World War Two
World war two is one of the worlds worst war so far, it involved all of the current major powers and resulted in the first and only nuclear weapons used in war. Casualties going over 75 million the war lasted 16 years with the final defeat of Japan. Here is a overveiw of some of the major events in the war. I am unable to cover all the little things as that would make this far to long.
The main axis powers:
The world war one treaty absolutely destroyed Germany they lost land had to get rid of the air force, demilitarize an area at the France border. Poland now separated part of Germany and their country had to pay money it didn't have. At this time the renamed Nazi party began to get a lot of support from the German population. They then won an election so Hitler the new leader of the party ran for leader of the country but was outvoted, he then demanded to be made chancellor which means he was basically 2nd in charge of the government. Later on, the current leader died and Hitler was made the leader of the country he then used his party to intimidate some people and to imprison all of the opposers so he could be voted in emergency powers. This worked. Meanwhile, Italy was part of the winner's side of the war however they didn't get what they thought they deserved, meanwhile a bad economy and struggling government resulted in the easy overthrow of Mussolini.
The two countries had a lot in common and became friend pretty quickly they both had mostly the same ideas. The next main ally they would get was Japan. Japan had isolated itself for many years until all of a sudden the Americans forced some unequal treaties on the Japanese so their economy was in ruin. They also had no natural resources so because of this they invaded China and took over Korea however the west basically told them to go away so they did since they couldn't go to war with the west. The west then set up spheres of influence in China since it was weakened which greatly annoyed the Japanese so they invaded the Russian area in China which was Korea and an area above it. They won. Then an incident that is speculated to be caused by the Japanese, a train blew up in their territory which gave them a reason to attack and take over more of chinas stuff they made their way through Beijing and reached Chinas current capital at that time Nanking.
The moments leading up to the start:
Now the axis nations prepared for war completely violating the treaty Germany had its air force operational conscription was added and the German army began to grow big once again. He then sent his troops into the demilitarized zone telling them to retreat if the allies showed up, they did nothing. Hitler then sent his troops into Austria, there was almost no resistance so now Austria was in German hands he then demanded land in Czechoslovakia, a place with many ethnic Germans. A meeting was held with Hitler and Mussolini were they let him take that land as long as he didn't invade the rest of Czechoslovakia. He, however, did take it. Mussolini then took over Abyssinia. Hitler now began to prepare to invade Poland to get rid of the hated polish corridor, the allies responded to this by saying that if he does attack Poland they would be forced to declare war. He made an alliance with Stalin so he didn't have to fight a war on multiple fronts.
The start
On September the 1st 1939 Germany Declared war on Poland 2 days later the allies declared war on Hitler. Poland was no match for both Russia and Germany attacking them at once so they lost and were split between Germany and Russia. Now a period known as the phony war began were no one really did anything. France had sent a small attack force into the Saar region but after a few days just decided to leave. Both the Uk and France didn't want a repeat of the first world war so they began to talk with Norway. Sweden was exporting iron ore through Norway so the allies tried to ask them to stop exporting iron ore. They refused. They then mined the coastal waters off Norway to force all transport ships into the allied water they also attacked a nearby German ship. Hitler now knowing what they were doing invaded Norway, the allies rushed troops into areas along the Norwegian coast, however, Germany now controlled Norway's airfields so their airforce decided to fight. This resulted in Norway being taken over after this battle Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.
The French invasion
The phony war gave Hitler the time he needed to prepare his army, the Allies talked to Belgium to station troops there to prevent Germany from getting a major advantage against France. You see Frane made a massive defensive line only covering their territory next to Germany not the Belgium area so they were afraid Hitler would attack Belgium to get around the defences of France. Belgium refused to let allied troops in them since they wanted to be neutral and then something happened. Something predictable. Hitler attack Belgium and the Netherlands. Once the allies heard of this they charged into Belgium to help however Hitler had a new trick up his sleeve. Blitzkrieg they started by sending thousands of refugees to slow the allies down. France had left an area known as the Arden filled with hills and forest hardly defender. They did this because they thought it was naturally impenetrable. However, Hitler thought otherwise he sent 3 divisions into the area and surrounded the allied forces. A lot of the allied forces were trapped in, completely surrounded almost all of them died. The English made a desperate last stand at dun Kerq. Civilian ships came to get the soldiers back to England and the English airforce did there best to delay the Germans. They managed to escape but now many of the French armies was dead so Germany easily took over the rest of France. He only occupied the coastal areas for defence but the rest of France and its colonies became a German puppet state.
