Papen and Alfred Hugenberg supported Hitler as leader of Germany.
As we know, Hitler was an evil monster who promoted bigotry and hatred which has no justification in the Universe. The views of Mein Kampf were embraced by eugenicists, some Western industrialists, and other people worldwide, not just in Germany. In fact, the Nazis followed the eugenics movement (which was heavily found in America and the UK). By the early 1930s, Germany had massive poverty, homelessness, mass inflation, hunger, and widespread unemployment. It is no secret that many U.S. and U.K. industrialists once funded the Nazi Empire, proven by scholars Anthony Sutton, Mark Loftus, etc.
So, by January 1933, the President of the Weimar Republic appointed Hitler the chancellor Germany. During the next 2 years, Hitler was the President and the chancellor. The German Reichstag burned up by February 27, 1933. Dutch construction worker Marinus van der Lubbe was blamed, and some scholars debated whether the Nazis burned the building or not. Later, the Nazis exploited the Reichstag fire to suspend civil liberties, persecute communists, and convince President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree. He gained more power and ruled unchecked by the Reichstag or the German parliament.
Hitler caused the first concentration camp opened at Oranineburg outside of Berlin by March 12, 1933. Hitler passed the Enabling Act on March 23 to give Hitler dictatorial power, the Nazis boycotted Jewish owned businesses and shop on April 1, 1933, the Nazis burned books in Germany on May 10, and the Nazis opened Dachau concentration camp in June 1933. The Nazi Party declared itself as Germany's only political party. Germany left the League of Nations.
One of the most controversial events in human history was when the Papacy signed a concordat (or Reichshonkordat) in July 20, 1933. It was signed between Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen. Pacelli acted on behalf of Pope Pius XI and von Papen acted on behalf of President Paul von Hindenburg and the German government. It was ratified on September 10, 1933. The treaty guarantees the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. When bishops take office Article 16 states they're required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German established according to the Constitution. The treaty also requires all clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. The Nazis obviously broke the agreement. Pope Pius XI outlined his encyclical from 1937 called Mit brenneder Sorge which condemned the breaches of the 1933 Reichskonkordat agreement signed between the German Reich and the Papacy. There have been historical debates on whether the Papacy supported the Nazis or not. The truth is in the between the two extremes. Many Catholics opposed the Nazis and were killed by the Nazis, but many Roman Catholics were involved in the Ratlines (like Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović) which allowed Nazis and other fascists to escape justice by some people sending them to South America, the USA, the Middle East, etc.
There was the Nazi Night of the Long Knives when innocent Jewish people were beaten and murdered on June 30, 1934. Also, the Knight of the Long Knives was when the Nazis purged Ernst Rohm and members of the paramilitary Strumabteilung (SA), because some of the Nazis view Rohm trying to make a coup against Hitler via the SA. Hitler did this act after being urged by Hermann Goring and Heinrich Himmler. These are political extrajudicial execution (there was the assassination of former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher. The Strasserist faction leader George Strasser died) meant to merge power and stop concerns by the German military (by the German armed forces or Reichswehr) about Rohm. Stasser was a Nazi. Many establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis were killed too like Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who helped to suppress Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The Night of the Long Knives lasted from June 30 to July 2, 1934. After this the Nazis were more unified with the German military. Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss was murdered on July 25, 1934. Hitler promoted military conscription in violation of the Treaty of Versailles on March 16. German Jewish people were stripped of the rights by the Nuremberg Race Laws by September 15, 1935.
In 1935, the institutions of Weimar Republic were silenced, and Hitler spoke alone as the voice of Germany. Hitler followed totalitarianism. He created a state-controlled press, a secret police that harmed opposition, and indoctrination of the youth with racist lies. Hitler used methods of brainwashing crowds of people during his speeches. Nazi rallies cheered him. The Nazis grown the Gestapo in 1936 and Nazis occupy the Rhineland on March 7, 1936. By the late 1930s, Hitler promoted rearmament, massive public works projects, and desired to end the depression in Germany. He promoted laws and unjust laws against communists, socialists, Jewish people, liberals, and other groups of human beings.
Militarists controlled Japan too. Japan, by the 1920s, had increased democracy and peaceful change. The Japanese government reduce the power of the military, legalized trade unions, gave all men the right to vote, and made diverse political parties to exist. Then, the Great Depression harmed Japan in the 1930s. Many Japanese imperialists believed that Japan invading territories outside of Japan will help them gain more resources. Japan was headed by a constitutional monarchy headed by the emperor of Japan. Japan attacked Manchuria in 1931 to gain economic resources to fund its empire. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States on November 8, 1932.
In 1937, Japan attacked China with massive war crimes and rape. Japan controlled railroad links and gained its then capital city of Nanjing. 200,000 residents of Nanjing were murdered, and a large section of the city was burned. This aggression by Germany, Italy, and Japan was not stopped back then by democratic nations or the League of Nations. The League of Nations lost power, because America never officially joined the League of Nations, it had no standing army or navy, it had no real power to enforce its decrees. Hitler wanted to steal land in his agenda of Lebensraum or living space, so he stole the Saar region of France in 1935. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. Ethiopia's emperor Haile Selassie wanted the League of Nations to intervene, but they did almost nothing (and Ethiopia fell for a time). Many black Americans support Ethiopia, and Haile Selassie was forced into exile until World War II was over. Fascists and progressives in Spain had the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. Spain had a democratic Republican government. Hitler and Mussolini sent the military and economic aid to help that fascist leader General Francisco Franco. America, Britian, France, and the Soviet Union were on the sidelines (excepts some Americans and others fighting for the progressives in Spain). France and Britian used appeasement or trying to compromise with aggressive, fascist nations in trying to stop the spread of Nazi Germany. Franklin Roosevelt opposed appeasement, but he didn't have Congressional support at that time (during the late 1930s) to invade Europe to stop Nazi Germany. Therefore, FDR invested via the Lend Lease program to help anti-fascist forces in Europe. Roosevelt wanted to work with an alliance of nations to stop the fascist movement in Europe. Hitler revealed his war plans during the Hossbach Conference on November 5, 1937. The Nazis mobilized their military on August 12, 1938. There was the Kristallnacht or the Knight of Broken Glass pogrom against Jewish people on November 9-10, 1938, when innocent Jewish people were assaulted and murdered. This came after 17-year-old Jewish person named Herschel Grynszpan living in Paris shot and killed a member of the Germany Embassy staff after the poor treatment his father and family suffered at the hands of the Nazis. During Kristallnacht, Jewish businesses and homes were vandalized. Mob violence happened when German police stood by when crowds of people watch Nazi storm troopers and members of the SS plus the Hitler Youth beat and murdered Jewish people. Many of them brutalized Jewish women and children. Goring, Heydrich, and Hitler forced about 25,000 Jewish men to be sent to concentration camps. SS leader Reinhard Heydrich reported 7500 businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned (with 177 totally destroyed), and 91 Jewish people murdered.
