Causes

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Causes

Nazism
Fascism
The Holocaust
Adolf Hitler
Benito Mussolini
Hirohito
Invasion To Ethiopia
The Spanish Civil War
Pearl Harbor
El-Alamein
Stalingrad
D-day
Guadacal
Hiroshima And Nagazaki

Hiroshima And Nagazaki

HIROSHIMA

At 2:45 a.m. on Monday, August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, took off from Tinian, a North Pacific island in the Marianas, 1,500 miles south of Japan. The twelve-man crew were on board to make sure this secret mission went smoothly. Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot, nicknamed the B-29 the "Enola Gay" after his mother. Just before take-off, the plane's nickname was painted on its side.The Enola Gay was escorted by two other bombers that carried cameras and a variety of measuring devices. Three other planes had left earlier in order to ascertain the weather conditions over the possible targets.On a hook in the ceiling of the plane, hung the ten-foot atomic bomb, "Little Boy." Navy Captain William S. Parsons ("Deak"), chief of the Ordnance Division in the "Manhattan Project," was the Enola Gay's weaponeer. Since Parsons had been instrumental in the development of the bomb, he was now responsible for arming the bomb while in-flight. Approximately fifteen minutes into the flight (3:00 a.m.), Parsons began to arm the atomic bomb; it took him fifteen minutes. Parsons thought while arming "Little Boy": "I knew the Japs were in for it, but I felt no particular emotion about it."There had been four cities chosen as possible targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagasaki, and Niigata (Kyoto was the first choice until it was removed from the list by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson). The cities were chosen because they had been relatively untouched during the war. The Target Committee wanted the first bomb to be "sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it was released."3On August 6, 1945, the first choice target, Hiroshima, was having clear weather. At 8:15 a.m. (local time), the Enola Gay's door sprang open and dropped "Little Boy." The bomb exploded 1,900 feet above the city and only missed the target, the Aioi Bridge, by approximately 800 feet.Staff Sergeant George Caron, the tail gunner, described what he saw: "The mushroom cloud itself was a spectacular sight, a bubbling mass of purple-gray smoke and you could see it had a red core in it and everything was burning inside. . . . It looked like lava or molasses covering a whole city. . . ."The cloud is estimated to have reached a height of 40,000 feet.Unlike many other bombing raids, the goal for this raid had not been a military installation but rather an entire city. The atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima killed civilian women and children in addition to soldiers. Hiroshima's population has been estimated at 350,000; approximately 70,000 died immediately from the explosion and another 70,000 died from radiation within five years.

NAGASAKI

While the people of Japan tried to comprehend the devastation in Hiroshima, the United States was preparing a second bombing mission.

The second run was not delayed in order to give Japan time to surrender, but was waiting only for a sufficient amount of plutonium-239 for the atomic bomb. On August 9, only three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, another B-29, Bock's Car , left Tinian at 3:49 a.m.

The first choice target for this bombing run had been Kokura. Since the haze over Kokura prevented the sighting of the bombing target, Bock's Car continued on to its second target. At 11:02 a.m., the atomic bomb, "Fat Man," was dropped over Nagasaki. The atomic bomb exploded 1,650 feet above the city.Approximately 40 percent of Nagasaki was destroyed. Luckily for many civilians living in Nagasaki, though this atomic bomb was considered much stronger than the one exploded over Hiroshima, the terrain of Nagasaki prevented the bomb from doing as much damage. Yet the decimation was still great. With a population of 270,000, approximately 70,000 people died by the end of the year.