The England Invasion
Hitler planned an invasion into Britain he decided to carry out air raids to make the invasion easier with ground troops. First of all, he would bomb the navy bases in the British Isles after these bombings the German air force would then target ARF (British air force) airbases. The ground invasion was about to begin and people in Britain said themselves that if they kept it up they would be taken over very soon. However, Winston Churchill organized a quick bombing run on Berlin it did hardly any damage, however, Hitler was beyond pissed. He made his air force target civilian targets in the British capital, this allowed the ARF to rebuild. Hitler sent a full out attack on the capital however the ARF was prepared and destroyed many German aircraft. Hitler's invasion was stopped, for now, however, they continued to bomb British cities.
The Winter war
Just before the invasion of Norway, the Soviet Union declared war on Finland since they believe Germany might use Finland to take out a key Soviet city. This war turned out to be an embarrassment as the Soviets would have completely failed against the small country if not for Finland's size. The Fins killed many Soviets and a single sniper killed an entire squadron by himself. However, they did eventually force the Fins to go for peace. They then began pushing around states near the German border annexing them.
The African battles
Some colonies in France decided they would not join the Germans and began a free France movement aiding the British in Africa and later the French liberation. They toke Kabul after it didn't join their movement than with the British they attempted to take over the port city of Drakar. Mussolini has seen Hitler's success and thought it was now his time. He took over British Somaliland that went well. He then tried to take Egypt, that went less well and then he tried to take Greece, that went really bad. Churchill began to refer to him as Europe's soft underbelly. Churchill began to plan an invasion from the south going up through Italy so he sent troops to Greece, Hitler got worried because Mussolini was being really stupid so he made Hungary join the Axis, Romania also joined to be safe from Russia. After a meeting with Churchill America began to supply the allies with supplies. Germany began to sink these trade ships so Britain would starve during this period scientists and engineers worked hard to improve there capabilities against the German u boats.
Some more African battles
Churchill then pushed Italy out of Egypt, it was pretty easy so they kept going Hitler then stepped in. He began to reinforce the Italian areas with some of his forces than with the reinforcements they took over Greece. He then went to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and tell them to join him or be invaded. Bulgaria decided to join them however Yugoslavia decided to be invaded. Now Greece finally fell. Because of British sending troops to Greece Italy and Germany pushed the British back and they could have kept going, however, an almost completely Australian force held out in a crucial port city for months denying the Germans a key point and disrupting their supply lines. The British had some success in the middle east but Hitler thought they were no threat.
Suprise invasion
Hitler launched the biggest ground invasion in all history and the Soviet Union were far from ready, Hitler made staggering progress capturing thousands of troops with encircling movements. The Soviets were doing really bad since recently Stalin was removing smart officers that he feared would overthrow him this left weak officers in charge of the armies. 250,000 Soviets captured at Bialystok-Minsk, 300,000 at Smolensk, around 700,00 at Kiev and 660,000 at Vyazma - Bryansk. Because of the invasion of Finland, the Fins let Germany go through them and allied with them. They then began to take back lost territory and sieged Leningrad (the city the Soviets were trying to protect with the winter war) for 4 years! Many people in Russia suffered from the occupying Germans is was extremely brutal for them. The Germans then reached Moscow the Russian capital but then it happened. The Russian winter swept in. Hitler didn't let his troops dig in so they were pushed back by the specially trained Russian snow troops until they dug in for Winter.
The Japanese
The Japanese were eager to begin more conquest to get more resources so they began to spread through the Pacific however much of the Pacific was colonized by the Americans and British and it was filled with water. There was a way the Japanese could stand against the American navy so they decided to destroy it before it was a worry. They attacked the American navy base, Pearl Harbour and destroyed a lot of ships however they didn't target the repair bays, fuel storage tanks or the navy base so the American navy would be up again pretty soon. However, meanwhile, the Japanese began their conquest taking many Asian countries such as Hong Kong, the Philippines and many American/British colonies. They got to the point where they were able to bomb northern Australia. The main reason why the Axis gained so much territory was surprised however that advantage was about to leave them as the Americans neared completion of their nuclear weapons.
