In the mid-1930s
both Germany and Japan
adopted an aggressive
foreign party. In 1933,
Adolf Hitler of the
Nazi Party became the
leader of Germany. Under
the Nazis, Germany began
to re-arm. By 1937,
Hitler also began demanding
the cession of territories
which had historically
been part of Germany
- the Rhineland and
Gdansk in Poland.
Britain and France
initially attempted
to defuse the situation
primarily through diplomacy
and appeasement. The
then British Prime Minister,
Neville Chamberlain,
brokered a deal with
Hitler at Munich in
September 1938, claiming
“Peace in our time”.
However, on the 1st
September 1939 Germany
invaded Poland in co-operation
with the Soviet Union,
and war in Europe followed.
The United Kingdom and
France declared war
on Germany on the 3rd
September 1939 resulting
in the ‘Phoney War’,
which existed until
the spring of 1940 when
Germany captured Denmark
and Norway and then
invaded France and the
Low Countries. On the
10th May Winston Churchill
is appointed British
Prime Minister. After
340,000 British and
French troops were saved
from the beaches of
Dunkirk in June 1940,
Britain was then targeted
as the Germans attempted
to cut the island off
from vitally needed
supplies and obtain
air superiority in order
to make a seaborne invasion
possible. The RAF won
The Battle of Britain
by September 1940 and
Hitler called off the
invasion of mainland
Britain.
In June 1941, the
extent of the war increased
when Germany invaded
Russia, bringing them
into alliance with the
United Kingdom. The
German attack was initially
highly successful, overrunning
great tracts of Soviet
territory, but began
to stall by the winter.
Meanwhile, the Japanese
expanded the war by
attacking the US Naval
Base at Pearl Harbour
in the Hawaiian Islands
on the 7th December;
this brought America
into the World War.
In 1942, though the
Axis forces of Germany,
Italy and Japan continued
to make gains, the tide
began to turn. Japan
suffered its first major
defeat against American
forces in the Battle
of Midway (4th to 7th
June), where four of
Japan's aircraft carriers
were destroyed. German
forces in Africa (‘The
Afrika Corp’) were defeated
by British & Commonwealth
forces at the Battle
of El Alamein in July
1942.
In 1943 Germany suffered
devastating losses to
the Soviets at Stalingrad,
and then at the tank
battle of Kursk. Their
forces were also expelled
from Africa, and Allied
forces began driving
northward up through
Sicily and Italy. The
Japanese continued to
lose ground as the American
forces seized island
after island in the
Pacific Ocean.
On the morning of
6th June 1944, ‘D-Day’
as it became known,
saw the Allies invaded
mainland Europe, landing
on the French coast
at Normandy. The Germans
were pushed back to
their border over the
next nine months, despite
setbacks at Arnhem (17th
to 26th September) and
in the Ardennes at ‘The
Battle of the Bulge’
(16th December 1944
to 25th January 1945).
By spring of1945, the
War in Europe was over
when Germany surrendered
on the 7th May, after
Adolf Hitler had committed
suicide some eight days
earlier.
Japan continued to
fight on despite its
dire economic situation.
Fearing a great loss
of life if they invaded
mainland Japan, the
Americans dropped an
Atomic Bomb on the city
of Hiroshima on the
6th August 1945; three
days later they dropped
another on Nagasaki.
The Japanese eventually
surrendered on the 15th
August 1945 - the Second
War World was over.
