cause and effect of world war 2 essay

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The Causes of World War Two

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Published: Apr 11, 2019

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The outbreak of World War II in 1939 was driven by a complex web of interconnected causes. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, imposed harsh conditions on Germany, fostering deep resentment and setting the stage for Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Simultaneously, Italy embraced fascism under Benito Mussolini, destabilizing Europe. Japan's imperialist ambitions in Asia went unchecked due to Western powers' policy of appeasement, contributing to the formation of the Axis Powers.

Fear of communism further divided nations, with alliances like the Anti-Comintern Pact heightening ideological tensions. The policy of appeasement pursued by Western powers inadvertently emboldened fascist aggressors, while the League of Nations' failure to maintain order encouraged aggression.

The immediate trigger for the war was Germany's demand for the city of Danzig and the subsequent threat to Polish independence. Britain and France's guarantee of Polish protection led to Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, prompting the declaration of war. In summary, World War II resulted from a complex interplay of factors, including historical legacies, the rise of fascism, fear of communism, appeasement, and specific trigger events.

Works Cited:

• Jackson, S. (1948). The lottery. The New Yorker, 27(26), 22-28. doi: 10.1080/00064246.2012.735692
• Felgar, R. (2017). Tradition and Ritual in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5(5), 41-46. doi: 10.4236/jss.2017.55005
• Allen, D. C. (2014). “The Lottery”: Responses to the Critics. College English, 76(5), 480-488. doi: 10.1642/ce.55.3.407
• Dewey, J. (2016). Shirley Jackson and the Uses of Horror. The Sewanee Review, 124(3), 371-377. doi: 10.1353/sew.2016.0042
• Bunn, G. C. (2016). The Lottery: A Reading of Shirley Jackson’s Classic Short Story. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research, 4(2), 68-75.
• Allen, M. (2012). Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery': an Exposition of Conformity in Society. Northwind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies, 30, 61-69.
• Cheung, Y. K. (2015). The Lottery: Suspense and Surprise. RELC Journal, 46(2), 180-188. doi: 10.1177/0033688215583224
• Levine, E. R. (2019). “The Lottery” and Other Stories: An Exploration of Shirley Jackson’s Work. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Seymour, M. J. (2019). Reading The Lottery in a Time of Terror. The Explicator, 77(1-2), 67-71. doi: 10.1080/00144940.2018.1520674
• Nunez, J. A. (2014). “The Lottery” as Sociological Analysis. Journal of Sociology and Social Work, 2(1), 1-7.

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The Causes and Consequences of World War Two Cause and Effect Essay

Introduction, consequences of world war two, causes of world war two, european war, pacific war, works cited.

World War Two, which started in 1939 and ended in 1945, caused more deaths, several countries got involved and a lot of money was used than any other war in global history. Above 60 million army men participated in the war and about 18,000 soldiers died during the war.

Around 20,000 million soviet people, seven million Jews in European, and 11 million Chinese were killed in World War Two (Nash & Graves 67). This war was actually an international war since around 75 nations participated in the war and this conflict happened on Europe, Asia, and Africa continents.

It also took place on the high seas. The war is believed to have been motivated by Germany and Japan and it came with severe consequences which, to some extent, exist. This paper discusses the causes and consequences of World War Two.

Geopolitical

As shown above, around 50,000 deaths were reported, which represented 3% of the world population. Some studies reported that the war caused around 62 to 80 million deaths, and this made it the deadliest fighting in the global history in terms of reported number of deaths compared with the world population (Foner 947).

World War Two showed a huge fault in the international power structure and when this structure was unsuccessful, the outcomes were severe and disastrous. The inconceivable degrees of devastation in the war made several countries to decline a balance of power system.

Alternatively, the successful nations launched a system of collective security through the League of Nations where assault by any nation would cause other nations to react. However, after World War Two, this process did not work since each nation had different views and ideologies.

The British Empire decolonization was not actually caused by World War Two but relatively due to several continuous practices like increase of anti-colonist movements which upset the way of colonization by British Empire.

Thus, irrespective of the timing of the World War Two, the British Empire could have been caused to undergo decolonization afterward but the fighting aided to accelerate the process. Europe’s supremacy was damaged and new institutions assisted in weakening the colonization of Europeans in Africa.

The Soviet Union and United States became more powerful and both were against colonization of Europeans in Africa. Some of the European powers, such as France and Britain, faced hard time sustaining their domains both economically and physiologically (Hill 56).

The course of European integration which facilitated the creation of European Union (EU) started immediately after World War Two and it was partially motivated by the occurrence of that disastrous war.