Germanys advance on Russia
Winter was finally over so Hitler began pushing further into Russia and it went pretty easy. His new plan was to capture the Caucasus an area filled with massive amounts of oil. He began to push through Russia up to that point and was close to taking it however he made a vital mistake. He redirected a massive amount of troops leaving one division to take a key city called Stalingrad. It toe months of fighting and Germany didn't make to much progress but then massive Russian reinforcements came. Russia had to move a lot of their factories at the start of the war but now they had enough tanks and airforce to give a counterattack. They began pushing back Germany.
The Allies advance
American had been attempting to supply Britain with food and ammunition before they were put into the war by Japan, however, German U boats and other German ships sunk many of these trading ships. When American got involved in the war Germany suffered heavy bombing many people died during this. The allies were ready to push into France and Germany however they both had different ideas on how to do it. Britain wanted to attack through Italy while American wanted to do a full-scale attack through England. Going through Italy was the plan that went ahead first. They began their invasion on September the 3rd 1943. It went really well mainly because the Italians just didn't want war any more many soldiers had relatives in the American army so they greeted them. Mussolini was voted out and Italy surrendered Hitler then ordered all Italian troops to be disarmed in an operation he called operation Axis. Germany kept getting pushed back until winter was the war went into a standstill.
Dday
The Italian campaign was at a standstill because of winter so Britain decided to do the Americas plan as well. On the 6th of June 1944, the invasion began. Allied forces were dropped in key locations to stop German reinforcements however many died. The next day the artillery strike came as the Allies heavily bombed the German defences. Then came the landings the Americans at Utah and Omaha and the British and Canadians at gold, Juno and sword beach. The Allies pushed in and a few weeks later British and African free France troops landed in southern France. France was liberated and now Allied forces pushed into Germany.
Japan gets pushed back
Japan now was receiving many losses as America's navy kept pushing them further and further back they received massive losses and were pushed right back. The Japanese fought fiercely doing whatever they could to halt the invasion. They flew planes into American boats and would use inhuman tactics. This was because they believed the best thing you could do was die in battle and the worst was to retreat.
Germany and Japan fall
Germany was now being invaded by all sides and it couldn't hold out for long Hitler had one last attempt to keep them alive. He decided to attempt another Blitzkrieg, however, this failed he created a bulge but this used up all of Germany remaining strength. Once America and Britain destroyed the bulge Hitler realised his defeat. The allies pushed in from all sides and once the Soviets got into Berlin Hitler suicided in his bunker with one of his commanders. Japan was now getting firebombed however American didn't want the war to last much longer so they decided to use their most recently designed weapons of mass destruction. The first and only nuclear bombs used in war were dropped. On the 6th of August 1945, the first bomb fell on Hiroshima. On the 9th the other one fell onto Nagasaki. Many civilians died in this but Japan surrendered world war 2 was over.
Now the axis nations prepared for war completely violating the treaty Germany had its air force operational conscription was added and the German army began to grow big once again. He then sent his troops into the demilitarized zone telling them to retreat if the allies showed up, they did nothing. Hitler then sent his troops into Austria, there was almost no resistance so now Austria was in German hands he then demanded land in Czechoslovakia, a place with many ethnic Germans. A meeting was held with Hitler and Mussolini were they let him take that land as long as he didn't invade the rest of Czechoslovakia. He, however, did take it. Mussolini then took over Abyssinia. Hitler now began to prepare to invade Poland to get rid of the hated polish corridor, the allies responded to this by saying that if he does attack Poland they would be forced to declare war. He made an alliance with Stalin so he didn't have to fight a war on multiple fronts.
The start
On September the 1st 1939 Germany Declared war on Poland 2 days later the allies declared war on Hitler. Poland was no match for both Russia and Germany attacking them at once so they lost and were split between Germany and Russia. Now a period known as the phony war began were no one really did anything. France had sent a small attack force into the Saar region but after a few days just decided to leave. Both the Uk and France didn't want a repeat of the first world war so they began to talk with Norway. Sweden was exporting iron ore through Norway so the allies tried to ask them to stop exporting iron ore. They refused. They then mined the coastal waters off Norway to force all transport ships into the allied water they also attacked a nearby German ship. Hitler now knowing what they were doing invaded Norway, the allies rushed troops into areas along the Norwegian coast, however, Germany now controlled Norway's airfields so their airforce decided to fight. This resulted in Norway being taken over after this battle Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.
