The Great Depression was a period of time from 1929-1939 in which the economy of many countries was failing. It was affecting farmers even before 1929, but that was the year when it started to affect all of the people in America, not just farmers. For much of the 1920's, farmers had been struggling to make money with their crops. They had been farming more and more food for the war effort back in the 1910's, and their farmland value dropped as much as 40% (2).Their farming techniques had grown to be more efficient but also more costly, which was something that put them in debt as they couldn't afford it. Their farmland was no longer as valuable as it had been when they bought it, so they were losing more and more money as they fell deeper into debt. When the First World War ended, there wasn't as much as a demand for food, so all of the crops were left there with no need for them. Another thing that had contributed to the collapse was that during WWI, factories and industries had been mass producing things for the war effort, and there was no need for them by the public so they were inky stockpiling them (2).
The event that officially catapulted the country into the Great Depression occurred in October 1929 (1). Companies had many goods stockpiled as consumer spending dropped, and at the same time stock prices were rising. The stock market had been built in a shaky way, with investors buying stock they believed would rise in value fast, then selling at its highest point, which was not a secure way to run a stock market (2). There were many reasons that the stock market was so weak, including that a lot of people were buying the stocks with borrowed money. This would out them in debt, and when the stock market collapsed, it left them with no way out because at the same time millions were losing their jobs (2). Since companies had so many goods stockpiled from earlier years, and since people weren't no longer buying, they started to fire people because they couldn't pay them and didn't have any work for them. Millions of people were unemployed during this time, and people did not have enough for even the basic necessities. It was a very hopeless time for many people, which is why it is known as the Great Depression, because there seemed to be despair everywhere after there had been many years of prosperity in the United States. There simply were not enough jobs or money in the country to support the population. Banks were shutting down because no one wanted to put their money in banks since they didn't know if they would be able to get it back, and they couldn't give people back their money since no one else was putting money in, which was how the bank system worked (2).
President Hoover had been president during the beginning and the early years of the recession. He had tried many things during his presidential term, but they mostly ended up backfiring and worsening the recovery of the economy, which is why he is often blamed with causing the Great Depression. Some of the things that he tried included investing into new ideas and industries, but it happened in small quantities and at too late a time. He also tried to impose tariffs on overseas trade and imports, which limited how much business could be done and also hurt the economy (2). President Hoover was succeeded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who makes to come up with plans to get the country out of the depression. He came up with a plan called the New Deal, which would take on social, economic, and other issues that were present in America. In his first hundred days in office, he passed some acts that made him gain popularity and helped repair Americans view on the country. This allowed him to set the basis for the New Deal, which passed without many people reading and looking at it, because otherwise they would have found that some of it was to be deemed unconstitutional. The New Deal fixed the economy because it stabilized the banks, it provided millions of unemployed people with work by doing things like redeveloping valleys and fixing industry, and helped get agriculture back in its feet (3).
Rise of Dictators in Europe
During the years following the end of World War I, and the years preceding the beginning of World War II, the people in some places of Europe were suffering from many hardships. The people of places like Germany had had their economy and their morale crushed by the outcome of World War I, because they had to pay for the damage done to other countries in Europe. World War I and ended with the Treaty of Versailles, and while U.S. President Wilson wanted it to be equal and fair, other European countries wanted to punish Germany and to restrict their abilities to wage war in the future. They set heavy restrictions upon Germany that did not let them have a large standing army, or allow their soldiers to have weapons. They also had to pay for the damages that had occurred in Europe throughout the war, which put them billions of dollars in debt to other countries. German currency was practically worthless during these times, with one U.S. Dollar worth thousands of German currency. Government officials tried to solve this with printing more money, but it didn't have any value behind it, so it caused a hyperinflation. The United States tried to help stabilize the economy by loaning them millions of dollars, and this was working until the Great Depression hit in the United States. This caused the economy to worsen, and many people blamed the governments that had been controlling them before. This made Dictator, Fascist, and Communist leaders look more appealing as they promised solutions to make them prosperous again (6).
There were many different dictators in Europe during the years that preceded World War II. The most powerful of them included Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, Joseph Stalin from the Soviet Union, and Benito Mussolini of Italy. All of the countries had bitter feelings from the end of World War I and the terms that resulted from the outcome of the war. Italy had not gotten large territory gains from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and Germany's population was reduced to starving and barely being able to support all of their people. The people had blamed the democratic government that had ruled them during the hard times, so when dictators like Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler started to make big appearances and promising that they could make a difference to restore their countries, people listened and believe them. Benito Mussolini promised to rebuild industry and armed forces in Italy, and people supported him, so he took power without much resistance in 1922. After taking power, he started outlawing all other parties except his, and would arrest those who would oppose him. Even though he controlled the population, he never had total control like Hitler in Nazi Germany, or like Stalin in the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin had taken started to climb to positions of power in the government from 1922-1927, after his predecessor suffered a stroke and left power to Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. He gained so much power that he was the only leader of the communist party in Russia by 1928 and exiled Trotsky in 1929. He had plans to rebuild Russia into a powerful nation by controlling every aspect of the populations lives and making a system that would get them to the same industrial level as other countries. Adolf Hitler had been a soldier in WWI who was awarded two iron crosses for bravery, and afterwards he joined a right wing party known as the Nationalist Social German Workers Party, or Nazi for short. They tried swishing control in 1923, but failed and were arrested for treason. They were later released in 1924, but most of the population ignored him until the Great Depression caused chaos in Germany, so they then turned to him to guide them. He was then named Chancellor, and afterwards tried to gain more power through vote. There was an incident with a fire, and they blamed communist parties, so they won the election and then turned Germany into a totalitarian state (4).
Dictators like Hitler and Mussolini did actually do many things that helped their countries come back to being big powers, but they also broke a lot of rules to do so. Hitler and Mussolini both managed to revive their countries economies and their citizens pride in their nations. In Germany, where millions were starving, poor and unemployed, Hitler put them to work by building factories, roads, highways, manufacturing weapons, or serving in the military. By doing this, he dropped the unemployment count from 6 million people to 1.5 million people (5). Stalin also managed to revive his nations economy by implementing a lot of plans and laws to control the people. One five-year plan he implemented was that he set really high quotas of things like coal, steel, oil, and electricity. The first plan failed, but a second one was launched that succeeded and increased steel production by 25% from 1928-1937. He would also make huge farms that were run by the state and have hundreds of families work there, and that caused the country to produce twice as much wheat in 1938 than it had in 1928 (4). Dictators leaders did actually help their countries in the way that they would make the countries statistics a lot better, but they kept the people under control with ruthless tactics, like secret police that would only obey the dictators commands, and by greatly limiting the personal freedoms of the people.
