WWII

9 Key excerpts on "WWII"

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  Second and Third Generation Warfare

  • (Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • College Publishing House

    (Publisher)

  ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter 5 World War II World War II , or the Second World War (often abbreviated as WWII or WW2 ), was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, which involved most of the world's nations, including all of the great powers: eventually forming two opposing military alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. In a state of total war, the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it was the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. The war is generally accepted to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and Slovakia, and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Germany set out to establish a large empire in Europe. During 1939 to early 1941, in a series of suc-cessful military campaigns and political treaties, Germany conquered or politically subdued most of continental Europe apart from the Soviet Union. Britain and the Commonwealth remained the only major force continuing the fight against the Axis in North Africa and in extensive naval warfare. In June 1941, the European Axis launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, giving a start to the largest land theatre of war in history, which, from this moment on, was tying down the major part of the Axis military power.

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  Handbook of Second Generation Warfare

  • (Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • University Publications

    (Publisher)

  ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Total dead: Over 61,000,000 (1937-45) ... further details Total dead: Over 12,000,000 (1937-45) ... further details World War II , or the Second World War (often abbreviated as WWII or WW2 ), was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, which involved most of the world's nations, including all of the great powers: eventually forming two opposing military alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. In a state of total war, the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it was the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. The war is generally accepted to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and Slovakia, and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Germany set out to establish a large empire in Europe. During 1939 to early 1941, in a series of successful military campaigns and political treaties, Germany conquered or politically subdued most of continental Europe apart from the Soviet Union. Britain and the Commonwealth remained the only major force continuing the fight against the Axis in North Africa and in extensive naval warfare. In June 1941, the European Axis launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, giving a start to the largest land theatre of war in history, which, from this moment on, was tying down the major part of the Axis military power.

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  Remaking the Modern World 1900 - 2015

  Global Connections and Comparisons

  • C. A. Bayly(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  This was certainly one of the three most destructive and bloody encounters in history, killing perhaps 25 million soldiers and civilians. It dwarfed even the mortality of the Taiping Rebellion in nineteenth-century China, while exceeding fatalities in the First World War itself. In fact, as a global event, the Second World War touched more regions directly than the First World War and created a consciousness of fear and ideological conflict which was even more pervasive. 6 Above all, the war was coexistent with the Holocaust, the mass murder of European Jews by the Nazis, an event of such enormity that it forms the central act of Chapter 14. The scale of devastation and loss of life was one condition which made conceivable the use of atomic weapons against Japan in 1945. Still, it is helpful to consider a decentralised view of the Second World War, seeing it in Churchill's terms again as the climax of a second, and yet broader, world crisis which stretched from about 1935 to 1948 and continued to incite small wars well after that date. The conflict between heavily armed and increasingly nationalistic powers began with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 1935, the expansion of Japan's war against China from the Manchurian borderlands to mainland China in 1936 and the Spanish Civil War. The next phase of this second world crisis saw the war between Germany, France and Britain with the occupation of France in 1940. The third phase, beginning in late 1941 and 1942, was dominated by the German invasion of the USSR, the central event of the period, Japanese attacks in the Pacific and Southeast Asia and the entry of the United States into the war. The final phase saw the dropping of the atomic bomb, the American conquest of Japan and the Anglo-American reconquest of Southeast Asia

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  The Remnants of War

  • John Mueller(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Cornell University Press

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 4

  WORLD WAR II AS A REINFORCING EVENT

  Europeans brought war under a degree of control in the middle of the last millennium with the development of disciplined military and policing forces and with the consequent rise of coherent states. But they still considered it to be a natural, inevitable and, often, desirable fact of life. After the trauma of World War I, they moved to use their control of war to eliminate the institution entirely from their affairs with each other.

  Since that war, countries in the developed world have participated in four wars or kinds of war: first, the cluster of wars known as World War II; second, wars relating to the Cold War; third, various wars in their colonies; and fourth, still to be defined and delimited, policing wars: assorted applications of military force after the Cold War to pacify civil conflicts and to topple regimes deemed harmful. The second and third of these are taken up in the next chapter, and the fourth is the central subject of chapters 7 and 8.

  This chapter deals with the first. It surveys the aggressor states that launched World War II, and it concludes that, but for the machinations of one man—Adolf Hitler—the Second World War in Europe would likely never have come about. It also explores the implications of this conclusion, and it assesses the impact of World War II on the developed world’s developing sense of war aversion.

