World+War+II

Here is where you can post your World War II papers. :)

Vinh Tran [Insert Creative Title on World War II] My friend, the time has come to continue our story from before. While World War I was truly a terrible conflict, World War II was another war on a completely different level; different circumstances, different allies, different results. So shall we resume our story? Sit down, relax and let us begin. Fascism, a form of extreme nationalism, was a very important factor to the igniting of the embers of war. After the failure of newly sprouted democracies, dictators seized control. These dictators with their silver tongue convinced and swayed many to their cause. I remember some of these speeches, in particularly Hitler and Mussolini. They promised much, to once again bring prosperity and glory to a famine stricken country. These promises to solve what the democracies could not, brought in the people’s trust, and thus they had control over the government. They were the government! This was called Fascism. A powerful, intense, almost obsessive feeling of nationalism. This deep loyalty and affection for one’s country lead to ruin. Rather than trusting each other with power, the citizens gave it to the dictators. Their grip slowly tightened, like an anaconda, slowly but surely to achieve total control. The western allies feared this, the arbitrary will of the dictators. With just a simple thought, they can do what ever pleases them. Full power vested in the hands of one against power divided amongst the many. What time a it was.

It was a very terrible and rough time. Although World War I had left a scar on human civilization that might never truly heal, life began to recover. Economies once again began to rebuild its former glory. We were optimistic, moving forward to a new way of life, putting the war torn world behind us. However, hope does not always gurantee a good ending, and then just like that, the Great Depression struck. The flash of light that promised so much was extinguished just like that, and with the darkness, the overwhelming misery of despair settled, bringing only more problems and the despair that there’s nothing that can be done to solve it. 1929, the stock markets crashed, with it, money disappeared. People withdrew money in massive amount, causing banks to run out of money and close, and other people to lose all of their money. No one bought anything, so factories closed. When the factories closed, people lost work, when they lost work, they had even less money to spend. A downward spiral, a falling knife, it seemed there was no escape. Each country withdrew internally to deal with its own problems. Unemployment, economic loss, political distress; countries could barely deal with all of these problems, let alone conflicts of others. When this happened though, people could do whatever they wanted and it would go unattended to, because everyone else was preoccupied with their own difficulties. We could care less about what other people did; it was their business and if it didn’t involve us, it does not matter. In the end, this would be our downfall. Germany had no one to keep it in check, Britain and France, the most powerful countries in Europe did not want to get involved, and it began to do what it wished until things grew far too large to be ignored anymore, but by then, it was too late…

Although we can agree that the Great Depression was a major cause of World War II, none is greater than the Treaty of Versailles. Punishing, humiliating, unjust and unfair – Germany was forced to become a shadow of its former power. Its size, military was reduced to near nothing, the power it wields is close to nothing. While it had competed with Britain, it was reduced to a country that could not wage war, and its entire economy was devoted to scrapping up enough money to make payments for the Allies’ recovery and rebuilding from the previous war (WW1). This attempt to punish Germany stirred up anger and truly did not solve any issues. The Germans wanted revenge, and exacted this revenge in what is now known as the second world war.

Let us begin talking about the leader behind Germany’s power and more about the past: how exactly the war began. Germany had begun with annexing Austria, then, wanting the Sudetenland after, a part of Czechoslovakia, that had many, many Germans. This because of internal issues brought up little responses from other European powers, giving Germany the confidence and boldness to demand and take more land. Germany, France, and Britain met at the Munich conference one time. It was an exciting time, France and Britain had agreed to give Germany the Sudetenland, if it would no longer demand more territory. But this was just a promise, and promises are broken easily. I saw the anger and the ambition of the Germans; this appeasement would not work, it would only reinforce their resolve and desires. It will give them the ability to want for even more and it will just grow, growing out of control unless put in check… but alas, this did not happen. Anschluss – this was a term referring to the unification of Germany and Austria, making two countries one, even though this was in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles, along with the rest of what Germany did. We did not blame Germany however; we believed the consequences were much too harsh. Lebensraum – living space, oh what an idea. Craving the expansion of land, it was for a greater nation, to one day reach a status of a more powerful country. For the sake of the population, it was to have more land, more space.