The Beginning of WWII
There were many events from the years before World War I that could have prompted European Powers like Britain and France to launch an attack in the fascist leaders of other countries before they became a big threat. Many of them had to do with the other countries violating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler and Mussolini both violated the Treaty of Versailles multiple times each, and it was a long time before action was taken against them. Mussolini first violated the treaty in 1935 when he invaded Ethiopia in Africa. He invaded Ethiopia because in the late 1800's, they resisted Italy's advances in their territory. When he attacked them, the emperor of Ethiopia asked for help from other European nations, but no one wanted to confront Germany. Hitler also disobeyed the treaty in 1935 when he sent The German Army to enter a 30-mile wide zone on the Rhineland, piece of land that separated France and Germany with the Rhine River. Instead of confronting them, Britain and France tried to appease them and let them have the land. They also did the same thing when Germany took Austria-Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Both Hitler and Mussolini tried the European nations when they backed up a socialist side of the Spanish civil war in 1936, who were fighting the Republic of Spain (4).
The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact August 23,1939, and they agreed to invade Poland and divide up the country amongst the two of them. Hitler invaded Poland with a surprise attack tactics known as the blitzkrieg, or lighting war. He invaded on September 1,1939, and Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. Before any other nations could go help Poland fend off the Germans, they were conquered and Hitler annexed the western half of the polish population. The British armies were originally smaller and we're professional soldiers who were trained to work in small groups. After they started fighting the war, they found that their small army was good, but it couldn't handle fighting multiple enemies on multiple fronts, so they had to turn to conscripts to be able to fight bigger battle and actually win (7). They adapted to the circumstances of the war and they started to form a structure for the army that would allow them to train the new soldiers coming in, so that they weren't just throwing in the fresh recruits into a meat grinder and hope that they would come out winning like other countries did. This was something Germany had tried doing early on in the war, which is why they suffered some defeats. The French army had been operating in two different ways, with one part of the army handling things in the mainland, and another part of the army handling things overseas with things like the colonies that they had and other things. The part of the army that had been handling the things in the mainland had been having a lot of trouble fighting the war on multiple fronts, so they then merged the two parts of the army to form a single chain of command and bring overseas troops to fight on multiple fronts in August of 1943 (8).
There were many new technologies that had contributed to the First World War being a long, bloody war, and these technologies also impacted how the Second World War would be fought. All countries had suffered many casualties and many losses during the First World War, and they did not really want to have a repeat of that so they took many different measures the second time around. Countries all around the world had started developing all kinds of different technologies after WWI because of the crucial role that some of it played in it. When WWII started, they had developed many different weapons, machines, industries, vehicles, and other things that would give their country and their soldiers an advantage over the enemy. Some of them would be ships that would transport soldiers from the sea to launch attacks, or trucks that could transport wounded soldiers and supplies. Tanks had also been improved since WWI so that they were a lot more effective and deadly (9). One weapons that was not really developed until the later years of WWII was the atomic bomb, which caused the surrender of the Japanese in 1945 to the hand of the United States, but that will be discussed elsewhere.
Major Battles in WWII
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy
D-Day (known as "departed day") was one of the worst days for the Allies (11). At the start of dawn, the Allies already had paratroopers glider troops came in for battle. They were prepared and determined to win this battle. Even though it was a great victory, it was also a great defeat. In total, the U.S lost about 2,000 soldiers and thousands were left injured or MIA. In total, the Allies lost about 4,000 soldiers in that battle(10).
Their goal was to take and capture Normandy. By June 11, the Allies already had control of Normandy's beaches with about 300,000 troops, 50,000 vehicles, and about 100,000 tons of equipment. Near the end of August 1944, they had reached the Seine River. This allowed the Allies to drive out Germans from most of northern France. The invasion in Normandy turned the battle against the Nazis. Because of the Allies securing northern France, it caused a physical blow onto the Germans. They weren't able to send troops without any extra support to back them up. Plus, the Germans were going to be out numbered from the incoming Soviet from the East (10).
Invasion of Italy
Stalin was trying to push the British and Americans to push and invade France. Instead Roosevelt and Churchill decided it would be best if they invaded Italy first. This happened on July 10, 1943 where Ally troops landed starting in Sicily. They ended up capturing Sicily in one months time. The capturing of Sicily threw Mussolini from power in Italy (4).
On July 25, a king named Victor Emmanuel III had Mussolini arrested. Two months after the capturing of Sicily, Italy had surrendered. The Germans still wanted to be in power, so they had seized control of northern Italy and put Mussolini back in charge. The Germans then retreated northward where they had control (4).
The Allies then pursued the Germans and had reached Rome in June, 1944. Even though the Allies had captured most of the southern part of Italy, fighting hadn't come to a stop until the Germans surrendered in 1945. On April 27, 1945, some Italian resistance troops laid a trap and surprised some German trucks near Milan. Inside the one of the trucks they found Mussolini disguised as a German soldier. They captured him and shot and killed him a day later. Then they had hung his body in the downtown area for everyone to see (4).
Battle and Fall of France
The French and the British had very little participation in the war even though they had declared war against Germany in 1939. This was known as the "Phony War". It all came to an end on May 10, 1940, when Germany launched an invasion on France. The Germans offense quickly overcame the Dutch forces trying to defend France from the attack. The Germans also launched a bombing on Rotterdam which persuaded the Netherlands to surrender from defense. Even though the Germans had met up with strong resistance of the French and Belgian troops, they easily pushed through and had major success (12).
