World War II is the most devastating war in human history. Numerous large cities were left crumbling after this war. Nearly all geopolitical events and international relations can be traced back to this War.
WWII in depth
What happened exactly? Why? And what was its impact?
Story of World War II. “It is difficult to track down one single event that sparked the conflict. For ultimately, it was a series of events that conspired together. To eventually light a flame of war.” The world’s most hated treaty, the Treaty of Versailles, thus starting World War II in 1939.
The whole world is against Hitler and Hitlerism.” Let’s begin this story in 1919. The year when World War I ended. And the famous peace treaty was signed known as the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty contained an important clause, Article 231. Which held that, all the losses caused due to World War I, Germany was to bear the responsibility for all such losses.
War Guilt Clause Impact
This clause is also known as War Guilt Clause, because basically, it was trying to imply that regardless of the countries participating in the war Germany was to be blamed for it entirely. France and Britain wanted Germany to pay heavy costs for losing this war. They wanted to recover their losses from Germany.
As a result, according to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was told to pay a fine of $33 Billion to the other countries. In today’s money, it amounts to around $270 Billion. This is such a large amount that you won’t believe that it was only in 2010, Germany made the final payment of this fine. It took almost 100 years.
You’d wonder where this money comes from. Obviously, from Germany. From its citizens. The first payment of this fine was made by Germany in 1921, right after that, there was hyperinflation in Germany. Germany’s currency back then was the German Mark, you can’t imagine how rapidly it was devalued.
In 1922, in Berlin, a packet of bread cost 160 Marks. The following year, in 1923, the same packet of bread cost 200 Billion Marks. Obviously, the economy was crippled. And the rate of unemployment rose rapidly. In such circumstances, in our story, entered Adolf Hitler. A young political leader, who knew how to manipulate the masses with his speeches.
Hitler’s Rise: Propaganda and Dictatorship
In 1923, Hitler’s Nazi Party tried to overthrow the German government. By staging a coup. Even though this attempt failed, this caused Hitler’s popularity among the masses to increase manifold. Rumours were spread among the people that the embarrassment faced by Germany the international humiliation of Germany, were because of the ‘anti-national’ elements living in the country.
People were distressed. It was easy to manipulate them. Hitler claimed that the Jews and Socialists living in the country, were to be blamed. They were the reason for Germany’s disgrace. Over the next 10 years, propaganda was used in abundance, media organizations were paid, hate speeches were everywhere. In case you haven’t watched it, I’ll add the link in the description below. In 1929 came the Great Depression. This worsened the already bad unemployment situation, in 1933, 6 million people were unemployed in Germany.
Many people were homeless. Children were starving to death. As a result, in 1933, Hitler declared himself the Dictator of Germany. After taking over full control of the country, Hitler started working on making his dream of a German Empire come true. German Reich. A state that would be racially pure. Its residents would be people of the Aryan race only.
Judeo-Bolshevism Conspiracy
There would be no space for Jews and Slaviks. To fill people with hatred, they came up with the Judeo Bolshevism conspiracy theory. According to this conspiracy theory, the Russian Revolution in 1917, was supposedly caused by the Jews. Which eventually led to the formation of the Soviet Union. In 1935, the rest of the world came to know that Germany had an air force.
This might not seem like a big deal to you, after all, every country has its air force. But friends, the Treaty of Versailles laid down the condition that Germany cannot have any form of military power. This was an open violation of the Treaty of Versailles by Hitler. But by this point in time, many people in Britain believed that the contents of the Treaty of Versailles were very unfair to Germany.
They were asking for such a large ransom, that crippled the country. And the country wasn’t even allowed to have military people consider it to be very demanding. In June 1935, Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. This formally recognized that Hitler had the authority to form his navy. Germany could have an independent navy.
Hitler’s Expansion Plans
But the growing militarization in Germany alerted France. France built a 450 km long fortification on its Eastern border. This was named the Maginot Line. In 1938, when Hitler believed that his military was sufficiently prepared, he focused his attention on their neighbor Austria. Austria was a must-have country for Hitler.