"The Atomic Bomb"[http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/hiroshima.htm]

"Atomic Bombing Of Hiroshima"[http://www.wtj.com/archives/hiroshima.htm]

"Bombing of japan"[http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/japanbom.htm]

"Nagazaki Atomic bomb"[http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1945JAP2.html]

Guadacanal

Holding out longer than any other Allied garrison attacked on December 7, 1941, the Philippines were an important target for the Imperial Japanese High Command. Navy and Army bombers from Formosa attacked in the late morning, and achieved the same success their comrades were enjoying over Pearl Harbor.The war warning of December 6 had put US Army General Douglas MacArthur into action. When Pearl was being bombed, his planes were in the air, his shore defense were manned, and he thought the first attack would come his way, as the war plans expected. Unfortunately for MacArthur and the War Department, the Japanese had written their own war plans that called for the attack on the Philippines in late morning. The Americans and Filipinos were stunned when the attack came as the planes were on the ground and refueling. Most of the US Army Air Corps was destroyed on the ground. Bombers hit Cavite Navy Yard very hard, and the bleeding of the US Asiatic Fleet began.MacArthur had spent twelve years in the Philippines, and had recently returned to the US Army after commanding the Filipino Armies wearing an elaborate gold braided uniform. He failed to provide the needed training, but was also hampered by a corrupt Filipino government and little assistance from the United StatesHis army in December 1941 was made up of many different units that were not coordinated or had trained together on any useful basis. He had a huge force of almost 130,000 men, but the majority were Filipino units, only one of which was considered combat-ready. MacArthur planned for the expected Japanese attack using standard military doctrine for defense of the Philippines: retreat into prepared fortifications on Bataan peninsula and Corrigedor, expecting a landing in Manila Bay. But the speed of the Japanese advance prevented that mode of defense. Imperial Army General Masaharu Homma landed on northern Luzon on December 9 and moved quickly through little resistance. Eseentially Homma landed behind the Allies, leaving their supplies between the Japanese and Macarthur's men. By December 20, Homma was landing on Mindanao and driving for Manila. The Philippine Government declared Manila an open city, but the Japanese bombed it anyway. MacArthur retreated to Corrigedor and Bataan without telling his Navy counterpart in Manila Bay. His men called him “Dugout Doug.”



Homma moved to occupy Manila, giving the Allies time to set up some sort of defensive line. Roosevelt could see that the Philippines could not hold, because there was no relief available. MacArthur was ordered to evacuate to Australia in March; he left via PT boat, creating a romantic myth about the plywood craft, to a remote airfield and flew to Darwin. Upon arrival, he remarked to reporters "I shall return," which became his battle cry. Homma surrounded US Army General Jonathan Wainwright and 100,000 Americans and Filipinos on Bataan and Corrigedor. They were able to hold out until May 7, 1942, when Wainwright tried to separate his command so that his Southern subordinate, Army General King, could continue resistance. Homma insisted on complete surrender, and Wainwright decided he had no choice. Via radio, he ordered all Allied troops to surrender on May 8. Some Americans and Filipinos retreated into the mountains to begin the kind of warfare that was so infuriating to the Spanish and Americans during their colonial occupations.King complied, but he had little fight to offer anyway. He was surrounded and continued resistance would have resulted in thousands of deaths. However, thousands died anyway. King’s and Wainwright’s forces were marched several miles in four columns to Camp O’Donnell, which the Japanese were using as a POW camp. 3,000 Americans and 10,000 Filipinos died within days, and thousands more died during the course of their captivity.Parts of the Philippines were occupied until the end of the war, but their liberation began in October 1944. During that time, the Japanese hoped to incorporate the Philippines into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, but the harsh treatment of Filipino civilians resulted in a sustained and growing guerilla war.Some of the Americans held by the Japanese were shipped to work camps around the Empire in unmarked ships, nicknamed "Hell Ships" by their captives. They were overcrowded and underfed, and the unmarked ships were torpedoed by US submarines. Those that did reach Japan, Korea and Manchuria were put to work in impossible conditions, in collapsing mines and dangerous construction.