Just in four days, the Germans were able to cross the Meuse River and broke through the French defensive lines. There were attempts to make counter attacks by the Allies, but all had failed with major casualties. The Allies were then forced to retreat rapidly to avoid more casualties to the military. Those who were retreating were trying to make it to England as fast as possible. This plan was called "Operation Dynamo". It was an emergency evacuation plan if anything severe were to happen. It would require civilian vessels that could cross the English Channel to get people to England. From May 26 through June 4, Hitler advanced onto the Ally troops. His advance destroyed nine Allies destroyers and about 200 civilian vessels. But, 200,000 British and 140,000 French soldiers were able to make it to England (12).
On June 5, Germans continued southward in France and the resistance had stopped. By June 10, Italy was now on German's side of the war. A few days later the French government had fallen and the government officials gave up and didn't show any resistance at all (12).
Japan's Role in WWII
Japan had an active role during this war. It attacked all of its neighboring Asian countries and launched a surprise attack on the U.S bombing Pearl Harbor. After the bombing on Pearl Harbor, Japan became a powerful, feared image in WWII. It was a serious threat to economic interests the U.S and Europe were trying to put onto Asia. This attack was a huge success for the Japanese which allowed them to start new conquests in place such as Singapore, the Philippines, and Bruma. Even though this was a great victory for Japan, they had awaken the "sleeping giant". America was now a part of this war and was ready to take account for what Japan had did to them and those people who died (13).
As the Japanese gained control of these countries for the Nazis, they were also being brutal pigs as they went on conquering. For example, in Hong Kong, as the Japanese were going around the city, they had nearly raped about 10,000 women one month after their victory. The Japanese people weren't subject to surrender. They never took a surrender as an answer in a battle. They would just finish the battle until the end. This is one of the ways Germany has seen in Japan as a good ally. This allowed them to be ruthless and conquer other neighboring Asian countries which would bring the Nazis closer to victory (14).
U.S. Involvement
At first, the United States did not want to be apart of this war. They wanted to stay isolated because they didn't want to get involved in oversea conflicts. This would cause them to buy weaponry and materials to supply for the war. They were already in a state called The Great Depression after the stock market had crashed. Everyone had lost a large majority of their money. The government officials didn't want to be in a huge amount of debt.
Well, that all changed when the Japanese attacked. December 7, 1941, the Japanese had arranged a bombing onto the United States's main naval base, Pearl Harbor. At the time, the U.S had not received or intercepted any messages of the attack. Since no warning was received and they weren't aware, thousands of people had died at Pearl Harbor. The reason for the bombing was to cripple the U.S, trying to keep us from doing anything in the war.
Angrily, the U.S had finally declared war onto Japan. As the United States joined the Allies, they provided newly trained and experienced troops fresh for battle. This would replenish all those who gave and lost their lives in during the war. They also provided fresh supplies and food for the other troops in the Allies forces. This would help keep the troops strong enough to go on and keep them in better shape than they were before. United States involvement in the war also got rid of the Great Depression. This allowed for people to work and get jobs to make money. Unemployment grew less and less since of the demand of weaponry, armor, and supplies (15).
The Holocaust
The Holocaust started when the Germans declared themselves the superior race, and all other races were inferior. This idea of superiority, and Hitler wanting to gain support for his racist ideas, would eventually lead to the persecution of the Jews. For many generations the Jews have been blamed for their failures. Some Germans even went as far as to blame them for their loss in world war one and their economic problems after the war. Laws were starting to pass laws against Jews. The laws took away rights for the Jews, such as not being able to be a German citizen, banned marriages between Jews and non-Jews, and limited the type of jobs the Jews could have (4).
One event triggered the killing and imprisonment off tens of thousands of Jews, the Night of the Broken Glass. It started when a Jewish kid went to Paris to visit his uncle. while he was there he received a letter that said his father had been deported from Germany after living there for 27 years. Enraged by his fathers deportation he shot a German diplomat in Paris. The Germans used this as a chance to launch a violent attack on the Jews. On November 9, Nazi storm-troopers were ordered to attack Jewish businesses, synagogues, and homes all over Germany and Austria killing almost 100 Jews. Around 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps and many of them died there. The reason why it is called the night of the broken glass is because glass was always shattered in the Jewish homes, and glass was littered all over the streets (4).
Because of the Night of the Broken Glass some of the Jews thought that the persecution was bound to get worse and they fled the country. Tens of thousands of Jews left Germany in hopes of finding refuge in the neighboring countries. When Germany invaded and took control of the neighboring countries the Jews found that they were in the same situation as they were before. More and more Jews were leaving and trying to go to other countries, but the other countries had started to close their doors to the Jews, not out of persecution, but the sheer number of them coming. Germany's foreign minister said, "We all want to get rid of our Jews. The difficulty is that no country wishes to receive them" (4).
When Hitler found out that he could not get rid of all the Jews in his territory he ordered them to be separated and isolated into certain areas. These areas were called ghettos. Once all the Jews were in the ghettos they sealed them off with walls and barbed wire. They were given little to no food and water. The Germans hoped they would starve to death, or fall victim to disease. They held on with all they could. In some areas theaters even started to produce plays and concerts, and teachers taught children in secret schools (4).
Hitler became fed up with the Jews and started the Final Solution. The Final Solution was Hitlers plan to kill everyone that he deemed subhuman. While the Final Solution was essentially a plan for genocide for homosexuals, the insane, Poles, Russians, the disabled, and the terminally ill, it focused mostly on the Jews. Squads of Hitlers Elite security force (or the SS) swept the nation hunting Jews. They would pull them from their homes (men, women, and children alike), rounded them up, and shot them it ditches that would become their graves. Those not touched by the SS were rounded up and locked into concentration camps, were they were demanded to work 7 days a weak. If they did not work fast enough they were severely beaten or killed by the officers. They were fed very watery soup and bread. Starvation surrounded everyone in the camps. peopled died every day from either, disease, exhaustion, beatings from the guards, or starvation (4).
In 1942 Hitler started to kill Jews in extermination camps. The largest camp was Auschwitz, as many as 6,000 people could be killed there. The Jews were told that they were going to go to the showers. They undressed and walked into a big room with fake shower heads. When the doors were locked cyanide gas poured though the fake shower heads and holes in the ceiling. Everyone in the room was dead in minutes. They burned the bodies in crematoriums after it was done. When they found out about what was happening the Jews tried to revolt. Most of them were not successful. The people that did escape were either caught again or killed. The people that did get away soon joined the resistance and fought to the end of the war. After the war nearly 6 million Jews died with only 4 million surviving. However, the people that did survive were scared for the rest of their lives (4).