He wanted all German-speaking countries to unite as one nation. His ultimate goal was not only to conquer as many countries as possible to satisfy his pride, but also to acquire its resources to advance his own country. The people Hitler believed to be racially superior, his Aryan race, he wanted to give them Lebensraum.
To give them living space. So that they could live freely. In February 1938, Hitler met Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, he was forced into signing an agreement. The agreement allowed Hitler to place pro-Nazi people on the Austrian government. The Austrian government was infiltrated by appointing his own people For example Dr. Hans Fischböck.
Hitler’s Annexation: Austria’s Surrender
He was supposed to be the new finance minister of Austria. He was a Nazi, and the other Nazis who were in jail, were set free by him. Within a month, things were out of control. Austrian Chancellor knew that if the infiltration was to be stopped the people needed to be consulted first. Whether Austria should be an independent country or be a united country with the Nazis.
He decided to have a national vote for it. As soon as Hitler found out about the national vote, Hitler took his army and marched into Austria. The German military entered Vienna. But the Austrian Chancellor wanted no bloodshed. He resigned from his seat. Hitler used his propaganda ministry to spread fake news.
Of riots happening in Vienna. And how the Communists were responsible for the riots. And so the Austrian government asked the German army to help them protect Austria.
The next day, the Austrian Parliament was dissolved And Austria ceased to be an independent country. This invasion was successful without any bloodshed.
A major reason for this was that at this point, many people in Austria were in Hitler’s favor. They were victims of the propaganda. They believed Hitler’s invasion would help them. That Hitler could make their country into a superpower. After taking over Austria, Hitler moved on to the next country.
Sudetenland Crisis
On Czechoslovakia’s border, there was the region Sudetenland. Of the people living here, around 3 million were Germans. Hitler used that as an excuse to claim that region as German’s, due to the Germans living there. Here British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain came into the picture.
He wanted to avoid a war at all costs. He believed that if Hitler was given what he wanted he would stay calm, and there would be no wars. This is why, in September 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed.
The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved, is, in my view, only the prelude. There are larger settlements in which all Europe may find peace.” Under this agreement, this region of the Sudetenland, was to be given to Germany only if Hitler promised that there would be no more wars. Hitler gladly took this piece of Czechoslovakian land, but not even 1 year passed before he violated the Munich Agreement. March 1939, Hitler took his army to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia. People fought for the first time. But the German army won easily and the country was split into 2. One part was included in the German territory and the second part was made a Nazi client state. A puppet government was placed under the name of the Slovak Republic.
Chamberlain’s Criticism and Hitler’s Poland Invasion
British Prime Minister Chamberlain faced heavy criticism due to this At this point in time, Winston Churchill famously said, Hitler looked for the next country. Poland. To take control of Poland, in a sly move, Hitler signed a Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, in 1939. At first glance, you’d think that Hitler hated the Soviet Union and Communist ideology.
So why would he do this? The only reason for this was to invade Poland. The Soviet Union wanted a part of Poland too. In this situation, the interests of the two nations were aligned. On 1st September 1939, nearly 1 million German troops started moving towards Poland. They planned on attacking from the North and South simultaneously.
World War II Begins
Other countries were shocked at this. The UK and France were at the edge of their patience. If Hitler continued invading one country after the other, the next number could be theirs. How will the world cope? They couldn’t tolerate it any longer. The UK gave an ultimatum to Hitler. If they went ahead with Poland’s invasion, they would declare war against Germany.
Hitler ignored the ultimatum. And with this, the UK officially declared a war against Germany. After this, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada declared war on Germany too. UK’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasted this announcement on the radio. But friends, at this point in time, World War II hadn’t actually begun.
Blitzkrieg: Lightning Invasion
This period is known as the Phony War. Because there was no real war yet. Though technically, these countries had declared war on Germany, none of these countries provided military support to Poland. Poland’s army was extremely old-fashioned. Their army still used horses. They couldn’t last against Germany’s military strategy.