"Invasion of the Philippine Islands"[http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=46]

"Philippine Island"[http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/pi/PI.htm]

"The invasion of the Philippine"[http://hubpages.com/hub/World-War-II-The-Invasion]

D-day

The Normandy Landings were the first operation of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord, during World War II. D-Day for the operation, postponed 24 hours, became June 6, 1944, H-Hour was 6:30 am. The assault was conducted in two phases: an air assault landing of American, British and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 06:30 British Time. It required the transport of soldiers and materiel from the United Kingdom by troop carrying aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. There were also subsidiary operations to distract the Kriegsmarine and prevent its interference in the landing areas.

The operation was the largest single-day invasion of all time, with over 130,000 troops landed on June 6, 1944. 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel were involved. The landings took place along a stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The success of the amphibious landings depended on the establishment of a secure lodgment from which to expand the beachhead to allow the build up of a well-supplied force capable of breaking out. The amphibious forces were especially vulnerable to strong enemy counterattacks before the build up of sufficient forces in the beachhead could be accomplished. To slow or eliminate the enemy’s ability to organize and launch counterattacks during this critical period, airborne operations were used to seize key objectives, such as bridges, road crossings, and terrain features, particularly on the eastern and western flanks of the landing areas.

The airborne landings some distance behind the beaches were also intended to ease the egress of the amphibious forces off the beaches, and in some cases to neutralize German coastal defence batteries and more quickly expand the area of the beachhead. The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were assigned to objectives west of Utah Beach. The British 6th Airborne Division was assigned to similar objectives on the eastern flank. 500 Free French paratroopers from the British Special Air Service Brigade (S.A.S.) were assigned to objectives in Brittany from June 6 to August.

"The Normandy invasion"[http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/normandy.htm]
"Normandy Invasion"[http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-eur/normandy/normandy.htm]
"The d-day Landing"[http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-eur/normandy/nor4.htm]

Stalingrad

Stalingrad, battle of (1942-3). This entered the realm of legend almost as soon as the guns fell silent in the vast industrial city on the river Volga on 2 February 1943. As the closest and bloodiest battle on the eastern front, it was a German disaster and a Soviet triumph.

The principal German objective for the 1942 summer campaign had been the Caucasus oilfields. Only later did the city acquire an equally important operational status for the Caucasus region and a symbolic value for both dictators. Stalin decided to hold parts of Stalingrad regardless of the cost and Hitler openly assured Germans that the city would be taken. As late as 17 November 1942, his Sixth Army under Paulus tried to reach that objective, while aware of the weakness of its flanks mainly defended by Allied troops. Chuikov's Sixty-Second Army was successful in holding four shallow bridgeheads on the left bank of the River Volga. Mobile operations had long been replaced by urban fighting in which both sides bled heavily for a few dozen ruined city blocks while Stalin and Red Army commanders planned to counter-attack.Both the high command and Sixth Army had anticipated a Soviet attack against its vulnerable flanks but underestimated an encircling offensive on the massive scale prepared by the Red Army. German generals were soon to learn the bitter lesson that their counterparts had become as proficient in the art of mobile armoured warfare as their former tutors. On 19 November, the South-western Front under Lt Gen Vatutin began its long-prepared counter-offensive, attacking the Third Romanian Army north of Stalingrad. One day later, the Stalingrad Front, under Col-Gen Eremenko, joined in against Fourth Romanian and Fourth Panzer Army south of Stalingrad. Soviet superiority was absolute in the main penetration sectors. After the spearheads had linked up at Sovetsky south-east of Kalach on 23 November, Soviet forces established an inner encirclement around Sixth Army, one corps of Fourth Panzer Army, and Romanian remnants totalling 250, 000 men, including 195, 000 Germans (among them one Croatian infantry regiment), 50, 000 Soviet auxiliaries, and 5, 000 Romanians.The end began when the Don Front under Lt Gen Rokossovsky executed RING on 10 January, after Paulus, after consultation with his senior generals, had rejected an offer to Capitulate Seven days later, the Stalingrad pocket was reduced to half its size and Sixth Army had lost its last major airfield. On 22 January, Paulus asked Hitler in vain for permission to cease fire. By 26 January, the Sixth Army was confined to two small pockets in Stalingrad. Paulus was unwilling to put a formal end to the fighting although the remnants of 297th Infantry Division had already surrendered. On 31 January he surrendered himself, despite his last-minute promotion to field marshal, but refused to order the northern pocket to do the same. It fought until 2 February. According to recent estimates 60, 000 Germans died in Stalingrad and 110, 000 went into Soviet captivity, of whom only 5, 000 returned home, including the dishonoured Paulus.


