World War 2 was a war marked by great levels of devastation and anguish, taking 17 million soldiers and even more civilians. The war began in 1939 on September 1st with the Nazi invasion of Poland. In total, more than fifty nations were involved, with the Axis powers consisted of Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan and the Allied forces being the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviets, amongst many other nations. Hitler’s Axis allies weren’t necessarily racist like the Nazis, although they were extremely militaristic and expansionist. World War 2 was a display of new methods of modern warfare, such as industrialism, technology, and social/psychological tactics that would stun troops, civilians and world leaders alike.
German defeat in World War I lead to a wide display of anger throughout the nation, with Germany being forced to p
...ay a giant amount of reparations, $12.5 billion to be exact, and hand over 1/6th of its total territorial mass back to France . This reparation would cause high levels of unemployment and an uncontrollable amount of inflation for the German economy, with Germany being unable to meet payment requirements by 1922, and one US dollar being worth four trillion German marks by 1923 . With the global depression beginning, Germany was desperate for a chance to return to tip-top shape, and needed someone to lead them to this glory. This would bring forth Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party, better known as the Nazi Party.
In order for Germany to rally alongside him and become re-energized, Hitler needed a target for scapegoat use. That target would be the Jewish population of Germany, alongside other groups suc
as the Roma and Christians . The Nazis would begin to implement the ideology of racial purity and superiority in 1933, shortly after Hitler seized position of Chancellor. The Jews would be subject to such high degrees of persecution through Nazi policies such as the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses and anti-Jewish legislature.
The boycott of Jewish businesses began in April 1933, with Nazi paramilitary members standing in front of Jewish owned businesses, painting the Star of David in yellow and black on the doors and windows of the businesses . Roughly one week later, the Nazi party would implement the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, restricting professional employment in education and government positions strictly to those who qualified to be part of the Aryan racial grouping. Aryans were defined as western Europeans, specifically Germans, Romans, Greeks, Slavs, Letts, Celts and Albanians .
Around the same time, the first concentration camp, Dachau, would be opened. Dachau was mostly a camp for male prisoners, although it would be used for various groups, like homosexuals, unionizers, and the Jewish. It would be described as the first concentration camp for political prisoners. In total, there would be more than 900 concentration camps, with Dachau serving as the formula for them, but the camps would become more volatile in nature as the Nazi party progressed.
The Nazis would eventually move into extermination camps, with the first, Chelmno, being opened in 1941. Chelmno was opened on Polish soil annexed by Germany, and prisoners would be murdered in vans that dispersed poison gas. There was a minimum of 152,000 people killed in Chelmno, but the Polish estimate around 340,000. In
Chelmno, victims would be stripped nearly naked, and taken into the back of vans that were able to hold from 50 to 150 occupants, and the engines would start after the doors locked, then they would die of carbon monoxide poisoning .
The concentration camp Auschwitz would be known as the most effective of the concentration/extermination camps, with a rough estimate of 1.1 million deaths being undertaken in its 5 year operational time frame. Auschwitz would host a handful of inmates deemed notable, such as the teenager Anne Frank and her family, chemist Primo Levi, and author Elie Wiesel. From 1942 to 1944, German transport trains would deliver Jews to the camp and then they would be sent to the gas chambers, where pesticide Zyklon B was dispersed through the ventilation system.
Camp conditions were beyond subhuman, with prisoners living in unsanitary beds consisted of thin blankets and wooden boards. Inmates would stand in the rain or any other unbearable conditions for hours for roll call, with the sick often dying in the lines for roll. Breakfast was often under ten ounces, enough to subsist . There was no running water, no heat and minimal amounts of toiletry in the camps, and prisoners also had to share their living quarters with things such as bed bugs.
The Nazis successfully hid the rest of the developed world from the Holocaust, as everyone was focused on the Axis powers being defeated. The nation that knew of the mistreatment most was Poland, considering Germany went there first to wipe the Jews there out. American press printed a run detailing the situation surrounding the Jewish group, but it often went overseen in
newspapers. The United States was also unable to grant refuge to Jews who were able to flee, due to a restrictive quota system .
During World War II, Nazi Germany would develop a variety of tanks in order to successfully tackle frontline battles. The most known of all of their tanks would be the Panzer IV, being used in all of Germany’s combat theatres. In its design phase, Hitler expressed his desire for technical marvels and excessive stopping power, with General Heinz Guderian taking note of this and applying his armored warfare theory to it. The Panzer IV would see multiple variants be created, a total of 20 variants being created. Tanks would prove essential to Nazi Germany, being utilized in their tactic known as Bliztkrieg. This is when a concentration of tanks, planes and artillery bombardment would all focus on breeching enemy defense lines simultaneously, shocking and disorganizing their defenses. Enemies would be circles in through this tactic, and German air superiority would help secure this and make it difficult for them to respond .
Since World War II, war has grown to be much more savage in perspective, although the death toll has decreased significantly. America’s death toll in World War II was 407,300, dropping to 33,686 in the Korean War, climbing to 58,220 in the Vietnam War , and dropping significantly to 4,497 deaths in Iraq and 2,372 in Afghanistan. Technology in the modern era has helped to bring this down, as troops no longer necessarily have to venture out on frontlines all the time, and can instead rely on small platoons to seize power with the help of air support by way of
drones and gunships such as the AC-130, an aerial command center that doubles as a means of ground attack through its heavy armaments.
War’s capability of destruction is times more immense than it was previously, due to war not being personal anymore. Collateral damage and the threat of multiple enemies has offset war in general. The world has also seen new threats such as chemical and biological warfare. Nerve agents have seen use on a variety of occasions, such as Vietnam’s Agent Orange being sprayed through the jungles, effects still being seen in the population to this day. The modern era has also given way to intelligence warfare, with torture being more widespread by governing agencies in attempts to fight terrorism. Nations like the United States have come under controversy over the years for things such as waterboarding’s, electrocutions, and prison camps for suspected terrorists and confirmed.
World War II led to the creation of the United Nations after proving the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. 193 nations are currently members of the UN, with the original members being the United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China. The UN serves as a peacekeeping and brokering organization with the main purpose being conflict resolution and mediation between nations. The UN has multiple bodies for different purposes, such as the Security Council, whose purpose is to resolve conflicts and prevent wars, and the International Court of Justice, known for trials of war criminals in the Hague.