The Allied Victory
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which brought America into World War 2. On December 22, 1941 President Roosevelt and Winston church hill met at the white house to discuss a joint war policy. Stalin wanted to make a second in the west so that the Germans would have to divide their strength and essentially weaken them. Winston Churchill agreed, Roosevelt, though torn, agreed to the plan. In order to defeat the Germans factories started producing supplies for the war. Everything from giant artillery shells to machine guns started being produced. Women started to have a massive role in the war. They were the main workforce during the war because most of the men were drafted into the war. Because of the massive production of war supplies consumer goods weren't readily available. They changed the speed limit to 35mph to save on gas. The government started rationing goods (4).
The governments used propaganda to get people to increase their efforts in the war. In Russia the propaganda got school kids to collect scrape metal for artillery shells. The propaganda was also used negatively, for example, after Pearl Harbor propaganda spread in the U.S. discriminating against the Japanese. This caused people to view Japanese Americans as enemies. On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt issued an order to ship all Japanese Americans to relocation camps in fear of them being spies (4).
After the battle of the bulge Germany's headquarters in Berlin was surrounded by the allies, and was being rained on with artillery shells. On April 29, 1945 Hitler prepared for his defeat. He married his long-time friend Eva Braun. Soon after that they both committed suicide. Their bodies were taken and burned. President Roosevelt did not live long enough to see the end of the war, he died on April 12, 1945. On May 9th the treaty was officially signed (4).
In the Pacific the war was still going on. The allies were advancing on Japan. Japan's fleet was wiped out and there was very little stopping the allies from taking Japan. Before the German surrender President Roosevelt gave the OK to start researching atomic weapons. They did this because they feared that the Germans were doing the same. The little resistance that was stopping the allies was taking more resources to deal with then they thought. So the allies decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This attack killed millions of people and resulted in Japans surrender (4).
Europe and Japan in Ruins
After the war Europe lay in ruins. The constant bombing and shelling had reduced once great cities to rubble. At the end of the war 40 million Europeans died. Displaced people with their houses destroyed were left homeless. Tons and tons of bombs destroyed 95% of Berlin. People living in the destroyed cities had no water, food, or electricity. Some people lived in ruined houses or made caves from the rubble. Most survivors wandered the roads in look for a safe place to live. Misery in Europe lasted for a long time after the war (4).
Some of the countries on the allied side recovered quickly after the war. The countries on the axis powers. Germany’s economy was in ruins and Mussolini lead Italy into defeat. The communist party grew in power after the war. They made huge gains in the first of the postwar elections, but in wanting to speed up the growth of the party they staged violent strikes. The people reacted by voting for people against the communist party (4).
After slightly recovering from the war they started to deal with the many war crimes that were committed during the war. They held the Nuremberg Trials. These held charges against the 22 Nazi leaders. They were charged with waging a war of aggression and the murder of 11 million people. One Nazi was charged with life in prison the rest were charged with the death penalty. Many of them committed suicide. The ten of them that were executed were hanged then their body were cremated in concentration camps, the same ovens they burned millions of Jews (4).
The war had a massive impact on Japan. The two areas that were hit with the atomic bombs couldn’t be built on (because of the radiation) for many years. Not to mention the severe casualties they suffered. The U.S. took control of Japan for a short time. In that time they demilitarized Japan, found the war criminals in Japan, and established a democracy. This brought deep change in Japan. In the past they had viewed the emperor as divine, but the constitution said otherwise. The U.S. signed a treaty with Japan, officially ending the war (4).
Advancements in Technology and Electronics
There were a lot of advancements in technology in the years before WWII, and they mainly came because people saw the effectiveness of machines and other technologies during some events in WWI. Advancement occurred in all different areas that the military could use the newest technologies with, which included advancements in the weapons available for use at sea, landing crafts to invade from the water, planes and bombers to attack from the air, deadlier and more efficient tanks than those used before, and other advancements that really changed up the way that war was fought.
There were advancement in the types of weapons that were used in the Second World War. Mortars and artillery were upgraded so that they could be more effective at helping the infantry when they needed support, and a good mortar or artillery team could be the difference between if a military objective was reached or whether it failed. Missiles, torpedoes, and specialized bombs were also developed during research for new technologies. The missiles could be launched from really far away compared to earlier explosive devices and they could have devastating results if they were applied correctly. They also developed self guiding explosives that could detonate on a timer after being launched towards a target, and a V1 Missile that would require you to map out trajectory and such, but would detonate on its own with the correct calculations. There were also advancements in communication technologies during this time period, and instruments like the radio and the sonar were really effective in gathering and spreading information during battle (9).
Not only were there advancements in the types of weapons and electronics that were being used throughout the war, but there were also advancements in the vehicles used. Fighter jets and bombers proved to be highly effective at launching surprise attacks and laying siege to targets that were important for strategy. Although prohibited to do so by the Treaty of Versailles, the German Army deftly built tanks for use in fighting, and they proved to be a lot more effective than the tanks that were used by the French at the end of WWI. They built light, fast tanks that had powerful cannons that swiveled around so that they could engage other heavily armored vehicles, versus other countries tanks that had machine guns mainly for fighting trench warfare against infantry. Ships were also upgraded, with new types of ships np being used by the navy. They could launch torpedoes at targets and could provide support with attacks targets from the water. Special landing crafts were made so that they could carry soldiers and supplies to attack from the water (9).
Technology played a big role in how World War II was fought and who would come out victorious at the end of each battle, and it really set a model for how war would be fought from then on. The world would not be the way that it is today if research had not been done into all of the different areas that it was done in to give each country the advantage. Many advancements, mainly the electronically ones like radio, changed the way that even the citizens at each country lived from then on because people kept in researching and advancing technology to make life easier.
