Many people have different ideas about the way World War 2 really started. It’s recorded in history that on the date of September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. The reaction to the attack was six longs years of war between many different countries. Many people wondered what provoked the Germans to attack other countries. The Germans took over Austria and Czechoslovakia without a fight. The reason for this was that the British did not want a bloody repeat of World War 1. The British thought they could avoid conflict by giving up the two of those countries. France and Britain did not understand Hitler’s goal of gaining land more than their own country. France and Britain soon realized that giving up some of their land to please Hitler would not work out. To eliminate the possibility of the Soviet Union attacking the Germans, Hitler made a pact with them. This pact was called the “Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact.” The reason the Germans made this pact was so they would not look like the attackers even though they were. The effect of this was the Soviet Union did not realize what the Nazis were doing until it was too late to try and stop them. The Nazis needed a reason to attack Poland so they came up with one. A Nazi by the name of Heinrich Himmler was the man who thought of the idea. Heinrich named the idea operation Himmler. Himmler’s plan was to take a man from one of their concentration camps and dress him in a polish uniform. After that they took him to the border of Poland and Germany to a small town called Gleiwitz. After that Himmler had a Nazi soldier shoot him dead. This made it look like a Polish attack on a nearby German radio station. The Germ... ... middle of paper ... ...e Congress gave the president power to freeze prices, salaries, and wages on September 15, 1942. The United States imposed a special tax on luxury items like jewelry and cosmetics. The government set up a civil defense system to protect the country from attacks. Many cities practiced blackouts that made cities on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts dim their lights. Works Cited http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/causes.htm http://history.parkfieldict.co.uk/world-war-ii/why-did-world-war-ii-start http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/sept-1-1939-nazi-germany-invades-poland- startingworld-war-ii/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://middle.usmk12.org/Faculty/taft/Unit7/wwii_legacy.htm http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1661.html http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/tv-and-culture/world-war-ii-affect- television.htm
The Nazi’s thought they had every right to take over countries in Eastern Europe.(Whittock, Martyn)” What they didn’t understand is they never had the rights to take from anyone. The fact that they saw nothing wrong with taking over and destroying what other people created is a prime example of how they were evil but saw themselves as the good guys. “The youth was taken advantage
On April 27, 1940, the head of the SS and German police, Heinrich Himmler, ordered that a new concentration camp be established near the town of Oswiecim. A short while later the building of the camp in Zasole, the suburb of Oswiecim, was started. The camp was to be called Auschwitz. The first laborers forced to work on the construction of the camp were three hundred Jews from Oswiecim and its vicinity. (Encyclopedia of the Holocaust) After the completion it covered two square kilometers and took approximately one and a half hours to walk around its perimeter. (Feig, 340) On the gate of Auschwitz was a sign in German that read, “Arbeit macht frei,” which translates into English as “work makes one free.” (Feig, 334) This was one of the many lies which the Nazis told their prisoners. The first Jews in Auschwitz believed that they were just being taken there to work for the Nazis. As more and more people died word leaked to the outside world about what was really happening at Auschwitz.
In unit three of Nation of Nations, there were many social/cultural and political issues that affected the Jews in Germany and the Japanese in America. The social/cultural groups were roused due to the conflicts arising over ethnic backgrounds, race, and class differences. The Jews and Japanese faced discrimination in both countries whether they were born there or not. (Davidson, 2008)
“Since the end of the Napoleonic wars England has been the dominant nation of the world, and that her participation in the Great War will probably be the decisive factor in its length, if not in its termination” Page 12 bernadotte The question Germany and many other nations began to ask themselves was: “Why should so commanding a position belong to a couple of islands whose population was less than that of France (until a few years ago), Germany,...
While the alliances were being formed Britain decided to stay a neutral country and not take sides or interfere with the war. Germany, although, got them to change their minds. The German army created a plan that was believed to be able to take down Russia and France in one battle. This plan was called the Schlieffen Plan, named after the general who created it, General Alfred von Schlieffen. The plan was to first move toward the French army since Russia's army mobilizes quite slowly then to quickly turn around and move towards the Russian army. In order to follow this plan through, the German army had to pass through Belgium. However Belgium had signed a treaty guaranteeing neutrality.
World War II was not only started by Adolf Hitler and Germany, but had a lot to do with the humiliation that Germany felt when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were laid down. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles may be indirectly related to the cause of World War II, but nonetheless was a huge factor in starting the war.
