WORLD WAR II – CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

GARGI GARIMA KALITA

B.A. POLITICAL SCIENCE HONOURS
YEAR – IIND
ROLL NO- 180316
 INTRODUCTION

When we talk of war, we often define it as an armed conflict between or within various
nations/groups. War indeed is a blot on humanity as along with it comes mass destruction and
the magnitude of that is beyond measure. In the period between 1939 and 1945, the world had
witnessed one of the most devastating armed conflicts in human history that resulted in over
70 million deaths. The ferocity and savagery of the armed conflict, better known as the Second
World War do not come near to any of the many wars fought in history and thus is undoubtedly
the ‘deadliest human catastrophe’ till date. Even though the deaths of the military in actual
combats was less than the First World War, what made the Second World War heinous was
the deaths of millions of innocent civilians who were massacred in deliberate genocides and
bombing raids.

While the world was still recovering from the barbarity of the First World War, it was yet again
shaken with the outbreak of the Second World War. As pointed out by scholars and historians
World War II developed, in part, due to the various resolutions adopted after the end of the
World War I which made the vanquished feel that they were treated unjustly by the victors.
The fragile democracies across Europe and the Great Economic Depression also contributed to
the break out of the war. However, among other factors, the aggressive imperialist policy of
Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan is regarded as the main cause of World War II.

The war involved almost all major powers of Europe and also spread its branches to parts of
Southeast Asia as well. The epicentre of the war was Poland. On August 23rd, 1939 the then
Soviet Union and Germany signed a non-aggression pact which included secret provisions
outlining how the two powers would divide up the smaller nations that lay between them —
including Poland. Tensions surfaced when on the 1st of September 1939, Germany invaded
Poland. Then, on the 3rd of September, Britain and France declared war on Germany as in
March 1939 they had promised to guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state and
provide assistance in case of any aggression or attack on her soil. The war lasted only a month
resulting in the victory of Nazi Germany. Soon afterwards, many other nations declared war
on Germany. By 1940, Japan and Italy who were partners of the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis
extended their support to Germany. Then on 22nd June 1941, Nazi Germany waged war against
the Soviet Union that led the Soviets side with the British and France army. With the pre-
emptive military strike on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese Navy on December 7 th 1941, the
United States entered the war. Thus began the horrific war, with the Allied forces (led by the
US, Soviet Union, Britain, France and others) on one side and the Axis forces (Germany, Italy
and Japan) on the other. The war ended in 1945 with the surrender of the Axis nations.

The Second World War is also regarded as a significant event because it brought about
numerous changes in the arena of contemporary world politics. It marked the end of great
British colonial empires in Asia and Africa and led to the rise of two new powers on the global
stage. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the two power blocs with exceptional
ability to influence the events all around the world. Thus, the end of the Second World War
was also the beginning of the Cold War that lasted until the disintegration of the Soviet Union
in 1991. The United Nations was also formed in the aftermath of the war with an aim to prevent
such conflicts/war in the future and ensure the maintenance of international peace and security.

In this paper, we would discuss the causes of the Second World War elaborately and look into
the changes that had taken place as a consequence of this deadly armed conflict.

CAUSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was signed at Paris on June 28, 1919, and this very peace treaty
brought the First World War to an end. Around 70 delegates from 27 nations had participated
in the negotiation talks but with no sincerity of purpose. The big powers – US, Britain, Italy,
Japan and France, were the ones who officially decided the peace terms. Later, Georges
Clemenceau - Prime Minister of France , Vittorio Emanuele Orlando - Prime Minister of
Italy , David Lloyd George - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , and Woodrow Wilson -
President of the United States formed the "Big Four" and met in around 145 closed sessions
to decide on the major terms of the treaty which were later ratified by the other assembly
members.

