World War Two: Part I
Photo taken from wikipedia.org
It has been called one of the worst wars in human history. More citizens and soldiers died over the course these years, than in any other time period. There were heroes and villains on both sides. The war was truly a battle of good versus evil. Some of the greatest stories and lessons of our time can be told or learned through this ferocious battle of man versus man. This war has truly showed the world just how terrible humans can be, yet a the same time, how kind, merciful, and courageous we can be.
Historians consider the official start of World War Two to be when the Germans invaded Poland. This event set off a chain reaction that would soon engulf the entire world. Nazi Germany had become one of the strongest nations on earth thanks to the influence of Adolf Hitler. His philosophy was that Germany was a great nation, and he sought to truly prove it. He invaded sovereign nations and annexed them. Yet, once Poland, an Allied nation was invaded, the rest of the western powers finally had a say in the arising conflict.
Soon after the invasion, Britain and France declared war on Germany. France was soon invaded and within a matter of weeks, French and British forces had been forced into retreat. At Dunkirk, thousands of soldiers awaited passage back to England, where the war would truly begin. France became a territory of Germany. Hitler’s next plan was to invade England, however in order to do this he must force them into submission. So began the Battle of Britain.
For almost two years, citizens of Britain had to deal with constant German bombing on major airbases and other military installations. Hitler soon felt he had to break the British fully,. His plan was to start a blitz on the city of London. The hope was that once the British saw how their great city had been destroyed they would eventually submit. Yet, with all of Hitler’s planning and motivation, this did not come to fruition. The British struggled on, repulsing the Germans at every turn until eventually Hitler stopped.
All through the period, the United States had remained neutral. They did not want to get involved in another world war and risk losing millions of innocent lives. This all changed on December 7, 1941 when Japanese naval forces bombed the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese had hoped that this attack would force the Americans into peace talks and give way Japanese expansion into conquered territories. The attack did not go as planned.
The United States declared war on Japan and soon after Germany declared war. World War Two had officially begun for the Americans. The first step for them was to focus on crushing Hitler. Most of their supplies went towards the European front. While the United States Marines would battle it out island by island in the Pacific, the bulk of U.S. forces would go towards the European front.
American and British forces banded together and pushed into North Africa, where Hitler had been trying to make his way towards the Suez Canal, hoping to get to the oilfields of Asia. Germany was forced into a two front war. The war in North Africa soon came to an end as it was seen that the Germans could not hold off a two-pronged attack by two strong nations.
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