Some heads of Europe like Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman decided that any war would not be allowed to demolish the European nations. The best way to protect this promise was to unite all the European nations that they would not fight one another.

The Cold war was established after World War Two and was intended to control global affairs for decades and several major crises happened such as Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crisis.

Several people and nations were worried about the developments of mass destruction. Most theories claim that as the USSR and USA was in same position during Second World War (Nash and Graves 65), their association after the fight was predicted to be strong and sociable but this never actually occurred and any emergence that both were allies in the war seems misleading.

Holocausts particularly aimed Jews and most people did not understand or were not bothered with that. Before the war, some nations which allowed fleeing Jews had firm quotas, and in the war several other persons except Jews were killed also.

Actually, several people furtively followed the Nazi strategy and expected that they would be killed like vermin, and this was mostly due to established anti-Semitism in Europe.

Domestically

Huge legacy was left by the depression and New Deal made people to depend on government for assistance instead of Private donations. After the Second World War, every government tried to prevent the reoccurrence of the Great Depression and economic plans was created to be firm and more inflationary.

Having the gold standards vanished, governments had increased liberty to customize their economies with growth of credit and money. The protectionism of 1930s facilitated the post-war attempts to decrease tariffs and other business blockades.

Lastly, the inconsistence of exchange rates which happened after countries left gold standards prompted the formation of the Breton Woods structure of fixed exchange rates in 1945. This system stated that all currencies were to sustain fixed exchange rates relative to U.S. currency, but this arrangement collapsed in 1970s (Hill 68).

After the end of Second World War, the GI Bill facilitated the formation of so-called middle class in United States, permitting people who served an opportunity for schooling. The legacy of GI Bill is exist, but currently the aid, if provides, hardly attain veterans’ costs.

Governmental influence of science at the course of the Second World War shows the government administration on growth of technology which offers several benefits to the communities, economies, and armed forces in their plans during the fighting.

After the United States got involved in the war, taxation became directly linked with national survival and top rate attained 90% (Nash and Graves 121). In 1944, the government enforced a maintenance system on income tax payers, creating process simpler and increasing the country’s income in the same year which was an essential aid in the wartime.

After the war, the income taxes somewhat decreased, simply the increase after the some times. Japanese were put into internment sites and this internment happened although they had been registered citizens of America and even through they did not create any threat.

Before their displacement, they had experienced several issues, for instance Japanese bank accounts in United States had been frozen. Some of the political leaders were relocated or arrested and their relatives were not informed about their whereabouts. Most Japanese lost their homes or sold them with a loss.

The Gathering Storm (1930s), German and Japan Ambitions

In the Gathering Storm, written by Sir Winston Churchill Book, stated that Second World War was motivated by unhealthy ambitions of Adolf Hitler who was reluctantly helped gutless and unreliable French and British leaders who chose conciliation above resistance (Nash and Graves, 121).

In the start of 1950s, roughly all diplomatic history on the causes of Second World War went with Churchill’s aim in reproving French and British leaders for pacification in the 1930s (Foner 948). Hitler’s intentions to expand it boundaries was one main cause of the war.

The German participation on the war did not actually influenced America to get involved in the war, but Japanese made them participate after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Relatively, this attack accelerated the motive for United States to respond and declared total war against Germany since several Americans considered that Germany was either a partner or the director of Japan.

This made Hitler to be guilty just like Japan for the assault on Pearl Harbor. The assault on Pearl Harbor was the crucial point for United States to participate in Second World War (Hill, 2003, p. 2).

US Isolationism

Poland was attacked by Germany, and this caused France and Britain to go for war against Germany. United States was considered to be in a state of Isolationism and did not wish to participate in the war. After America was attacked, they declared war against Japan and Germany.

If Germany could not have declared war, people would have not supported Roosevelt government for the decision to participate in war. Hill (5) stated that there is no more explanations of the intentions for the new United States policy of European attacks are provided and United States revenge to German participation in war is projected to be patently obvious.

Soviet Manpower-Economic Revival

The World War Two was very severe and all the countries which participated were led to the moral and physical survival, where most of them faced huge impact of their economy and labor. Soviet countries were forced to experience very depths of moral and physical survival.

Most countries experienced manpower shortage and no other war had brought these sufferings in the world history. It took sometimes for countries to revive to their usual position. Civilians and fighters participated in this war and both parties were victims or died.

American Economy and Air supremacy

The impacts of war were varied and extensive and it determinedly finished the depression itself. The federal government appeared from the war to act as a possible economic player where there had a capacity to control economic actions and to, in part, manage economy through expenditure and consumption (Nash and Graves 129).

