The main parties were the Axis nations (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and their smaller allies) and the Allied nations, led by Britain (and its Commonwealth nations), the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United …show more content…
States of America. Although the Second World War follows the procession of various conflicts over the course of 6 years, certain major historical events can be noted.
What many consider as the starting point of World War II is Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September, 1939 which led Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Following the surrender of Poland, Germany attacked France. France capitulated in June, 1940, and sooner than later; the Nazis took charge of most of the rest of Europe and North Africa. Britain, under the rule of Winston Churchill, was the only western country to have not been conquered by Germany. The United States of America had technically remained on the sidelines until near the end of 1941, although it had provided aid to Britain and the Soviet Union. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, Congress declared war on Japan. In order to honor its pact with Japan, Germany declares war on the U.S. Nevertheless, the Japanese fought on even after the conflict in Europe came to an end. In order to prevent more U.S. casualties and to end the war quickly, Truman decided to utilize the newly developed atomic bomb. The Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, killing about 78,000 people and injuring 100,000 more. On August 9, yet another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, killing another 40,000 people.
As for the economic status of the United States in World War II, in 1939, the United States was still trapped in a grave economic depression that incapacitated the nation for a full decade.
In late 1939, two years before the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt determined it would be imperative—and perhaps perceptive—to invest time and money into national defense. By the spring of 1940, he convinced Congress to augment defense spending, expand the army, and broaden the U.S. military air fleet. Through billions of dollars in federal spending—predominantly focused on rearmament and national security—he managed to channel money into a peacetime draft, elevate wages for military personnel, present subsidies for defense manufacturing, and permit loans to aid Great Britain and the Soviet Union.
As the United States had begun being in involved in the World War II, wartime manufacturing facilities had been set throughout the nation, creating an immense demand for labor. Merely within months of the U.S. declaration of war, the national unemployment rate plunged down a rate of 10% in comparison to its 1940
level.
World War Two is the decisive cataclysm and crucial period of the 20th Century. It serves to be a significant turning point in world history as its mark leaves behind a countless effect in almost all aspects of our modern life, whether it is social, cultural, or economic. The lessons learned and the changes created are numerous. Some of the changes included the conclusion of colonial empires and the rise of nationalism within former colonies, the formation of the United Nations and the European Union, multitudinous border changes and a re-strengthening of the United States’ economy which had been previously enervated by the Great Depression.
Domestically, World War Two also fostered considerable changes by setting women into the workforce on a huge scale, and by commencing the process of racially integrating the armed forces. The technological changes were just as widespread as the political and social changes.
Key figures that have been known as leaders in World War II include Adolf Hitler, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.
Adolf Hitler was known to be the leader of Germany as World War II began. For the majority of the war he lived underground in a concrete shelter at his headquarters in East Prussia. Hitler was exceptionally successful at the beginning of the war, defeating many countries and people became convinced that he was a military genius.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd U.S. president, guided the country through World War II until his demise from a cerebral hemorrhage in April 1945, just a few months prior to the end of the war. Along with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, Roosevelt played an essential role in holding together the Allied coalition that ultimately defeated Nazi Germany.
As for Winston Churchill, he was the prime minister of Britain during most of World War II. Churchill was among the most diligent leaders in resisting German forces and played a key role in assembling the Allied Powers, including the United States and the USSR.