The Munich Pact was an appeasement by the French and the British towards Hitler. Hitler threatened Jewish people during his January 30, 1939, Reichstag speech. Hitler violated the Munich Pact by the Nazis invading Czechoslovakia. Then, France and Britain put their foots down to attack Hitler if it attacked another nation. Germany signed the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact with the Soviets on August 23, 1939. This agreement made Germany and the Soviet Union to not attack each other. Both nations wanted to conquer and divide Poland up. Hitler wanted to invade Poland next. By August 31, 1939, the British fleet mobilized. Civilian evacuations start from London.
WWII Begins
World War II officially started when the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, via the blitzkrieg attack (or using a sudden, massive attack with tanks, guns, airpower, and other military forces to conquer territories in a rapid fashion). The Nazis destroyed Poland's Airforce. It was too strong for Poland. England, France, Australia, and New Zealand declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939. Back then, America was neutral until the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17, 1939. Then, France and Great Britain declared war against Nazi Germany. Poland fell to the Nazis by the end of September 1939. The Axis Powers were united by Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allied Forces were France, Britain, America later on, and other nations. There was quiet first after Poland was conquered by the Nazis. Then, by the spring of 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Western Europe. Germany attacked Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940. Both nations fell almost immediately. By May 10, 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Nazis wanted France next. Reinhard Heydrich was the leader of the new Reich Main Security Office (RSHA). The Soviets invaded Finland by November 30, 1939. By January 8, 1940, Britain started to ration supplies. Finland signed a peace treaty with the Soviets on March 12, 1940. The evacuation of Dunkirk started on May 26, 1940. Belgium surrender to the Nazis on May 28, 1940. This was the time when Winston Churchill was British new Prime Minister.
France Being Conquered
From May 10, 1940, to June 22, 1940, the Nazis attacked Western Europe in a vicious way. Luxembourg was occupied on May 10, the Netherlands surrendered by May 14, and Belgium surrendered on May 28, 1940. France was invaded soon. First, the Allied troops escaped from Dunkirk. Allied military forces knew that they had to live to fight another day, so they left for the United Kingdom. On June 3, 1940, the Nazis started to bomb Paris, and the Dunkirk evacuation ended. Norway surrendered to the Nazis on June 10, 1940, and Italy declared war on Britain and France. The Nazis entered Paris by June 14, 1940, and Marshal Petain became the French Prime Minister on June 16, 1940. Hitler and Mussolini met in Munich on June 18, 1940, and the Soviets started to occupy the Baltic states. On June 22, 1940, France signed an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupied the northern half of France and the entire Atlantic coastline. The southern region of France was ruled by a traitorous pro-Nazi Vichy regime whose capital was in Vichy, France. Adolf Hitler toured Paris on June 23, 1940. Now, we see a new era of the war where the Nazis wanted to conquer the United Kingdom. The British supported General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader. German U-boats start to attack merchant ships in the Atlantic by July 1, 1940.
The Battle of Britain started on July 10, 1940, as the Nazis wanted to conquer the United Kingdom. The Nazis lost that battle. The Soviets took Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia by July 23, 1940. The Italians occupied British Somaliland in East Africa by August 3-19, 1940. In England, people were in shelters and other places of safety while Nazis bombed England. Many British residents had to hide in London subways to escape the Nazi bombing campaigns. The Nazis bombed airfields and factories in England on August 13, 1940. The Nazis bombed the UK in broad daylight in air battles by August 15. Hitler wanted a blockade of the British Isles on August 17, and the Nazis used air raids on Central London by August 17. The British attacked Berlin in an air raid on August 25, 1940. Hitler promoted his planned invasion of England via Operation Sea Lion by September 3, 1940, and the German blitz against Britain continued by September 7, 1940. Italy invaded Egypt by September 13, 1940, and there were massive Nazi air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Carfield, Liverpool, and Manchester on September 15, 1940. By September 27, 1940, there was the Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan on September 27, 1940. This means that a nation that attacked the Axis Powers, the Axis Powers will fight that nation. The Nazis come to Romania on October 7, 1940.
Then, the Nazis delayed Operation Sea Lion until the Spring of 1941. Italy invaded Greece on October 28, 1940. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was re-elected as United States President on November 5, 1940. There was the torpedo bomber raid that crippled the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy from November 10-11, 1940. The Nazis bombed Coventry, England on November 14-15, 1940. Later, Hungary joined the Axis Powers on November 20, 1940. The Greeks defeated the Italian 9th Army on November 22, 1940. Romania joined the Axis Powers on November 23, 1940, and Britain started a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians on December 9, 1940. There was a massive Nazi air raid on London from December 29-30, 1940. Tobruk in North Africa fell to the British and Australians on January 22, 1941. British forces go into Italian Somaliland in East Africa on February 11, 1941. Nazi German General Erwin Rommel arrived in Tripoli, North Africa on February 12, 1941. The first units of Nazi Afrika Korps go into North Africa on February 14, 1941. British forces go into Greece on March 7, 1941. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act on March 11, 1941. This law is about Americans giving money and supplies to the Allied Forces in Europe to fight the Nazis. Even in 1941, there was a strong isolationist movement that wanted America to do nothing while innocent Jewish and non-Jewish people were being murdered by the Axis Powers. The coup in Yugoslavia overthrew the pro-Axis government on March 27, 1941. There was a pro-Axis regime set up in Iraq by April 3, 1941. Many people don't know that many Arabic radicals supported the Nazis like al-Husseini (who was pictured with Nazi leaders). The Nazis invaded Greece and Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. Then, Rommel attacked Tobruk on April 14, Yugoslavia surrendered to the Nazis on April 17, 1941, and Greece surrendered to the Nazis on April 27, 1941. The Nazi attack on Tobruk was repulsed on May 1, 1941. Deputy Fuhrer Rudolph Hess flew to Scotland on May 10, 1941. From May 10-11, 1941, the Nazis bombed London massively, and the British bombed Hamburg. There was Operation Brevity starting when the British counterattack in Egypt on May 15, 1941. There was the sinking of the British ship of Hood by the Bismarck on May 24, 1941, and the sinking of the Bismarck by the British Navy on May 27, 1941. There is a pro-Allied government created in Iraq by June 4, 1941. The Allied forces invaded Syria and Lebanon on June 8, 1941. America froze German and Italian assets in America on June 14, 1941.