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a period of time from 1929-1939 in which the economy of many countries was failing. It was affecting farmers even before 1929, but that was the year when it started to affect all of the people in America, not just farmers. For much of the 1920's, farmers had been struggling to make money with their crops. They had been farming more and more food for the war effort back in the 1910's, and their farmland value dropped as much as 40% (2).Their farming techniques had grown to be more efficient but also more costly, which was something that put them in debt as they couldn't afford it. Their farmland was no longer as valuable as it had been when they bought it, so they were losing more and more money as they fell deeper into debt. When the First World War ended, there wasn't as much as a demand for food, so all of the crops were left there with no need for them. Another thing that had contributed to the collapse was that during WWI, factories and industries had been mass producing things for the war effort, and there was no need for them by the public so they were inky stockpiling them (2).The event that officially catapulted the country into the Great Depression occurred in October 1929 (1). Companies had many goods stockpiled as consumer spending dropped, and at the same time stock prices were rising. The stock market had been built in a shaky way, with investors buying stock they believed would rise in value fast, then selling at its highest point, which was not a secure way to run a stock market (2). There were many reasons that the stock market was so weak, including that a lot of people were buying the stocks with borrowed money. This would out them in debt, and when the stock market collapsed, it left them with no way out because at the same time millions were losing their jobs (2). Since companies had so many goods stockpiled from earlier years, and since people weren't no longer buying, they started to fire people because they couldn't pay them and didn't have any work for them. Millions of people were unemployed during this time, and people did not have enough for even the basic necessities. It was a very hopeless time for many people, which is why it is known as the Great Depression, because there seemed to be despair everywhere after there had been many years of prosperity in the United States. There simply were not enough jobs or money in the country to support the population. Banks were shutting down because no one wanted to put their money in banks since they didn't know if they would be able to get it back, and they couldn't give people back their money since no one else was putting money in, which was how the bank system worked (2).
President Hoover had been president during the beginning and the early years of the recession. He had tried many things during his presidential term, but they mostly ended up backfiring and worsening the recovery of the economy, which is why he is often blamed with causing the Great Depression. Some of the things that he tried included investing into new ideas and industries, but it happened in small quantities and at too late a time. He also tried to impose tariffs on overseas trade and imports, which limited how much business could be done and also hurt the economy (2). President Hoover was succeeded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who makes to come up with plans to get the country out of the depression. He came up with a plan called the New Deal, which would take on social, economic, and other issues that were present in America. In his first hundred days in office, he passed some acts that made him gain popularity and helped repair Americans view on the country. This allowed him to set the basis for the New Deal, which passed without many people reading and looking at it, because otherwise they would have found that some of it was to be deemed unconstitutional. The New Deal fixed the economy because it stabilized the banks, it provided millions of unemployed people with work by doing things like redeveloping valleys and fixing industry, and helped get agriculture back in its feet (3).
Rise of Dictators in Europe
During the years following the end of World War I, and the years preceding the beginning of World War II, the people in some places of Europe were suffering from many hardships. The people of places like Germany had had their economy and their morale crushed by the outcome of World War I, because they had to pay for the damage done to other countries in Europe. World War I and ended with the Treaty of Versailles, and while U.S. President Wilson wanted it to be equal and fair, other European countries wanted to punish Germany and to restrict their abilities to wage war in the future. They set heavy restrictions upon Germany that did not let them have a large standing army, or allow their soldiers to have weapons. They also had to pay for the damages that had occurred in Europe throughout the war, which put them billions of dollars in debt to other countries. German currency was practically worthless during these times, with one U.S. Dollar worth thousands of German currency. Government officials tried to solve this with printing more money, but it didn't have any value behind it, so it caused a hyperinflation. The United States tried to help stabilize the economy by loaning them millions of dollars, and this was working until the Great Depression hit in the United States. This caused the economy to worsen, and many people blamed the governments that had been controlling them before. This made Dictator, Fascist, and Communist leaders look more appealing as they promised solutions to make them prosperous again (6).There were many different dictators in Europe during the years that preceded World War II. The most powerful of them included Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, Joseph Stalin from the Soviet Union, and Benito Mussolini of Italy. All of the countries had bitter feelings from the end of World War I and the terms that resulted from the outcome of the war. Italy had not gotten large territory gains from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and Germany's population was reduced to starving and barely being able to support all of their people. The people had blamed the democratic government that had ruled them during the hard times, so when dictators like Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler started to make big appearances and promising that they could make a difference to restore their countries, people listened and believe them. Benito Mussolini promised to rebuild industry and armed forces in Italy, and people supported him, so he took power without much resistance in 1922. After taking power, he started outlawing all other parties except his, and would arrest those who would oppose him. Even though he controlled the population, he never had total control like Hitler in Nazi Germany, or like Stalin in the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin had taken started to climb to positions of power in the government from 1922-1927, after his predecessor suffered a stroke and left power to Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. He gained so much power that he was the only leader of the communist party in Russia by 1928 and exiled Trotsky in 1929. He had plans to rebuild Russia into a powerful nation by controlling every aspect of the populations lives and making a system that would get them to the same industrial level as other countries. Adolf Hitler had been a soldier in WWI who was awarded two iron crosses for bravery, and afterwards he joined a right wing party known as the Nationalist Social German Workers Party, or Nazi for short. They tried swishing control in 1923, but failed and were arrested for treason. They were later released in 1924, but most of the population ignored him until the Great Depression caused chaos in Germany, so they then turned to him to guide them. He was then named Chancellor, and afterwards tried to gain more power through vote. There was an incident with a fire, and they blamed communist parties, so they won the election and then turned Germany into a totalitarian state (4).
Dictators like Hitler and Mussolini did actually do many things that helped their countries come back to being big powers, but they also broke a lot of rules to do so. Hitler and Mussolini both managed to revive their countries economies and their citizens pride in their nations. In Germany, where millions were starving, poor and unemployed, Hitler put them to work by building factories, roads, highways, manufacturing weapons, or serving in the military. By doing this, he dropped the unemployment count from 6 million people to 1.5 million people (5). Stalin also managed to revive his nations economy by implementing a lot of plans and laws to control the people. One five-year plan he implemented was that he set really high quotas of things like coal, steel, oil, and electricity. The first plan failed, but a second one was launched that succeeded and increased steel production by 25% from 1928-1937. He would also make huge farms that were run by the state and have hundreds of families work there, and that caused the country to produce twice as much wheat in 1938 than it had in 1928 (4). Dictators leaders did actually help their countries in the way that they would make the countries statistics a lot better, but they kept the people under control with ruthless tactics, like secret police that would only obey the dictators commands, and by greatly limiting the personal freedoms of the people.