"Stalingrad"[http://users.telenet.be/stalingrad/]
"Battle Of Stalingrad"[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalingrad.htm]
"Battle of Stalingrad"[http://funnytogo.com/stories/stalingrad/stalingrad.htm]

El-Alamein

In July 1942, General Erwin Rommel and the Italo-German Panzer Armee Afrika, (part of the Deutsches Afrika Korps) were only 113km (70 miles) from Alexandria. The situation was so serious that Winston Churchill made the long journey to Egypt to discover for himself what needed to be done. Churchill decided to make changes to the command structure. General Harold Alexander was placed in charge of British land forces in the Middle East and Bernard Montgomery became commander of the Eighth Army.On 30th August, 1942, Erwin Rommel attacked at Alam el Halfa but was repulsed by the Eighth Army. Montgomery responded to this attack by ordering his troops to reinforce the defensive line from the coast to the impassable Qattara Depression. Montgomery was now able to make sure that Rommel and the German Army was unable to make any further advances into Egypt.
Over the next six weeks Montgomery began to stockpile vast quantities of weapons and ammunition to make sure that by the time he attacked he possessed overwhelming firepower. By the middle of October the Eighth Army totalled 195,000 men, 1,351 tanks and 1,900 pieces of artillery. This included large numbers of recently delivered Sherman M4 and Grant M3 tanks.

On 23rd October Montgomery launched Operation Lightfoot with the largest artillery bombardment since the First World War. The attack came at the worst time for the Deutsches Afrika Korps as Erwin Rommel was on sick leave in Austria. His replacement, General George Stumme, died of a heart-attack the day after the 900 gun bombardment of the German lines. Stume was replaced by General Ritter von Thoma and Adolf Hitler phoned Rommel to order him to return to Egypt immediately.The Germans defended their positions well and after two days the Eighth Army had made little progress and Bernard Montgomery ordered an end to the attack. When Erwin Rommel returned he launched a counterattack at Kidney Depression (27th October). Montgomery now returned to the offensive and the 9th Australian Division created a salient in the enemy positions.Winston Churchill was disappointed by the Eighth Army's lack of success and accused Montgomery of fighting a "half-hearted" battle. Montgomery ignored these criticisms and instead made plans for a new offensive, Operation Supercharge.

On 1st November 1942, Montgomery launched an attack on the Deutsches Afrika Korps at Kidney Ridge. After initially resisting the attack, Rommel decided he no longer had the resources to hold his line and on the 3rd November he ordered his troops to withdraw. However, Adolf Hitler overruled his commander and the Germans were forced to stand and fight.The next day Montgomery ordered his men forward. The Eighth Army broke through the German lines and Erwin Rommel, in danger of being surrounded, was forced to retreat. Those soldiers on foot, including large numbers of Italian soldiers, were unable to move fast enough and were taken prisoner.For a while it looked like the the British would cut off Rommel's army but a sudden rain storm on 6th November turned the desert into a quagmire and the chasing army was slowed down. Rommel, now with only twenty tanks left, managed to get to Sollum on the Egypt-Libya border.
On 8th November Erwin Rommel learned of the Allied invasion of Morocco and Algeria that was under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. His depleted army now faced a war on two front.The British Army recaptured Tobruk on 12th November, 1942. During the El Alamein campaign half of Rommel's 100,000 man army was killed, wounded or taken prisoner. He also lost over 450 tanks and 1,000 guns. The British and Commonwealth forces suffered 13,500 casualties and 500 of their tanks were damaged. However, of these, 350 were repaired and were able to take part in future battles.





