Why wwii was fought

Millions more were injured, and still more lost their homes and property. The legacy of the war would include the spread of communism from the Soviet Union into eastern Europe as well as its eventual triumph in China, and the global shift in power from Europe to two rival superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—that would soon face off against each other in the Cold War.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Food, gas and clothing were rationed.

Communities conducted scrap When Britain and France went to war with Germany in , Americans were divided over whether to join the war effort. Once U. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until Some , women served in the U. Meanwhile, widespread male enlistment left gaping holes Getting the perfect shot in wartime is not only about weapons.

With over 30 countries involved in World War II and the loss of over 50 million lives, war photography captured the destruction and victories of the deadliest war in history. Lead by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, over one Born in Maine, Gillars was a former Broadway showgirl who moved to Berlin in She remained in Germany after President Woodrow Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points.

But from the moment the leaders of the For four years, from to , World War I raged across Europe's western and eastern fronts, after growing tensions and then the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria ignited the war. Trench warfare and the early use of tanks, submarines and airplanes meant the Live TV.

This Day In History. History Vault. Leading up to World War II. Recommended for you. The costs of carrying out World War I, as well as the costs to rebuild Western Europe after years of fighting, resulted in enormous debts on the part of the Western European powers to the United States. The enormous reparations put on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles also increased the debts. Coupled with ineffective governments in many of these European States notably the Weinmar Republic, pre-Mussolini Italy and Socialist France led to slow reconstruction and poor economic growth.

Unable to repay these loans, the economies of the West collapsed, beginning the Great Depression. After winning the Russo-Japanese War in , Japan quickly became the dominant power in its region. Russia recognized Korea as a Japanese sphere of influence and removed all of its forces from there and Manchuria, the sparsely populated northeastern region of China.

In , Japan annexed Korea as its own with little protest or resistance. Still, Japan was a quickly growing country, both population-wise and economically. It founded the South Manchuria Railway company in Manchuria in , and with that company was able to gain government-like control of the area.

By , the Depression had struck a blow to Japan. Instead, the public favored the Japanese army, and soon the civilian government had lost control of its military. Manchuria was vast and thinly populated, and would serve as excellent elbow room for an already overcrowded Japan. It was also thought that Manchuria was rich in forests, natural resources, and fertile land. The fact that the Japanese believed themselves to be far superior to the Chinese only moved Japan towards conflict faster.

Additionally, the warlord of Manchuria went against Japanese expectations and declared his allegiance to a growing Chinese military movement.

So, in , the army staged an explosion at a section of railway near Mukden, a city in Manchuria, as a pretext to invade and annex China. Japan met little resistance, although it did not have support of its own government, and Manchuria was completely occupied by the end of the year. Japan subsequently set up the puppet state of Manchukuo to oversee the newly acquired region.

The s saw a weak and politically chaotic China. Warlords of the many provinces of China constantly feuded, and the central government was weak and decentralized, unable to do anything to stop conflict.

Chiang led an expedition to defeat southern and central Chinese warlords and gain the allegiance of northern warlords. He was successful, and he soon focused on what he perceived to be a greater threat than Japan, which was communism. But in , the deposed warlord general of Manchuria kidnapped Chiang and refused to release him until he at least temporarily united with the communists against the Japanese threat.

The Japanese army responded by staging the Battle of Lugou Bridge, which was supposed to provoke open war between China and Japan. It worked and the Sino-Japanese War began. The beginning of the conflict was marked by the Chinese strategy of giving up land in order to stall the Japanese. It is important to note that the Japanese was not to completely take over China; rather, the Japanese wanted to set up puppet governments in key regions that would protect and advance Japanese interests.

The fall of Nanjing in the early stages of this conflict saw the beginning of Japanese war atrocities. Other war crimes committed included widespread rape, arson, and looting. These were pacts between Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Anti-Comintern pact had been a pact that denounced communism and it was initially signed by Japan and Germany. However, later, as German and Italian relations improved, Italy also signed and this was made stronger later by the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis in The Japanese forces met little resistance and devastated the harbor.

This attack resulted in 8 battleships either sunk or damaged, 3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers sunk as well as damage to some auxiliaries and aircraft either damaged or destroyed. Japan lost only 29 aircraft and their crews and five midget submarines. The survival of these assets have led many to consider this attack a catastrophic long term strategic blunder for Japan.

Without further ado, here's the whole vast panoramic epic of the Second World War presented in several of its most significant battles. So are we. Let's nerd out over it together. The battle consisted of two phases: the Battle for Narva Bridgehead and the Battle of Tannenberg Line; the USSR —Stalin in particular—wanted to take control of Estonia and use strategic locations in the country to attack Finland and Prussia via sea and air.

