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Japanese expansion towards China
Japan sought to expand its territory at the expense of China.
It occupied Manchuria in 1931 and invade China in 1937. -
Italy took possesion of Ethiopia in 1935
Italy took possesion of Ethiopia in 1935 as part of its mission to extend its colonial empire.
In Europe it also invade Albania. -
Spanish Civil War
Italy and Germany took part in Spanish civil war in 1936-1939 supplying the insurgent forces with soldiers and weapons, while France and Great Britain chose not to get involved. -
German policy of territorial expansion
Germany develovep a policy of territorial expansion aimed at creating a vast empire (Third Reich) of lands inhabited by Germanic people.
In 1936 in violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland. -
Creation of the Axis alliance
This expansionist policy was based on a series of mutually supportive international treaties. In 1936, Germany entered into the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance with Italy, which was renewed in 1939 under the name Pact of Steel. Moreover, in November 1936,germany entered into the AntiCominent Pact with Japan. -
Germany occupy Austria
In March 1938 it use military force to occupy Austria (Anschluss) and in September demanded Czechoslovakia hand over the Sudetenland, which was populated by a significant German minority. -
Munich Conference
It was convened by Hitler folowing protests by France, Great Britain and other powers over his policy of expansionism. It ended with the democracies accepting Hitler´s promises to expand no further -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
To prevent the USSR from joining forces with France and Great Britain and helping Poland,Hitler signed Nani-Soviet Pact with Stalin, after which he began the invasion of Poland. In response, the Allies declare war on Germany, which marked the beginning of the Second World War. -
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Axis Victories (1)
- Hitler launched Blitzkrieg (lighting war) wich consisted of using armoured divisions (Panzer division) and strong aerial support. Poland collapse in three weeks and the country was divided by Germany and the USSR acording to the terms of the Nazi Soviet Pact. -In 1940 the German army invaded most of western Europe (North-West France,Belgium,etc).Great Britain was the only country to have resisted German occupation. The Luftwaffe (airforce) bombed British ports, cities (Battle of Britain)
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Axis Victories (2)
- Hitler ordered the blockade of the British isles and launched the Battle of the Atlantic to cut off British supply lines. He also fought the British in the Mediterranean,and German African corps conquered North Africa.
- June 1941 Hitler launch operation Barbarossa and attacked Russia,quickly reaching the gates of Moscow and Leningrad. This was an extremely significant event as,in response the USSR join the allies against the Axis powers.
In December, Japan destroyed Pearl Harbour,US join war
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Allied offensives (1)
-After the USSR and the United States entered the conflict,the war took a decisive turn in June 1942. The Americans stopped Japanese advances in the Pacific (Battle of Midway and Guadalcanal) and started reconquering occupied territories. -In North Africa the British defeated the Germans at "El Alemein". Sortly after, an Alllied army under the control of General Eisenhower landed in French Africa and defeated the Germans in Tunisia (May 1943) -
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Allied offensives (2)
The German assault on Stalingrad (August 1942-February 1943) was Hitler's first major failure. After, the Soviets attack, taking back Ukraine and ending the siege of Leningrad (January 1944). Liberation of Europe was hastened by the Normandy landings by British and American troops (June 1944), which brought many soldiers and weapons into France. The British and American forces defeated the German resistanceand began advancing from the west, liberating part of France and entering Germany. -
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Allied offensives (3)
At the same time, the Russians moved in from the east, pushing the Germans out of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. To support these advances, German cities were subjected to heavy Allied bombings.
Both Allied armies occupied Germany and met at the River Elbe on 26 April 1945. Hitler commited suicide on 30 April and, on 8 May, Germany surrendered. -
Tehran conference
The three Allies (Great Britain, the United States and the USSR) met for the fist time at the Tehran Conference (November 1943), wich was attended by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. There, they took joint military measures to speed up the end of the war. -
End of the Pacific War
In the Pacific, the Americans had reconquered most of the territories occupied by the Japanese. But Japan continued its defence, symbolised by the"kamikazes". To force Japan to surrender, US President Truman decided to use a new weapon:the atomic bomb, it was dropped on the cities of Hirosima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The level of destruction was like nothing seen before and approximately 150.000 people died. Faced with this nuclear horror, Japan surrended on 2 September.
The WW2 was over. -
The Yalta Conference
The second conference took place in Yalta (February 1945). This meeting agreed denazification and partition of Germany and Austria into four occupied zones and the division of Berlin and Vienna; the organisation of democratic elections in the liberated countries; and the creation of an international peacekeeping body: the United Nations. -
The Potsdam conference
The third peace conference was held in Potsdam (August 1945). The new leaders (Atlee, Truman and Stalin) reached an agreement to return all of the European territories annexed by Germany, separate Austria, dismantle the military industry and prosecute and punish the Nazi leaders -
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Global scope (After ww2)
The Second World War was a total war firstly because of its geographical dimension. There were more countries involved than in any previous war.
