The Three Major Events Of World War II

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children,” stated former president Jimmy Carter at his Nobel Lecture. Most of the combat action of World War II occurred in Europe, East Asia, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean between September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. World War II was the bloodiest war in history that took approximately 70 million lives. Three major events that occurred during World War II were the Holocaust, D-Day, and the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To begin with, the first major event of World War II was the Holocaust. The Holocaust was Hitler’s “Final Solution” to exterminate the Jewish population because he believed they caused Germany to lose World War II. The “Final Solution” consisted of over 40,000 concentration camps set up to brutally murder and torture millions of Jews. Between January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945 the Holocaust eliminated about 16% of the Jewish population or 6 million Jews. I am angered at how the Germans dealt with their situation and committed these heinous crimes because they believed they were superior. I believe it is so wrong to discriminate against other human beings just because they are a different
race or have a different religion. Next, the second major event of World War II was D-Day, also known as Operation Overlord.
D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944 when about 156,000 American, Canadian, and British forces landed on five beaches along France’s Normandy region. This battle was the largest amphibious attack in history that liberated Western Europe from Nazi Germany control. This landing caused the death of about 4,400 Allied soldiers and 4000 to 9000 German soldiers. D-Day is marked as the day that began the end of the Germans and Hitler. I am happy D-Day occurred because it stopped Germany and Hitler from winning the war. If the Hitler continued the war, who knows how our world would be
today. Furthermore, the final major event that occurred in World War II was the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States and Japan had been at war with each other for for approximately four years but it was ended when the Japanese surrendered. The United States devised a plan to drop “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, atomic bombs, on two cities in Japan called Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6 to August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped their weapons on the cities which created great devastation. Once the two bombs hit the cities, it created a chemical reaction that instantly vaporized 70,000 people. Those who did not die instantly were plagued with radiation sickness which put the total death toll to about 135,000 people or 90% of the population. These bombing ultimately ended World War II. I have mixed emotions about this event because it ended the war but was a very brutal way of making someone surrender. In conclusion, the Holocaust, D-Day, and the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were three major events in World War II that contributed to the ending of the bloodiest war in history. I believe another war can be prevented from happening again if we teach our children and further generations about equality and justice. We as a whole can prevent this by ending racial and religious sensitivity. We should love all human beings no matter how different they are from you.