The Nazis made a bad decision on June 22, 1941, when they invaded the Soviet Union via Operation Barbarossa. The Soviet Union had a large military and Airforce. The Nazis believed in the lie that the Slavic peoples of the Soviet Union were inferior to the Nordic people. Now, the Nazis are fighting on multiple fronts at the same time. By June also, the Nazi SS-Einsatzgruppen started mass murdering people. The Nazis ruled Minsk by June 28, 1941. Stalin wanted a scorched earth policy on July 3, 1941. The Nazis crossed the River Dnieper in the Ukraine by July 10, 1941. Britain and the Soviets signed a mutual assistance agreement on July 12, 1941. The UK occupied Syria on July 14, 1941. President Roosevelt froze the Japanese assets in America and suspended relations. Japan wanted more oil and raw materials to expand its empire, and negotiations failed between America and Japan over trade and economic issues. Goring told Heydrick to prepare for the Final Solution on July 31, 1941. America announced an oil embargo against aggressor states on August 1, 1941. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to the Atlantic Chater on August 14, 1941. The Atlantic Charter is about the agreement that America and Britain were fighting the Axis Powers to "ensure life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom and to preserve the rights of man and justice." The Atlantic Charter was a foundation for the establishment of the United Nations. The agreement was made on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland during the Atlantic Conference. The Nazis attacked Leningrad on August 20, 1941. Nazis ordered Jewish people to wear yellow stars by September 1, 1941, the first experimental usage of gas chambers at Auschwitz happened on September 3, the Nazis take Kiev on September 19, 1941, and Nazis murdered 33,771 Jewish human beings at Kiev. The Nazis wanted to conquer Moscow via Operation Typhoon on October 2, 1941. The Nazis took Odessa on October 16, they take Kharkov on October 24, and they reached Sevastopol on October 30, 1941. A British aircraft carrier Ark Royal was sunk off Gibraltar by a U-boat on November 13, 1941. The Nazis take Rostov on November 20, and the Soviets retake the city on November 27, 1941. Germans abandoned an attack on Moscow by December 5, 1941. The Soviet Army launched a major counter-offensive around Moscow on December 6, 1941.
Pearl Harbor
Just before Pearl Harbor, America was involved in the Lend-Lease program to help the Allied forces to fight Nazis and other members of the Axis Powers. America was mobilizing its military forces. By this time, many experts knew that America would overtly participate in WWII on the Allied side. It was only a matter of time. Then, Pearl Harbor existed which was a Japanese surprise attack against American military forces in Hawaii. The Japanese military forces used a cowardly assault that damaged property, killed innocent human life, and inflicted massive trauma on Americans. Japan and America were once allies during World War I. That would change as negotiations over trade involving oil, rubber, and other resources failed between America and Japan. Japan didn't want any nation to threaten its empire in the Pacific Ocean. Japan didn't like America's influence in Guam, the Philippines, and China (yes, China was an ally of America back then). Japan wanted more trade with America to gain natural resources to build up its military and economic resources in the region. Japan conquered a large portion of China. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted to stop Japanese expansion in Asia and Oceania. FDR in July 1940, created an embargo on important naval and aviation supplies to Japan (like oil, iron ore, fuel, steel, and rubber, especially in the Dutch East Indies). Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in 1940 with Italy and Nazi Germany.
Then, FDR implemented a stricter embargo against Japan. Japan's expansion was not stopped by the embargoes. It was only slowed. By 1941, General Hideki Tojo was Japan's prime minister. Tojo had a smart mind and continued to militarily expand. He wanted America to be neutral in the war. By the summer of 1941, Japan and America had attempted to negotiate an end to their disagreements. These negotiations didn't work. Japan's expansion was strongly opposed by the American government. By late November 1941, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull rejected Japan's latest demands. Tojo gave up on peace a week later. By the start of December, Tojo made the decision to deliver a military blow against America. There is debate on whether Franklin Roosevelt had foreknowledge of this attack or not. Tojo wanted Hawaii to be attacked because it would prevent Americans from using a strong resistance against Japanese expansion in Tojo's mind. The Japanese forces sent to Hawaii were headed by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. The Japanese forces included 6 aircraft carriers, 360 airplanes, and battleships plus cruisers. Submarines were involved in the attack too. Japan destroyed the USS Arizona. Many American military forces were caught by surprise by the attack. The strike took place just before 7:48 am. local time on Sunday, December 7, 1941.
The Pearl Harbor base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft (including fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers) in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. Of the eight United States Navy battleships present, all were damaged and four were sunk. All but USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. More than 180 US aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,393 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded, making it the deadliest event ever recorded in Hawaii. It was also the deadliest foreign attack against the United States in its history until the September 11 attacks of 2001. Important base installations, such as the power station, dry dock, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section), were not attacked. The U.S. battlefleet was knocked out of commission for nearly 6 months. Japan did have access to raw materials. The aircraft carriers from America were out to sea during the attack. Nagumo canceled a third wave of attacks because he feared an American counterstrike. The American Fleet survived. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines were lost, and 129 servicemen were killed.
Kazuo Sakamaki, the commanding officer of one of the submarines, was captured. Japan declared war on the United States and the British Empire later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declarations were not delivered until the following day. The British government declared war on Japan immediately after learning that their territory had also been attacked, while the following day (December 8), the United States Congress declared war on Japan. On December 11, though they had no formal obligation to do so under the Tripartite Pact with Japan, Germany, and Italy each declared war on the United States, which responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy. While there were historical precedents for the unannounced military action by Japan, the lack of any formal warning, as required by the Hague Convention of 1907, and the perception that the attack had been unprovoked, led then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the opening line of his speech to a Joint Session of Congress the following day, to famously label December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." Americans rallied together, and most Americans wanted a military response to stop the evil spread of fascism in Europe and Asia. Things would never be the same again. The Soviet Union was not with the Allied side until after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union back in June of 1941. After President Roosevelt's speech, the House voted 388 to 1 to declare war, and the Senate joined them unanimously. Both Democrats and Republicans united to support the American involvement in WWII militarily. Isolationism died for a time.
The Operation Torch Era and Beyond
First, the American public must be prepared and mobilize for World War II. There was a spirit of patriotism and determination after Pearl Harbor. Tojo and his forces underestimate the grit and determination of Americans. Many Americans joined the military, volunteered with the Red Cross, and worked in many jobs to help the Allied causes. Unfortunately, innocent Japanese people were scapegoated for the Pearl Harbor attack and were victims of being placed in internment camps for a long time unjustly. More than 16 million Americans served in the U.S. military. The U.S. Army grew from about 1.4 million to more than 3 million people. The Navy grew from under 300,000 people to more than 600,000 people. The Marines grew from 54,000 to almost 150,000. Americans of every color and background worked very hard to be in the military to defeat the wicked Axis Powers. There were almost 1,000,000 African Americans, about 300,000 Mexican Americans, 25,000 Native Americans, etc. who were in the military. Most of them were in segregated units. Over 350,000 women were in the military via the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (being later called WAC or Women's Army Corps). Many women were postal workers, truck drivers, instructors, lab technicians, etc. Many women were nurses, and many were in the Navy and Coast Guard units. FDR set up the War Production Board or WPB) to handle wartime industries. Some goods were made into civilian goods and military operations. The massive defense spending contributed to the end of the Great Depression. Many women and men had jobs. The Ford Company was promoting war production in B-24 bombers, ships, and other supplies. The Allied production services made them having a clear military advantage over the Axis Powers along with the Soviet's massive army forces in the Eastern Front of the war.