The conflict involved independent states and colonies from five continents, and military operations were not limited to Europe. They also took place in Africa, Asia and Oceania. -
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Mobilisation of the population and economy for military purposes (1)
The conflict also directly affected the civilian population, largely as a result of the bombings, which were intended to terrorise cities, desmoralise the population and break their resolve. These bombings also aimed to destroy the enemy's industrial and economic organisation and weaken their military capacity. In the final phase of the war, they bacame a devastating form of punishment for the defeated. -
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Mobilisation of the population and economy for military purposes (2)
The Second World War had an inseparable economic dimension. It was a well-planned conflict that required state intervention in the economy to mobilise production, science and technology for military purposes. Military industrial complexes appeared, linked to developments in weapons technology. This led to major changes in the organisation of production and huge increases in the workforce in the countries at war Great Britain, the United States and Japan saw the large-scale mobilisation of women -
Paris peace conference and treaty with Austria
Finally, peace treaties with Germany's other allies were drawn up during the Paris Peace Conference in 1946. The treaty with Austria was not singed until 1955, the year the Allied occupation ended. -
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Mobilisation of the population and economy for military purposes (3)
Women entry to the workforce while Germany relied on the esploitation of foreing workers. Shortages opf food and consumer goods forced countries to organise the daily misery by means of rationing, which simulated the black market. They also restricted expressions of social unrest, in an effort to keep discontent from spreading, particulary among the soldiers. -
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An ideological battle
To win the war, countries needed to mobilise peoples consciences.
As in the ww1, both sides promoted patriotic values and encouraged hatred of the enemy. The Allied campaigns focused on mantaining a fight spirit and encouraging people to support the war effort and defenfd the Allies unity. -
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Ideological battle (PROPAGANDA)
They also praised democratic values over dictatorships.The Axis powers, particularly Nazi Germany, advocated the values and superiority of the Aryan race and exposed the Jewish and communist conspiracy that threatened the world and had to be destroyed. They used: radio, newcast, films, press, and particularly propaganda posters -
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Aolitical dominance
Germany to impose the Nazis New Order across Europe. Other countries became dependent on the Third Reich, in three categories:- Annexed territories of Nazi Germany, which became part of Germany.
- Satellite states, allies or goverments that collaborated with Nazi occupation.
- Occupied territories, which were considered of minor importance and were mistreated.
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Economic exploitation
The purpose of Nazi ocuppation was exploit terrritories for benefit of Germany.These territories were forced to contribute to the German war effort and supply the Reich with raw materials, agricultural products, industrial goods and workers in Germany's arms industry were foreingers. They also demanded an equity stake in foreing companies, controlled food production and the mining industry and engaged in the practice of forced confiscation, without meeting the needs of the indigenous population -
The founding of the UN
The new organisation sought to ensure international peace and security, as well as economic and social cooperation between nations. It established the sovereing equality of all member states and promoted the maintenance of peace (without interfering in countries internal affairs) and the right of people to self-determination. Based on these principle, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, a text that remains hugely important to this day. -
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The subjugation of the population
During the German occupation, the civilian population was subjected to considerable violence. The introduction of a regime of violence and terror was essential for military and political dominance. The German Gestapo and SS were brutal instruments that deterred dissidence. Those who resisted were arrested, tortured, deported or executed. -
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Collaborate or resist
Collaborationist governments activately colluded with the Germans in occupied countries. Industrialist who ere afraid of Communism or seduced by the opportunities for profit promised by the occupiers also collaborated, as did segments of the population attracted by the Nazis New Order or afraid of Nazi brutality. However, despite the danger, many people resisted and worked against the enemy or joined clandestine armed groups (militias) -
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Human and economic losses (1)
The WW2 left over 50 million people died, the largest proportion whom were from the USSR, followed by Germany and Poland. The weapons, bombs and aeroplanes used during the war increased the capacity for destruction on both the fronts and among the civilian population. Civilian victims representmotre than half the total number of deaths. In the WW1, only 5% of the dead were civilians. -
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Human and economic losses (2)
There was also extensive edstruction of property, which mostly affected cities, means of communication and industrial facilities. The continuous looting of cities, the practice of burning crops and woodlandand the destructions of industries seriously affected production in warring countries. On the other hand, the countries that had stayed out of the dispute (Canada, Australia, Sweden, etc) and become suppliers experienced economic growth. -
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Human and economic losses (3)
Population displacements, common during the conflict, continued in the post-war period. Liberated prisioners and forced labourers returned to their countries, while ethnic minorities established new states, as a result of peace treaties, etc. In the period inmediatly following the war, there were almost thirty million displaced Europeans wandering the continent. Europe was materially and morally destroyed. Then 2 new powers emerged: the United States and the USSR, which pushed Europe background -
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The moral impact
The brutality of military action led people to question the moral and political values of European civilisation. Human rights had been systematically violated, and a culture of violence and cruelty had become established over the course of 6 years. -
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The moral impact (2)
The discovery of the concentration camps and practices of extermination brought to light the scale of the Nazi atrocities.
The atomic bombs dropped on Hirosima and Nagasaki were interpreted as a global apocalypse. In addition, evidence of the massacres carried out by the Soviets in Poland raised further ideological doubts. All of this resulted in a profound moral trauma that raised serious questions about the barbarism of western civilisation.
