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World War II: Causes, Course, and Global Impact
3.1 Causes of WWII
WWII grew directly from the unresolved grievances of WWI and the global crises of the 1930s:
- Treaty of Versailles resentment: German humiliation and economic collapse created conditions for Hitler's rise (see Topic 20)
- Great Depression (1929–33): Unemployment reached 30% in Germany, 25% in USA; economic desperation drove populations to extreme parties
- Failure of appeasement: Britain and France allowed Hitler's incremental territorial gains — Anschluss (Austria, March 1938), Munich Agreement (Sudetenland, September 1938, Chamberlain's "peace for our time") — this only emboldened him
- Weakness of the League of Nations: Failed to stop Japan's invasion of Manchuria (1931), Italy's conquest of Ethiopia (1935–36), or Hitler's remilitarisation of Rhineland (1936)
- Fascist and Nazi expansionism: Rome-Berlin Axis (1936), Anti-Comintern Pact (1936), Tripartite Pact (1940)
- Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 23 August 1939): Germany and USSR secretly divided Eastern Europe — freed Hitler to invade Poland
Immediate cause: Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939; Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939.
3.2 Course of WWII: Major Theatres
European Theatre
| Period | Key Events |
|---|---|
| 1939–40 | Germany uses Blitzkrieg — Poland (6 weeks), then Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, France (6 weeks); Battle of Dunkirk; French surrender Jun 1940 |
| 1940–41 | Battle of Britain (Jul–Oct 1940) — Luftwaffe fails to destroy RAF; Germany invades USSR (Operation Barbarossa, 22 Jun 1941) |
| 1942 | Battle of Stalingrad (Aug 1942–Feb 1943) — turning point on Eastern Front; 2 million casualties; Germany's 6th Army surrounded and surrendered |
| 1944 | D-Day: Operation Overlord (6 Jun 1944) — Allied landing at Normandy; largest amphibious assault; 156,000 troops on Day 1 |
| 1945 | Allied forces from west + Soviet forces from east; Hitler's suicide (30 Apr 1945); Germany surrenders 8 May 1945 (V-E Day) |
Pacific Theatre
| Event | Date | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Japan attacks Pearl Harbor | 7 Dec 1941 | USA enters WWII |
| Battle of Midway | Jun 1942 | Turning point — Japan's naval power broken |
| Island-hopping campaign | 1943–45 | US advances toward Japan |
| Atomic bomb — Hiroshima | 6 Aug 1945 | ~80,000 killed instantly; ~140,000 by year-end |
| Atomic bomb — Nagasaki | 9 Aug 1945 | ~40,000 killed instantly; ~80,000 by year-end |
| Japan surrenders | 15 Aug 1945 (V-J Day) | WWII ends |
3.3 Impact of WWII
Human Cost
- 70–85 million deaths — the deadliest war in human history
- USSR: 27 million (heaviest losses); China: 15–20 million; Poland: 6 million (17% of population); Germany: 7.4 million; Japan: 3.1 million; UK: 450,000; USA: 420,000
- Holocaust: 6 million Jews and 5–6 million others (Roma, disabled, POWs, political prisoners) systematically murdered
- 60 million refugees displaced across Europe
Political Restructuring
- UN established (24 October 1945): 51 founding members; Security Council with 5 permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) with veto power
- Nuremberg Trials (1945–46): First international war crimes tribunal; 12 sentenced to death; established that individuals — including heads of state — can be held responsible for crimes against humanity
- Germany divided: East Germany (Soviet-controlled, DDR) and West Germany (Western-controlled, FDR); Berlin divided by the Berlin Wall (built 1961)
- Japan occupied and demilitarised by USA under General MacArthur; Article 9 constitution renounced war
- Decolonisation accelerated: Britain and France — economically exhausted — could no longer maintain empires; India (1947), Pakistan (1947), Burma (1948), Indonesia (1945–49) gained independence
- State of Israel established (14 May 1948) — partly in response to the Holocaust
New World Order
- USA and USSR emerged as two superpowers replacing the European-dominated multipolar order
- USA: world's largest economy (50% of global GDP in 1945), nuclear monopoly until 1949
- USSR: largest land army, expanding sphere into Eastern Europe
- Bretton Woods System (1944): Dollar as reserve currency; IMF and World Bank established — American-dominated economic order
Social Changes
- Over 60 million women mobilised in war work worldwide; "Rosie the Riveter" symbolised American women in defence manufacturing
- USSR deployed 800,000+ women in frontline military roles — snipers, pilots ("Night Witches")
- US Civil Rights: African American soldiers' service in segregated units sharpened demands for equality
- Britain's National Health Service (NHS) founded 1948, directly inspired by wartime state organisation
- Nuclear age began: Hiroshima ended the era when wars could be "won" conventionally