Neither Britain nor France could save them. Nearly 1.3 million people were mobilized in Poland, but it didn’t even take 1 week for the German army to defeat them. On 8th September 1939, German troops occupied Poland. Friends, here it’s important to mention Hitler’s revolutionary warfare strategy.
Known as Blitzkrieg. Using this, Hitler successfully invaded several countries. This military strategy focused on speed and stealth. They used tanks to invade the countries so quickly that their opponents didn’t have the time to think. And then their air force would join from above. It was known as Luftwaffe.
And the invasion took place at a lightning speed. In German, Blitz means lightning. Hitler focused on making the wars as small as possible. A war that could be wrapped up quickly. Within less than a week. To maintain this Blitzkrieg, German soldiers were given drugs. That’s right. A drug by the name of Pervitin was quite common.
Blitzkrieg Strategy
we know it as Crystal Meth. “Confidential military communications revealed that the Allies suspected that the Nazis were using something to supercharge their troops. But they had no idea what it was.” When this drug is taken, it takes away fatigue. One doesn’t need sleep. It suppresses hunger and thirst, reduces pain, and gives a confidence boost to the user.
Giving such drugs to soldiers proved enormously advantageous. Even if it was extremely harmful to their long-term health, in the short term, it was very useful in winning these wars. The defending soldiers would waste their time by sleeping at night, while the German soldiers could fight day and night and finish the task within 2-3 days.
As we move forward with the story, you’d see how successful the Blitzkrieg military strategy was for Germany. Now, back in Poland, Not only was Poland invaded by Hitler, but the Soviet Union was also invading it from the other side. After it was defeated, it was partitioned into two. Half of it went to Nazi Germany, And the other half to the Soviets.
Stalin’s Finnish Concern
The logic used by the Soviets was that before the Russian Revolution, the area actually belonged to the Soviets. And so they deserved it. But from the Soviet’s perspective, there was another country which was a part of the Russian Empire before 1917. Finland. Stalin was worried that Germany would invade Finland.
Stalin couldn’t really trust Hitler. The worst problem with it would’ve been that the city of Leningrad, where Stalin resided, was only 50 km from the Finnish border. Had Finland been actually occupied by Nazi Germany, they would’ve been too close to Stalin’s home. So without waiting for Hitler to try to occupy Finland, the Soviet Union asks Finland to hand over their territory to the Soviets.
Obviously, Finland refused. And so the Soviets launched military action against Finland in November 1939. What was Soviet leader Joseph Stalin thinking exactly? What were his ideologies? To understand this better, I’d recommend this audiobook on Joseph Stalin available on KUKU FM. This audiobook details his life right from his childhood.
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The link to it is in the description below. And now, let’s get back to the topic. This was an imbalanced war too. Soviet Union’s army was much larger than Finland’s. They had better equipment too. But this war lasted for more than 2 months. And the Soviets couldn’t gain much. Finally, in March 1940, this battle was over.
And the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed. According to this, 11% of Finland’s land, would be handed over to the Soviet Union. In the meanwhile, Hitler’s focus wasn’t actually on Finland. He was looking at Norway and Denmark.
Hitler’s Blitzkrieg: Norway nd Denmark
In April 1940, Hitler prepared his plans on how he could establish control over Norway and Denmark. On 9th April 1940, Hitler used his Blitzkrieg strategy to invade Norway and Denmark. This invasion didn’t last long either. Both were small countries. How could they compete against the German Army? The Norwegian government fled to London and in London, a Government in Exile was set up. In Norway, Hitler established his puppet pro-Nazi government.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain accepted his failure. The failure to protect so many neighboring countries from the Nazi invasion. Due to this, on 10th May 1940, he resigned from the position of Prime Minister. The seat of the Prime Minister and its responsibilities werehanded over to the infamous Winston Churchill.
On the same day, 10th May, Hitler launched an attack on France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This was a declaration of an all-out war. Everyone could see that Hitler didn’t intend to stop.I told you how France had built the Maginot Line because they were worried that Hitler would attack their country.