The terms of the treaty were considered to be biased against Germany as the German delegates
were excluded from the decision making process. It was written by the members of the Allied
powers with no participation by the German negotiators. The treaty was a dictated piece of
recommendations and rules that were forcefully imposed on Germany. Ever since the defeat of
France by Germany in the 1871 war, they had shared bitter relations. As the conference for the
treaty was held in Paris, the French saw it as an opportunity to undermine and humiliate the
Germans. The German delegation was confined to their hotels which were surrounded by
barbed wires. They were always surrounded by strict armed personnel. Once the terms of the
treaty were made, Germany was given the draft on May 7, 1919, and was asked to review and
give their recommendations within a week. Even though Germany raised objection to
numerous terms, they were lent a deaf ear to. The treaty mentioned that Germany was solely
responsible for the outbreak of the war, to which Germany vehemently denied. None of the
recommendations made by Germany was taken into account and ultimately they were made to
sign the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

The treaty consisted of 15 parts and 440 articles. Part I of the treaty led to the establishment of
the League of Nations. Part II defined new boundaries of Germany whereby various regions
were given to Belgium, France, Poland and Denmark. Part III stipulated a demilitarized zone
and separated the Saar from Germany for 15 long years. Part IV demanded Germany to let go
off all its colonies and Part V reduced the military strength of Germany; she was not allowed
to have an air force and was also restricted from possessing certain military equipment. Part
VIII stated that Germany alone is responsible for the war and for all the losses that came along
with it. Part IX imposed several financial obligations upon Germany leading to the payment of
massive reparation to the Allied nations.

Thus, the Treaty of Versailles was nothing but an instrument used by the victors to humiliate
Germany. This treaty created a sense of alienation and hatred among the Germans and they
thrived for revenge. The treaty did not establish any grounds for peace, instead it imposed harsh
restrictions that jeopardised the German economy and thus triggered resentment against the
victors of World War I. With the political takeover of Germany by Hitler in 1933, the masses
were mobilised in large scale to avenge the humiliation, eventually leading to the outbreak of
the Second World War.

Failure of the League of Nations (collective security and disarmament)

As per the Treaty of Versailles, the world leaders agreed to establish an intergovernmental
organisation whose aim would be to maintain peace and security, solve international disputes
through negotiation and arbitration, and prevent the breakout of another war through the
principle of collective security and disarmament. The organisation named the League of
Nations became effective on 10 January 1920 with the then US President Woodrow Wilson
acting as the chief architect.

However, very soon after its inception, the League proved to be ineffective in fulfilling its aim.
Global representation at the League was a problem. The League of Nation was supposed to
incorporate all the nations worldwide as its members but that did not happen. The US, who was
the main advocate of establishing the League never became a member of it. Some other major
powers like Germany and the Soviet Union were prohibited from joining it, and some other
nations left the League after a short while.

The League did not have any force/resource of its own and always relied on the member nations
to act who were reluctant in providing with either financial or military aid. It was heavily
dependent on the strong nations for its sustenance and they were unable to stall any war waged
by the strong countries against the small countries. For instance, during the Japan aggression
on China in 1932, the League did not intervene and look into the crisis. Since Japan was a
strong and permanent member of the League, it repeatedly ignored the Chinese complaints and
believed in the assurance of the Japanese that the attack on China was only in self-defence. As
the other member nations asked Japan to remove the regime it had established in the
Manchukuo regime and denied to recognise it, Japan withdrew its membership from the
League. Also, when Italy had annexed Abyssinia in 1936, the League did declare Italy as an
aggressor and applied economic sanctions; however no strict actions were taken against her as
Italy was another permanent and strong member of the nation. Similarly, the League had failed
to take stringent measures with regards to German aggression in Austria, Czechoslovakia and
many more.

Since disarmament was highly advocated by the League, various nations were deprived of basic
artilleries and other military equipment which prevented them from acting on behalf of the
League whenever they were required to take military actions against some aggressors. Pacifism
was also a hurdle in the functioning of the League. Two of its very strong members, Britain
and France were mostly reluctant to resort to any kind of military action and sanctions.
Thus, the failure of the collective security system and the disarmament policy led to the
downfall of the League of Nations and turned out to be a major cause for the outbreak of the
Second World War.

Great Economic Depression in the US and subsequent European Economic Crisis

The Great Economic Depression that began in the late 1920s and lasted until the 1930s in the
US is probably the worst economic downturn in history. It all began with the crash of the stock
market in Wall Street, New York in 1929 which led to the wipeout of a massive number of
investors. There was widespread unemployment, high inflation, extremely low consumer
spending and huge piling up of unsold goods that sent the whole of the US into a state of panic.
Around 5000 banks had run out of business and 13 million Americans stood unemployed. In
order to deal with the domestic crisis, the US cut off its financial aid and funding to other
nations. Here began the European Economic Crisis. During that period, the US was one of the
richest nation and after the First World War, many European nations were reconstructing their
economy by taking loans from the US. As the economic depression hit the US, it stopped the
loans. Among other nations, Germany was the worst affected. More than 7 million people
became unemployed. This economic turmoil led to the takeover of Germany by the Nazi
dictator Adolf Hitler. Taking advantage of the economic crisis, Japan and Italy went ahead with
their fascist agenda and started attacking the smaller and weaker nations. This very rise of Nazi
Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan became largely responsible for World War II.