By this time after Pearl Harbor, the Soviet Army made a major counter-offensive around Moscow. By December 16, 1941, Rommel started to retreat to El Aghlia in North Africa. WWII in North Africa included some of the most important battles of the whole war. Hitler runs the whole German Army by December 19, 1941. January 1, 1942, was when the Declaration of the United Nations was signed by 26 Allied nations. The Nazis started a U-boat offensive along the east coast of America on January 13, 1942. SS Leader Heydrich held the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the Holocaust (or what the Nazis called "Final Solution of the Jewish Question"). Rommell made the counter offensive form El Agheila from North Africa on January 21, 1942. American forces arrive in Great Britain for the first time on January 26, 1942. The internment camp injustice against Japanese Americans started in April of 1941. I agree with FDR on many economic issues, but I strongly disagree with FDR on promoting internment camps against Japanese Americans. The Nazis used air raids against cathedral cities in Britain by April 23, 1942. Rommel made an offensive against the Gazala Line on May 26, 1942. SS Leader Heydrich was attacked in Prague on May 27, 1942. The British used the first thousand bomber air raid against Cologne by May 30, 1942.
By June 1942, there were mass murder of Jewish people by gassing starting at Auschwitz. Heydrich died of his wounds on June 4, 1942. The Nazis invade Sevastopol. Later, the Nazis killed Lidice in reprisal for Heydrich's assassination. Rommel then captured Tobruk, General Dwight D. Eisenhower came to London, and Rommel reached El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt by June 1942. The first battle of El Alamein took place from July 1-30, 1942. The Nazis took Sevastopol on July 3, 1942. The Nazis wanted to conquer Stalingrad in the USSR. By July 22, 1942, there were the first deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps, and the Treblinka extermination camp was opened. By August of 1942, British General Bernard Montgomery took command of the Eighth Army in North Africa, Stalin and Churchill met in Moscow., there was the first all-American air attack in Europe, and there was a massive German air raid on Stalingrad. Rommell is driven back by General Montgomery in the Battle of Alam Halfa. A German eyewitness saw the SS mass murder on October 5, 1942. Operation Supercharge was when the Allied broke Axis lines in El Alamein by November 1, 1942. Hitler wanted to execute all captured British commandos. Operation Torch started on November 8, 1942, when America invaded North Africa to defeat the Nazis. The Nazis and Italians invaded unoccupied Vichy France on November 11, 1942.
The Pacific Theater
In the Pacific, World War II accelerated. After America and Britain declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, Japan went near Singapore and entered Thailand. This was the time when Japan conquered massive lands in Oceania rapidly. The Japanese invaded the Philippines and seized Guam. Japan also invaded Burma on December 11, 1941. By December of 1941, the first Japanese merchant ship was sunk by a U.S. submarine, Japan invaded British Borneo, Japan invaded Hong Kong, and they invaded Luzon in the Philippines (on December 22, 1941). General Douglas MacArthur had to withdraw from Manila to Bataan on December 23, 1941. General MacArthur promised to return to the Philippines under a liberated Philippines from Japanese occupation. The British surrendered at Hong Kong on December 25, 1941, Manila was an open city, and Japan bombed Manila on December 17, 1941, too. The Japanese Empire was at its peak in 1942. On January 2, 1942, Manila and U.S. Naval base at Cavite were captured by the Japanese, Japan attacked Bataan in the Philippines on January 7, 1942, and Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies and Dutch Borneo by January 11, 1942. Burma was invaded by Japan on January 16, 1942. The German/Japan/Italian military agreement was signed in Berlin on January 18, 1942. Japan took North Borneo. Japanese take Rabaul on New Britain in the Solomon Islands and also invaded Bougainville, the largest island. The British went into Singapore by January 30, 1942.
By February 1, 1942, the first U.S. aircraft carrier offensive of the war as YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE conducted air raids on Japanese bases in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. After that Japan invaded Java in the Dutch East Indies and they invade Singapore. The British surrendered Singapore on February 15, 1942. The Japanese had a large air raid since Pearl Harbor against Darwin, Australia and Japan invaded Bali on February 19, 1942. By February 20, 1942, the first U.S. fighter ace of the war, Lt. Edward O'Hare from the LEXINGTON in action off Rabaul. General Douglas MacArthur was ordered out of the Philippines by February 22, 1942. By February 23, 1942, there was the first Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland as a submarine shell an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California.
The Enterprise attacked Japan on Wake Island on February 24, 1942. The First U.S. carrier, the LANGLEY, was sunk by Japanese bombers on February 26, 1942. From February 27 to March 1, 1942, there was the Japanese naval victory in the Battle of the Java Sea as the largest U.S. warship in the Far East, the HOUSTON, is sunk. Two Japanese flying boats bomb Pearl Harbor; ENTERPRISE attacks Marcus Island, just 1000 miles from Japan on March 4, 1942. The British left Rangoon in Burma. Japan invaded Salamaua and Law on New Guinea. The Dutch on Java surrendered to the Japanese on March 8, 1942. March 11, 1942, was when Gen. MacArthur left Corregidor and was flown to Australia. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright becomes the new U.S. commander. March 18, 1942, was when Gen. MacArthur appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater by President Roosevelt. The Japanese attack the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Admiral Chester Nimitz was appointed as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Theater on March 24, 1942. April 3, 1942, was when Japanese forces attacked U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan. American troops came to Australia by April 6, 1942. April 9, 1942, was when there was U.S. forces on Bataan surrendered to the Japanese. The Bataan Death March started on April 10, 1942, when 76,000 Allied POWs including 12,000 Americans were forced to walk 60 miles under a blazing sun without food or water toward a new POW camp, resulting in over 5,000 American deaths. American morale was increased when there was the surprise Doolittle B-25 air race from the Hornet against Tokyo. Then, Japan took central Burma and Mandalay plus Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Japan wants to invade Midway and the Aleutian Islands by May 5, 1942. On May 6, 1942, Japanese take Corregidor as Gen. Wainwright unconditionally surrendered all U.S. And Filipino forces in the Philippines.
May 7-8, 1942, was when Japan had its first defeat of the war during the Battle of the Coral Sea off New Guinea - the first time in history that two opposing carrier forces fought only using aircraft without the opposing ships ever sighting each other. The last U.S. Troops holding out in the Philippines surrendered on Mindanao. That was on May 12, 1942. Later, Japan captured all of Burma and reach India.
From June 4-5, 1942, was a turning point in the Pacific theater of World War II. This was about the decisive victory for the U.S. against Japan in the Battle of Midway as squadrons of U.S. torpedo planes and dive bombers from ENTERPRISE, HORNET, and YORKTOWN attack and destroy four Japanese carriers, a cruiser, and damage another cruiser and two destroyers. U.S. loses YORKTOWN. Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands on June 7, 1942. Japanese troops are near Gona on New Guinea. By August 7, 1942, there were the U.S. amphibious landing of the Pacific War occurs as 1st Marine Division invades Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. On August 8, 1942, U.S. Marines took the unfinished airfield on Guadalcanal and name it Henderson Field after Maj. Lofton Henderson, a hero of Midway. August 8/9 -was when a major U.S. naval disaster off Savo Island, north of Guadalcanal, as eight Japanese warships wage a night attack and sink three U.S. heavy cruisers, an Australian cruiser, and one U.S. destroyer, all in less than an hour. Another U.S. cruiser and two destroyers are damaged. Over 1,500 Allied crewmen are lost. Later Marines attack Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The Marines stop the first major Japanese ground attack on Guadalcanal. U.S. And Japanese carriers meet in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons resulting in a Japanese defeat. The Red Cross announced Japan refused to allow safe passage of ships containing supplies for U.S. POWs. U.S. Troops invade Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands. This was in August of 1942. On September 9-10, 1942, a Japanese floatplane flies two missions dropping incendiary bombs on U.S. forests in the state of Oregon - the only bombing of the continental U.S. during the war. Newspapers in the U.S. voluntarily withhold this information.
