World War II: A Comprehensive Overview of Causes, Stages, and Impact

The Second World War (I)

The Combatants

On September 1, 1939, World War II began after Germany invaded Poland. The conflict lasted for almost six years, ending on August 5, 1945. Nations at war were divided into two groups: The Allies, led by France and the United Kingdom, and The Axis Powers, led by Germany and Italy.

The Causes of the War

Several factors contributed to the outbreak of World War II:

• Germany's desire for revenge after the humiliation suffered at the Treaty of Versailles.
• Economic depression.
• The rise of totalitarian regimes.
• Imperialist and militaristic policies: Japan invaded Manchuria (1932), Italy annexed Abyssinia (1935) and Albania (1939), and Germany, claiming territories of German population, annexed Austria (1938) and the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia (1939).
• The League of Nations' failure to put a stop to these aggressive policies.

The Characteristics of the War

World War II was characterized by several key features:

• Scale: Sixty countries were involved in the war, with operations taking place in the Pacific, Atlantic, Europe, and Africa. A hundred million soldiers were called to fight, and eight hundred million civilians suffered occupation, bombardment, and hardship. It is estimated that the Second World War affected 90% of the world population in some way.
• Duration: As a consequence of Germany's initial victories, it took a long time to reconquer the occupied territories.
• Extreme cruelty: The war was marked by atrocities such as genocide, deportation, systematic torture, and the creation of concentration and extermination camps. Millions of refugees were displaced, and the civilian population suffered immensely.
• Other characteristics: Powerful and sophisticated weapons were used (tanks, planes, and the Atomic Bomb). National economies were dedicated entirely to the war effort.

The Second World War (II)

The First Stage (1939-1941)

The first stage of World War II was marked by victories for the Axis Powers. Germany launched a"blitzkrie" or lightning war, concentrating a great force of tanks and planes to break through enemy lines. Thanks to Russia's neutrality, the Nazis conquered most of Western Europe (Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Low Countries, and France). The United Kingdom managed to stop them. Italy supported Germany and attacked France from the south. France was forced to sign an armistice and recognize the division of its territory: an occupied territory under German control and a collaborationist government in the south established in the city of Vichy. The Nazis went on to conquer North Africa, the Balkans, and started the invasion of Russia, reaching Moscow and Stalingrad (1941).

The Second Stage (1941-1945)

In 1941, Japan destroyed the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, provoking the USA to join the war. The fortunes of the Axis Powers began to change:

• Japan was confronted by the USA in the Pacific.
• The British achieved victories over the Germans in North Africa.
• The Russians stopped the German advance at Stalingrad.
• Italy was invaded by the Allies.

During the Normandy invasion (1944), the Allies advanced from the west into Germany, and the Red Army coming from the east entered Berlin in April 1945. Hitler committed suicide only two days after Mussolini had been captured and executed. In August 1945, after the USA's nuclear attack on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered, and the Second World War came to an end.