The dictatorship of Hitler and the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and very soon established his regime
of dictatorship. He was a Nazi who had feelings of hostility towards the Jewish community.
After coming to power he defied the Treaty of Versailles and blamed the Western nations for
the economic crisis that grappled Germany. He spent huge budgets in the military and managed
to solve the problem of unemployment to a great extent. He adopted harsh and aggressive
policies in dealing with the other nations. If his demands were not fulfilled, he threatened to
wage war against them. In violation of the treaty of Versailles, he remilitarized the Rhineland
region, annexed Saar and Austria, and also took over Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland.

During that same period, Japan and Italy started adopting fascist policies and invaded the
smaller nations with an aim to expand their territories. These three nations formed an alliance
through the Anti-Comintern Pact during 1936-37. The coming together of these nations
alarmed the other nations as they aimed at imperialist expansion. Their combination,
commonly known as the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis victimized the weaker nations and
advocated war and denounced peaceful negotiations and arbitration measures. Their acts of
aggression increased rapidly and the League of Nations was unable to put a stop to it and bring
them under control. Some nations like Britain, France and the Soviet Union formed an alliance
to confront the Axis powers but the policies adopted by Britain and France were primarily
aimed at appeasement of Germany. On the other hand, the Soviet Union silently signed the
non-aggression pact with Germany thus providing them with a clear ground to initiate an attack
on Poland. This turned out to be the immediate trigger of the Second World War.

The Policy of Appeasement

In a bid to stop dictators like Mussolini and Hitler from disrupting international peace and
security, and in the hope of avoiding war Britain initiated a series of policies that allowed
Germany to expand its territories unchecked, which was given the name of Appeasement. The
world became aware of Hitler’s expansionist agenda when in 1936 he remilitarized Rhineland
and in 1938 annexed Austria and also strengthened ties with Fascist Italy which were led by
Dictator Mussolini. Alarmed by the violent measures undertaken by Germany, Britain in the
Munich Conference of 1938, agreed that Germany has the right to occupy the part of
Czechoslovakia that spoke German. This came to be known as the Munich Agreement. What
forced Britain to adopt such policies was the growing influence of communism and SOVIET
UNION and the so-called Popular Fronts in France and Spain, which the British wished to
challenge. Britain was desperate to prevent war as they were already overburdened with
administering their colonies and could not possibly afford another rearmament. France soon
followed the similar policy of appeasement towards Hitler and Mussolini. Britain and France
expressed their desire to help out Mussolini in his invasion of Abyssinia but at the same time,
they maintained their support to the League of Nations. The policy of pacifism, inability of the
two strong nations to protect the weaker nations against invasion and the virtual surrender of
Britain to Germany at the Munich Conference highlighted the drawbacks and apprehension of
the big powers which ultimately paved the way for Germany to continue with its ruthless
expansion measures and prepared the grounds for the war.

The German invasion of Poland: the immediate trigger

The German attack on Poland on 1st September 1939 was the immediate cause of the outbreak
of World War II. Unknown to the world, the Soviet Union and Germany, the two nations which
had nothing in common but hatred towards each other secretly entered into an agreement and
signed a non-aggression pact whereby they agreed not to wage war against each other. The
terms of the pact were not known to anyone and were revealed only in the year 1945. The pact
outlined how both the nations would divide the small nations that lay in Eastern Europe
amongst themselves. When German troops arrived on Polish soil, Britain and France declared
war on Germany on the 3rd of September, 1939 as they had promised to maintain the
sovereignty of Poland and offer them aid in times of need. On 17th September, the Soviet Union
attacked invaded Poland from the east. The war resulted in the victory of Hitler and as the
Polish government fled to exile, Poland was divided between the Soviet Union and Germany.
Following this, several nations launched attacked in Germany and thus, World War II officially
broke out.