After this time, the American and British forces attack Japanese forces in Oceania. From September to December of 1942, U.S. and Japanese forces clash at Guadalcanal. Both sides lost carriers, but America won by December 31, 1942. Allied forces took Buna in New Guinea on January 2, 1943. By January 1942, Japan started its evacuation of Guadalcanal. Japan bombed Calcutta, India back in December of 1942 too. U.S. code breakers (made up of Native Americans too) found out that Japanese Admiral Yamamoto was flying in a Japanese bomber near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Eighteen P-38 fighters then locate and shoot down Yamamoto. This was on April 18, 1943. America fought the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands. May 31, 1943, was when the Japanese ended their occupation of the Aleutian Islands after America liberated Attu. American forces fought in the Solomon Islands and bombed Wake Island. Allied forces go to New Georgia and continued to fight in the Solomon Islands by the end of 1943. On August 1-2, 1943, a group of 15 U.S. PT-boats attempted to block Japanese convoys south of Kolombangra Island in the Solomon Islands. PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, is rammed and sunk by the Japanese Cruiser AMAGIRI, killing two and badly injuring others. The crew survives as Kennedy aids one badly injured man by towing him to a nearby atoll. Japanese forces executed 100 American POWs on Wake Island. By early 1944, Allied forces slowly ended the spread of the Japanese Empire filled with war and fierce fighting.
Stalingrad and D-Day (The Turning Points)
The Battle of Stalingrad started on September 13, 1942. The Soviets had a counter offensive at Stalingrad by November 19, 1942. By December of 1942, Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago, Rommel withdraws from El Agheila, Soviets defeated Italian troops on the River Don in the USSR, British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jewish people by the Nazis; U.S. declared those crimes will be avenged, and there was the Battle of the Barents Sea between German and British ships. By January 2-3, the Nazis left the Caucasus. January 10, 1943, was when the Soviets began an offensive against the Germans in Stalingrad. January 14-24 was the time of the Casablanca conference between Churchill and Roosevelt. During the conference, Roosevelt announced the war can end only with "unconditional German surrender." January 23, 1943, was when Montgomery's Eighth Army took Tripoli. January 27, 1943, was when there was the first bombing raid by Americans on Germany (at Wilhelmshaven). February 2, 1943, was the date when Germans surrendered at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.
After the Allied victory of Stalingrad, the Nazis were about to be defeated in less than 2.5 years from that moment. It was the beginning of the end of the Nazi imperialist empire. General Dwight D. Eisenhower led American troops in the Allied invasion of North Africa. By February 1943, General Rommel or the Desert Fox led his Afrika Korps against Americans at the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia. Rommel broke through the American lines in trying to go the Allied supply base at Tebessa, Algeria. American soldiers stopped the Nazi attacks. Rommel retreated as he lacked supplies. This was when General George S. Patton Jr. was used to fight in North Africa. General Patton was an aggressive commander who knew how to fight in desert conditions. He would inspire U.S. troops to take initiative to defeat the Axis enemy. Patton helped to make North Africa free from Nazi occupation. The British forces came to Egypt, and Rommell escaped. By February 1943, the Soviets re-take Kharkov, the Nazis arrested White Rose leaders in Munich. The Nazis recaptured Kharkov by March of 1943, the Battle of Atlantic climaxes with 27 merchant ships sunk by German U-boats on March 1943, and the Warren SS attacked the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto in Poland.
By May 13, 1943, the Nazi and Italian forces of about 240,000 troops surrendered. The Jewish resistance ended in the Warsaw Ghetto happened by May 16, 1943. By May of 1943, there were the British raid raid on Rhur and Donitz ended U-boat operations in the North Atlantic. Himmler wanted the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland on June 11, 1943, the Nazis had their last offensive against Kursk on July 5, 1943. The Allied forces soon land in Sicily, Italy by July 9-10, 1943. The British and American forces invaded Sicily, Italy separately. Eisenhower commanded the joint American and British forces. The Allied bombed Rome and captured Palermo, Sicily by July 22, 1943. The British bombed Hamburg. Mussolini was arrested on July 25, 1943, and the Italian fascist government ended. Marshal Pietro Badoglio ruled Italy and negotiated with the Allied powers. The Nazis soon evacuate Sicily and go to Northern Italy. The Americans had daylight air raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt in Germany. The Allied reached Messina, Sicily by August 17, 1943. The Soviets get Kharkov by August 23, 1943. Italian forces surrendered to the Allies by September 1943. Yet, the Nazis occupied Rome by September 11, 1943. Northern Italy would be ruled by the Nazis. Fighting in Italy would continue until 1945 because of snow, mountains, and hills. The Nazis rescued Mussolini and Mussolini lives on until 1945. The Allies went to Naples, Italy on October 1, 1943. Italy declared war on Germany on October 13, 1943. Soon, the Soviets recaptured Kiev by November, raids from Britain happened in Berlin, and The Tehran Conference happened (with Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin). By the end of 1943, the Soviet Union rapidly defeat Nazi forces and fight in Ukraine and Poland by January 6, 1944.
The Allied forces in Italy fight in Anzio, Monte Cassino, by January and February of 1944. The Nazis fought back. The Soviets fight in Belorussia. Then, Berlin was bombed in daylight by the Allies on March 4, 1944. The British bombed 3000 pounds in Hamburg, Germany. The Soviets fight to liberate Crimea, they recapture Sevastopol, and the Allies attack the Gustav line south of Rome. The Nazis surrendered in the Crimea by May 12, 1944. The Nazis left the Adolf Hitler line, retreating from Anzio. By June 5, 1944, the Allied forces entered Rome. The D-Day landings on the northern coast of France took place on June 6, 1944. The success of the Allied D-Day liberation of France caused the liberation of Europe from the Nazi enemy.
“Almighty God. Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor. A struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity. They will need thy blessings for the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces but we shall return again and again. And we know that by thy grace and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. Some will never return. Embrace these Father and receive them, the heroic servants, into thy kingdom and O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in thee, faith in our sons, faith in each other and faith in our united crusade. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”
-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's prayer on D-Day.
The End of Hitler
The invasion of D-Day was months in the making. Winston Churchill was skeptical about D-Day at first, because Churchill didn't trust Stalin because he was a Communist. Also, Churchill didn't want British soldiers to sacrifice their lives for the interests of Joseph Stalin. Stalin wanted the Allied Forces to invade France to lessen the burden of the Soviets on the Eastern front. America and Britain agreed to participate in D-Day after multiple delays. By June of 1944, the Allied Forces knew that the Nazis were going to be defeated. The question was only how and when. Roosevelt supported Stalin's position to invade France, but Churchill was more stubborn. After the Tehran November 1943 Conference, plans for D-Day was starting. Operation Overload was the plan for D-Day. General Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the operation among the American side along with British General Bernard Montgomery (being the commander of the ground forces). General Omar Bradley of America led the United States First Army. The invasion was in Normandy, France with 21 American divisions, 26 British, Canadian, and Polish divisions on a 50 mile stretch of land.
