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Causes, course and Consequences of World War II
Modern world history world war 2
Causes, course and Consequences of World War II
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World War II is one of the most recognized battles in the history of the world. The battle originated with Germany’s invasion of Poland. This sparked the beginning of the war, though the United States was not yet involved. The U.S. came into the picture after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. Though Japan was the more “direct opponent”, the United States Army Rangers, Marine Corps., and every other branch of military took on Japan and Germany.
Fighting on the Frontlines
One of the more famous battles in the war was the Invasion of Normandy, France by the Allied forces, also known as “Operation Overlord”. The arriving troops came ashore to heavy gun fire that wiped out a good portion of the soldiers that arrived by sea before they made it to the beach. They encountered heavy fire from soldiers using Heavy .50 Caliber machine guns. Once the soldiers reached the shores, the battle was in full swing.
Struggling with the Japanese
As the battle went on in France with Germany, the Japanese tried to gain vantage points against U.S. Soldiers. Heavy Fire from the Nambu Type 100 Sub-Machine Gun battered U.S. Infantry. This weapon was very awkward to handle, as the magazine (also used as the fore-grip) was located on the left side of the muzzle. This gun was the weapon of choice when it came to close combat for the Japanese Imperial Army.
Different Fronts, Different Weapons, Same Resistance
Among the Type 100 was a vast arsenal of weapons from the Japanese. Among these was the Type 99 Light-Machine Gun. Off the tripod, this gun was very hard and awkward to handle. The sights were located on the left side of the gun, and unlike pretty much any other gun of the time, the magazine was located at the ...
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...panese were home-made yet effective. American soldiers on the other hand had a bit of help from Germany for their design of the mines they used. The S-Mine 35 was popular for its detonation sequence. It was a pressure activated proximity mine that would propel a small grenade-like object about 3 feet above ground to explode. This characteristic earned them the nickname “Bouncing Betty.”
The Last Blast
Of all the weapons that were fired in WWII, one was loud enough for an entire country to hear: The Atomic Bomb. During early tests, it was referred too as “The Manhattan Project” and kept under extreme secrecy, above Top-Secret. The United States developed it in conjunction with Canada and the United Kingdom. The image depicted here is the replica of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The blast sent a mushroom cloud over 11 miles into the sky.
Army. Unfortunately fratricide was a reoccurring issue during this battle as well. Due to the lack of training and knowledge of aircraft identification, American AAA gunners and infantryman shot down several friendly planes in the heat of this battle, including several easily identifiable P-38 fighter planes. Those mistakes could have easily been avoided had the soldiers of that time been instructed of proper identification of both friendly and enemy targets. The primary focus of the battle of Kasserine was that of a technical aspect, and in no form tactical. Aside from poor aircraft identification, there was also minimal training in combining air support with maneuvering ground troops on the battle field. This supreme poverty of training in turn led to yet more fratricide and loss of friendly life. A positive lesson learned was that the most effective means of Air Defense during the battle was the use of mounting two and four .50-caliber M2 machine guns on half-tracks. One aspect that proved to be ineffective was the 37mm guns, which failed to stop or destroy the German tanks. Aware of this fact, the U.S. Army began the development of armor piercing shells and anti-tank guns. The U.S. Army was mindful of the shortcomings during the battle of Kasserine Pass and only weeks after refined and revamped its tactics and strategies in air support, amour fighting, and artillery. Due to weapon
In 1942, World War II had been raging for three years. The United States of America have declared war upon the Axis powers following the devastating Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor. At this point in the war the Allies are in a grave situation. German forces have pushed the British off mainland Europe, and the Japanese have conquered much of the Pacific region, coming increasingly nearer to the American mainland. In order to combat this rising threat, the American military headship began to search for viable alternatives to replace widely used established tactics. The motive for this search for irregular methods the fact that the Allied forces were not strong enough to meet the Axis powers on a conventional
Nazi Germany, which caused the war, used the Luger P08 and the Mauser Kar 98K. The Luger was a unique pistol because of its toggle top. (bayonetstrength.150m.com) To load the gun, you had to pull up on a lever on top of the gun. This pistol's high accuracy rate was due to its 7.65mm round; it also had an effective range of 492 feet, respectable for a pistol. Germany’s long rifle, the Mauser Kar 98K was a brutal weapon. Its caliber, a 7.92mm made long-range shots possible for the Germans. Its effective range is a whopping 5,907 feet. (Militaryfactory.com)
facts on the rifles. With all of the bullet types there length. It also may have the bolt to gas from
The M1 Carbine was a unique weapon that was very helpful in World War II to American soldiers that had them. This was a .30 caliber weapon that had two types of cartridges. There was one that held fifteen rounds and another that held thirty rounds. It was very lightweight and gas operated and air cooled. M1 Carbines were first issued in 1941 for so...