The French invasion
The phony war gave Hitler the time he needed to prepare his army, the Allies talked to Belgium to station troops there to prevent Germany from getting a major advantage against France. You see Frane made a massive defensive line only covering their territory next to Germany not the Belgium area so they were afraid Hitler would attack Belgium to get around the defences of France. Belgium refused to let allied troops in them since they wanted to be neutral and then something happened. Something predictable. Hitler attack Belgium and the Netherlands. Once the allies heard of this they charged into Belgium to help however Hitler had a new trick up his sleeve. Blitzkrieg they started by sending thousands of refugees to slow the allies down. France had left an area known as the Arden filled with hills and forest hardly defender. They did this because they thought it was naturally impenetrable. However, Hitler thought otherwise he sent 3 divisions into the area and surrounded the allied forces. A lot of the allied forces were trapped in, completely surrounded almost all of them died. The English made a desperate last stand at dun Kerq. Civilian ships came to get the soldiers back to England and the English airforce did there best to delay the Germans. They managed to escape but now many of the French armies was dead so Germany easily took over the rest of France. He only occupied the coastal areas for defence but the rest of France and its colonies became a German puppet state.
The England Invasion
Hitler planned an invasion into Britain he decided to carry out air raids to make the invasion easier with ground troops. First of all, he would bomb the navy bases in the British Isles after these bombings the German air force would then target ARF (British air force) airbases. The ground invasion was about to begin and people in Britain said themselves that if they kept it up they would be taken over very soon. However, Winston Churchill organized a quick bombing run on Berlin it did hardly any damage, however, Hitler was beyond pissed. He made his air force target civilian targets in the British capital, this allowed the ARF to rebuild. Hitler sent a full out attack on the capital however the ARF was prepared and destroyed many German aircraft. Hitler's invasion was stopped, for now, however, they continued to bomb British cities.
The Winter war
Just before the invasion of Norway, the Soviet Union declared war on Finland since they believe Germany might use Finland to take out a key Soviet city. This war turned out to be an embarrassment as the Soviets would have completely failed against the small country if not for Finland's size. The Fins killed many Soviets and a single sniper killed an entire squadron by himself. However, they did eventually force the Fins to go for peace. They then began pushing around states near the German border annexing them.
The African battles
Some colonies in France decided they would not join the Germans and began a free France movement aiding the British in Africa and later the French liberation. They toke Kabul after it didn't join their movement than with the British they attempted to take over the port city of Drakar. Mussolini has seen Hitler's success and thought it was now his time. He took over British Somaliland that went well. He then tried to take Egypt, that went less well and then he tried to take Greece, that went really bad. Churchill began to refer to him as Europe's soft underbelly. Churchill began to plan an invasion from the south going up through Italy so he sent troops to Greece, Hitler got worried because Mussolini was being really stupid so he made Hungary join the Axis, Romania also joined to be safe from Russia. After a meeting with Churchill America began to supply the allies with supplies. Germany began to sink these trade ships so Britain would starve during this period scientists and engineers worked hard to improve there capabilities against the German u boats.
Some more African battles
Churchill then pushed Italy out of Egypt, it was pretty easy so they kept going Hitler then stepped in. He began to reinforce the Italian areas with some of his forces than with the reinforcements they took over Greece. He then went to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and tell them to join him or be invaded. Bulgaria decided to join them however Yugoslavia decided to be invaded. Now Greece finally fell. Because of British sending troops to Greece Italy and Germany pushed the British back and they could have kept going, however, an almost completely Australian force held out in a crucial port city for months denying the Germans a key point and disrupting their supply lines. The British had some success in the middle east but Hitler thought they were no threat.
Suprise invasion
Hitler launched the biggest ground invasion in all history and the Soviet Union were far from ready, Hitler made staggering progress capturing thousands of troops with encircling movements. The Soviets were doing really bad since recently Stalin was removing smart officers that he feared would overthrow him this left weak officers in charge of the armies. 250,000 Soviets captured at Bialystok-Minsk, 300,000 at Smolensk, around 700,00 at Kiev and 660,000 at Vyazma - Bryansk. Because of the invasion of Finland, the Fins let Germany go through them and allied with them. They then began to take back lost territory and sieged Leningrad (the city the Soviets were trying to protect with the winter war) for 4 years! Many people in Russia suffered from the occupying Germans is was extremely brutal for them. The Germans then reached Moscow the Russian capital but then it happened. The Russian winter swept in. Hitler didn't let his troops dig in so they were pushed back by the specially trained Russian snow troops until they dug in for Winter.
