Causes of WWII

There were a few main events that led up to the World War II. Starting at the end of World War I, The treaty of Versailles stated that Germany had to give up part of their land and pay for the damages caused in WWI. It also said that Germany could only have a limited army with no tanks, air force, or submarines. During the time this was going on, Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. He did not approve of this new treaty that was passed about the army limitations, so he secretly began to create his own army. As well as building a new army, he started to form alliances with Italy and Japan. He began to invade and take back all the land that was lost in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany had a a special name for the Italy’s alliance with Germany. the name of this alliance was called the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact. Japan also had special name for their alliance with germany, which was called the Anti-Comitern Pact. after these alliances were formed,  Hitler started to take back the land that was lost in the Treaty of Versailles by marching into Austria and voting to agree on Anschluss, which is an alliance with Germany. Hitler then wanted Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia. For this to happen, he made a deal with the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia agreeing that he would not invade the rest of their country if he acquired that part. Hitler did not keep his promise of not invading the rest of their country and invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and then Poland in 1939. Germany did not agree with the Treaty of Versailles’ conditions. Politicians somehow saw Hitler’s actions of overtaking Germany’s land, making weapons, and creating a larger army reasonable. They thought it was the right thing to do for Germany having the right to build their army back up to protect their country. Germany broke this agreement they made with Czechoslovakia. The breaking of this agreement was part of the Munich Agreement. Germany, Britain, Italy, and France signed this agreement, which said that Sudetenland would be kept by Germany and that they would not be allowed to claim any more territory. Hitler broke this agreement when he invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939. All of these actions that Hitler and the Germans did on the other countries was a bold move. The other countries could have all joined together and taken over Germany to stop them from controlling everyone.

Pearl Harbor

Overall, Germany was very successful with the overtaking Europe. This gave Japan a good chance to overpower the European countries in Southeast Asia. The Japanese started to invade, and the United States, being a big part of trade with Japan, cut off all trade between them. Most of Japan’s oil came from the United States, so in reaction to the Japanese invading some the countries in Northeast Asia, Japan sent a fleet of planes to attack the Pacific Fleet located at Pearl Harbor. This attack happened on the morning of December 7, 1941. The United States’ mainland received word of this attack before it happened, but it took too long for the word to spread to Hawaii because they did not have as good of a communication system as we do today. If the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor received word of this attack on time, they could have had a fighting chance. 

They believe the Japanese made a surprise attack on them with the first wave consisting of about 200 Japanese fighter planes. These fighter planes were called “Zeros” by the Americans because they had red dots on the side and wings representing the Japanese flag. Some of the fighters were made Kamikaze’s by the order of Japan. These airplanes would fly straight into their targets and take and take out many people in the process. The planes would either explode on impact or crash and the pilots would survive and be prisoners. Being a Kamikaze was a huge honor for the country and the Japanese said goodbye to their pilots because they knew they would die. These Kamikaze’s and Zeros attacked all the American aircraft carriers sitting in the harbor and the airfields on the islands. The second wave of Japanese fighter planes came not long after the first and continued the destruction of Pearl Harbor. Both of the waves took out most of the ships that were anchored in the bay. 

The most noticeable of the ships that sank was the USS Arizona. A bomb hit this ship and killed 1,177 officers and crewman that were on the ship. Just this one sinking of the ship accounted for about half of the Americans that died that day. The ship is still sunk and slowly leaking some of its 1.5 million gallons of oil. The Americans thought the Japanese made a surprise attack on them, so the United States and Great Britain declared war with Japan, Germany, and Italy. This attack on Pearl Harbor was considered the turning point in the war.

The Holocaust

During the time of Pearl Harbor, Germans were transporting a large amount of people from the ghettos of Poland to concentration camps. This was known as the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, meaning catastrophe. This was definitely a catastrophe for the Jews who lived during this era. The people that were being transported were sick, old, weak, and the young. It was basically a survival of the fittest. All of the people in this category were either sent to concentration camps or killed by mass in gas chambers. Most of the others were either killed by disease or starvation. This was because the living quarters in the camps were terrible. All kinds of sicknesses were traveling around in the camps and the victims were rarely fed. These people that were staying alive were almost literally skin and bone.

Gate of Auschwitz

All of these camps were located in Poland and the largest and most famous is Auschwitz. After the Germans invaded Poland, they had to clear an entire town to make room for this camp. More than 2 million people were killed at this camp. In the years of 1942-1945, thousands of Jews were sent to these concentration camps. While the Jews were at these camps, the Germans had scientists that conducted experiments on the Jews. These experiments would consist of testing drugs, being put in pressure chambers, and even trying amputations. As one could imagine, these tests were extremely painful and usually resulted in death to the subject. 

It was estimated that the Nazis were killing about twelve thousand Jews every day. After Hitler committed suicide in 1945, Germany surrendered the war about a week after. Many of the concentration camps were evacuating all of the victims that survived. The survivors found it very difficult to go back to their homes because they didn’t have any family left or their non-Jewish neighbors did not accept them anymore. There were a high number of refugees because of this. The Allies wanted to punish the Nazis, so they held the Nuremburg trials from 1945 to 1946. These trials showed the Nazis what they had actually done and also created a place to go for the Nazis in Israel. In the early fifty’s, the Jews were paid by the German government to recognize what they had done. The concentration camp Auschwitz is now a very recognized and visited tourist attraction to remember these awful times that the Jews went through.