Prepared by: Department of Research and Studies
One of the most important results of World War II was America dropping two atomic bombs on Japan that changed the course of the war and cemented the victory of the Allied Powers over the Axis Powers. Thus, America opened the door wide to the frantic race to possess weapons of mass destruction.
Causes of war
The post-World War I settlements that changed the mapping of the world, especially Europe.
Conclusion of special punitive treaties for Germany in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. (Germany lost 12.5% of its area and 12% of its population, and about 15% of its agricultural production, 10% of its industry, and 74% of its iron ore production).
The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that the German army should not exceed one hundred thousand soldiers, and that large compensation be paid to the Allies.
The emergence of Nazism in Germany in January 1933, and Fascism in Italy in October 1922.
The establishment of a new alliance known as the Axis Powers, comprising Germany and Italy, and later joined by Japan.
start of war
Hitler's occupation of Austria in March 1938, then Czechoslovakia in the following year, Poland in September 1939, and then Italy's threat to invade Albania, was a direct cause for Britain and France to declare war on the Axis Powers.
War broke out in Europe and the German army was ahead on all European fronts. It occupied most countries and its forces entered Paris.
However, his attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 made him turn his back on the British.
The United States and the war
Elimination of the Monroe Doctrine
The policy of the United States since the beginning of the twenties of the nineteenth century has been based on what was known at the time as the Monroe Doctrine or the Principle of Neutrality, a declaration made by US President James Monroe in 1823.
The need for European countries not to extend their colonial influence towards America.
The commitment of the United States on its part not to interfere in European problems or relations.
However, this principle was soon abandoned after a century of its approval, as President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) adopted the call for war and the use of military force, and although the importance of adhering to the Monroe doctrine remained reluctant in American political circles, Franklin Roosevelt's advent to The presidency (1933-1845) eliminated these two principles, and since that date America has been pursuing an influential military error in international events and threatening the security of everyone who stands before American interests, depending on the enormous capabilities that the United States possesses.
The most prominent military operation carried out by America in World War II was:
The Normandy Landings
On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces, led by US General Dwight Eisenhower, who would later become President of the United States, landed in northern France on the Normandy coast.
More than 200,000 soldiers, most of them Americans, and the rest are British, Canadians and French, were landed.
The operation, which is considered the largest military landing of the twentieth century in Britain, was planned, and the region was liberated from the German army, after the losses on both sides were estimated at 3,000 dead and 6,000 wounded, captured and missing.
The Battle of Pearl Harbor
The United States, during the era of Franklin Roosevelt, imposed an oil embargo on Japan and prevented the export of iron to it in sympathy with its traditional allies, Britain and Russia. Japan attacked the American naval vessels in Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean in December 1941, drowning most of them.
Before the end of 1942, the Americans defeated the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Midway, and the German commander Rommel was defeated in El Alamein, Egypt, and the German forces were defeated in Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. The defeat of the Axis Powers began to loom, and the Allies entered Germany in December 1944. The Italian revolutionaries were also executed. Mussolini hung him by his feet from a lamppost in Milan.
Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, and Germany surrendered.
The atomic bomb and the end of the war
Japan was the last of the Axis powers to be defeated, and the war did not stop until after its cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with the first two atomic bombs in history, and as a result of that, Japan signed the document of unconditional surrender on September 2, 1945, and three days later the American flag was raised over Tokyo.
World War II losses
World War II ended after six years of fierce fighting, in which humanity lost about 17 million soldiers and twice that number of civilians.
Among the most prominent results and losses of that war was the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan. The first was a uranium bomb weighing more than 4.5 tons and it was dropped at 8:15, and it missed the target a little and fell 800 feet away from it.
One minute later, 66,000 people were killed and 69,000 injured due to the 10,000-ton explosion.
The second was a plutonium bomb and it was dropped in the center of Nagasaki, and in one moment the city's population decreased from 422,000 to 383,000 because 39,000 were killed and 25,000 were wounded.
The results of the political war
The United States was behind the formation of the League of Nations, and later the United Nations.
The League was established with the opinion of the twenty-second American President Thomas Wilson, while the second was on the initiative of the thirty-third President of the United States, Harry Truman.
The United States has tried, through the United Nations, to confront the rising European powers whose influence extends beyond the seas (Britain and France in particular) and the Soviet Union, whose influence is expanding.
Through the international organization, America will have - according to this perspective - a mechanism for competition with these two giants, which must be contained within the framework of the international community.
To reduce the influence of the European role, the United States encouraged the implementation of the right of self-determination for the colonies not because it was anti-colonial.
The Marshall Plan set by the United States to rebuild a devastated Europe contributed to keeping these countries indebted to the United States, in addition to this programmatic project contributing to the involvement of American influence in shaping political systems and direct war effects in Europe.
_______________
1 - World War II - Battles & Main Events
2 - World War II in Europe
3 - World War II.. Lights and events
4 - Documents of World War II