The Normandy invasion was the largest amphibious invasion in human history with 4,400 ships and landing crafts. The plan was to allow General Patton to deceive the Nazis in claiming that a certain part of France was invaded, and then Allied forces would invasion on other beaches (coded named Omaha, Gold, Junio, and Sword). The Allied used fake cardboard images from Calais to think that the Nazis would have to fight in Calais. This plan worked as Hitler sent his military forces at Calais. On June 6, 1944, the Allies attacked German forces with more than 11,000 planes. The first troops landed at 6:30 pm., and the fighting was fierce. Many men died and it was graphic. The Omaha beach region had strong American causalities. The Allied forces had to climb cliffs at Normandy to defeat the Nazi enemy. Thomas E. Herring of C Company said that the carnage on the beach was indescribable. Many soldiers drowned, heavy gunfire was in existence, and the Allied forces defeated the Nazis as time went onward. Many Allied forces died, but by the end of the day, the Allied military forces gained a foothold in France. The American, British, Canadian, and anti-Nazi French forces worked together to help liberate France.
The Soviets soon controlled Lativa, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. The Soviets attacked Finland by June 9, 1944. The Nazis liquidated the town of Oradour-sur-Glane in France on June 10, 1944. The first German V-1 rocket attacked Britian on June 13, 1944. There was the Soviet summer offensive called Operation Bagration on June 22, 1944. The U.S. troops liberated Cherbourg, France on June 27, 1944. We saw the Battle of the Hedgrows in Normandy and the Soviets captured Minsk on July 3, 1944. British and Canadian troops capture Caen, France on July 9, 1944. The U.S. troops reached St. Lo, France on July 18, 1944, German Army officers tried to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944, but they failed. Soviet troops liberated the first concentration camp at Majdanek on July 24, 1944. From July 25-30, Operation Cobra existed (U.S. troops broke out west of St. Lô). Soviet troops take Brest-Litovsk. U.S. troops took Coutance on July 28, 1944. The Polish Home Army uprising against Nazis in Warsaw begins; U.S. troops reached Avranches on August 1, 1944. Anne Frank and her family were arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam on August 4, 1944. The Nazis used a major counterattack towards Avranches on August 7, 1944. Operation Dragoon begins (the Allied invasion of Southern France) on August 15, 1944. There was the resistance uprising in Paris on August 19, 1944. The Soviets attacked Romania on August 19, and the Allies encircled the Nazis in the Falaise Pocket on August 20. The liberation of Paris finally happened in August 25, 1944. There was the Slovak uprising on August 19, the Soviets took Bucharest on August 31, 1944, and by September 1-4, Verdun, Diepper, Artois, Rouen, Abbeville, Antwerp, and Brussels were liberated. Finland and the Soviet Union have a cease fire on September 4, 1944.
By September 13, 1944, American troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany. Holland was bombed by Allied Airforce's via Operation Market Garden by September 17, 1944. Soviet troops occupied Estonia on September 26 and by October 2, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising ends as the Polish Home Army surrendering to the Nazis. The Soviets captured Rigs on October 10-29, the Allies liberated Athens on October 14, and Rommel committed suicide on October 14 too. There was a massive German surrender at Achen, Germany on October 21. The last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz on October 30, 1944. French troops drive through the Beffort Gap to reach the Rhine by November 20. The French captured Strasbourg on November 24, there was a civil war in Greece and Athens is placed under martial law on December 4, 1944. The bloody Battle of the Bulge happened in the Ardennes from December 16-27, 1944. The Nazis had a surprise attack on Allied forces and the Allies responded to defeat the Nazis after the Battle of the Bulge was over. American forces at Bastogne held fast to defeat the Nazis. The Battle of the Bulge involved cold conditions, and many people had frostbite. It was the Winter. After the Battle of the Bulge, the Nazis were in constant retreat. The Waffen SS murdered 81 U.S. POWs at Malemdy on December 17, 1944. Patton relieves Bastonge by December 26, 1944. The Soviet troops besiege Budapest on December 27, 1944. The Nazis leave Ardennes from January 1-17, 1945.
By January 16, U.S. 1st and 3rd Armies linked up after a month-long separation during the Battle of the Bulge. The Soviets captured Warsaw, Poland on January 17, 1945. The Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on January 26, 1945. The famous Yalta conference took place from February 4-11, 1945, among Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. Roosevelt by this time was dying, and all men had to decide what to do after WWII. They agreed that Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania would have free elections. Yet, Stalin didn't fulfill his promise. FDR hoped that Stalin would at least promote free elections. Since the Soviets occupied much of Eastern Europe, Churchill and Roosevelt didn't have a strong hand to extremely pressure Stalin except with vague promises. Stalin supported FDR's desire for the Soviets to invade Japan in exchange for Stalin to control certain regions of Asia. They agreed with the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, Stalin agreed to have France to have a fourth zone of occupation in Germany (formed from the American and British zones), and Germany would have demilitarization and denazification. Roosevelt allowed Stalin to join the United Nations. The Yalta Agreement allowed Nazi war criminals to be found and put on trial in the territories in which their crimes had been committed (then the Nazi leaders were to be executed). The Yalta Conference was controversial and groundbreaking at the same time.
From February 13-14, Dresden was destroyed by a firestorm after Allied bombing raids. March 6, 1945, was when the Last German offensive of the war when the Nazis wanted to defend oil fields in Hungary. March 7, 1945, was when Allies took Cologne and establish a bridge across the Rhine at Remagen. Soviet troops captured Danzig on March 30, 1945. By April, the Allies found stolen Nazi art and wealth hidden in German salt mines. The American troops encircled Germans on the Ruhr. The Allied offensive in Northern Italy happened. On April 12, 1945, Allies liberated Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps; President Roosevelt died. America mourned the death of President Franklin Roosevelt who fundamentally changed the whole world. Harry Truman becomes President. Soviet troops began their final attack on Berlin; Americans entered Nuremberg on April 16, 1945. The Nazis surrendered in Ruhur by April 18. The Soviets reached Berlin on April 21, 1945. Mussolini was captured and hanged by Italian partisans and the Allies took Venice on April 28, 1945. The U.S. 7th Army liberated Dachau on April 29, and Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Nazi troops surrendered in Italy on May 2, 1945, and there was the unconditional surrender of all Nazi forces to the Allies on May 7, 1945. VE Day (or Victory in Europe Day) is celebrated on May 8, 1945. May 9, 1945, was when Hermann Göring was captured by members of the U.S. 7th Army. May 23, 1945, was when SS-Reichsführer Himmler committed suicide; German High Command and Provisional Government imprisoned. June 5, 1945 was when the Allies divided up Germany and Berlin and take over the government. June 26, 1945, was when the United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco. July 1, 1945, was when American, British, and French troops moved into Berlin.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The end of the Pacific Theater of World War Two was here. There was the Battle of Vella Gulf in the Solomon Islands on August 6-7, 1943, the Allies occupying New Georgia by August 25, and the Allies recapturing Lae-Salamaua, New Guinea on September 4, 1943. The Japanese executed about 100 American POWs on Wake Island on October 7, 1943. On October 26, Emperor Hirohito said that his country's situation is now grave. The U.S. Marines invaded Bouginville in the Solomon Islands on November 1, 1943. The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay happened on November 2, the U.S. troops invaded Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands on November 20, and the Japanese end resistance on Makin and Tarawa on November 23. U.S. troops landed on the Arawe Peninsula of New Britian in the Solomon Island on December 15, 1943, and there was the full Allied assault on New Britian as 1st Division Marines invaded Cape Gloucester on December 26, 1943.