  THE QUEST FOR PEACE AFTER THE GREAT WAR

  The Great War (as it was to be called for more than two decades) chiefly inspired bitterness, disillusionment, recrimination, and revulsion in Europe. For the most part, war was no longer embraced as supreme theater, redemptive turmoil, a cleansing thunderstorm, or an uplifting affirmation of manhood. It was what the first modern general, William Tecumseh Sherman, had called it a half century earlier: hell. People who often had praised war and eagerly anticipated its terrible, determining convulsions now found themselves appalled by it. Within half a decade, war opponents, once a derided minority, had become a decided majority: everyone now seemed to be a peace advocate.1

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  The Palgrave Guide to English Literature and Its Contexts

  1500-2000

  • Peter Widdowson(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Red Globe Press

    (Publisher)

  1940–1959 World War II and the Post-War Period INTRODUCTION The present chapter deals with the two decades of the 1940s and 1950s – a period obviously dominated by the Second World War* and its aftermath, but with a strong sense through the 1950s, especially amongst the younger generation, that Post-War* exhaustion should give way to excitement, provocation, non-conformity and rebellion. [Suggested timeline narratives for the whole period are appended after the gloss on (The) Post-War (Period)* .] Chapter contents 7.1 The Second World War / World War II (WWII) 194 7.2 (The) Post-War (Period) 196 Key Timeline Narratives 1940–1959 196  The UK in Wartime  The Post-War International Context  UK Politics  The Welfare State, Social Issues and Education  Science and Technology  The Cultural Context: • Television • Theatre Timelines: 1940–1959 200 7.1 THE SECOND WORLD WAR / WORLD WAR II (WWII) The war between the the Allied Powers (initially France and Great Britain, later joined by the USA and the USSR) and the Axis Powers (Italy and Germany, later joined by Japan) from 1939 to 1945. The historical process which led to the outbreak of war (France and Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939) is covered by the gloss on the Inter-War Period* in Chapter 6. But in brief, it was determined by German resentment over the draconian terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) at the end of World War I* [Chapter 6]; the world economic crisis of 1929–30; the rise to power of a Fascist state in Italy under Mussolini throughout the 1920s and 1930s; the rise to power of the Nazi regime in Germany under Hitler from the early 1930s; the failure of the League of Nations (especially France and Britain) actively to police the peace; the illegal but 7

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  The Conduct of War, 1789-1961

  A Study of the Impact of the French, Industrial, and Russian Revolutions on War and its Conduct

  • Maj.-Gen J. F. C. Fuller(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Arcole Publishing

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER XIII — The Conduct of World War II

  1. Character of World War II

  For war to be an effective instrument of policy, policy must be grounded on actual military conditions, and in 1914 they may be said to have been normal. The war opened on long-established frontiers and on the traditional lines of a struggle between similarly equipped armies that recognized the customary methods of waging war. But in its last lap, and still more so during its aftermath, very different conditions came into being. On the military side they were due to the introduction of novel weapons, and on the political to a sequence of catastrophic revolutions which challenged nineteenth-century civilization and profoundly changed the character of war.

  As we have seen, of these revolutions by far the most important were those which disrupted Russia and Germany; the one founded on the ideology of Marx as interpreted by Lenin and Stalin, and the other on that of Hitler as formulated in the National Socialist creed. Both were totalitarian, embraced all forms of war, and their aims in war were not, as hitherto, only to compel their antagonists by force of arms to accept a policy repugnant to them, but also to change their national structures, ideologically, economically, and socially. This meant that the next war would be a struggle between variant ideologies—the Democratic, the Marxian, and the National Socialist, as well as between fighting forces. And because the ideology of the Democratic Powers expressed the sovereignty of individual nations and the free and unfettered will of their inhabitants, their potential foes were neither the German nor the Russian peoples; instead they were, on the one hand the National Socialist claim to racial superiority, which involved peoples outside the frontiers of the Reich, and on the other hand the Marxian materialistic philosophy of Soviet Russia, which embraced all the nations of the world. In short, ideas took precedence over populations and armies, and to be fully effective the destruction of an idea must be total, which means that it can only be killed by a more acceptable idea.

