Origins of World War II

• The origins of the Second World War lie in the world order established after World War I
• The Treaty of Versailles caused resentment among Germans and Italians, fostering a desire for revenge and the rise of dictatorial systems
• These systems favored war to gain economic and political dominance in Europe

Totalitarian Regimes' Desire for War

• Fascist regimes in Italy and Nazi Germany pursued expansionist policies that challenged the League of Nations
• They strengthened their armies, encouraged militarism, and engaged in an arms race
• Growing national sentiment and aggressive foreign policies led to military confrontation

Territorial Interests

• In the 1930s, authoritarian states initiated hostile actions
• Japan expanded into Manchuria and invaded China
• Italy seized Ethiopia and invaded Albania
• Italy and Germany supported the insurgent forces in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
• Germany aimed to create a vast empire (Third Reich) for Germanic peoples
• Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, occupied Austria (Anschluss), and demanded the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia

Weakness of Democracy

• Democracies attempted to isolate themselves or focus on domestic issues like unemployment
• The League of Nations failed to respond to Nazi and fascist hostilities, encouraging their aggression
• The Munich Conference (1938) saw democracies accepting Hitler's promises of no further expansion

Formation of Alliances

• Expansionist policy relied on mutually supportive treaties
• The Berlin-Rome Pact (1936) between Germany and Italy, later joined by Japan
• The Pact of Steel (1939) between Germany and Italy
• The Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939) secured Soviet neutrality in the invasion of Poland, and included a secret agreement to divide Poland and the Baltic States

Nazi-Soviet Pact Significance

• Showed the imperialist goals of totalitarian regimes
• Two opposing systems agreed to expand at Poland's expense
• Both powers sought to postpone confrontation
• Hitler wanted to avoid a two-front war
• Stalin wanted to prepare his forces
• The Allies (France and Great Britain) declared war on Germany after which marked the start of World War II

Phases of WWII

• Axis Victories: 1939-1941
• Allied Offensives: 1942-1945
• End of the War: May-September 1945

Axis Victories: 1939-1941

• Hitler invaded Poland initiating "lightning war" tactics, Poland collapsed in three weeks, dividing Poland between Germany and the USSR
• Germany invaded Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and NW France
• Germany bombed British ports and cities but Britain resisted, leading to a blockade of the British Isles during the Battle of the Atlantic
• Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece
• Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, attacking Russia and reaching Moscow and Leningrad, causing the USSR to join the Allied forces
• Japan attacked the US fleet in Pearl Harbor
• The US entered the war

Allied Offensives: 1942-1945

• Americans halted Japanese advances in the Pacific and began to reclaim occupied territories
• The British defeated the Germans at El Alamein
• Allied forces defeated the Germans in Tunisia
• Hitler's assault on Stalingrad failed, and the Soviets went on the attack, retaking Ukraine and Leningrad
• British and American troops landed in Normandy in June 1944
• British and American forces defeated German resistance, liberating part of France and entering Germany
• The Russians advanced from the east, pushing Germans out of Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria
• German cities were heavily bombed by the Allies
• Allied armies occupied Germany and met at the River Elbe on 26 April 1945
• Hitler committed suicide on 30 April

End of the War: May-September 1945

• Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945
• Americans reconquered most territories occupied by the Japanese
• Japan continued its defense, symbolized by kamikazes
• US President Truman ordered atomic bombs to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing up to 150,000 people
• Japan surrendered on 2 September, ending World War II

Reasons WWII Was a Total War

• The ideological and political divide led each side to seek the destruction of the other
• Peace was not an option, and all available means were used to win

Global Scope

• More countries were involved than in any previous war
• Military operations spanned five continents
• A vast number of human resources were mobilized, approximately 50 million soldiers

Mobilization

• Affected the civilian population due to bombings
• Required state intervention in the economy for military production, science, and technology
• Shortages led to rationing and the black market

Ideological Battle

• Both sides promoted patriotic values and hatred of the enemy
• The Allies praised democratic values
• The Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany, advocated the superiority of the Aryan race
• Mass media like radio, film, and propaganda posters were used to communicate ideology
• Women joined the workforce in various sectors

Occupation and Violence

• Germany wanted to impose a New Order across Europe
• Annexed territories like Alsace, Lorraine, and Bohemia became part of Germany
• Satellite states collaborated with Nazi occupation
• Occupied territories were mistreated
• Nazi occupation exploited subjugated territories for Germany's benefit
• Forced labor was used
• Companies were forced to give equity
• Food production and mining were controlled
• Confiscation occurred without meeting the needs of the population
• The Gestapo and SS suppressed dissidence
• Populations in Japanese-occupied territories suffered mass killings, torture, and sexual slavery
• The Nanking massacre in 1937 resulted in at least 200,000 deaths

Jewish Holocaust

• Nazi ideology promoted racism and xenophobia against those considered inferior
• The Holocaust was the systematic extermination of millions of Jews

Persecution and Arrest

• Jews were persecuted, forced to wear badges, and transported to concentration camps
• Ghettos were established in Poland and other countries from 1940
• Jewish massacres began in the USSR and eastern Europe in June 1941

Deportation

• In 1942, Nazi leaders planned the 'Final Solution'
• Concentration camps became places of mass extermination
• Systematic torture occurred during transport to the camps

Life and Death

• Extermination camps were places of torture, degradation, and death
• Prisoners were hardly fed or dressed and forced to perform hard labor, tortured, subjected to medical experiments, and murdered

Consequences of the War

• Human and Economic Losses
• Over 50 million deaths
• The largest proportion of whom were from the USSR, followed by Germany and Poland
• Civilian victims were more than half the total number
• Extensive destruction of cities, communication, and industrial facilities
• Burning crops and woodland and the destruction of industries seriously affected production
• Approximately thirty million displaced Europeans

Moral Consequences

• The Nuremberg Trials (20 November 1945-30 September 1946) trialed 21 Nazi leaders
• Military action led to questioning of moral and political values
• Human rights were systematically violated
• The discovery of concentration camps, atomic bombs, and massacres raised questions about the barbarism of western civilization

Peace Conferences

• Tehran (November 1943): Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin planned joint military measures
• Yalta (February 1945): Agreed on denazification and partition of Germany and Austria, democratic elections in liberated countries, and creation of the United Nations
• Potsdam (August 1945): New leaders (Atlee, Truman, and Stalin) agreed to return territories annexed by Germany, separate Austria, dismantle military industry, and punish Nazi leaders

Post-War Division

• The US represented capitalism and parliamentary democracy
• The USSR advocated communism and a single-party system
• Europe was divided into eastern and western areas of influence

The United Nations

• Replaced the League of Nations and was signed by 46 founding states in the San Francisco Conference (April-June 1945)
• Sought to ensure international peace and security, as well as economic and social cooperation
• Established the sovereign equality of all member states
• Promoted the maintenance of peace without interfering in countries' internal affairs
• Fought for the right to self-determination
• Adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

UN Structure

• The General Assembly issues recommendations
• The Security Council considers the Assembly's recommendations turning them into decisions that are compulsory for all member states, however, all permanent members have the right to veto these decisions
• Includes agencies such as the International Court of Justice, UNHCR, UNICEF, and UNESCO

UN Goals

• Encouraging and protecting human rights: The Millennium Declaration was adopted in 2000
• Peace missions or conflict mediation: Peacekeeping troops protect the civilian population, humanitarian organizations, and refugees