World War 2

World War 2

Adolf Hitler

                World War 2 is a very popular war with students, historians, and gun collectors. It lasted from 1939-1945. The U.S. involvement was 1941-1945. It all started when Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany, decided to take back the land they lost in the treaty of Versailles. He became dictator in 1937 because he gave the Germans false hope and told them they were the best race and that all "imperfects" should die. These included: Jews, Homosexuals, blacks, etc. In this war the Soviet Union wanted to join Germany by signing the German-Soviet Pact of nonaggression. Hitler decided to invade Poland. This made Britain and France very angry and they declared war on Germany on September, 3 1939. This was not the only reason for the war but this invasion triggered it. Poland was quickly defeated by Soviets and German soldiers. By 1940 , Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union were allied with Germany. These countries were known as the Axis powers. On July 10, 1940 the Nazi's attacked England, this battle was known as the Battle of Britain and was fought mainly in the sky. On October 31, 1940 the Nazi's finally backed down. The Soviet Union also took over the Baltic regions in 1940. In 1941, the Axis powers betrayed the Soviets and attacked them and took control over the Baltic regions. Because of this the Soviet Union became part of the Allies: Britain and France. Towards the end of 1941 Japan bombed the U.S. this caused the U.S. to join the allies and join the war even though they were neutral at first. This bombing is known as pearl harbor and in America we remind ourselves of this tragedy. If this never happened we might have not won the war. They became part of the war because they declared war on Japan, and then Italy and Germany declared war on the U.S. since they all had an alliance. The first time the war went to Germany was in May of 1942 when the sent a lot of planes to bomb Cologne, Germany. in the years 1942-1943, the Allied forces completed a lot of military victories in North Africa. The biggest tank battle in history happened in, July 1943 when Germany tried one more offensive move in Krusk. July 6th, 1944 is one of the most important dates in World War 2. it is known as D-day. This plan was considered suicide, 150,000 British and American troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, France which was one of the most heavily guarded areas of the Axis powers. The Allies finally took over Normandy towards the end of August. The first time U.S. troops crossed into Germany was on September, 11, 1944. this happened one month after the Soviets crossed the eastern border. Germany tried to launch a counter attack in mid December but failed. This counter attack happened in Belgium and northern France, this was known as the Battle of the Bulge. industrial plants and concentration camps were the target of Allied air support. Soon after D-day the Germans surrendered and the French were defeated. This left the Japanese, the final stages in the war were in the islands in the pacific because the U.S were trying to get closer to Japan. This strategy was called island hopping. The war ended when the U.S dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan with a plane called  The Enola Gay which was a b-52. The two bombs were called Little Boy and the Fat Man, they were dropped on, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This was the end of World War 2. The dropping of the two nuclear bombs was and is very controversial. many considered the Americans racist because they wouldn't have dropped it on the Germans. I'm not picking sides, but it did end the war quicker with less suffering and deaths. Quickly after this was the cold war which was about the Soviets wanting to make everyone a communist like them at the time the U.S. and the Soviet Union were the only ones with nuclear bombs. So there was a fear that a nuclear war would result. There were no fighting against the Soviet Union because it was a cold war. The Red Scare was a time when the Americans were "scared" of a communist infiltrating the U.S. government and would turn the U.S. communist. This war also had the use of trenches but had terrible health and comfort conditions. Directly after this war, was the Cold war which you can read about at our blog.