Both sides lost more than , soldiers combined. The Siege of Leningrad, also known as "the day siege" since it nearly lasted that long in actuality, it lasted days occurred when German and Finnish forces surrounded Leningrad and took over the city. The Soviet government had its citizenry work on building fortifications throughout the city although the area was almost entirely encircled by invading forces by November. The siege claimed more than , Soviet lives in a single year alone due to starvation, disease, and shelling.

One of the most audacious operations in the German conquest of Europe was the air assault on the Greek island of Crete, the first action in which paratroopers were dropped in large numbers. Crete was defended by British and Greek forces who had some success against the lightly armed German soldiers jumping out of the sky. However, delays and communication failures between Allies allowed the Germans to capture the vital airfield at Maleme and fly in reinforcements.

Once the Nazis gained air superiority, landings by sea followed. The Battle of Iwo Jima is an iconic event, thanks largely due to Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the American flag being raised. But military analysts still argue whether the island's limited strategic value justified the costly action.

Twenty thousand Japanese defenders were dug in to an elaborate system of bunkers, caves, and tunnels. The attack was preceded by a massive naval and air bombardment lasting several days covering the entire island. Although outnumbered five to one and with no prospect of victory, the Japanese put up strong resistance and virtually none surrendered. Many positions could be cleared only out by hand grenades and flamethrowers, including the fearsome M4A3R3 Sherman "Zippo" flamethrower tanks.

The Allies invaded Italy in but by had progressed only as far as the Gustav Line south of Rome. So the Allies staged a massive amphibious operation to force the defenders to split their forces or be surrounded, but quick success depended on a rapid break-out from the beachhead. Some 36, men landed to the enemy's considerable surprise, but while the Allies consolidated, the Germans surrounded the area with equivalent forces and dug defensive positions.

After heavy fighting and failed advances, in February the Allies were pushed back almost to the beachhead.

It took more than , more reinforcements and five months of fighting to finally break out of Anzio. Hitler aimed to halt them by a surprise Blitzkrieg. Several armored divisions massed in the Ardennes with the goal of breaking through Allied lines. American forces held on stubbornly in spite of heavy casualties— more than 19, died.

The Germans had limited supplies and could only fight for few days to before fuel and ammunition ran out, so the offensive soon ran out of steam.

Allied lines bulged but did not break, and hundreds of thousands of reinforcements poured into the area. Afterwards Germany lacked resources for another offensive and the end was inevitable. After Anzio, the Germans occupied defensive positions known as the Winter Line, consisting of bunkers, barbed wire, minefields and ditches. The four successive Allied assaults on these positions became known as the Battle of Monte Cassino.

The fight resembled a WW1 battle, with artillery bombardments preceding bloody infantry assaults on fixed positions. Success was bought at the cost of more than 50, casualties on the Allied side. Today, the battle is mainly remembered for the destruction of the abbey of Monte Cassino which was sheltering civilians by more than a hundred B Flying Fortresses , when the Allies mistakenly believed the abbey to be a German artillery observation position.

By late Britain faced the threat of a German invasion, but the incursion would succeed only with air superiority. What followed was the first major campaign fought by opposing air forces.

For four months the German Luftwaffe carried out attacks on British airfields, radar stations, and aircraft factories, and bombed British cities, too. But the Stukas proved too vulnerable to being intercepted and the Germans couldn't mass enough planes to defeat the fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force in their Hurricanes and Spitfires. Heavy casualties forced the Luftwaffe to scale down operations. Hitler's invasion plans were put on hold indefinitely. When Britain and France declared war on Germany following the Nazi invasion of Poland , many expected that war to be a retread of the infantry tactics actions of WWI.

That line of thinking clearly led to the French strategy of constructing the heavy concrete fortifications of the Maginot Line. Those expectations where shattered in May when the Germans launched a fast-paced "Blitzkreig" "lightning war" spearheaded by Panzer tanks.

Lacking heavy artillery, the Germans attacked French positions at Sedan with massed Stuka dive bombers. The intense air assault quickly demoralized the defenders and the German forces easily broke through. France fell soon afterwards. Hitler's plan to attack Soviet Russia was called Operation Barbarossa, and it sure looked insane on paper given the Russian numerical superiority and the ignominious history of enemy forces invading Russia.

Hitler, however, believed the Blitzkrieg was unstoppable, and the Battle of Brody in western Ukraine would prove him right—for a time. Seven hundred and fifty German panzers faced four times as many Russian tanks. But the Russian air force had been annihilated on the ground and the German Stukas were able to dominate the area. In addition to destroying tanks, they targeted Russian fuel and ammunition supplies and disrupted communications.