American industry was regenerated by Second World War and several industries were, by 1946, either piercingly willing to protect their assets or fully reliant on them (Atomic energy).

To be effective and stronger, some means have to be enforced and use of air planes act as effective methods to provide a major impact as an air supremacy fighter.

For instance, the Me-262 jet fighter was debatably the preeminent fighter plane of Second World War, especially against United States heavy bombers, but was implemented late in the war and it merely had a smallest influence.

American theater commandants went for the options for planes and they created their plans around the necessity for strategic air superiority. In 1943 in Pacific, the allies won the battleground air superiority (Foner 58). This showed that the Allies would enforce their strike forces anywhere they content and overpower the opponent with a prevalence of weapons.

In mid 1942, Japanese Admiral wanted to take the United States pacific Fleet into a fight where they would overpower and demolish it. They positioned themselves in Midway Island so that they could plan effectively the attack on Hawaii.

Through the application of decrypted Japanese radio intercepts, they were capable of offsetting the insult. After a month, United States aircraft attacked and ruined four Japanese shippers, making Yamamoto to surrender and the battle of Midway reported the defining moment of Second World War in the Pacific.

Firebombing and A-Bombing

Firebombing is a way of bombing intended to destroy a target place by using fire which is produced by inflammable devices, instead of blast effects of huge bombs.

Japanese firebombing caused more death and demolition than the A-bombs and probably powerful firebombing of bordering regions and all plants could perhaps have permitted the United States arm forces ultimately to overpower Japan, but the number of deaths would have been nearly unthinkable. It might have led U.S. not to use A-bombing (Nash and Graves 125).

After the Battle of Midway, it was a clear indication to the American people and soldiers from both sides that Japan would not win the war. Just through strategic standards, Americans had more benefits.

Superior industry and several options to fuel its industry permitted it to extend it naval resources more than Japanese would ever expect to challenge. In order for the war to end, there were orders to attack Japan with a nuclear weapon. It was first dropped in Hiroshima.

Upon bomb explosion, around 80,000 people were killed instantly from the extensive heat produced from the explosion. About 60,000 more civilians died from the radiation-related diseases which accompanied the explosion. Another atomic bomb were dropped in Nagasaki and caused additional deaths (Hill 79).

Second World War cost all countries several casualties and more than 60 million deaths were reported. In United States alone, 400,000 people died and in both international and domestic affairs, its outcomes were extensive and some are still being felt currently (Hill 79).

Depression ended because of Second World War and caused several married women to enter labor force, radically extended existence of Government in United States citizens, and started wide changes in the lives of the country’s minority people.

Foner, Eric. Give me liberty!: an American history. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2008. Print.

Hill, Richard. Hitler Attacks. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003. Print.

Nash, Roderick and Gregory Graves. From these beginnings: a biographical approach to American history, Volume 2. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2005. Print.

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World War II, Its Causes and Long-Term Effects

Introduction.

The Second World War was an upheaval that involved almost every region across the world from 1939 to 1945. Having claimed the lives of over 40 million people, this conflict must have been catalyzed by numerous unresolved issues that affected different parts of Europe for many years. The biggest question is how such a war got out of hand and eventually changed the world forever. The modern-day world is largely dictated by the aftermath of this great upheaval. This causal analysis digs deeper to understand the real forces that led to the war and how it continues to affect the world today.

Thesis Statement

Having been triggered by the unresolved injustices in Europe after the Great War (also known as the First World War), the Second World War resulted in a decisive power shift away from the leading European states (such as Germany, France, and Britain) to the Soviet Union and the United States.

Analysis of the Second World War

The main cause of the Second World War is an issue that has attracted the attention of many scholars, historians, and archeologists across the world. This is the case because there are numerous factors and forces that are believed to have led to this global turmoil. The invasion of Poland by Germany is identified as the main trigger of this war (“World War Two,” 2018). This move forced France and Germany to declare war on Adolf Hitler’s regime. However, the causes of this conflict in Europe are complicated since different unresolved concerns have been mentioned by historians.

The first cause revolves around the Treaty of Versailles (“World War Two,” 2018). Following the end of the Great War, France, the United States, Italy, and Britain developed a plan detailing how Germany was to pay for its role in initiating this turmoil. Although Germany decided to sign the formulated document, it remained discontented with the terms. Germany was forced to accept the blame for triggering the First World War.