By early 1944, British and Indian troops recaptured Maungdaw in Burma. U.S. troops invaded Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands on January 31, 1944. As time went on, American forces captured places in the Marshall Islands in February of 1944. The Japanese led offensives in China and in Imphal and Kohima. Later, the Allies invaded New Guinea by April and May of 1944. Americans use B-29 Superfortress bombers as 77 planes bomb Japanese railway facilities at Bangkok, Thailand. The American Marines invaded Saipan in the Mariana Islands on June 15, 1944. Japan was bombed again on June 1944. Japan leaves Imphal. American Marines invade Guam and Tinian. By July 27, 1944, American troops completely liberated Guam, so the Allied forces are going from island to island to defeat the Japanese military forces. The Allied forces also worked with Chinese troops to take Mtyikina. American troops captured the Marina Islands on August 8, 1944. The U.S. have air raids against Okinawa on October 11, 1944, and the U.S. Navy won the Battle of Leyte Gulf by October 26, 1944. Japanese use suicide air kamikaze attacks on U.S. warships in Leyte too. This was in October. The U.S. Navy bombs Iowa Jima by November 11, 1944. U.S. troops invade Mindoro in the Philippines by December 15, 1944. The U.S. Army Air Force prepare for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan using the B-29s. On January 3, 1945, Gen. MacArthur is placed in command of all U.S. ground forces and Adm. Nimitz in command of all naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan itself. The British fight in Burma, and the U.S. Sixth Army invaded the Lingayen Gulf on Luzon in the Philippines on January 9, 1945.
The Marines invade Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. This came after the U.S. troops recapture Bataan in the Philippines. By March 1945, American and Filipino troops take Manila on March 3, 1945. British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma. B-29s continue to bomb Japanese territories. The U.S. Tenth Army invade Okinawa on April 1, 1945. Japanese forces started to leave China on May 20, 1945. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff approve Operation Olympic, the invasion of Japan, scheduled for November 1. This was on May 25, 1945.
The Potsdam Conference took place from July 17 to August 2, 1945. It was a meeting of President Harry S. Truman, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin. The group decided on how to divide up Germany and agreed to an unconditional surrender of the Axis Powers. This conference focused on more details about establishing the post-war reality, solving issues on the peace treaty, and dealing with the effects of the war. Numerous representatives of America, Britain, and the Soviet Union were at the Potsdam Conference too. Harry Truman was more hawkish than FDR, so Truman and Churchill were allied to put more pressure on Stalin to support their goals. The conference allowed Germany to be divided into four occupation zones (being ruled by America, the UK, the Soviet Union, and France), a Soviet backed group would be recognized as the legitimate government of Poland, Vietnam is to be partitioned at the 16th parallel, and the Soviets agreed to invaded Japanese held areas. Truman told Stalin that he had a powerful new weapon at the conference, but Stalin knew of the atomic bomb because Soviet spies were inside the Manhattan Project (that developed the atomic weapon). The Potsdam Conference set the stage of the Cold War allowing the Soviet Eastern Bloc to rule much of Eastern Europe. Germany's eastern border would be shifted west to the Oder-Neisse line via the Potsdam Conference too.
Japanese Premier Suzuki announced Japan will fight to the very end rather than accept unconditional surrender. Japan have defeats in the Philippines until General MacArthur's headquarters announced the end of all Japanese resistance in the Philippines. The liberation of the Philippines was declared by July 5, 1945. After this event, there were 1,00 bomber raids against Japan from July 10th. The U.S. Navy bombs Japanese home islands. The first atomic bomb was successfully tested in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Later, part of the Little Boy atomic bomb was sent to Tinian Island in the South Pacific. A Japanese submarine sinks the Cruiser INDIANAPOLIS resulting in the loss of 881 crewmen. The ship sinks before a radio message can be sent out leaving survivors adrift for two days on July 29, 1945. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets on August 6, 1945. After that bomb, the world changed. People died instantly in Japan, graphic images of bodies were shown, and radiation poisoning harmed innocent lives for decades. A lot of people in our generation don't realize how destructive the bombings were. After the first bombing in Hiroshima, there a large mushroom crowd. The plane was battered by the shock wave when it was 5 miles out. The bomb destroyed an area of a mile in all directions. The crew could look at the mushroom cloud 400 miles away. The mushroom cloud rose as high as 40,000 ft. in the air. The fireball roasted people and boiled organs. Thousands of people died instantly. By 1950, 200,000 people died from the atomic bomb. Nagasaki was bombed too. Both bombings killed nearly 300,000 Japanese people, and Truman was jubilant over those 2 bombings (when there were negotiations to allow the Japanese to surrender as early as May 1945 according to General MacArthur and other generals). Truman was a sick man. It was a war crime against humanity and a crime against God period. It was blatantly evil and unjust which was done by Harry Truman. The Soviets declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria on August 8, 1945. The 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, from a B-29 flown by Major Charles Sweeney. 40,000 people died from the Nagasaki bombing instantly. Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki then decide to seek an immediate peace with the Allies.
On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted unconditional surrender; Gen. MacArthur is appointed to head the occupation forces in Japan. August 16, 1945, was when Gen. Wainwright, a POW since May 6, 1942, is released from a POW camp in Manchuria. B-29s drop supplies to Allied POWs in China by August 27, 1945, and the Soviets shoot down a B-29 dropping supplies to POWs in Korea; U.S. Troops land near Tokyo to begin the occupation of Japan on August 19. The British reoccupy Hong Kon on August 30, 1945. September 2, 1945, was when there was the Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay as 1,000 carrier-based planes fly overhead; President Truman declares VJ Day. September 3, 1945, was when The Japanese commander in the Philippines, Gen. Yamashita, surrenders to Gen. Wainwright at Baguio. Japanese troops surrendered on Wake Island on September 4, the British land in Singapore on September 5, MacArthur enters Tokyo on September 8, and the Japanese surrendered in Korea on September 9, 1945. The Japanese surrendered on September 13, 1945. The United Nations was born on October 24, 1945, which was a dream of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. World War Two is finally over, but the Cold War was born.
