Notes

Finally, on June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union from the Baltic shore in the north to the Black Sea in the South. The Soviets were caught by surprise. (The USSR knew Germany would attack eventually and had wargamed various scenarios but did not expect the invasion so soon.) Their military leadership had been decimated by Stalin’s purges of the 1930s, in which he removed—often killed—many of the most effective commanders and replaced them with political stooges. In the Finnish-Soviet War (Winter War) between November 30, 1939 and March 12, 1940, tiny Finland repeatedly stymied an invasion by the giant Soviet Union for months until finally forced to yield to overwhelming numbers; the peace settlement gave the Soviets 25,000 square miles of Finnish territory.

Hitler turned his attention from Britain, a country he hadn’t really wanted to fight, to his most important goal: invading and defeating his erstwhile ally, the Soviet Union. First, Germany had to assist Italy, which had bogged down in its attempt to invade and conquer Greece. (Earlier, Italy had seized Abyssinia, now called Ethiopia, in Africa.) Yugoslavia also fell to the German war machine. Hungary and Romania were already German allies—Romania had planned to fight against Germany but the loss of its major ally, France, left it with little choice but to become a satellite of Nazi Germany. A fascist government overthrew Romania’s monarch, and the Balkan country would serve as the third-largest Axis military in Europe until it switched sides in the autumn of 1944, becoming the fourth-largest Allied military.

The fighting in Europe began on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Previously, Germany, led by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, had annexed Czechoslovakia and Austria without provoking a military response from France or Great Britain. Poland was a step too far; both of those nations declared war on Germany in support of Poland, but they were slow to take effective actions. The French military and government expected Poland would hold out till spring, allowing France time to mobilize. But Germany demonstrated the effectiveness of combined arms warfare, in which infantry, armor, artillery and aircraft work in coordination. This type of war required rapid communication; in preparation, the Germans had developed radios small enough that every vehicle could be equipped with one.

Competing ideologies further fanned the flames of international tension. The Bolshevik Revolution in czarist Russia during the First World War, followed by the Russian Civil War, had established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a sprawling communist state. Western republics and capitalists feared the spread of Bolshevism. In some nations, such as Italy, Germany and Romania, ultra-conservative groups rose to power, in part as a reaction against communism.

Germany, Italy and Japan signed agreements of mutual support but, unlike the Allied nations they would face, they never developed a comprehensive or coordinated plan of action.

World War II summary: Summary of World War II: The Second World War was arguably the most significant period of the 20th century. It brought about major leaps in technology and laid the groundwork that permitted post-war social changes including the end of European colonialism, the civil rights movement in the United States, and the modern women’s rights movement, as well as the programs for exploring outer space. The primary combatants were the Axis nations (Nazi Germany, Facist 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 States of America. The Allies were the victors. Two superpowers, the USA and USSR, emerged from World War II to begin a Cold War with each other that would define much of the rest of the century.

Casualties in World War II

The most destructive war in all of history, its exact cost in human lives is unknown, but casualties in World War II may have totaled 50 million service personnel and civilians killed. Nations suffering the highest losses, military and civilian, in descending order, are:
USSR: 42,000,000
Germany: 9,000,000
China: 4,000,000
Japan: 3,000,000

Asking when World War II began is a good way to start a long and passionate debate. Some say it was simply a continuation of the First World War that had theoretically ended in 1918. Others point to 1931, when Japan seized Manchuria from China. Italy’s invasion and defeat of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935, Adolf Hitler’s re-militarization of Germany’s Rhineland in 1936, the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 are sometimes cited. The two dates most often mentioned as "the beginning of World War II" are July 7, 1937, when the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident" led to a prolonged war between Japan and China, and September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, which led Britain and France to declare war on Hitler’s Nazi state in retaliation. From the invasion of Poland until the war ended with Japan’s surrender in August 1945, multiple nations were at war with each other, some fighting for the ultimately victorious Allies, some for the Axis.

Origins of World War II

No one historic event can be said to have been the origin of World War II. Japan’s unexpected victory over czarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) left open the door for Japanese expansion in Asia and the Pacific. The United States U.S. Navy first developed plans in preparation for a naval war with Japan in 1890. War Plan Orange, as it was called, would be updated continually as technology advanced and greatly aided the U.S. during World War II.

The Second World War effectively ended the era of European colonialism. European nations had been seriously weakened by the war, and their people were war-weary. Leftist revolts in their colonies in Africa and Asia generally ended with the colonial powers withdrawing, sometimes peacefully, sometimes after periods of guerrilla warfare. Many rebels had received combat experience during the war; often, the best-organized and best-armed rebel groups were communist. Their uprisings for independence, land reform or other goals helped fuel fears of a global communist takeover—especially since eastern Europe had fallen under the control of the USSR at war’s end and communists won the Chinese Civil War in 1949—and western nations often supplied aid or even military support to suppress them.

On the American homefront, African Americans who had served in the war returned to find the old discrimination against them still in place. A civil rights movement developed, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as its best-known leader, that ended officially sanctioned segregation, discrimination in employment and other social ills. Mahatma Ghandi in India paved the way for civil rights movements in the U.S. and other countries through nonviolent means. In South Africa in 1948, however, conservatives narrowly defeated the moderate coalition that had guided the nation through World War II, and the new government instituted even stricter racial policies than had existed before, under the name apartheid (seperateness); apartheid continued until 1994.