Of course these ideas did not sit well with those the land was being taken from. But once again, the Great Depression had set in, and it wasn’t called the Great Depression for anything however, and the major powers of Europe couldn’t really care less to what the hordes of smaller, insignificant countries wanted. Rather than engage once again in war, Britain and France tried to avoid that by giving in to the demands of Germany. This is called appeasement, giving the aggressor what they want so they would stop and there would be peace again. Additionally, the saviors of the Allies in the former war, the United States felt that the fact that they entered World War I was a mistake. Despite the fact that they gain economic success and experience significantly less loss of life than the European nations, they still felt they should’ve and still should stay out of conflicts that don’t concern them. Without a powerful ally, the weakened nations of Britain and France’s power and influence over Europe began to wane in the presence of the rise of Germany’s power.

When World War II began, I was not the young youth I once was. Middle aged as I was, the war still was a scarring experience. Germany’s power allowed it to take over countries within weeks, days, and sometimes just hours. Germany used lightning warefare, swift powerful attacks to overwhelm the enemy. France attempted to defend itself using the Maginot line, but Germany burst through, using Belgium as a pass, and swept quickly into France. France fell within a matter of weeks. However, the French army was evacuated into Britain when corned against the ocean; every boat was used. The Soviets and the Germans made a non-agression treaty. They split Poland, and promised to not attack each other, giving each other time to prepare for the actual fight that would inevitably ensue. Tis was a sad day when it happened. With no one left to oppose Germany, but England, it seemed like a few steps away from total victory. However, the resilience, the determination to hold out against Germany was incredible. Resisting for around a year against endless bombardment and still being able to strike back at the Germans. Struck by the Britons’ defiance, Hitler turned Germany’s armies towards the Soviet Union. The false peace was broken, and Germany marched on Russia. It went deep into Russia and eventually reached Stalingrad. Stalingrad, an infamous battle. Two million people died here, in the fierce battle for possession of Stalingrad, a key city. The harsh winter, an ever present factor hurt the Germans. At the end, the German army was destroyed, although the Soviets had lost far more men. It was a sorrowful time, walking upon the ruins of a destroyed city, seeing the remnants of a memento meaning the world to someone, lying in the dirt broken, like the city it lays in. Sorrow descended down as if from above, a cold sadness penetrating deep below the skin. Oh this was tiring, tiring of this whole war, both sides tired of seeing friends perish for nothing. On the beaches of Normandy, operation overlord began. The largest invasion began. It was meant to be a surprise attack, with entire plans of deception of attack at another location. However casualties were still high especially of the first wave of allied forces landing. In the end though it was a success, and the Germans were pushed back. It was now a two-front war, and this time, Germany was being pushed back from all sides, back to the place it had originated from, back, like the war was playing in reverse, and in the end, Germany surrendered.

Though my friend I wish I could tell you this was it, but half way across the world is yet another theatre of war: the Pacific Theatre. Japan was yet another ally of Germany, on the Axis. A day that would live in infamy… Japan attacked and crippled the United State’s Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, a site at Hawaii home to the navy’s ships. In an attempt to have total control and superiority over the Pacific, Japan attempted to completely destroy the navy. It was outrageous. Many good men were killed in that unprovoked attack. It is what brought the United States into the war. However, the United States began to make preparations to strike back. You should’ve seen it. Driven by revenge and motivated to not lose to the Japanese, they accomplished an amazing task, rebuilding the navy in a short time. The U.S. began to strike back, first with the Doo Little Raid, proving that the new Japanese Empire was not invincible. Then came the battle of Midway. I rejoiced upon that day, realizing the perhaps we will not fall to the Japanese and become part of their empire as well. The tide of war has turned in the favor of the Allies, when the United States broke the Japanese naval codes, predicting where the Japanese would be and then heavily crippling the Japanese Navy, preventing it from doing any further major attacks. The U.S. then began island hopping until it was about to reach the main islands of Japan. It was agreed that the mainland invasion of Japan would be very costly in lives and equipment and instead a new bomb would instead be dropped on Japan to bring the war to a swift end. These new bombs used atomic energy and wiped out entire cities, killing many from burns, debris, and radiation. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the ones hit by the nuclear bombs.

