The History of World War II

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World War II was the bloodiest global war ever exposed to simple society. It is generally considered to have lasted from 1939 to 1945, although several conflicts in Asia that are commonly linked as contributing factors towards the war had begun earlier than 1939. It concerned the vast majority of the world’s nations, including all of the great powers, finally forming two opposing military alliances: the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. It was the most widespread war in history with fighting that raged constantly between fifty nations. In a state of total war, the major participating countries threw their entire social, political, and economic capabilities behind the war effort, eliminating the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked tragically by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust forced by Nazi Germany and the first use of nuclear weapons in combat, it resulted in approximately 50 million to 85 million fatalities, many of them innocent civilians, making World War II the deadliest conflict in human history. Most historians believe World War II can be traced to World War I which lasted from 1914 to 1918. Americans had fought in that earlier war to “make the world safe for democracy.” Those were the words and hopes of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. But the peace treaties that ended World War I did not make the world safe for democracy. Instead, they caused erratic bitterness and anger that led to World War II. Germany and allies were the losers of World War I. Germany was stripped of one sixth of its territory and was forced to pay large reparations. Germany then suffered from high unemployment and runaway inflation; money became almost worthless and many Germans seethed in anger at ... ... middle of paper ... ...Lessons From World War II." Real Clear Politics. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. . "Negative Effects On America Resulting From World War II." Study Mode. Study Mode, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. . "United States Homefront During World War II." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. . "Medicine and World War Two." History of Learning. Ask.com, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. . "Result and Effects of World War II." Social Studies. Kidport Reference Library,n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .

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