World War II
Pat Bowes
Author's note:  This website is in no way intended to be an all-encompassing report on World War II.  Rather, the intent is to provide an overview of the war and its major events.  Information contained herein is intended to provide a solid base of information for students who will later be involved in more detailed teaching units and research.
 
Pearl Harbor
My Dad
Omaha Beach
Iwo Jima
Victory Day
Nagasaki
 
Origins Causes Pearl Harbor Phoney War Maginot  Dunkerque Barbarossa Bataan
Doolittle Midway Hopping Tokyo Iwo Jima Britain Africa Italy
Dresden D-Day Bulge V.E. Day Holocaust Women Af. Amer. Internment
Atomic Bomb Manhattan Debate Veterans Biographies Vocabulary Sundry Comment
 Note: This is a work in process.  I am still working on some of these links.  Comments and suggestions are welcome.
The Origins of World War II
On September 3, 1939, both France and Britain decalred war on Germany because of its invasion of Poland.  The Poles had not anticipated the attack in part because they had hoped for help from their neighbors, the mighty Russians.  Communist Russia had, however, signed a non-aggression pact with Germany.  Part of the agreement stated that the Russians could take the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  With their forces divided, the Polish army braced for a long battle, but they had no idea what was about to hit them.  The Germans unleashed a new type of warfare called blitzkrieg, which means "lightning war."

Blitzkrieg warfare used by the Germans involved quick, sustained, and massive attacks.  The Germans bombed the Polish airports so heavily that the Polish air force could not even take to the air.  With no air force to defend itself, the Polish army was no match for the powerful German army.  Once Nazi Germany successfully controlled the western half of Poland, Russia invaded from the east and Poland had fallen in less than 3 weeks.

More than 40,000,000 people were killed in the next six years during World War II.  Much of the killing could have been avoided had the historical twists of fate been more kind.  Five years before the invasion of Poland there was a power struggle among German military leaders and there was a planned overthrow of the new Nazi regime and its leader, Adolf Hitler.  Hitler, however, received advance word of the overthrow attempt and in what is known as The Night of the Long Knives he had his henchmen murder more than 200 of his rivals.  Like the Polish air force five years later, the overthrow never got off the ground.  Hitler claimed his actions were justified to protect the state and he claimed he was the supreme judge and that, "Everyone must know for all future time that if he raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot."  The people of Germany were confused but they were also upset about the poor conditions they were forced to live under due to the Treaty of Versailles.  They cheered the fact that Hitler was bringing them back to prominence, but they also had incredible fear of him and the SS.   Intense nationalism grew and Hitler's power and sense of superiority was now out of control.

The powerful countries of France and Britain were well aware of Hitler's rise to power but they didn't want to fight and so they adopted a policy of appeasement.  In 1938, Austria, which set between Germany and fascist Italy, was pressured into becoming part of the German-Reich.  Czechoslovakia was Hitler's next target.  A large portion of western Czechoslovakia consisted of German people who preferred German rule.  Hitler indicated that he wished only to control the western part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland.  Both England and France were strapped financially and felt that if they simply gave Hitler what he wanted that his expansion efforts would end there.  Through heavy-handed negotiation and without the military support of France and Britain, Czechoslovakia was forced to cede its western region to Germany.  The world was about to find out that the policy of appeasement was a horrible mistake.  By March of 1939, all of Czechoslovakia was under the control of the Germans.

Before the events that then spiraled out of control are discussed, it is perhaps best to look at the causes of the worst war in human history.  Why did the Germans seek to expand their territory?  Why did they follow a madman?  How did Adolf Hitler come to power?

Click the box for an overview of the causes of World War II.
 
 

WWII Causes