The Japanese
The Japanese were eager to begin more conquest to get more resources so they began to spread through the Pacific however much of the Pacific was colonized by the Americans and British and it was filled with water. There was a way the Japanese could stand against the American navy so they decided to destroy it before it was a worry. They attacked the American navy base, Pearl Harbour and destroyed a lot of ships however they didn't target the repair bays, fuel storage tanks or the navy base so the American navy would be up again pretty soon. However, meanwhile, the Japanese began their conquest taking many Asian countries such as Hong Kong, the Philippines and many American/British colonies. They got to the point where they were able to bomb northern Australia. The main reason why the Axis gained so much territory was surprised however that advantage was about to leave them as the Americans neared completion of their nuclear weapons.
Germanys advance on Russia
Winter was finally over so Hitler began pushing further into Russia and it went pretty easy. His new plan was to capture the Caucasus an area filled with massive amounts of oil. He began to push through Russia up to that point and was close to taking it however he made a vital mistake. He redirected a massive amount of troops leaving one division to take a key city called Stalingrad. It toe months of fighting and Germany didn't make to much progress but then massive Russian reinforcements came. Russia had to move a lot of their factories at the start of the war but now they had enough tanks and airforce to give a counterattack. They began pushing back Germany.
The Allies advance
American had been attempting to supply Britain with food and ammunition before they were put into the war by Japan, however, German U boats and other German ships sunk many of these trading ships. When American got involved in the war Germany suffered heavy bombing many people died during this. The allies were ready to push into France and Germany however they both had different ideas on how to do it. Britain wanted to attack through Italy while American wanted to do a full-scale attack through England. Going through Italy was the plan that went ahead first. They began their invasion on September the 3rd 1943. It went really well mainly because the Italians just didn't want war any more many soldiers had relatives in the American army so they greeted them. Mussolini was voted out and Italy surrendered Hitler then ordered all Italian troops to be disarmed in an operation he called operation Axis. Germany kept getting pushed back until winter was the war went into a standstill.
Dday
The Italian campaign was at a standstill because of winter so Britain decided to do the Americas plan as well. On the 6th of June 1944, the invasion began. Allied forces were dropped in key locations to stop German reinforcements however many died. The next day the artillery strike came as the Allies heavily bombed the German defences. Then came the landings the Americans at Utah and Omaha and the British and Canadians at gold, Juno and sword beach. The Allies pushed in and a few weeks later British and African free France troops landed in southern France. France was liberated and now Allied forces pushed into Germany.
Japan gets pushed back
Japan now was receiving many losses as America's navy kept pushing them further and further back they received massive losses and were pushed right back. The Japanese fought fiercely doing whatever they could to halt the invasion. They flew planes into American boats and would use inhuman tactics. This was because they believed the best thing you could do was die in battle and the worst was to retreat.
Germany and Japan fall
Germany was now being invaded by all sides and it couldn't hold out for long Hitler had one last attempt to keep them alive. He decided to attempt another Blitzkrieg, however, this failed he created a bulge but this used up all of Germany remaining strength. Once America and Britain destroyed the bulge Hitler realised his defeat. The allies pushed in from all sides and once the Soviets got into Berlin Hitler suicided in his bunker with one of his commanders. Japan was now getting firebombed however American didn't want the war to last much longer so they decided to use their most recently designed weapons of mass destruction. The first and only nuclear bombs used in war were dropped. On the 6th of August 1945, the first bomb fell on Hiroshima. On the 9th the other one fell onto Nagasaki. Many civilians died in this but Japan surrendered world war 2 was over.
Nice blog post Brayden. I like how you explained everything about what happened.
ReplyDeleteKia Ora Brayden, This is a very detailed and insightful selection of work you researched. It is great to see how engaged you are in this area of history. What did you find the most interesting?
ReplyDeleteNot completely sure what I find the most interesting. The many mistakes Hitler made during the war was quite interesting as well as how he came to power. Guess I find the winter war quite cool as well showing how Stalin's paranoia resulted in ineffective battles for a while. Sorry about the late response my blog no longer notifies me if I get a comment like it used to.
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