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE 6 YEARS OF WAR?

Along with Britain and France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada also declared
war on Germany. This alliance blocked the naval route of Germany and it responded by waging
U-Boat warfare against the Allied forces’ warships and merchants which later escalated into
the Battle of Atlantic. In this heated battle at sea, the German submarines struck at numerous
merchant shipping bound for Britain and it led to the sinking of more than 100 vessels. As the
Soviet Union also invaded Poland, the nation fell rapidly. Next, the Soviet Union forcefully
annexed the Baltic nations and also defeated Finland who refused to cede a part of its territory
to them. On 9th April 1940, Germany invaded Norway and then Denmark. On the very same
day, it launched an attack against France. In order to weaken the Franco-German border
fortifications, Germany started invading the neutral nations like The Netherlands, Belgium and
Luxembourg. Germany finally managed to break through the Maginot line which was
considered impenetrable. With this, France became vulnerable and was on the verge of collapse
and at the same time, Italy sided with Germany and declared war against Britain and France on
10th June 1940. On 14 June, Paris fell to German occupation and an armistice was signed
between Germany and France. Next, Germany turned its attention to Britain. Since Britain was
divided from the continent by the English Channel, Germans started strategic bombing of
Britain all through the summer leading to massive civilian and industrial centre casualties.
Eventually, in the Battle of Britain the Air Force of Britain (Royal Air Force) defeated the
German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and Hitler abandoned his further plans of invasion.

The Tripartite Pact of September 1940, formally united Japan, Germany and Italy as the Axis
powers. In November 1940, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia joined the Axis bloc. By
December, Britain launched counteroffensive measures against Italian forces in Egypt which
turned out to be successful. In May 1941, Germany completed its Balkan conquest. Then on
22 June, Hitler under the codename of Operation Barbarossa ordered an attack on the Soviet
Union. Following the surprise attack by Germany, Soviet Union, having suffered immense
losses formed a military alliance with Britain in mid-July, and thus became a part of the Allied
forces. The same year, war broke out in the Pacific region. Japanese aggression grew
extensively and apart from invading China, it started seizing the European colonial holdings in
the Far East. On December 7, 1941, Japan took the world by surprise with its attack on US
naval base in Hawaii – Pearl Harbour that claimed the lives of more than 2,500 US troops.
With this attack, US who had remained neutral for two years entered World War II and declared
war on Japan. Immediately, the Axis forces also declared war on the US. In 1942, the US fleet
won the Battle of Midway and they further annexed the islands that were under Japanese
holdings.

By 1943, British and American forces defeated the Germans in North Africa and also its
invasion of Sicily led to the downfall of Mussolini’s government. Then arrived the D-Day, i.e.
the 6th of June, 1944 where the Allies invaded northern France. The invasion was successful
and France was liberated. Soviet forces then defeated the Axis forces in Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia and Romania. The British and American forces then faced Hitler in Germany
in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 to January 1945). As the Axis forces were on the
verge of defeat, Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945 and Germany formally surrendered
on May 8.
On 11 July 1945, the leaders of the Allied forces met at Potsdam, Germany, where they decided
on the fate of Germany and the American, British and Chinese governments, demanded the
unconditional surrender of Japan. However, Japan rejected the offer to surrender and the war
thus continued. The US being apprehensive of initiating another land invasion which would
cost them a fortune decided to use the deadliest weapon ever – the nuclear bombs, to attack
Japan. On 6th and 9th August 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped over the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. The bombings claimed the lives of over 200,000 people.
Then on 15th August, Japan surrendered and agreed to accept the terms of the Potsdam
Declaration. They signed the surrender documents at Tokyo Bay on 2nd September 1945,
putting an official end to the heinous World War II.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

The war had reduced almost the whole of Europe and several parts of Asia in ruins. Countless
lives and properties were lost, borders were redrawn, countries were divided and united, power
relations changed and the era of bipolarity had begun. Some of the significant consequences of
World War II are as follows:

Heavy casualties of lives and property

When the war started, the world population stood at around 2 billion. Around 70-80 million
people died in the war, killing off almost 4% of the world’s population. Deaths caused directly
during the war is estimated at 50-55 million, and additional 25-30 million deaths occurred due
to grave injuries, famines, etc. Along with lives, the war caused heavy destruction of properties
leading to complete wreckage of roadways, military warships and weapons and other
infrastructures. It is speculated that the Allied forces had spent around 1000 billion dollars; the
US alone spent 350 billion dollars in the war.