When I said World War I was the first modern war, this war is the successor to that. This war employed weapons unimagined before, and started an arms race that resulted in extremely advanced weapons. Tanks, planes, were improved upon. I remember the Japanese Zeros inspired fear in all of U.S. pilots, but then the U.S. developed planes that made the Zeros look like a turkey shoot. By the end of the war, even jets were developed, flying at speeds faster than sound. Radar and sonar were also new incredible tools. These allowed for detection of enemy forces approaching. Thus with this knowledge, lives can be saved and battles can be won. Missles, a new deadly force. It kills without needing a man to pilot it. To top it off, the atomic weapons, turning cities into flatlands. There have also been several meetings, the Potsdam conference was a meeting that determined what the punishment Germany would have. It was made up of England, United States, and Soviet Union. Tehran was the first conference of the Big Three, brining to us the possibility of a second front, to actually defeat Germany faster. Japan was also discussed. Yalta Conference, that day was a rejoiceful day. Things were discussed about life after war, and it brought to us hope. Our faith in our Allied leaders were to always be so.

By the end, Europe had changed because of the war. There was chaos and confusion everywhere, especially amongst the hungry, but that was all of us, so really we were all in disorder. People found themselves outside the countries they had belonged to before the war and others were fleeing from the Soviet army. Europe was in ruins. Total war left every country drastically weaker than it was before. With no one focusing on the food, there became a famine, and buildings were destroyed by bombs, tanks, and more. People lived in terrible conditions. The reasons why people go to these massive wars, I can never understand, when the result is something that benefits no one, and produces even more issues to deal with. Perhaps one day, war will vanish from the earth, but until then, let us have hope.

Audridenne Hoyo

World War ll

“Mom?!?!” she yells as she runs down the stairs with her textbook in her hand her pencil in the other.

“What Leslie?!?!?” her mom replied. Leslie gets to the kitchen and drops her things on the counter. Her mom gives her a death glare for doing that.

“We’re Jewish right?” Leslie asks. Her mom looks down and continues cutting the vegetables up for dinner.

“Yes we are. Are you learning about the Holocaust?” her mom answers. She looks up to Leslie with a small smile.

“Yup and I have to write an essay on it and I was wondering can you tell me what happened during that time and how it started? Please, please, please” she begged her mom with a nervous tone. Leslie knew her mother lost her grandpa, aunt and uncle during those horrible years of war. Her mom noticed her tone and smiled. She was here and there preparing the food. Leslie waited for an answer hoping that she would say yes.

“Well I’ll tell you if you clean your room deal?” her mom told her smiling. Leslie groaned, but nodded and got her notebook and pencil ready.

“Ok do you know what fascism means?” her mom asked still handling the food. Leslie shook her head and wrote down fascism.

“It is when the government system is run by a dictator and has complete power. With the power the dictator stops criticism and people going against him/her. They also find nationalism important and sometimes influence racism,” she stopped to taste the sauces and asked if Leslie understood which Leslie shook her head to, “and that isn’t cool. It is when there is one and only one ruler and has so many restrictions on people. Some of the biggest people of fascism were Benito Mussilini from Italy, Hitler from Germany and Hideko Tojo from Japan.” Leslie’s mom tried to simplify. Leslie looked up and then smiled with understanding of what her mom told her. She quickly scribbled down some information and looked up.

“Have you studied World War l?” her mom asked putting the lasagna in the oven. Leslie nodded her head when her mom looked at her.

“Summarize it for me let’s see how good you pay attention.” her mom says teasingly. Leslie summarizes it and ends with talking about the Treaty of Versailles.