"The Alamein"[http://www.geocities.com/Bohemiabhoy/elal.html]
"The Alamein"[http://middleeast.about.com/od/egypt/f/me081108d.htm]
"The Alamein"[http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/elalamein.htm]

Pearl Harbor

Japanese military leaders recognized American Naval Strength strength as the chief deterrent to war with the United States. Early in 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, had initiated planning for a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet at the beginning of any hostilities that the Japanese might undertake. The assumption was that before the United States could recover from a surprise blow, the Japanese would be able to seize all their objectives in the Far East, and could then hold out indefinitely.By September 1941 the Japanese had practically completed secret plans for a huge assault against Malaya, the Philippines, and the Netherlands East Indies, to be coordinated with a crushing blow on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Early in November Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was named commander of the Pearl Harbor Striking Force, which rendezvoused secretly in the Kuriles. The force of some 30 ships included six aircraft carriers with about 430 planes, of which approximately 360 took part in the subsequent attack. At the same time, a Japanese Advance Expeditionary Force of some 20 submarines was assembled at Kure naval base on the west coast of Honshu to cooperate in the attack.Submarines of the Advance Expeditionary Force began their eastward movement across the Pacific in mid-November, refueled and resupplied in the Marshalls, and arrived near Oahu about December 5 (Hawaiian time). On the night of December 6-7 five midget (two-man) submarines that had been carried "piggy-back" on large submarines cast off and began converging on Pearl Harbor.Nagumo's task force sailed from the Kuriles on 26 November and arrived, undetected by the Americans, at a point about 200 miles north of Oahu at 0600 hours (Hawaiian time) on December 7, 1941. Beginning at 0600 and ending at 0715, a total of some 360 planes were launched in three waves. These planes rendezvoused to the south and then flew toward Oahu for coordinated attacks.

In Pearl Harbor were 96 vessels, the bulk of the United States Pacific Fleet. Eight battleships of the Fleet were there, but the aircraft carriers were all at sea. The Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) was Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. Army forces in Hawaii, including the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions, were under the command of Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department. On the several airfields were a total of about 390 Army and Navy planes of all types, of which less than 300 were available for combat or observation purposes.The Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and on the airfields of Oahu began at 0755 on December 7, 1941 and ended shortly before 1000. Quickly recovering from the initial shock of surprise, the Americans fought back vigorously with antiaircraft fire. Devastation of the airfields was so quick and thorough that only a few American planes were able to participate in the counterattack. The Japanese were successful in accomplishing their principal mission, which was to cripple the Pacific Fleet. They sunk three battleships, caused another to capsize, and severely damaged the other four.

All together the Japanese sank or severely damaged 18 ships, including the 8 battleships, three light cruisers, and three destroyers. On the airfields the Japanese destroyed 161 American planes (Army 74, Navy87) and seriously damaged 102 (Army 71, Navy 31).The Navy and Marine corps suffered a total of 2,896 casualties of which 2,117 were deaths (Navy 2,008, Marines 109) and 779 wounded (Navy 710, Marines 69). The Army (as of midnight, 10 December) lost 228 killed or died of wounds, 113 seriously wounded and 346 slightly wounded. In addition, at least 57 civilians were killed and nearly as many seriously injured.The Japanese lost 29 planes over Oahu, one large submarine (on 10 December), and all five of the midget submarines. Their personnel losses (according to Japanese sources) were 55 airmen, nine crewmen on the midget submarines, and an unknown number on the large submarines. The Japanese carrier task force sailed away undetected and unscathed.On December 8, 1941, within less than an hour after a stirring, six-minute address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress voted, with only one member dissenting, that a state of war existed between the United States and Japan, and empowered the President to wage war with all the resources of the country.