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  The Medal of Honor

  A History of Service Above and Beyond

  • (Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Zenith Press

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER FIVE World War II 1939–1945 135 CHAPTER FIVE 136 The World at War T he war that was to thrust America to the forefront of world affairs began when the country was preoccupied with troubles of its own. In the dark years of the Great Depression, the United States was engulfed in job- lessness, poverty, and civil disturbances. Even in the 1930s, Americans could not ignore the waves of violent change that were washing over Europe and Asia. One by one throughout the decade, democracies succumbed to the rule of dictators. Free people bowed to servitude; oppression and silence became the fate of those who had once spoken openly; death awaited millions opposed to the new order. To Americans who listened to the voices from abroad, the hysterical chants signified a world gone mad. The seeds of the Second World War were sown at the moment that marked the end of the first. An American observer of the negotiations at Versailles said the scene reminded him of ancient times “when the conqueror dragged the conquered at his chariot wheels.” After the German delegation signed the treaty on June 28, 1919, they walked from the hall and broke the pen they had used to sign the document. The treaty saddled Germany and its allies with all responsibility for the war and became a hated symbol of the humiliation Germans felt in defeat, a defeat made especially bitter because many felt they had not truly been conquered in over four years of fighting on the battlefield. The Allies saw the peace process as a chance to make certain their enemy would not rise again, but the harsh demands the treaty made on Germany and its allies would soon lead the world toward a new and more dreadful conflict. The treaty divested Germany of large sections of territory. The most galling provision of the pact left them liable for crushing repa- rations payments. The first reparations installment left the country economically prostrate.

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  Western Civilization

  Beyond Boundaries

  • Thomas F. X. Noble, Barry Strauss, Duane Osheim, Kristen Neuschel(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 824 Chapter 28 The Era of the Second World War, 1939–1949 of Germany, the Soviet Union kept a substan- tial slice of what had been eastern Poland (see Map 28.4). Each of the three Allies had responsi- bility for administering a particular zone of occupation, but they were supposed to coor- dinate their activities in a common policy toward Germany. This effort was to include de- Nazification, demilitarization, and an assault on concentrations of economic power—to root out what seemed to have been the sources of Germany’s antidemocratic and aggressive ten- dencies. But East-West disagreements over economic policy soon undermined the pretense of joint government. The Atomic Bomb and the Capitulation of Japan In the Pacific, Japan had been forced onto the defensive by September 1943, and though it mounted two major counterattacks during 1944, the Japanese navy was crippled by short- ages of ships and fuel by the end of the year. However, as the situation grew more desperate for Japan, Japanese ground soldiers battled ever more fiercely, often fighting to the death or taking their own lives rather than surrender- ing. Beginning late in 1944, aircraft pilots practiced kamikaze (kah-mih-KAH-zee), suicidally crashing planes filled with explosives into U.S. targets. The Japanese used this tactic espe- cially as the Americans sought to take Okinawa in the spring of 1945. The U.S. forces finally prevailed in June, but only after the most bitter combat of the Pacific war (see Map 28.3). In conquering Okinawa, American forces got close enough for air raids on the Japanese home islands. But though the United States was now clearly in control, it seemed likely that an actual invasion of Japan would be necessary to force a Japanese surrender.

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  World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources

  A Handbook of Literature and Research

  • Loyd Lee(Author)
  • 1997(Publication Date)
  • Greenwood

    (Publisher)

  As she noted, many Western European countries emerged from the war with mass social welfare systems, unprecedented migration, increased consum- erism, and unparalleled state management of economies, though individ- ual national differences persisted. Whether this is a consequence of the war or of other deeper developments in modern society has yet to be determined. BIBLIOGRAPHY Also see the chapters on ‘‘German Occupation of Europe,’’ ‘‘Resistance Move- ments in Europe,’’ ‘‘Comparative Economic Mobilization,’’ ‘‘The Domestic Impact of War and Occupation on Germany,’’ and ‘‘Women in World War II.’’ Abse, Toby. ‘‘Italy.’’ In Jeremy Noakes, ed., The Civilian in War: The Home Front in Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. in World War II, 104–25. Exeter, U.K.: University of Exeter, 1992. Adams, Michael C. C. The Best War Ever: America and World War II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. Addison, Paul. The Road to 1945: British Politics and the Second World War. London and New York: Quartet Books, 1975. Allen, Gwenfread E. Hawaii’s War Years, 1941–1945. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1950. 362 War and Society Andrzejewski (Andareski), Stanislav. Military Organization and Society. London: Rou- tledge, 1954; Berkeley: University of California, 1968. Aster, Sidney, ed. The Second World War as a National Experience. Ottawa: Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War, 1981. Bailey, Beth, and David Farber. The First Strange Place: The Alchemy of Sex and Race in World War II Hawaii. New York: Free, 1992; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. Barber, John, and Mark Harrison. The Soviet Home Front: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II. London and New York: Longman, 1991. Barnett, Corelli. The Audit of War: The Illusion and Reality of Britain as a Great Nation. London: Macmillan, 1986. Beck, Earl R. The European Home Fronts, 1939–1945. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1993. Be ´darida, Francois.

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