The Beginning of WWII
There were many events from the years before World War I that could have prompted European Powers like Britain and France to launch an attack in the fascist leaders of other countries before they became a big threat. Many of them had to do with the other countries violating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler and Mussolini both violated the Treaty of Versailles multiple times each, and it was a long time before action was taken against them. Mussolini first violated the treaty in 1935 when he invaded Ethiopia in Africa. He invaded Ethiopia because in the late 1800's, they resisted Italy's advances in their territory. When he attacked them, the emperor of Ethiopia asked for help from other European nations, but no one wanted to confront Germany. Hitler also disobeyed the treaty in 1935 when he sent The German Army to enter a 30-mile wide zone on the Rhineland, piece of land that separated France and Germany with the Rhine River. Instead of confronting them, Britain and France tried to appease them and let them have the land. They also did the same thing when Germany took Austria-Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Both Hitler and Mussolini tried the European nations when they backed up a socialist side of the Spanish civil war in 1936, who were fighting the Republic of Spain (4).The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact August 23,1939, and they agreed to invade Poland and divide up the country amongst the two of them. Hitler invaded Poland with a surprise attack tactics known as the blitzkrieg, or lighting war. He invaded on September 1,1939, and Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. Before any other nations could go help Poland fend off the Germans, they were conquered and Hitler annexed the western half of the polish population. The British armies were originally smaller and we're professional soldiers who were trained to work in small groups. After they started fighting the war, they found that their small army was good, but it couldn't handle fighting multiple enemies on multiple fronts, so they had to turn to conscripts to be able to fight bigger battle and actually win (7). They adapted to the circumstances of the war and they started to form a structure for the army that would allow them to train the new soldiers coming in, so that they weren't just throwing in the fresh recruits into a meat grinder and hope that they would come out winning like other countries did. This was something Germany had tried doing early on in the war, which is why they suffered some defeats. The French army had been operating in two different ways, with one part of the army handling things in the mainland, and another part of the army handling things overseas with things like the colonies that they had and other things. The part of the army that had been handling the things in the mainland had been having a lot of trouble fighting the war on multiple fronts, so they then merged the two parts of the army to form a single chain of command and bring overseas troops to fight on multiple fronts in August of 1943 (8).
There were many new technologies that had contributed to the First World War being a long, bloody war, and these technologies also impacted how the Second World War would be fought. All countries had suffered many casualties and many losses during the First World War, and they did not really want to have a repeat of that so they took many different measures the second time around. Countries all around the world had started developing all kinds of different technologies after WWI because of the crucial role that some of it played in it. When WWII started, they had developed many different weapons, machines, industries, vehicles, and other things that would give their country and their soldiers an advantage over the enemy. Some of them would be ships that would transport soldiers from the sea to launch attacks, or trucks that could transport wounded soldiers and supplies. Tanks had also been improved since WWI so that they were a lot more effective and deadly (9). One weapons that was not really developed until the later years of WWII was the atomic bomb, which caused the surrender of the Japanese in 1945 to the hand of the United States, but that will be discussed elsewhere.
Major Battles in WWII
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy
D-Day (known as "departed day") was one of the worst days for the Allies (11). At the start of dawn, the Allies already had paratroopers glider troops came in for battle. They were prepared and determined to win this battle. Even though it was a great victory, it was also a great defeat. In total, the U.S lost about 2,000 soldiers and thousands were left injured or MIA. In total, the Allies lost about 4,000 soldiers in that battle(10).Their goal was to take and capture Normandy. By June 11, the Allies already had control of Normandy's beaches with about 300,000 troops, 50,000 vehicles, and about 100,000 tons of equipment. Near the end of August 1944, they had reached the Seine River. This allowed the Allies to drive out Germans from most of northern France. The invasion in Normandy turned the battle against the Nazis. Because of the Allies securing northern France, it caused a physical blow onto the Germans. They weren't able to send troops without any extra support to back them up. Plus, the Germans were going to be out numbered from the incoming Soviet from the East (10).
Invasion of Italy
Stalin was trying to push the British and Americans to push and invade France. Instead Roosevelt and Churchill decided it would be best if they invaded Italy first. This happened on July 10, 1943 where Ally troops landed starting in Sicily. They ended up capturing Sicily in one months time. The capturing of Sicily threw Mussolini from power in Italy (4).On July 25, a king named Victor Emmanuel III had Mussolini arrested. Two months after the capturing of Sicily, Italy had surrendered. The Germans still wanted to be in power, so they had seized control of northern Italy and put Mussolini back in charge. The Germans then retreated northward where they had control (4).
The Allies then pursued the Germans and had reached Rome in June, 1944. Even though the Allies had captured most of the southern part of Italy, fighting hadn't come to a stop until the Germans surrendered in 1945. On April 27, 1945, some Italian resistance troops laid a trap and surprised some German trucks near Milan. Inside the one of the trucks they found Mussolini disguised as a German soldier. They captured him and shot and killed him a day later. Then they had hung his body in the downtown area for everyone to see (4).
Battle and Fall of France
The French and the British had very little participation in the war even though they had declared war against Germany in 1939. This was known as the "Phony War". It all came to an end on May 10, 1940, when Germany launched an invasion on France. The Germans offense quickly overcame the Dutch forces trying to defend France from the attack. The Germans also launched a bombing on Rotterdam which persuaded the Netherlands to surrender from defense. Even though the Germans had met up with strong resistance of the French and Belgian troops, they easily pushed through and had major success (12).Just in four days, the Germans were able to cross the Meuse River and broke through the French defensive lines. There were attempts to make counter attacks by the Allies, but all had failed with major casualties. The Allies were then forced to retreat rapidly to avoid more casualties to the military. Those who were retreating were trying to make it to England as fast as possible. This plan was called "Operation Dynamo". It was an emergency evacuation plan if anything severe were to happen. It would require civilian vessels that could cross the English Channel to get people to England. From May 26 through June 4, Hitler advanced onto the Ally troops. His advance destroyed nine Allies destroyers and about 200 civilian vessels. But, 200,000 British and 140,000 French soldiers were able to make it to England (12).
