The second world war
U.S.A - The Second World War
Hitler announced on September 1st, 1939 in front of the German Reichstag in Berlin that the German armed forces has marched in into Poland at 5.45 hours, that, since then, you shoot back. Hitler justified the attack with Polish encroachments on a German territory. No declaration of war had gone in front of him with the attack on Poland, the 2nd World War started.
Attack on Pearl Harbour:
The attack of the Japanese on the U.S. base Pearl Harbor in the Pacific on December 7th, 1941 led to the war admission of the USA against the axis powers and meant the beginning of the worldwide war.
Since 1931, Japan operated an aggressive foreign policy with the propagated aim of freeing Asia from the colonial exploitation and setting up a new order. First signs of this politics were the erection of the small state Mandschukuo (1932) and the leaving the League of Nations (1933). Japan followed the Antikomintern three years later.
Since July 1937 Japanese armies moved forward against China. When the advance stagnated after two years, Japan five provinces had conquered in the north of China and the Chinese coast mastered. It set up a marionette government under Wang Tsching Wei (1883-1944) in Nanking after that in 1940 and the consent to the Japanese occupation of the north of Indochina extorted a three-month inhibition of the Burmastraße from England as well as of the Vichy regime. The last overseas supply channels were cut off with that for weapons and ammunition to China.
If China and England had been defeated by the aggressors, the USA would have been threatened by expansionary strengths to two sides. This scenario arranged for the Americans for the task of their strict isolationist attitude in September 1940.
The checking of the Japanese expansion by economy measures became an urgent aim of the American government besides the support of England. The European western powers by the procedure against China in their economy and trade interests and long-term in their colonial possessions threatened reacted only with verbal protest to the expansion policy of Japan since their military strengths were bound in Europe.
By the offensive of Germany to the west in May 1940 the situation in the Pacific changed decisively: The colonial powers Holland and France were defeated or weakened and the British strengths were bound at the European theater of war. A venture to the European colonial areas in Southeast Asia seemed promising. Under strategic points of view an attack on south East Asian areas could interrupt the supplies unions Chiang Kai sheks and therefore give the war a decisive turn against China. To have the back for such an operation freely, Japan on April 13th, 1941 entered into a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union.
U.S. -- declaration of war against Japan:
"The United States of America were attacked by the sea and air force of the Japanese empire without early warning and with intention yesterday on December 7th, 1941, a date of eternal disgrace." With these words U.S. president Franklin D.
Roosevelt opened the declaration of war against Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese attack was aimed at French Indochina and Thailand in Southeast Asia to open a second front against England contrary to the German diplomacy which would have enjoyed moving Japan to this, on July 2nd, 1941. The USA, England and Dutch India reacted to the aggression with freezing the Japanese credits. It was entitled the Japanese government to do without the putting into action of the Hegemonialpläne or at first to conquer raw material sources with the remaining stocks now before the choice. If Japan decided against British and Dutch occupations for further south operations, it had to expect resistance on the part of the American fleet. So a further expansion meant war against the USA at the same time.
The climate between the USA and Japan deteriorated increasingly not least after the governor concerned about interest compensation prince Fumimaro Konoe handed over general Tojo Hideki to his positions to the former Minister of War in October. An ultimatum Tojos to November 25th, 1941 didn't lead to any agreement. The USA which had decoded the Japanese diplomat code knew that a military attack of the Japanese was imminent. Place and time of the attack on Pearl Harbor having been carried out without a Japanese declaration of war nevertheless surprisingly met the USA.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 Japan decided in favor of a continuation of the aggressive expansion politics. The attack turned the American battle fleet off in the Pacific with a blow and brought Japan a strategic advantage.
This event marked the beginning of the worldwide war.
Slaughter around Midway
By their victory in the Midway islands over the Japan beginning of June 1942 the USA secured the dominance for themselves in the Pacific and weakened the Japanese fleet lastingly.
