The Second World War class 10 icse notes
Twenty years nine months after the end of the First World War, there came the Second World War. It was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all of the great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.
The starting date of the war is generally held to be September 1, 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by the United Kingdom, France and the British Dominions. The following were the main Long term and the Immediate causes of the Second World War.
(a) Long Term Causes of the Second World War
1. Unjust and Humiliating Treaty of Versailles: The victors of the First World War (Britain, France and U.S.A.) forced Germany to sign the unjust and humiliating Treaty of Peace. It imposed heavy warpenalties on Germany, made her surrender large chunks of her territories like Saar, Rhineland, Ruhr area, etc. and some parts of her foreign colonies. The Treaty also prohibited Germany from re-arming herself; her army was disbanded beyond a limit of one lakh soldiers. The Germans found it too humiliating. The huge reparations imposed on Germans, prevented Germanys' economic recovery. Moreover, the attitude of France towards Germany was revengeful. Now when Germany lay prostrate before France, she took revenge from her by taking the Saar valley and the Ruhr zone in 1923 A.D.
2. Rise of Fascism and Nazism :
- Rise of Fascism in Italy under Mussolini and Nazism in Germany under Hitler was one of the major factor responsible for the Second World War.
- Both of them were against democracy and followed aggressive nationalism and imperialistic policies.
- Both believed in the principle of expansion.
- In 1936 Italy attacked and acquired territories of Ethiopia.
- Hitler attacked Austria, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Norway, etc.
- In 1937 Italy, Japan and Germany formed Rome-Berlin and Tokyo axis.
3. The Policy of Appeasement : England and France followed a policy of appeasement towards Germany to divert German Aggression against Soviet Union. They also felt that if genuine grievences of Germany and Italy were removed, they would be satisfied and would not do anything to destroy the peace of the world. They did not care to enforce the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, when Hitler started to flout it openly. The heads of four nations - Germany, Italy, Britain and France-met at Munich on September 29, 1938 and decided to handover Sudetanland to Germany. The Czechs were persuaded by them to accept the Munich Pact in the name of world peace. But actually, they were appeasing Hitler at the cost of Czechoslovakia. Hitler's troops occupied Sudetenland on 5th October, 1938 and later on the whole of Czechoslovakia became a German satellite.
4. Japanese invasion of China : In Asia, Japan harboured expansionist desires. It attacked China in 1931 and annexed Manchuria. China appealed to the League of Nations to declare sanctions against Japan, Britain and France, leading members of the League ignored the appeal. In 1933, Japan left the League of Nations and started occupying the British and American properties in China. Britain and France followed the policy of appeasement under which they ignored aggressive policy of Japan, thinking that Japanese could be used to weaken China. The Japanese were determined to dominate the Far East. America warned Japan of the dire consequences but Japan ignored. She joined 'Rome-Berlin-Tokyo" Axis.
5. The Weakness of the League of Nations : The League of Nations was set up to maintain peace in the world. But it failed in its objective to check the rise of dictatorships in Italy and Germany. When the weaker nations appealed, the League could only apply economic sanctions against the aggressors. It failed to contain Italy's aggression in Ethiopia, Japan's invasion of China and Manchuria and Germany's occupation of Austria and attack on Poland. Actually, the League of Nations had no power to act on its own initiative to preserve peace in the world.
It lacked its own armed force and so depended on the great powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to economic sanctions, or provide an army when needed. Moreover, the U.S.A. did not become its member, because the U.S. Senate did not ratify the Covenant of the League of Nations. Germany was also not allowed to join the League
6. The Armament Race : In order to achieve their territorial aims, Germany, Italy and Japan began producing firearms, tanks, guns, war-ships, aircrafts and other weapons of destruction at a large scale. Britain and France never bothered to protest due to the Economic Depression of 1930s. They were serious and busy tackling their own problems. The Disarmament Conferences failed to stop the stock-piling of the arms and ammunition. The League of Nations also did not achieve any success in this regard. All the nations followed only one policy, namely "Security first and disarmament afterwards."
(b) The Immediate Cause
The German Invasion of Poland
The immediate cause of the outbreak of the Second World War was the German aggression on Poland on 1st September, 1939. In August, 1939, Germany had signed a Non-aggression Pact with Russia. Hitler accused Poland of committing atrocities on Germans living there. On September 1, 1939, German troops stormed Poland. England asked Germany to vacate Poland, but Hitler refused to do so. So on September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war against Germany and thus, began the Second World War. Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Turkey remained neutral.
Main Events of the War
In the initial stages, the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) got a good success against the Allied Powers (Britain, France and about 80 other nations). Hitler adopted a new method of warfare called 'Blitzkrieg' meaning lighting attack. German troops in April-May, 1940 captured Denmark, Norway, Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium and France, and large territory in North Africa. In July 1940, in the Battle of Britain the German fighters bombarded the British ports, factories and centres of population including London. By 1941 A.D. Hitler had over run the whole of Eastern Europe and reached right up to the suburbs of Moscow.