In the spring of 1940 Europe was enveloped in war. The German military machine had already conquered Poland, Denmark, and Norway. However, not content with northern and eastern expansion, Adolf Hitler wanted to control the western countries in Europe. Hitler had long been obsessed with attacking and controlling France. After their defeat in World War I, the German people, government, and military were humiliated by the enormous post war sanctions leveraged against them from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to defeat and humiliate the French people in the same way that his country had to experience. For him, revenge was necessary. The German plan was to swing into France using a new tactic know as Blitzkrieg or “Lightning War”. Blitzkrieg used speed and surprise along with highly concentrated tank corps, supported by mechanized infantry and airplanes.
The French also made a secret agreement with Italy, as well as with the Americans. Germany also made alliances with Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Ross 18). This alliance system, divided the continent into “armed camps,” and thereby made it more likely that such an incident could not be prevented from spreading. (Ross 52). After a lot of problems in the Balkans, caused by the newly formed states, France and Russia both felt that war was destined to come, although both Germany and Britain had shown willingness to cooperate, trying to prevent war, and to make peace. This definitely showed hope as two hostile countries tried to reach an agreement. Forced into trouble in the Balkans, the nations desperately tried to keep peace, unsuccessfully. These countries also had a lot of colonies, mostly in Africa. As they were also competing to get the greatest amount of territory there, they often crossed each other, causing several problems.
This essentially left Britain as the only power that had not picked a side and therefore the deciding point for the balance of conflict. If they choose the Franco-Russian alliance, then the delicate balance of power that had so long existed would remain. Lafore explains the reasons in which Britain may have wanted to join either alliance and finally gives the reason for joining the Franco-Russian alliance by saying that the effects of the Boer war and other events had led Britain into an uncertain alliance with the two countries (140). Thus Britain, France, and Russia formed the Triple
..., let him get away with it! Later on, once Hitler had more power and control over things, he decided to invade Poland in search of more Jews, but luckily France and Britain had heard of Hitler’s rampage and decided to put an end to it by waging war on Germany two days after the invasion started. This little war started a large-scale world war that would from then on known as the largest armed conflict between countries in history.
“September 1939, the German forces defeated the Polish Army in two weeks. Jews were ordered to register all family members and relocated to major cities. More than 10,000 Jews from the countryside arrive in Krakow daily” [1]. Oskar Schindler, a German member of the Nazi Party, arrives to the to the city as well to make his fortune from the war, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for basic reasons, but when the Nazi Party begins to exterminate Jews in the Krakow area, Schindler organizes his workers his workers to be protected to keeps his factory operational, in doing so he begins to realize he is also saving innocent lives.
same for Germany. The men realized it would not be possible for them to continue their wartime
The war started in September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded the territory of Poland, which was allied with Great Britain and France. German officials signed a peace treaty in August 24-25 with the Soviet Union to prevent them from acting in the invasion and to stay in peace between both countries. So Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany the day of September 3, 1939. After this event, Canada also declared war on Germany at September 10, 1939. Germany rapidly crushed Poland, since it had an incredible army with 100 infantry divisions and six armored divisions. Due to the peace treaty between Germans and Soviets, in September 17th the Soviet also invaded and took eastern Poland. Later in the year, on November 30th, the USSR invaded Finland while Great Britain and France where occupied with Germany. At this time, Japan was in the Far East, and had Asia in turmoil. Imperial Japan invaded china and various other territories ...
The road to World War II was built by several different causes. Under Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Germany had desire to expand and dominate over most of Europe. This expansionism could be seen in Germany’s allies too. Japan set its eyes on China, and Italy set its eyes on Northern Africa. Hitler also ignored many of the agreements under the Treaty of Versailles, and begun breaking the treaty more and more up until the start of World War II. Unfortunately he couldn’t be stopped, a policy of “Appeasement” from the League of Nations allowed Germany to build an army and begin the annexation of its European neighbors. This policy of appeasement was accompany by the belief that collective security would pull through. If all the nations banded together and declared collective security, no other country would dare attack. Unfortunately when Germany and her allies did attack, collective security proved useless. Ultimately the policies of appeasement, the belief that collective security would work, and the over aggression of the Axis forces would lead to the start of World War II.
France feared Germany, Germany had a preponderant military, so to counterbalance the German - British alliance, France agreed the Franco-Russian alliance.