A majority of weapons used in World War II were improved weapons from World War II. Most guns increased in power and abilities. In World War II people thought that pistols were useless but this was proved wrong due to the fact that the U.S. Mi...
As nuclear fission became a reality during World War II, the world became entrenched in a race to build and detonate the first atomic weapon. This led to the development of the Manhattan Project, in which the United States constructed the first atomic weapon. On August 6th and 9th of 1945, atomic bombs were detonated over both Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan respectively. Although the dropping of atomic bombs had led to the end of World War II, it was unethical for the United States to detonate them over the citizens of Japan due to the adverse effects it had brought upon the international community.
The Union created the .52 caliber breech loading Billinghurst-Requa batter. It used a light carriage to mount 25 rifled barrels side by side and when loaded and primed, the barrels fired in a sequence. Some of these guns were used in battle but saw very little action. These two weapons show that weapon technology was at a new height during this era.
The United States was engaged in a naval battle with Japan from June 4-7 1942, 6 months after Pearl Harbor (Carson) (Interview). This engagement was The Battle of Midway and the most important naval battle of WWII. The United States was able to take control of the Pacific after the victory. This battle not only determined naval superiority in the Pacific but also was a turning point for the entire World War. (Interview)
World War II killed more people, destroyed more property, disrupted more lives, and probably had more far-reaching consequences than any other war in history. It brought about the downfall of Western Europe as the center of world power and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The exact number of people killed because of the war will never be known. Many nations came together to form the Axis. As they’re opposite the Allies totaled fifty nations by the end of the war. The early stages of the war are what got the attention of the U.S. Although, the U.S. was set on being on the sidelines of this war, Pearl Harbor was the deciding factor for her entry. The consequences of the war involved numerous deaths and even more power struggles after the war had ended. All together, World War II was a far-reaching, extremely destructive war that changed the world and its super-powers forever.
Having been spread out over more land and involved more people than any other war in history, many believe World War II is also the most historic war in as well. There has never been a war of such immense importance and such a gigantic magnitude. The United States served an absolutely vital role in the outcome of this war. The U.S. was faced with the duty of taking on two different wars at the same time in two different places in the world. Something that many countries would have backed away from. The European front was without hesitation the more evident of the two considering the unquestionable mayhem and evils that were being committed by Adolf Hitler. United States involvement on the European front was unavoidable and, generally much easier for U.S. forces to get to. Having fought in Europe less than thirty years prior, the U.S. was familiar with the territory and proper strategy. The Pacific Campaign of World War II offered an incomparable test for the United States Armed Forces. U.S. Armed Forces had never fought in the South Pacific or even on terrain that resembled the conditions in which they would be faced with in the Pacific Islands. With the Army deeply involved in Europe, in December of 1941 the United States found it self stuck in a war that it was not ready for and had no idea how to fight. However, the United States Marine Corps were the ideal company for the kind of combat they would be faced with in the Pacific. Marines had adequate training for land to sea combat. The Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific gave the U.S. its only chance of being successful against the Japanese military.
After the fall of Saipan, Imperial Japanese Army and Naval forces were deployed to the island of Iwo Jima; a very small island, approxim...
When the United States caught word that Germany was close to creating the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists wanted to create it first, for the U.S. After three years of research, the first small atomic device was exploded on July 16, 1945 in the lab at Los Alamos. Having proved their concept worked, a larger scale bomb was built. Less than a month later, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan (Rosenberg).
Although the frontline of the battle is more well-known, the home front during World War 2 was what kept the men at was going strong. It all started on the home front, leading the United States into World War 2 when Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. It was a sunny Sunday morning on the quiet twenty-two acre naval base when the unsuspected Japanese navy and air force targeted United States battleships, aircraft carriers, and the ninety-two vessels on base. The surprise attack took place at 7:55 a.m. when three hundred sixty Japanese war planes and thirty-three naval ships destroyed one hundred seventy American aircrafts, eighteen
The invention and innovation of small firearms spans throughout the world and throughout multiple centuries. The main inventions during the early phases of small arms development quickly gave way to the next innovation, although they were slow to be adapted to military use due to the cost of their production. As time went on these innovations became more and more stagnant to the point of there being no major innovations in the field for close to two hundred years. However, after this stagnant period, there began another period of advanced innovation in the area of small arms technology. The goal of this essay is to understand and dissect the innovations that occurred during these two periods of advanced innovation and the cultural and historical factors that lead to them.