On June 5, Germans continued southward in France and the resistance had stopped. By June 10, Italy was now on German's side of the war. A few days later the French government had fallen and the government officials gave up and didn't show any resistance at all (12).
Japan's Role in WWII
Japan had an active role during this war. It attacked all of its neighboring Asian countries and launched a surprise attack on the U.S bombing Pearl Harbor. After the bombing on Pearl Harbor, Japan became a powerful, feared image in WWII. It was a serious threat to economic interests the U.S and Europe were trying to put onto Asia. This attack was a huge success for the Japanese which allowed them to start new conquests in place such as Singapore, the Philippines, and Bruma. Even though this was a great victory for Japan, they had awaken the "sleeping giant". America was now a part of this war and was ready to take account for what Japan had did to them and those people who died (13).As the Japanese gained control of these countries for the Nazis, they were also being brutal pigs as they went on conquering. For example, in Hong Kong, as the Japanese were going around the city, they had nearly raped about 10,000 women one month after their victory. The Japanese people weren't subject to surrender. They never took a surrender as an answer in a battle. They would just finish the battle until the end. This is one of the ways Germany has seen in Japan as a good ally. This allowed them to be ruthless and conquer other neighboring Asian countries which would bring the Nazis closer to victory (14).
U.S. Involvement
At first, the United States did not want to be apart of this war. They wanted to stay isolated because they didn't want to get involved in oversea conflicts. This would cause them to buy weaponry and materials to supply for the war. They were already in a state called The Great Depression after the stock market had crashed. Everyone had lost a large majority of their money. The government officials didn't want to be in a huge amount of debt.Well, that all changed when the Japanese attacked. December 7, 1941, the Japanese had arranged a bombing onto the United States's main naval base, Pearl Harbor. At the time, the U.S had not received or intercepted any messages of the attack. Since no warning was received and they weren't aware, thousands of people had died at Pearl Harbor. The reason for the bombing was to cripple the U.S, trying to keep us from doing anything in the war.
Angrily, the U.S had finally declared war onto Japan. As the United States joined the Allies, they provided newly trained and experienced troops fresh for battle. This would replenish all those who gave and lost their lives in during the war. They also provided fresh supplies and food for the other troops in the Allies forces. This would help keep the troops strong enough to go on and keep them in better shape than they were before. United States involvement in the war also got rid of the Great Depression. This allowed for people to work and get jobs to make money. Unemployment grew less and less since of the demand of weaponry, armor, and supplies (15).
The Holocaust
The Holocaust started when the Germans declared themselves the superior race, and all other races were inferior. This idea of superiority, and Hitler wanting to gain support for his racist ideas, would eventually lead to the persecution of the Jews. For many generations the Jews have been blamed for their failures. Some Germans even went as far as to blame them for their loss in world war one and their economic problems after the war. Laws were starting to pass laws against Jews. The laws took away rights for the Jews, such as not being able to be a German citizen, banned marriages between Jews and non-Jews, and limited the type of jobs the Jews could have (4).One event triggered the killing and imprisonment off tens of thousands of Jews, the Night of the Broken Glass. It started when a Jewish kid went to Paris to visit his uncle. while he was there he received a letter that said his father had been deported from Germany after living there for 27 years. Enraged by his fathers deportation he shot a German diplomat in Paris. The Germans used this as a chance to launch a violent attack on the Jews. On November 9, Nazi storm-troopers were ordered to attack Jewish businesses, synagogues, and homes all over Germany and Austria killing almost 100 Jews. Around 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps and many of them died there. The reason why it is called the night of the broken glass is because glass was always shattered in the Jewish homes, and glass was littered all over the streets (4).
Because of the Night of the Broken Glass some of the Jews thought that the persecution was bound to get worse and they fled the country. Tens of thousands of Jews left Germany in hopes of finding refuge in the neighboring countries. When Germany invaded and took control of the neighboring countries the Jews found that they were in the same situation as they were before. More and more Jews were leaving and trying to go to other countries, but the other countries had started to close their doors to the Jews, not out of persecution, but the sheer number of them coming. Germany's foreign minister said, "We all want to get rid of our Jews. The difficulty is that no country wishes to receive them" (4).
When Hitler found out that he could not get rid of all the Jews in his territory he ordered them to be separated and isolated into certain areas. These areas were called ghettos. Once all the Jews were in the ghettos they sealed them off with walls and barbed wire. They were given little to no food and water. The Germans hoped they would starve to death, or fall victim to disease. They held on with all they could. In some areas theaters even started to produce plays and concerts, and teachers taught children in secret schools (4).
Hitler became fed up with the Jews and started the Final Solution. The Final Solution was Hitlers plan to kill everyone that he deemed subhuman. While the Final Solution was essentially a plan for genocide for homosexuals, the insane, Poles, Russians, the disabled, and the terminally ill, it focused mostly on the Jews. Squads of Hitlers Elite security force (or the SS) swept the nation hunting Jews. They would pull them from their homes (men, women, and children alike), rounded them up, and shot them it ditches that would become their graves. Those not touched by the SS were rounded up and locked into concentration camps, were they were demanded to work 7 days a weak. If they did not work fast enough they were severely beaten or killed by the officers. They were fed very watery soup and bread. Starvation surrounded everyone in the camps. peopled died every day from either, disease, exhaustion, beatings from the guards, or starvation (4).
In 1942 Hitler started to kill Jews in extermination camps. The largest camp was Auschwitz, as many as 6,000 people could be killed there. The Jews were told that they were going to go to the showers. They undressed and walked into a big room with fake shower heads. When the doors were locked cyanide gas poured though the fake shower heads and holes in the ceiling. Everyone in the room was dead in minutes. They burned the bodies in crematoriums after it was done. When they found out about what was happening the Jews tried to revolt. Most of them were not successful. The people that did escape were either caught again or killed. The people that did get away soon joined the resistance and fought to the end of the war. After the war nearly 6 million Jews died with only 4 million surviving. However, the people that did survive were scared for the rest of their lives (4).