“Do you know how the treaty might affect World War ll,” she asked. Her daughter looked at her and slowly shook her head, “The Treaty of Versailles as you explained was basically the document bringing order and hopefully stopping another war like that one. France and Britain were the ones who wanted Germany to pay for what they caused. It stated that Germany would take blame for the war. Germany’s army was shortened, its economy was badly damaged, land was taken away and more. If someone humiliated you it would get you mad and you would want revenge right? Well Germany was humiliated and Hitler wanted to regain the respect that was lost because of that treaty.” she finished and went to wash her hand because she finished rolling the dough for the biscuits.

“Ok sometime after World War 1 the Great Depression happened does that work into any of this?” Leslie asked looking at the paper with the requirements of the essay she had to write.

“The Great Depression was when the economy around the world was horrible. The stock market crashed causing so many problems. Prices in food, materials and more increased creating problems in being able to get them. Well the Great Depression affected everyone. In some places the great depression had a bigger impact like Germany. Its economy was so bad that the Great Depression happening was torture. Most people in Germany lived in poverty and this let Hitler gain power because he promised he would make it better. If someone promised a better live then the crappy one you have now of course you would accept it in a heartbeat I mean I would which is sad.” she said as she was moving around the kitchen looking for spices and ingredients.

“Mom this is way complicated.” Leslie whined. Her mom glared at her.

“Hey this is important. It had a big impact on the world and honey this is just the beginning. Now do you want an A or what?” she informed Leslie.

“Yes ma’am I do please continue.” Leslie answered knowing her mom won’t continue until she answered politely.

“Ok. Once Hitler was in power he wanted land back specifically Czechoslovakia. Hitler was basically whining like you do and soon France, Britain, Italy and Germany signed the Munich Pact giving the land back to Germany. Hitler like the liar and pig he is, promised that it would be the last piece of territory he would ask for. Hitler couldn’t just leave it alone no so he started to threaten the Czechoslovakia government, but the government didn’t budge. On March 15 of 1939 Hitler broke the Munich Pact by invading Czechoslovakia. Later on Germany and Austria had an Anschuluss. Anschuluss mean a governmental union so like you and your friend joining forces. Hitler believed that Germans needed lebensraum which is space to live in.” her mom told her still busy as a bee in the kitchen.

“Is dinner almost ready?” Leslie asked picking at some grapes while writing stuff down.

“No and it won’t be ready until the rest of the family are here.” her mom answered moving around the rice.

“Anything else mom I’m only halfway through the paper.” she murmured through a grape in her mouth.

“So like I was saying France and Britain basically had an appeasement. Appeasement means to give in to demands. Now the U.S. hasn’t been involved in any of this yet. The U.S. didn’t want to get involved because they didn’t want to get into problems again. It was more focused on themselves which I don’t blame. The cost of joining a war would be great and they didn’t want to get involved like last time.” she told Leslie while putting the biscuits in the oven.

“When is this going to get interesting?” Leslie asked while stretching her hand from all the writing.

“Don’t worry I was going to tell you what happened in Europe first,” she stated while stretching from the labor she was doing, “and it will get interesting. As Germany gained power and started to invade France and at the end ruled all of France. The Germans signed a Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union because Hitler didn’t want to get in a battle with them. Hitler invaded Russia in the summer of 1941. This obviously broke the pact and they went to battle. Throughout the invasion and battle Germany did some damage. Many Russian soldiers were wounded or killed,

“There was also a Battle of Britain which was a battle completely fought in the air. It was fall of 1940 and the goal was to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force. Now D-Day oh that battle was amazing. This battle that started June and ended August of 1944 took place in the beaches of Normandy, France. 156,000 men from Canada, U.S. and of course Britain arrived on 5 different beaches. The men fought and by August 1944, all of northern France was free. Those men deserve so much respect and recognition.” she finished saying. Leslie looks at her shocked by how much her mother remembers.

“As I told you last time that was just what happened in Europe I still need to tell you what happened in the Pacific.” her mom informed her somewhat excited. She always loved the topic of World War ll and being able to let people know what happened.

“There is still more?!?!” Leslie asked in surprise. She groaned mentally and got ready to continue writing.