End of colonialism
The Second World War had weakened the once strong colonial/imperialist powers. They
suffered an immense loss of armed forces and capital. As their attention shifted towards Europe
due to the outbreak of the war, nationalist movements in the colonies gained momentum.
Several nations like India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Egypt etc. gained independence
from their British and French colonial masters.

The era of bipolarity and the beginning of the Cold War

As the former imperialist powers weakened, the US and the Soviet Union emerged as the
leading and rival superpowers. The world was divided into two blocs: capitalist bloc led by the
US and communist bloc led by the Soviet Union. This ideological rift and the growing tensions
between these two nations developed into the Cold War. The Cold War created proxy wars and
arms race among the two nations which led to the accumulation of the huge amount of nuclear
weapons and brought the world to the brink of World War III. However, both the nations guided
were guided by the logic of deterrence which did not allow the Cold War to escalate into
another devastating armed conflict.

Establishment of United Nations Organisations

The inability of the League of Nations to prevent the Second World War and its various other
inefficient functioning led to its dissolution. The United Nations Organisations was founded as
a successor to the League on the 24th of October, 1945. The main objective of the UN is to
prevent international conflict and facilitate cooperation among the various nations of the world.
It aims to prevent any altercation from escalating into an armed conflict and limit the extent of
its casualties if war breaks out. Also, it seeks to promote social and economic development all
over the world. Ever since its inception, the UN has managed to live up to its aim and objective
to a great extent.

Allied occupation of Japan and Germany

Due to the onset of the Cold war, the peace treaty of the US and Soviet Union with Japan was
delayed. After Japan’s surrender on 15th August. 1945, an interim military administration was
set up by the US in Japan. A meeting to draw up the terms of the peace treaty was held in 1951
and finally, in 1952, Japan along with 49 other countries signed the treaty which was drafted
as per the convenience of the US. The treaty required Japan to give up all its claim over China,
it recognised the independence of Korea and also led to the withdrawal of the US forces from
Japanese soil. With the signing of an agreement in October 1956, the state of war between the
Soviet Union and Japan formally ended.
After the Allied powers had occupied the administration in Germany, it was divided into four
zones which were under the control of the US, Soviet Union, Britain and France. The various
territories that were formerly under the German occupation were divided among other nations
and Germany was stripped off almost pre-quarter of its pre-war territory. Later, France, US and
Britain merged their regions thus creating a unified western zone. The three governments then
decided to set up an independent and democratic government in West Germany which led to
the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1951 and the state of war between the
Western powers and the Federal Republic of Germany was ended. Following this, the Soviet
Union created the independent state of East Germany, which was named the German
Democratic Republic. Thus, Germany was divided into two parts which were governed by two
very opposite ideologies until in unification in 1991.

Arab – Israeli Conflict

The root of the Arab-Israeli conflict lies in the introduction of the United Nations Partition Plan
for Palestine. This very plan paved the way for Israel to declare its independence in 1948 and
marked the beginning of the ongoing conflict. The conflict peaked into a full-scale civil war in
1947. Over the years, there was a shift in the nature of the conflict and today it has turned into
a more local Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Recovery programs
The war had shattered the global economy and Europe was hit the hardest. US extended
financial aid to revive the European economies which were known as the Marshall Plans as it
was drafted by the then foreign minister of the US, George Marshall. This eventually led to the
creation of Organisation for European Economic Cooperation in 1948 and The Council of
Europe in 1949, all of which facilitated the integration of the European capitalist Nations and
eventually led to the establishment of the European Union in 1992. The Soviet Union also
established the Council of Mutual Assistance in 1949 to provide assistance to the European
nations.

CONCLUSION

The Second World War proved to be the most lethal conflict of all times. It was more heinous,
expensive and longer in duration than the First World War. There were wide complications in
the signing of the peace treaties and it took a substantial amount of time to bring back the
nations into a state of normalcy. From causing massive destructions to the establishment of the
United Nations, from being responsible for the collapse of imperialist powers to creating the
era of bipolarity, the Second World War indeed is an important landmark in contemporary
world politics.
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