The Allied Victory
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which brought America into World War 2. On December 22, 1941 President Roosevelt and Winston church hill met at the white house to discuss a joint war policy. Stalin wanted to make a second in the west so that the Germans would have to divide their strength and essentially weaken them. Winston Churchill agreed, Roosevelt, though torn, agreed to the plan. In order to defeat the Germans factories started producing supplies for the war. Everything from giant artillery shells to machine guns started being produced. Women started to have a massive role in the war. They were the main workforce during the war because most of the men were drafted into the war. Because of the massive production of war supplies consumer goods weren't readily available. They changed the speed limit to 35mph to save on gas. The government started rationing goods (4).
The governments used propaganda to get people to increase their efforts in the war. In Russia the propaganda got school kids to collect scrape metal for artillery shells. The propaganda was also used negatively, for example, after Pearl Harbor propaganda spread in the U.S. discriminating against the Japanese. This caused people to view Japanese Americans as enemies. On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt issued an order to ship all Japanese Americans to relocation camps in fear of them being spies (4).
After the battle of the bulge Germany's headquarters in Berlin was surrounded by the allies, and was being rained on with artillery shells. On April 29, 1945 Hitler prepared for his defeat. He married his long-time friend Eva Braun. Soon after that they both committed suicide. Their bodies were taken and burned. President Roosevelt did not live long enough to see the end of the war, he died on April 12, 1945. On May 9th the treaty was officially signed (4).
In the Pacific the war was still going on. The allies were advancing on Japan. Japan's fleet was wiped out and there was very little stopping the allies from taking Japan. Before the German surrender President Roosevelt gave the OK to start researching atomic weapons. They did this because they feared that the Germans were doing the same. The little resistance that was stopping the allies was taking more resources to deal with then they thought. So the allies decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This attack killed millions of people and resulted in Japans surrender (4).
Europe and Japan in Ruins
After the war Europe lay in ruins. The constant bombing and shelling had reduced once great cities to rubble. At the end of the war 40 million Europeans died. Displaced people with their houses destroyed were left homeless. Tons and tons of bombs destroyed 95% of Berlin. People living in the destroyed cities had no water, food, or electricity. Some people lived in ruined houses or made caves from the rubble. Most survivors wandered the roads in look for a safe place to live. Misery in Europe lasted for a long time after the war (4).Some of the countries on the allied side recovered quickly after the war. The countries on the axis powers. Germany’s economy was in ruins and Mussolini lead Italy into defeat. The communist party grew in power after the war. They made huge gains in the first of the postwar elections, but in wanting to speed up the growth of the party they staged violent strikes. The people reacted by voting for people against the communist party (4).
After slightly recovering from the war they started to deal with the many war crimes that were committed during the war. They held the Nuremberg Trials. These held charges against the 22 Nazi leaders. They were charged with waging a war of aggression and the murder of 11 million people. One Nazi was charged with life in prison the rest were charged with the death penalty. Many of them committed suicide. The ten of them that were executed were hanged then their body were cremated in concentration camps, the same ovens they burned millions of Jews (4).
The war had a massive impact on Japan. The two areas that were hit with the atomic bombs couldn’t be built on (because of the radiation) for many years. Not to mention the severe casualties they suffered. The U.S. took control of Japan for a short time. In that time they demilitarized Japan, found the war criminals in Japan, and established a democracy. This brought deep change in Japan. In the past they had viewed the emperor as divine, but the constitution said otherwise. The U.S. signed a treaty with Japan, officially ending the war (4).
Advancements in Technology and Electronics
There were a lot of advancements in technology in the years before WWII, and they mainly came because people saw the effectiveness of machines and other technologies during some events in WWI. Advancement occurred in all different areas that the military could use the newest technologies with, which included advancements in the weapons available for use at sea, landing crafts to invade from the water, planes and bombers to attack from the air, deadlier and more efficient tanks than those used before, and other advancements that really changed up the way that war was fought.
There were advancement in the types of weapons that were used in the Second World War. Mortars and artillery were upgraded so that they could be more effective at helping the infantry when they needed support, and a good mortar or artillery team could be the difference between if a military objective was reached or whether it failed. Missiles, torpedoes, and specialized bombs were also developed during research for new technologies. The missiles could be launched from really far away compared to earlier explosive devices and they could have devastating results if they were applied correctly. They also developed self guiding explosives that could detonate on a timer after being launched towards a target, and a V1 Missile that would require you to map out trajectory and such, but would detonate on its own with the correct calculations. There were also advancements in communication technologies during this time period, and instruments like the radio and the sonar were really effective in gathering and spreading information during battle (9).
Not only were there advancements in the types of weapons and electronics that were being used throughout the war, but there were also advancements in the vehicles used. Fighter jets and bombers proved to be highly effective at launching surprise attacks and laying siege to targets that were important for strategy. Although prohibited to do so by the Treaty of Versailles, the German Army deftly built tanks for use in fighting, and they proved to be a lot more effective than the tanks that were used by the French at the end of WWI. They built light, fast tanks that had powerful cannons that swiveled around so that they could engage other heavily armored vehicles, versus other countries tanks that had machine guns mainly for fighting trench warfare against infantry. Ships were also upgraded, with new types of ships np being used by the navy. They could launch torpedoes at targets and could provide support with attacks targets from the water. Special landing crafts were made so that they could carry soldiers and supplies to attack from the water (9).
Technology played a big role in how World War II was fought and who would come out victorious at the end of each battle, and it really set a model for how war would be fought from then on. The world would not be the way that it is today if research had not been done into all of the different areas that it was done in to give each country the advantage. Many advancements, mainly the electronically ones like radio, changed the way that even the citizens at each country lived from then on because people kept in researching and advancing technology to make life easier.
Sources
(1) http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression(2) http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression.htm
(3) http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/new_deal.htm
(4) World History: Patterns of Interaction
(5) http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/02-07-2009/107924-hitler-0/
(6) http://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/European_History/Europe:_1918_to_1945
(7) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army_during_the_Second_World_War
(8) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_France_during_World_War_II
(9) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_during_World_War_II
(10) http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
(11) http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/01/v-v-day-victory-right-d-d-day-stand/
(12) http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/fall-of-france
(13) http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/pearl-harbor
(14) http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/occupation-and-pows
(15) http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/america-goes-to-war.html