Allied Victory and the Aftermath
After the Allied victory during World War II, the world has changed in enumerable ways. The defeat of the Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy caused America to be the most powerful global superpower from 1945 to the present in 2025 (even with China catching up). The former allies of America and the Soviet Union became divided into communist and capitalist power bases via the Cold War. Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech in Missouri increased tensions, and Harry Truman agreed with Churchill's opposition to Stalin's expansion. Truman made his Truman Doctrine to oppose communist expansion anywhere on Earth (via the George F. Kennan doctrine of containment). The NATO alliance included America and many European nations like Turkey, and the Warsaw Pact included the Soviet Union and parts of Eastern Europe. Communists and non-communists clashed in Europe and in China. The 1948 Marshall Plan from America helped rebuild Europe in the amount of ca. $13 billion. Later, the West's Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the conflict in Greece, the Vietnam War, the anti-liberty McCarthyism movement represent major historical events of the Cold War era. America had a capitalist democracy with private property, religious freedom, and economic freedom. Joseph Stalin ran the Soviet Union with a dictatorship after WWII, murder of even socialist dissidents, the Soviet Union ruled Eastern Europe without them having political independence, and Stalin increasingly became anti-Semitic. Also, America had to reckon with its contradictions of Jim Crow, sexism, and other issues as well. Ironically, General Douglas MacArthur worked hard to cause an American occupation of Japan, supervised the writing of a new Japanese constitution. The new constitution in Japan banned the armed forces, except for defense, give women the right to vote, promoted democratic reforms, and established the groundwork for full economic recovery. One positive aftermath of World War II was the decline of imperialism from 1945 to the present. The British Empire declined. Soon, Ghana, Nigeria, India, and other nations became independent nations. The new superpowers of America and the Soviet Union had divergent philosophies competing against each other. After World War II (and slightly before the end of the war), new international institutions and groups were formed to try to maintain global stability like GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), the United Nations, the Monetary Fund, the World Bank, etc.
Now, we know the imperfections found in these organizations to be clear, but international cooperation in the right way without imperialism and without global exploitation is sacrosanct. The permanent seats of the United Nations included the nations of America, the Soviet Union, the UK, France, and China. They were part of the Security Council, the most powerful arm of the U.N. Human rights was promoted by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Geneva Convention promoted legitimate policies on war and peace. Also, many Nazis were held accountable for their war crimes via the Nuremberg Trials. Hermann Goring was one of many Nazis on trial for involvement in the evil, demonic Holocaust. Many of these criminals lied and said they were just following orders or Hitler is responsible alone, but participation in genocide is reprehensible. Many of the Nazis were hanged and some were sentence to long sentences. Many Allied and Israeli authorities tried to get Nazi war criminals overseas like Adolf Eichmann, a leading architect of the Holocaust. To this day, Nazi criminals are caught and tried. After World War II, the Civil Rights Movement in America grows, the government in America increases its role to invest in the lives of the people, and economic prosperity grows in the West from 1945 to 1972.
The Legacy of World War II
The legacy of World War II encompasses many things. As we shall we 2025, which is the 80th year anniversary of the end of World War 2, we recognize that history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Decades ago, human beings saw fascists using genocide, violations of democratic rights, and imperialism to promote their interests. Now, we have one person (who is Donald Trump) who desires to jail Liz Cheney and the January 6 committee members, he wants to sue the media who dissent from his views, calls the media the enemy of the people, seeks mass deportation, and wants total loyalty to his agenda without restraint. World War 2 started with complex factors like the failure of the League of Nations, economic competition among imperialistic powers (from Germany, Japan, the UK, the USA, etc.), the rise of fascist governments (in Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, etc.), and economic tribulations in the four corners of the Earth (via the Great Depression). World War II was the bloodiest war in human history causing almost 100 million human beings to die. Nearly 100 million human beings dead in less than 10 years is unimaginable for our minds to ascertain. The Nazis used the Holocaust to murder Jewish people, black people, biracial people, Slavic people, Jehovah's Witnesses, LGBTQ+ human beings, Freemasons, Mormons, Roma, disabled people, and other human beings. The Holocaust has no justification period. Many innocent Japanese Americans were placed in U.S. internment camps which was evil too. The Allied and Axis Powers not only fought for mineral resources. They fought for the future of the 20th century and the early 21st century. The irony is that the two major victors of WWII, America and the Soviet Union (who were allies during WWII), would be bitter enemies after the war during the Cold War (which lasted from 1945 to 1991). Hitler's reckless actions in Stalingrad, and Japan's overextension of its resources in Oceania and other parts of Asia contributed to the Axis defeat. Also, the Soviet Union used its military forces on the Eastern Front to make a huge difference in repelling Nazi expansion (even before D-Day). The Soviet Union's military actions contributed a great deal to the victory of the Allied Forces indeed.
There are tons of Allied forces heroes who rescued Holocaust victims, liberated countries, and showed awe-inspiring compassion for the suffering. The black women in the Triple Eight postal service organization deserve credit for helping the Allied cause (their service is promoted by a recent 2024 film by Tyler Perry, Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, etc. I can't entirely agree with Tyler Perry on every issue, but he deserves great credit for showing the true story of these black heroes in a film). WWII resulted in the growth of the anti-colonialism movement causing African, Latin American, and Asian peoples (in Nigeria, Ghana, Indonesia, etc.) to be free from colonial rule, and further globalization of trade and technology (a massive increase in life expectancy, inventions, and the rise of the Baby Boomers started after WWII). The United Nations was formed to handle international disputes. After WWII, the Cold War existed wherefore the American Empire and the Soviet Union fought over resources, politics, and philosophy. Stalin after the war became more anti-democratic and overtly anti-Semitic. After Stalin died, Stalinism crippled the freedom of many people in Europe which is why the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 took place allowing socialists to stand up to the Warsaw Pact. America promoted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the war, and General MacArthur used his influence to rebuild Japan. The American Empire (funded by wealthy capitalist interests) hypocritically claimed to love democracy but enforced Jim Crow apartheid, aided in right-wing coups, and went about to support unjust wars overseas. So, the Soviets and the wealthy elites in America made huge errors. There were always progressive Americans and others in the world (like Ella Baker, Malcolm X, Septima Clark, Diane Nash, Dr. King, Rosa Parks, etc.) who fought for real equality and freedom plus democracy to be clear.
The modern war on terror existed since the September 11, 2001, attacks, which was our new Pearl Harbor moment. Now, we live in a post-Afghanistan war era where there are regional wars (found in Gaza, Syria, Congo, Haiti, etc.), but Americans are split on what to do. Some want isolationism, some want imperialism, and others want to support democracy overseas via rational means. Terrorism is more decentralized from the terror attacks overseas in Europe (like in Berlin) to the recent evil, cowardly terrorist attack in New Orleans on January 1, 2025. We are opposed to terrorists from the January 6th insurrectionist terrorists to the terrorist in New Orleans too. The legacy of World War 2 is never again (we always remember the Holocaust), we should defend our democracy (i.e. the rule of law, the dignity of human life, equal rights under the law, and human justice), and standing up for freedom is a legitimate act to pursue, especially in our generation. I thank God that the Allied forces won World War II, and I will forever believe in the progressive principles that my ancestors fought and died for (many of my ancestors and relatives were in WWII, including having involvement in the Normandy D-Day invasion in real life like my late 1st cousin Delaware F. Harris). So, this is personal for me.
By Timothy
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