"Pearl Havor"[http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=17]"
"Wy Weren't we warned"[http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=17]
"Attack On Pearl Harvor"[http://www.footnote.com/page/83001062_attack_on_pearl_harbor/]

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish civil war (1936-39) was the bloodiest stage in the ten year-long Spanish revolution that began in 1931. Spain was a further confirmation of Leon Trotsky's theory of 'permanent revolution', which was earlier borne out in the Russian workers' socialist revolution of 1917.But unlike Russia in 1917, where the revolutionary leadership under Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks was decisive, in Spain the workers' leaders vacillated between reform and revolution, thereby allowing the capitalists to reassert control and the triumph of Franco. In this, the Spanish capitalists were aided by the Stalinist Communist Party.

It broke out when the Spanish army in Morocco led by General Francisco Franco rose up against the democratically elected Republican government, presided over by Manuel Azaña. Allegiances were not always clear-cut during this conflict. Essentially, the ranks of the Left (also known as Loyalist and Republican) comprised workers, peasants and trade unions, but also the Spanish government, Socialists, Communists and Anarchists. The Right (also known as Nationalist), was supported by rebellious factions of the army, industry, landowners, the middle classes and the Catholic Church. For various and somewhat contradictory reasons, the Loyalists received the support of the Soviet Union and European democracies, while the Nationalists were armed and equipped by the Fascist governments of Germany and Italy.The Spanish Civil War would prove to be both fierce and bloody. Although the resources of the two sides were not that unequal, the Nationalists were better organized and received extensive material aid from Germany. The Loyalists received very little assistance from the Soviet Union and, moreover, were divided by internal conflicts between Communist, Socialist and Anarchist factions.


While European and North American volunteers fought for the Republic in the framework of the International Brigades, and a number of foreign artists and intellectuals supported the Loyalist cause, including Ernest Hemingway (who was working as a reporter and photographer) and George Orwell (who was profoundly disillusioned by the rivalry in the ranks of the Left), the Nationalists were finally triumphant.General Franco's victory marked the beginning of a forty-year dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975). In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Hitler sought Franco's support for his own military campaign, but Spain was in no position to provide either financial or human aid. Although the Spanish Civil War had been a training field for the
battles to be waged in the Second World War, Spain would play no part in the latter.Under the Franco regime Spain suffered international isolation, although in varying degrees. In 1955 the country was accepted as a member of the United Nations, and in1970 General Franco named prince Juan Carlos his successor as the future king of Spain, thereby re-establishing the monarchy. Upon the dictator's death in 1975 King Juan Carlos I was crowned and the country set out on the long journey back to full democracy.

"Spanish Civil War"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/558032/Spanish-Civil-War]
"Spanish Civil War"[http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~warden/scw/scwindex.htm]
"Spanish Civil War"[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WARspain.htm]

Invasion To Ethiopia

A brief war, begun in October 1935, between Italy and the Ethiopian Empire. The war is infamous for the Italians' illegal use of mustard gas. The war resulted in the annexation of Ethiopia, which had resisted Italian occupation in the nineteenth century, into Italian East Africa alongside Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. Politically, the war is best remembered for exposing the inherent weakness of the League of Nations The Abyssinia Crisis, along with the Mukden Incident, is often seen as a clear example of the ineffectiveness of the League. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations; the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia.

On October 3, 1935, Marshal Emilio De Bono advanced into Ethiopia from Eritrea without a declaration of War. De Bono had a force of 100,000 Italian soldiers and 25,000 Eritrean soldiers under his command. A smaller force of Italians, Somalis, and Libyans, under the command of General Rodolfo Graziani, advanced into Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland.

By October 15, De Bono's forces moved on from Adwa to capture the holy capital of Axum. The invading Italians looted the Obelisk of Axum after capturing the city.

On October 7, the League of Nations declared Italy the aggressor and started the slow process of imposing sanctions. However, these sanctions did not extend to several vital materials, such as oil. The British and French argued that if they refused to sell oil to the Italians, the Italians would then simply get it from the USA, which was not a member of the League (the British and French wanted to keep Mussolini on side in the event of war with Germany, which by 1935, was looking like a distinct possibility). In an effort to find compromise, the Hoare-Laval Plan was drafted (which essentially handed 3/5ths of Ethiopia to the Italians without Ethiopia's consent on the condition the war ended immediately), but when news of the deal was leaked public outrage was such that the British and French governments were forced to wash their hands of the whole affair.