The Japanese navy started a venture into the Indian ocean at the beginning of April 1942. It couldn't hope on support of country troops since the Japanese army was bound in China and Mandschukuo. An attempt to conquer strategically important Madagascar remained unsuccessful. However, a serious defeat meant strategically although the failure of this test didn't cause Japan any heavy losses.
In the Südpazifik turned out for Japan soon on this into tight spot. The Americans had strengthened their military presence in this room and Japan had to set up a kind of shield to the south. Two days later, the Japanese attack on the Midway islands on June 3rd, 1942 motivated so ended with a defeat of which the Japanese fleet shouldn't recover. The battleships had remained intact but the decisive factor it had turned out that the aircraft carriers had in the Pacific and had lost the Japanese four of this.
Guadal Canal:
The USA decided on a counterattack on the Salomon island of Guadalcanal in August, encouraged so. The Japanese answered with heavy attacks on this from the air and to the sea.
Both sides suffered heavy losses into six naval battles. The supplies it was the U.S. navy threatened, became apparent in November/December 1942 that the USA were superior in this wear and tear battle although during the fights which dragged on more than six months again and again for. Japan's fading resources couldn't keep pace any more with the prospering war economic production of the Americans. The Japanese finally retired on February 7th, 1943.
The acceptance of the Japanese strategists, America isn't ready to pay a high price for some insignificant islands to people and material, had proved to be wrong. Guadalcanal was a declaration of bankruptcy of the strategic leadership in Tokyo. Instead of either retiring from the fights quickly or fighting with a full use, the Japanese had taken the third way: You brought in more and more resources in the fight but never to overwhelm the opponent. This strategy led to the loss of the battle of Guadalcanal and -- was something important for the loss of the military initiative altogether.
With the successful allied counteroffensive of Guadalcanal in winter 1942 the war had taken a turn in the Pacific as it pointed like itself also at the other theaters of war.
Liberation of France:
The Americans broke through the German front west of Saint Lô on July 25th, 1944 and ventured like a fan to the west to Brittany to the south direction Loire to the southeast on Le Mans and to the east to Mortain.
The remains of the German army group B threatened to be contained by the allied troops. To escape this danger the front commander Günther suggested of clever unite retreat to behind his. On the other hand, Hitler ordered to entrench oneself in the ports of Brittany. When the German attempt to start a counteroffensive from there was suffocated by the Allies, clever ordered the retreat on responsibility of one's own. It was replaced by field marshal model after that. But also this could hardly hold back the unordered retreat.
The boiler finally closed. 45 000 soldiers didn't make the breakthrough any more.
The Allies in Paris moved in on August 25th, 1944. The German commanding officer Dietrich of Choltitz hadn't followed Hitler's order to turn the town into an expanse of rubble. At first general Eisenhower who had taken on the supreme command about all of the allied land forces in France on September 1st ordered to advance on the whole breadth to the Rhine. American and French troops landed Alexander Patch under lieutenant general in the South of France in the middle of August.
The Frenchmen made contact with the tank associations under general Patton ten days later. 20 000 German soldiers were cut off by it in southwest Frank empire. On the same day American patrols exceeded for the first time the German limit.
The brits had reached the Maas and the upper Rhine under Montgomery, the Americans were at the Siegfried Line which the Germans had set up to the Maginot line in the thirties as a counterpart. At first the attempt to take Aix-la-Chapelle as the first larger German town failed. The greatest problem of the western powers was the supplies.
Gasoline and ammunition had 800 kilometers far to be transported by the French ports over destroyed streets and tracks. It was prerequisite for further operations to make the port of Antwerp able to work. This turned out well only in November. Before the Allies could move from the use, they were still surprised by the German Ardennenoffensive.
Plans of the Aliierten:
The three allied leaders met in Jalta on the Krim at the beginning of February 1945. At this time the or 60 kilometers eastern of Berlin Stalin almost had quite south and Eastern Europe under control and was to.