In 1942 Hitler targeted Stalingrad, an industrial city, but had to finally surrender due to frigid temperatures and lack of fresh supplies. After the Japan's attack on US Fleet based at Pearl Harbour on 7th December, 1941 USA entered into the War. The British Air Force with the help of the U. S.A., caused great damage to Japan and German air-power. In 1942 A.D., the Allies could check the advances of the Axis Powers and by 1945 A.D., they were being pushed back on almost all fronts. On 6th August, 1945, America dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima and on 9th August, 1945, she dropped another atom bomb on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered soon, thereafter. In this way the Second World War came to an end.
Consequences of the Second World War
The war exposed the moral degradation of man for killing his own species on a mass scale. Both the victors and the vanquished had indulged in such barbaric acts of the most heinous type that they must stand self-condemned. The consequences of World War II had their impact on life then and even today. These can be briefly stated as under.
1. The Defeat of the Axis Powers : The Axis Powers - Germany, Italy and Japan - were defeated at the end of World War II. They had to pay heavy war indemnity and surrender their colonies abroad
Germany : The Battle for Berlin began in April 1945. The Germans were caught between the British and Americans on one side and the Russians on the other. Hitler committed suicide in an underground bomb shelter. On 7th May, 1945 the German armies surrendered. Germany stood broken, humiliated and devastated. It was divided into two parts, i.e., the East and the West Germany.
Japan : Japan conquered Thailand, Malaya, Burma and Philippines and was still fighting against America in the Pacific. Inspite of many warnings Japan refused to surrender. To show its supremacy, America dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945, and another on 9th August on Nagasaki within a few seconds, 80,000 lives were lost and 70,000 were seriously wounded. Japanese lost all hopes of winning the war and officially surrendered on 15th August. All territories acquired or seized by Japan since 1895 were taken away.
Italy : Italy too was defeated. The Allies took over Sicily in July 1943, and then marched to Rome. Mussolini was dismissed and a new government of Badoglio surrendered before the Allies. Mussolini and his mistress were shot dead by the Italians on 28th April, 1945 when they tried to flee. In June 1944, the Allied Forces under General Eisenhower landed in Normandy and liberated France. The German army in Paris surrendered on 25th August, 1944.
2. Unprecedented Deaths and Destruction and the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki : The war killed about 25 million soldiers on both the sides, while it wounded more than 34 millions of them. Millions of civilians were also killed. Many big cities with beautiful buildings were reduced to ashes. Europe, from Baltic to the Black Sea, presented a tragic sight of ruined towns and cities, bridges, roads, fields, factories, and concentration camps. This region was called the "misery belt" of the world. A large number of people became refugees, as their houses were destroyed.
The two Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki continued to reel under the radiation effects of these nuclear weapons. These not only brought death for millions, but caused damage to kidney, ovary, nervous system, brain, muscles, skin, and also caused diseases like cancer, blindness, sterility. The radioactive dust contaminated the earth, the water, the air; it killed animals and destroyed ecology. Vast areas of land were rendered unworthy of cultivation and human habitation. Six million Jews were exterminated. Inhuman medical experiments were conducted on human beings by Japanese doctors and scientists in countries occupied by them. Some of these effects have continued even upto the present day; and life of man is today endangered with the stock-piling of more powerful nuclear weapons.
3. Emergence of the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union as Super Powers : The U.S.A. had played a decisive role in the victory of the Allied Powers, especially as she was the only nuclear power in the world. By using the atom bombs to crush Japan, she had emerged as a super military and economic power. The US experienced tremendous industrial expansion. Most of the European, Asian and African countries looked to her for financial assistance. Soon in the years to come, dollar-imperialism became a reality and her influence in world politics increased tremendously, leading to the U.S. interference in the internal affairs of other nations.
The Soviet Union emerged as another super power in the post-Second World War period. The Russian empire was greatly expanded. It included half of Poland, Estonia, Latavia, Lithuania, Finland and many parts of Germany. Under Stalin's leadership, Soviet Russia became a dominant power in world politics. She tried to establish communist governments in East European and South East Asian Countries.
4. Birth of the United Nations Organization (UNO) : Mankind looked for a better, a happier and a peaceful world after it had witnessed the nuclear holocaust and the widespread destruction and death in the Second World War. To save the coming generations from the scourge of War, the United Nations Organization (U.N.O.) was established on October 24, 1945, with its headquarters at New York (U.S.A.). Peace, human dignity, justice, human brotherhood, cooperation, etc. are the main objectives of the U.N.O.
The Cold War.
The end of the Second World war led to rise of two major centres of power in USA and Russia.
The term 'Cold War' was first used by Bernard Baruch, an American Statesman. Cold war is a intense economic, political, military and ideological rivalry between nations, short of military conflict. In fact, the Cold War was neither a condition of war, nor a condition of peace, it was "a state of uneasy peace".
The two super powers were keen on expanding their spheres of influence in different parts of the world.
Cold War set in motion a mad race for armaments. It also led to the formation of various military alliances, such as the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) under US leadership and the Warsaw Pact signed by the representatives of Russia and other Communist countries.
The world was divided between two blocs, i.e., the Anglo-American Bloc or capitalist nations led by the U.S.A. which included U.S.A., Britain, France and many other countries and the communist nations led by the Soviet Union which included countries of East Europe, i.e., Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. These were also formally called the American Bloc and Soviet Bloc.
The Cold War led to one crisis after another, such as the Berlin Blockade (1948-1949), Crisis Over Missiles in Cuba (1962) and military intervention in Czechoslovakia.
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