The Second World War
How the First World War's settlement, economic crisis and expansionist regimes contributed to another world war. Fighting spread across Europe, Asia, Africa and the oceans. The war ended in 1945 with Axis defeat, changed borders and a changed balance of power.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain how resentment of the 1919 settlement and the Great Depression helped the Nazis gain support, without treating dictatorship or war as inevitable
- Name the main sides and say roughly when the fighting began and ended in Europe and in Asia
- Give one reason civilians died in far greater numbers than in the previous war
- Say what the war changed about the map and about who held power in 1945
1 · Read
You have studied the 1919 settlement. Germany lost territory, faced military limits and owed reparations. Nazis used resentment of these terms and unemployment during the Great Depression to gain support. These conditions did not make war inevitable or require Germany to invade another country. Some historians group 1914 to 1945 as an era of connected conflicts. That interpretation does not mean fighting continued everywhere throughout those years.
The Axis regimes followed different paths. Mussolini took power in Italy in 1922, before the Great Depression began in 1929. Hitler became Germany's chancellor in 1933 and established a dictatorship. In Japan, military leaders gained influence and pursued imperial expansion. Leaders made choices about aggression: Japan expanded its war in China, Italy invaded Ethiopia, and Germany invaded Poland.
Germany, Italy and Japan were the main Axis powers. Major Allies included Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union and the United States. Many other countries and people from colonies also fought. Countries did not all enter together. The Soviet Union became an Ally after Germany invaded it in June 1941. The United States entered the war in December 1941. These wartime coalitions should not be treated as unchanged throughout the period.
Full-scale war between Japan and China began in 1937. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939; Britain and France then declared war on Germany. Japan's attacks in December 1941 widened the Pacific war and brought in the United States. Germany surrendered in May 1945. Japan announced its surrender in August and signed the formal surrender in September 1945.
The First World War also killed civilians through occupation, hunger and genocide. Civilian deaths were much higher in the Second World War. Bombing devastated cities. Occupation brought forced labour, starvation and mass murder. Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered about six million Jews in the Holocaust. Civilians faced danger near battlefields and far from them.
In 1945 Germany and Japan were defeated and occupied. Germany lost territory, and Poland's borders shifted westward. Britain and France were weakened. The United States and Soviet Union emerged as the strongest powers, and tensions between them grew. Victory did not leave every Allied country with equal power.
To test the interpretation that the two wars belong to one connected era, trace a link across time. Did grievances from the earlier settlement influence later politics? Similar lengths or matching lists of allies describe similarities, but do not explain that political link. Distinguish a contributing condition from a later decision.
Economic crisis and treaty resentment helped Nazi support grow. Leaders chose aggression. The war ended in 1945 with Axis defeat, changed borders and a new balance of power.
Original lesson, questions, diagrams and flashcards written for this learning dataset.
Original reading and flashcards written for this learning dataset.
More to read
Explaining connections without making war inevitable
A historical explanation must distinguish a condition from a decision. Germany's losses and restrictions after the First World War supplied grievances that the Nazis used in their campaigning. The Great Depression added unemployment and economic insecurity. These conditions helped Nazi support grow, but they did not order Germany's leaders to invade another country.
Compare the timing in Italy. Mussolini took power in 1922, while the Great Depression began in 1929. The later crisis cannot explain his earlier rise. Japan's military leaders also pursued expansion through their own political and imperial ambitions. One explanation cannot be transferred unchanged to every regime.
The war's chronology also depends on which region we examine. Full-scale war between Japan and China began in 1937. Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Japan's attacks in December 1941 widened the Pacific war. Germany surrendered in May 1945. Japan announced surrender in August and signed its formal surrender in September.
Historians sometimes place both world wars within an era of conflict from 1914 to 1945. This grouping draws attention to connections across time. It does not erase the peace settlement, changing coalitions or years when particular countries were not fighting. Ask what the grouping helps explain and what it might hide.
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