“Yes what do you expect it is a World War now hush,” her mom replies, “Now the pacific was mostly the U.S. and Japan. December 7, 1941 many Japanese fighter planes attacked a naval base that belonged to the U.S. of course Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. After the attack President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. A few days later the allies of Japan declared war on the U.S. which was Germany and Italy. The goal of this attack was to leave the U.S. fleet useless. Japan wanted to conquer all of Asia and they knew America would not just stand by so Japan sneak attacked them.

“Six months after what happened at Pearl Harbor, America won a naval battle of World War ll. This was because there was advancement in code breaking. The U.S. was prepared and the ambush on one of the few aircraft carriers and it affected Japan’s Navy. This was a turning point in the war going on at the Pacific and it allowed U.S. and their allies to get into an offensive position. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which was in Japan is very important to this day. The U.S. sent an offer to japan which was surrender or we will destroy you. Japan ignored it which led to the bombing of the two cities. These were the only use of nuclear weapons in war to current time. Six days after the bombings Japan surrendered.” Leslie’s mom tells her. As quickly as she could Leslie summarized all the information her mom threw at her.

“Now are we done? I mean what more can there be?” Leslie asked worried. Her mom was pulling out the biscuits and letting them cool as she checked on the food at the stove. She saw her mom smile and turn around already with her lips apart getting ready to say something.

“Do you want to know detailed things like weapons and what happened after?” her mom asked a little excited. She would try to remember as much as she can of the topic because she wants to tell Leslie all of it and then have her tell her kids.

“Yes please that would really help thanks mom.” Leslie stated getting ready for the last bit she would have to write.

“Weapons are such an amazing topic of wars. Some weapons weren’t used to kill people, but to find them like the radar which was used to find planes before it was too late. Code breaking was new it allowed the U.S. learn Japan’s plan. The atomic bomb was big weapon which killed a lot of people and can affect a country badly. A gas chamber was also a weapon which killed a lot of Jews in concentration camps. An incinerator was a new type of weapon where people were cremated in. There are many more weapons that I forgot sorry honey.” She tells her daughter.

“It’s ok mom those were enough weapons.” Leslie announces giving her mother a small smile.

“There were also 3 meetings which were the meetings at Potsdam, Tehran and Yalta. The meeting at Potsdam was to create post-war order, peace treaties issues and countering the effects of war. In that meeting the U.S., Russia and Great Britain met up. The one of Tehran was to mainly commit to an opening of a second front against the Nazis by the western Allies. In the meeting it was the Big Three which is Russia, Great Britain and United States. The meeting of Yalta was to re-establish the nations of war-torn Europe. At the meeting were again the Big Three.” she told her as she pulled out plates, knives and forks.

“Please tell me you are almost done.” Leslie begged her hand hurting. Her mom was moving again around the kitchen transferring food from pots to serving plates.

“Yes I am just one more thing sweetie don’t worry.” her mom stated smiling while quickly and carefully moving food around.

“Oh yes you don’t know how happy that made me.” Leslie said excited her hand wouldn’t go through so much torture.

“When the war ended Europe was divided into 4 parts. The four parts where to be controlled by Great Britain, U.S., France and Russia. Russia and the other 3 disagreed about everything. Germany was divided into 2 separate countries. East Germany had a communist country and the West Germany was a democratic state. Berlin ended up being spilt too and there was a wall splitting the east and west of Berlin so they couldn’t communicate.” She told her daughter. Leslie smiled and put her pencil down.

“That’s it mom?” Leslie asked. Her mom nodded her head and smiled.

“Now go clean up and get ready your brother, his wife and grandparents are coming over.” She told the girl looking up at her smiling.

“Hey mom?” Leslie called towards her mom who was leaving to the dining room to set things up.

“Yes sweetie?” she asked.

“Thank you” Leslie whispered in her mom’s ear as she kissed her on the cheek.

“Aww your welcome darling oh and don’t you dare forget about the essay you have to turn in to me 3 period for science.” She remembered Leslie.

“Man I hate having my teacher as my mom what’s the point if you won’t help me get an A.” Leslie told her mom.

“No, no, no you are going to get it fair and square now go.” she seriously stated.

“Fine ughhh.” Leslie groaned as she stomped up the stairs towards her room.