Eduardo Perez
HIS/114
December 8, 2011
Allen Smith
World War II Research Report At the end of the First World War, many changes were about to happen. The countries on the winning side did not feel victorious after millions had died because of the war. The countries on the losing side would now have to deal with settlements with the western allies. The great empires that once dominated central and Eastern Europe and West Asia had fallen. There was great uncertainty. Today I will discuss the Western Ideals and World War II. I will talk about the rise of totalitarianism, evaluate the causes of World War II, explain the Holocaust, describe the major figures, events, and technological innovations of World War II, and finally the aftermath of World War II.
After the war, extremism grew on both political left (socialist and communist) and right (conservatives and fascists) it affected those defeated in war such as Germany and those victorious such as Italy. (Grolier 2006, p 14) In Germany, communism was attempted by a group known as the Spartacists, they were immediately stopped by a right wing paramilitary group called the Freilcorps. Also in Germany, a young man by the name of Adolf Hitler led a young National Socialist movement which would land him in jail would later be called the Nazi party. Italy introduced their right wing organizations known as Fascism. Their goals were to crush communism and restore domestic stability. The western allies also had anti-communist feeling, in the US, a movement known as the “Red Scare” ordered the arrest of thousands of suspected communists, and many were deported. (Grolier 2006, p. 27)
While political changes were happening in Germany so were the economic changes. No other country felt the hardship of the great depression more than Germany. This was largely due to the fact that Germany’s economic well-being relied on the US loans that helped pay for reparations from the