World War II: From Hitler's Rise to Axis Defeat

Hitler's War Preparations and Early Conquests

Hitler's war preparations began with an action plan stated in his book, Mein Kampf. He wanted to annex Austria to his empire, for there were many Germans there.

• He then occupied the area of the Sudeten Mountains in Czechoslovakia, inhabited by 3,000,000 Germans, and subsequently extended his power throughout the country.
• Hitler pursued his dream of German unification and Aryan unity. In reality, these territories never belonged to Germany.
• France and England, the two major European powers, saw how Hitler was gaining ground, breaking the Treaty of Versailles, for he had rearmed and began his territorial expansion.
• In a few weeks, making allies with Poland, they declared war.

The Expansion of the War

• Hitler had two fronts to defend and thus signed a nonaggression pact with Russia (Stalin), distributing some territories of Poland between them.
• Hitler advanced over Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands, winning easily. There was resistance from the Allies, but they were obsolete and had to withdraw 300,000 troops to the coast of Dunkirk. Goering, head of aviation, was to destroy all the Allies enclosed between those coasts and the Channel.
• Germany attacked France, which was overcome very quickly. Germany occupied Paris; De Gaulle took refuge in London in 1940.
• Hitler sought to invade England but encountered fierce air resistance from the RAF, which controlled the attack and delayed the German plan. Hitler, used to winning, let this advance go for later and wanted to attack Russia.

The Pacific Theater and US Entry into the War

• On the other hand, Japan wanted to grab land (European colonies) in China for natural resources such as rubber and oil, as the US Congress had decided to expire the agreement for arms shipments. Japan, desperate and without notice, surprised the fleet by bombarding aircraft at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, destroying almost the entire base. The US declared war on Japan but remained neutral in Europe. Hitler believed that after the US defeat, it was impossible to lose his war and declared war on the US. Italy followed suit. The US now entered the World War.

Turning Points on the Eastern and Western Fronts

• There were two fronts, one in Russia and one in the Pacific Ocean.
• Hitler wanted to win back the lost time against England and attacked the USSR, fighting communism. He underestimated the Russian power, which defended with great courage at Stalingrad, and the German army had to retreat, completely out of line and disarmed. Hitler's forces resisted the harsh winter, but the Russians eventually won. The German army surrendered. 140,000 Germans were killed; it was the worst defeat suffered by Germany. 90,000 soldiers surrendered; Hitler called for suicide.
• The Italians, whose leader was Mussolini, lost several major battles and were significantly weakened. The Axis began to lose strength.
• On the other hand, Germany was leading a war in North Africa under Rommel, whose performance against the British had been excellent, but then, completely out of line, the German army was defeated.

The Final Stages of the War

• Germany was exhausted, and on the east, the Russian army was approaching. The US, allied with England, attacked from the West. Germany lost many men and had to use foreign prisoners in factories because they needed more men to deal with the conflict.
• Germany developed the flying bombs, V1 and V2, super powerful and very difficult to detect. A V2 could destroy a city block in seconds. The Allies managed to bomb the key factories of these rockets.
• The USA and Britain set up a plan of attack and landed on the Normandy coast, the last stronghold heavily defended by Germany. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 300,000 Allies landed on its shores; it was the largest naval invasion in history. This operation was directed by General Montgomery.
• In 1944, the US liberated Rome. Hitler defended the entire French border with his last resources. He formed the "Atlantic Wall" and believed it could contain the Allied attacks.
• Hitler survived an assassination attempt at the hands of several military leaders who opposed the continuation of the war, but he was saved by a mistake.

The End of the War

• The Allies broke the German encirclement and moved to Berlin, as did the Russian army. Hitler was caught and decided to commit suicide with a gun; his mistress, Eva Braun, was poisoned. Both bodies were incinerated in the basement of the Foreign Ministry on April 30, 1945.
• The Russians took and destroyed the German chancellery in Berlin.
• The USA dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and three days later on Nagasaki, killing more than 100,000 Japanese in seconds. Hirohito signed the surrender on September 2, 1945, aboard the battleship Missouri. General MacArthur received the Japanese surrender documents.