It was also supposed to pay around 6,600 million pounds for every damage caused (“World War II,” 2009). The action was also prohibited from having tanks, submarines, and an air force. Some of its territories and lands were taken away. This issue forced many Germans to support a new leader who could address the situation and reclaim the country’s glory (Brickell, 2014). This nation was also finding it hard to pay the required amount of money due to the increasing poverty levels.

The second outstanding cause of this war was Adolf Hitler. From 1934, Hitler began to increase the size of the country’s army. This was against the Treaty of Versailles. He also made several alliances and pacts, such as the Anti-Comintern Pact and the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact. By 1938, Germany was taking back some of its territories that had been taken away. A decisive vote also saw Austria becoming part of Germany.

In 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed, whereby Hitler was allowed to retain the Sudetenland region (“World War Two,” 2018). However, he was requested not to occupy Czechoslovakia. In March 1939, the German army invaded the country. At this time, France and Britain were unprepared for any military action (David, 2015). In September the same year, Hitler invaded Poland. This would result in a declaration of war.

The third potential cause of this conflict was the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations established in 1919. This organization was formed to maintain global peace after the end of the First World War. From 1920 to 1934, the League imposed trade sanctions and restrictions on nations such as Italy and Japan (“World War II,” 2009). With many nations not involved in the organization, it was impossible to manage various global affairs. This institution’s power was also limited. Since it lacked an army, it was unable to act and stop any act of aggression in Europe and beyond. These factors worked synergistically to trigger World War II.

The absence of appeasement is the fourth force that catalyzed this war. Britain and France believed that Germany’s needs had been ignored in the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler’s demands to have some of the nation’s territories given back were ignored. The Munich Agreement managed to address some of the issues raised by Hitler (“World War Two,” 2018). A similar approach could have been used to promote global peace instead of animosity. The failure to involve different nations and stakeholders to deal with the issues facing Europe would eventually result in this war.

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World War II had many consequences. The USSR lost over 24 million people, both military and civilians, and over 21 million people were left homeless and in poor conditions (Fussell 745). Great Britain and France had both collapsed as empires, and European boundaries had been literally redrawn. The United States of America claimed to lead the reconstruction efforts and started to conduct policy, directed to establishing itself as a new superpower. Thus, modern geopolitical balance of power in the world can also be considered as one of the direct consequences of World War II. Among many others, several consequences of this war are felt even today, such as the increase in baby boomers in the U.S., which has a continued effect on the economy; cold wars and war sensitivity, including the nuclear arms race today; and the establishment of the U.S. as a leading power in the world.

Between the years 1946 and 1964, a sudden and large increase in birthrate was detected in the U.S. The reason for such a dramatic growth in population is still a disputed subject among experts. At first, the U.S. welcomed this phenomenon by passing GI bills to improve education, skills and income. Now, the generation of baby boomers is already retiring, or fast approaching retirement age. Currently, the cost of Social Security is rising faster than the taxed income of the working population (Lavery 56). Due to this fact, nowadays, it has become questionable whether the American economy will be able to afford the future cost of Social Security, as the baby boomer generation continues to retire.

Another consequence of World War II is the continuing Cold War. One might say that it had ended several decades ago, but actually, it still goes on, though now it is not so intense (Lavery 76). Nation states spend billions of dollars to increase military power. Nuclear weapons today have become the weapons of choice. Diplomacy, combined with a demonstration of military power, is often used to pressure leaders who conduct policies which are different from those which the world’s superpowers consider desirable. Wars continue to influence domestic policies and define the full meaning of conflicts.

World War II hit the U.S. economy—the expenditure on military action approximated over 95 million dollars. After it ended, the United States established itself as a superpower and assumed the leading role in post-war reconstruction (Lavery 86). Today, the United States continues to play the role of global benefactor, whether or not their help is required, interfering in domestic policies of a number of states and nations. This results in many government leaders resenting U.S. policy and its superpower status.

After World War II, international conflicts have been perceived differently. A century ago, a war was mostly a local event, concerning only its direct participants (Fussell 87). Now, a war is a process which involves multiple sides, and has consequences which are often difficult to predict. Nuclear arms seem to be the weapon of choice, and nations often feel empowered by displaying their arms for the entire world to see. To promote peace and understanding among nations, a special organization, the United Nations, was established.

The world continues to feel the consequential tremors of World War II through financial and economic woes. Among the most obvious consequences of this war, one can point out an effect of the baby boomers generation on the economy of the U.S., cold wars, nuclear weapon races, and the establishment of the U.S. as a leading power in the world.

Fussell, Jeremy. The War Bible . New York: Penguin Publishers, 2009. Print.

Lavery, Vanessa. One Long Kill . Seattle: Rain City Press, 2011. Print.

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