Poland was in a Soviet hand and the western powers still could reach durable concessions for the Polish government in exile in London in territorial questions. After all, Stalin signed a general declaration which assured all relieved and occupied areas of governments of its own.
Main topic of the meeting was the future of defeated Germany. Stalin conflictingly agreed with the facilities of a French occupation zone in Germany. The Allies reached an agreement fast on the future denazification and demilitarization. On the other hand, the question of the reparationses and the democratization remained open.
The ideas of the Soviet Union and the west Allies parted far here.
For the further war course Stalin accepted at the Jalta conference, to stand up against Japan after the German surrender into the war. For this it should get territorial compensations.
Within the following years the meeting was often declared by Jalta as a close-out sale of west allied interests. The meeting actually showed how hard it was to coordinate the different ideologies and interests and to check the putting into action of the reached compromises primarily later. After the meeting of Jalta a number of till now neutral states made up one's mind, under them Turkey and the Latin American states, to stand up against the German empire on the part of the Allies into the war.
Military collapse of Japan:
A large-scale counteroffensive of the Allies had started with the American landing on Guadalcanal in August 1942 in the southwestern and middle Pacific. The Americans conquered the Filipinos and the Japanese island bases Iwo Jima and Okinawa until early summer 1945.
The Japanese used a new weapon in the fight for the Philippines in October 1944: the kamikaze airmen. During the fight for Luzon and the Philippines they came for the first time to use.
Despite the Japanese resistance the Allies advanced always further. The conquest of archipelagos in an immediate proximity to the Japanese main island made air raids on the Japanese heartland possible.
The series of defeats in February and March 1945, the landing of the Americans on Okinawa and the termination of the neutrality contract by the Soviet Union led to an inner crisis in Japan. After the fall of the governor Koiso Kuniaki a man to the power who was ready to continue the war although the situation of Japan was hopeless came with admiral Suzuki Kantaro.
The American armed forces were convinced that the Japanese only could be forced by an occupation of their island to the task under continuation of the previous strategy. You expected heavy, heavily loss-making fights. Following successful atomic bomb tests in July 1945 the Americans decided in favor of the use of the weapon. After Japan didn't go into an ultimatum, they threw off the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th.
170 000 the bomb cost 92 000 people the life, 37 000 was hurt homeless. The town was destroyed. The Soviet Union declared the war on Japan three days later and marched in into the Manchuria. On the same day the second American atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki. 40 000 people died, 60 000 were hurt.
The Japanese government was still in disagreement as it should react to the allied surrender conditions.
After the dismissal of a revolt of officers emperor Hirohito explained the surrender on August 15th, 1945. The surrender document was signed on the battleship "Missouri" on September 2nd.
Results of the war:
The 2nd World War was the greatest discussion in history of mankind. Almost a third of the world population from 61 countries was immediately involved in it. Altogether, 110 million people stood under weapons of this about the half in the service of the Soviet Union, Germany and the USA.
The years of fights had claimed enormous victims and brought about extreme destructions.
The Soviet Union had the heaviest losses of human lifes to lament. New estimates start out from at least 25 million dead bodies. It is characteristic that not more than one third came from it at military actions around the life. The number of the civilian victims exceeded these the military by far. Estimates have died according to about 15 million people in China. Poland had to lament almost six million dead bodies, the war demanded the states of about 300 000.
over four million victims in Germany in Japan over two millions. One worldwide values the number of the dead bodies at approximately 60 million, among this six million Jews.
The 2nd World War had triggered a refugee wave which didn't come to the interruption after end of the war either. Many people couldn't return due to the political changes to their native country, others, like e.g. the Polish Jews, met on their return on so much rejection that they had to flee once more.
Also millions Germans were on the flight from the former east areas. One talks about far over ten millions refugees.
The international Kräfteverhältnis moved itself because of the war lastingly: The Soviet Union turned world power next to the USA. The previous great powers England, France, Germany and Japan lost meaning.
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