Blitzkrieg in France
They were building a wall at the border. The French troops lined the wall to protect their country. “…is the fate of Holland and Belgium, like that of Poland and Czechoslovakia, and Austria will be decided by the victory of the British Empire.” On the borders of Belgium and Luxembourg the Allied forces were stationed to protect them. Hitler used his trademark Blitzkrieg strategy. More than 1,000 fighter bomber airplanes around 3 million soldiers on the ground as the offense for Germany, this was known as the Battle of France. The German troops were divided into 3 groups. A, B, and C. Group B was to attack the Netherlands. And then enter Belgium to fight the Allied forces.
Group C was to attack the Maginot Line. And are you wondering what was Group A supposed to do? Group A was the master plan. Group C’s attack on Maginot Line was merely a distraction so that Group A could sneakily execute the master plan. Entering France through the Ardennes Forest. This was a vast forest was believed to be a strong fortress by France’s military experts.
They assumed that the German army would never be able to come through it because it would be too difficult. They didn’t expect the German army to invade via this forest. More than 40,000 military vehicles were used. by Group A to enter France through this forest. On 15th May 1940, they captured Sedan and started traveling Northwards.
Battle of Dunkirk
The British army fighting Group B in Belgium were shocked to see the suddenness with which the large force attacked them from behind. The soldiers were surrounded by the Nazi army from three sides. They had only 1 way to escape. Through the sea. Near the port of Dunkirk. So they planned to escape from there.
What happened in Dunkirk was a historical turn of events in WWII. Nearly 400,000 allied troops were stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk. When I’m using the term ‘Allied’ it basically refers to the British and French armies. The countries fighting Hitler their group or their coalition is known as the Allies.
And the countries fighting in support of Hitler, are known as the Axis Powers. It was crucial to save the Allied soldiers in time because the Nazi army was moving towards them at great speeds. They had no other way of escape. They could evacuate only through the sea. If this couldn’t be done in time, 400,000 troops could be killed there.
It would’ve been a huge drawback for Britain and France. They might have lost their countries forever. Winston Churchill made a plan to evacuate the soldiers. On 26th May 1940, Operation Dynamo was launched. The biggest evacuation in military history. On land, the German army had reached the beaches. They were firing at the troops. The German air force was attacking from above. Christopher Nolan made the amazing film Dunkirk which masterfully depicts the events that took place there. This film focuses on 3 areas of evacuation. First, British Royal Air Force’s counter-attack. The British ships which were coming to evacuate the Allied soldiers were given cover by the British air force.
Evacuation at Dunkirk
To protect the ships. Second, some private fishing boats in the English Channel and the common civilians joined in to help in the evacuation. And third, the events that took place on Dunkirk’s beach. The soldiers trying to save themselves and helping each other. 4th June 1940. Nearly 350,000 soldiers were successfully evacuated.
As you would’ve seen in the film as well. But the bad news was that most of the military equipment of the Allied forces was used up in this evacuation. Some days later, on 22nd June 1940, France surrendered to Hitler. By this point in time, in Italy, was under the rule of Dictator Mussolini. He formed an alliance with Hitler to wage war against France.
The alliance of Italy and Germany was known as the Pact of Steel. The two countries declared war against France and Britain on 10th June. By July 1940, the situation was that Hitler had established control over nearly all neighboring countries. Austria, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France.
At this point in time, Hitler’s Germany, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Germany and the Soviet Union had a Peace Agreement. So Hitler needn’t be wary of the Soviet Union. He believed that the Soviets wouldn’t attack Germany. He thought that Britain was the only remaining fighting Germany. You’d be wondering about America’s role.
Turning the Tide: WWII Part 1
Friends, America wasn’t involved in WWII yet. America was standing back because after World War I, America wasn’t interested in interfering with Europe’s situation. It was clear that had they stopped fighting at this point in time, Hitler would’ve been the clear victor. Hitler had a major upper hand. So how did the situation take a U-turn? And Britain could defeat Germany? “We shall fight on the landing grounds, We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.
