World War II started on 1 September 1939 and ended 6 years later, on 2 September 1945. Trouble started when Germany and its allies, Japan, Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Finland, Vichy France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark and Albania formed the Axis Powers to conquer the world.
For a long time, historians have been studying the case closely to decipher the causes, consequences and take home some learning points.
One of the reasons why Germany started the war was because the Germans were very unhappy about the Versailles Treaty.
The Versailles Treaty indicated that Germany should accept the blame for starting World War One. Thus, they had to pay £6,600 million for the damage caused by the war and was only allowed to have a small army and six naval ships. No tanks, no air force and no submarines were allowed. The Rhineland area was to be de-militarized. Land was also taken away from Germany and given to other countries. Union with Austria was forbidden.
The Germans could not afford to pay the money. This was because during the 1920s the people in Germany were very poor. People were dissatisfied with the government and they voted Hitler to power because he promised them to renounce the Treaty of Versailles.
Up to now, many historians still think that the Second World War was Hitler's personal war. He wanted to fight the war because he believed that Germany did not deserve to lose in World War I and he wanted revenge. He also hated the Jews and claimed that the Jews were to blame for all the difficulties Germans were experiencing. He wanted to kill all of them.
Hitler was domineering, compulsive and also paranoid. His personal agenda was to unite German-speaking people and to dominate Europe and the World.
Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles (28/6/1919) and went to war with France. He also invaded Poland and The Soviet Union and other parts of Europe. While this happened, Japan was busy attacking Asia and the Pacific.
World War II claimed more than 60 million innocent lives. More civilians died than the soldiers. They died horrible deaths from explosion, firestorm, suffocation and starvation.
About twenty out of every one hundred residences in Germany were destroyed. Two and a quarter million homes were destroyed in Japan and 460,000 in Great Britain. Every fifth Greek was left homeless and 28,000 homes in Rotterdam were obliterated. Total damages were estimated at US$4 trillion.
So what were the lessons learnt? The Second World War taught the world that war is actually a great fuel for invention. Germany was able to develop technologies because of the need created by the war. Computer technology developed because of America efforts to crack enemies code and the enigma machine.
It has also taught the world about the power of rumors and political posturing. The idea of image, or propaganda played a huge part in the Second World War and was used to great extent by Germany in gaining support for their efforts.
Most importantly, it showed us that fear and anger could lead us down the wrong path. World War II was an example of how anger and resentment had destroyed the world.
As for me, I wonder what all the killing had accomplished?
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