In many nations, with so many men away at war, women went into the workplace in large numbers during the war, and demonstrated they could handle non-traditional jobs such as welding. Immediately following the war, they were replaced by the men returning home. A baby boom began, and women of the "boomer generation" would lead their own civil rights movement against gender discrimination in employment and other areas.

Nazi Germany had developed a rocket program, launching explosive missiles against civilian targets in Britain. At war’s end, the US and USSR raced against each other to round up as many of the German scientists as they could to develop their own programs. This resulted not only in intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, it led to a "Space Race" between the two ideologically opposed nations that took humanity beyond the confines of Earth for the first time.

Other technology, developed or improved upon for war, also became part of daily life, most notably nuclear power, which supplies energy to homes and businesses in many nations. Improved radar and sonar, microwave ovens, the expansion of chemical and plastics industries, and many other changes were part of the post-war world. Even the toy Slinky was developed by Richard James, an engineer working on a meter to test horsepower on battleships.

Imperial Japan also believed its people were racially superior, and therefore any act conducted against other Asians or Westerners was justified. At Nanking tens of thousands of Chinese were buried alive or slaughtered by other means. Chinese, Korean, Dutch and other women were forced into sexual slavery as "comfort women," each servicing dozens of Japanese military personnel daily.

The Imperial Japanese Army also established Unit 731, a secret biological warfare unit that infected prisoners of war with biological agents in order to study their effectiveness. Some prisoners were cut open while they were still alive, without anesthesia, to examine the effects of the disease within their bodies. Other horrific experiments were also carried out. Unlike concentration camp guards and executioners from Europe, many of whom were tried and imprisoned or executed for their crimes, the staff of Unit 731 was granted immunity by U.S. authorities in exchange for information on their findings, for America’s own biological warfare program. The Soviet Union prosecuted a dozen members of the unit and sentenced them to labor camps.

Allied governments and militaries did not set up systemic avenues of torture, rape or murder, but thousands of rapes were carried out against the women of Germany, Japan, Okinawa and even the women of Allied nations by individual soldiers. This was particularly widespread among Soviet troops in retaliation for what German soldiers had done to women of Russia, the Ukraine and other areas of the USSR. The American Joint Chiefs received reports of large numbers of rape among French, Italian and other women by U.S. forces. In Japan American admiral Raymond Spruance set up supervised brothels to reduce the rates of venereal disease and rape, but this was short-lived once a Congressman heard about it. Some Axis soldiers were shot after being captured, sometimes in anger or retaliation, sometimes during rapid advances or during combat.

The Second World War effectively ended the era of European colonialism. European nations had been seriously weakened by the war, and their people were war-weary. Leftist revolts in their colonies in Africa and Asia generally ended with the colonial powers withdrawing, sometimes peacefully, sometimes after periods of guerrilla warfare. Many rebels had received combat experience during the war; often, the best-organized and best-armed rebel groups were communist. Their uprisings for independence, land reform or other goals helped fuel fears of a global communist takeover—especially since eastern Europe had fallen under the control of the USSR at war’s end and communists won the Chinese Civil War in 1949—and western nations often supplied aid or even military support to suppress them.

Imperial Japan also believed its people were racially superior, and therefore any act conducted against other Asians or Westerners was justified. At Nanking tens of thousands of Chinese were buried alive or slaughtered by other means. Chinese, Korean, Dutch and other women were forced into sexual slavery as "comfort women," each servicing dozens of Japanese military personnel daily.

The Imperial Japanese Army also established Unit 731, a secret biological warfare unit that infected prisoners of war with biological agents in order to study their effectiveness. Some prisoners were cut open while they were still alive, without anesthesia, to examine the effects of the disease within their bodies. Other horrific experiments were also carried out. Unlike concentration camp guards and executioners from Europe, many of whom were tried and imprisoned or executed for their crimes, the staff of Unit 731 was granted immunity by U.S. authorities in exchange for information on their findings, for America’s own biological warfare program. The Soviet Union prosecuted a dozen members of the unit and sentenced them to labor camps.

Allied governments and militaries did not set up systemic avenues of torture, rape or murder, but thousands of rapes were carried out against the women of Germany, Japan, Okinawa and even the women of Allied nations by individual soldiers. This was particularly widespread among Soviet troops in retaliation for what German soldiers had done to women of Russia, the Ukraine and other areas of the USSR. The American Joint Chiefs received reports of large numbers of rape among French, Italian and other women by U.S. forces. In Japan American admiral Raymond Spruance set up supervised brothels to reduce the rates of venereal disease and rape, but this was short-lived once a Congressman heard about it. Some Axis soldiers were shot after being captured, sometimes in anger or retaliation, sometimes during rapid advances or during combat.

Nazi Germany’s fascination with producing a "racial pure" culture led to a campaign to eliminate "Untermensch" ("sub-humans"). The largest of these groups were European Jews but also included Gypsies, some Slavs, the mental ill, homosexuals, communists, socialists, and any other group termed undesirable. Millions—six million Jews alone—were executed; some were tortured, shot or hanged; others gassed or starved to death in concentration camps (death camps), were worked to death as slave labor, or killed by other means. This systemic murder is known as The Holocaust, a Greek word meaning "sacrifice by fire." Any nation that fell under German dominance, whether by conquest or political agreement, was expected to join in the purging of the Untermensch.