By mid-December, De Bono was replaced by General Pietro Badoglio because of the slow, cautious nature of his advance. Haile Selassie decided to test this new general with an attack, but his forces were repelled due to the Italians' superiority in heavy weapons like machine guns and artillery.

On January 20, 1936, the Italians resumed their northern offensive at the First Battle of Tembien between the Warieu Pass and Mek'ele. The fighting proved inconclusive and ended in a draw on January 24.

Following the capture of Amba Aradam (Battle of Enderta) on February 15, the Italians advanced again on the northern front, commencing the Second Battle of Tembien on February 27. This resulted in an Italian victory and the fall of Worq Amba.

At the Battle of Maychew on March 31, 1936, the Italians defeated a counteroffensive by the main Ethiopian army, including the Imperial Guard, under Haile Selassie.

During the final months of 1935, the Italians had also advanced from the south through the Ogaden Desert from Somalia. There were clashes on the River Dewa (October 30), Hamaniei (November 11) and Lama Scillindi (November 25). On December 31, the Italians occupied Denan.

Between January 12 and January 16, 1936, the Italians defeated the southernmost Ethiopian army in the Battle of Genale Wenz. After a February lull, the Italians began a major thrust towards the city of Harar. On March 29, Graziani's forces firebombed and subsequently captured the city. Two days later, the Italians won the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Maychew. Haile Selassie fled into exile on May 2, and Badoglio's forces took the capital,on May 5, 1936.

Italy annexed the country on May 7, and the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, was proclaimed emperor on May 9. Italy merged Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somaliland into a single state known as Italian East Africa.

"Italo-Ethipian War"[http://www.country-studies.com/ethiopia/mussolini%27s-invasion-and-the-italian-occupation.html]

Hirohito

Hirohito was born in Tokyo on 29 April 1901, the eldest son of Crown Prince Yoshihito. His father became emperor when Hirohito was 11.

In 1921, Hirohito went on a six-month tour of Europe, becoming the first member of the Japanese imperial family to travel abroad. He married an imperial princess, Nagako, in 1924 and they had seven children. Hirohito became emperor when his father died in 1926.

The emperor was regarded as divine by many Japanese. In reality he had little power, with civilian and increasingly military officials deciding national policy. He reluctantly supported the invasion of Manchuria and the war against China, and attempted to encourage cooperation with Britain and the USA. However, he had no choice but to approve the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that led to war between Japan and the United States in December 1941. Despite his lack of enthusiasm over the decision to go to war, he was pleased with the Japanese military and naval successes that followed. He frequently appeared in military uniform to raise morale.

By the spring of 1945, the defeat of Japan seemed imminent. The Japanese government was deeply divided between military leaders who favoured continuing the war and civilians who wanted to negotiate for peace. Hirohito appears to have favoured peace. Following the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito insisted that Japan surrender. On 15 August 1945, he made a radio broadcast announcing the end of the war - this was the first time the people of Japan had heard the voice of their emperor.

Some Allied leaders wanted to try Hirohito as a war criminal. General Douglas MacArthur, who was in charge of the United States' occupying forces in Japan, felt it would be easier to introduce democratic reforms if Hirohito stayed in office. Hirohito nonetheless repudiated his divine status.

In the post-war years, Hirohito travelled throughout Japan to see the progress of reconstruction and to win popularity for the imperial family. He also represented Japan abroad. He was very interested in marine biology and published numerous scholarly works in this field.

Hirohito died of cancer on 7 January 1989 at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and was succeeded by his son Akihito.

"Empror Hirohito"[http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/emperor.htm]

"Hirohito"[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWhirohito.htm]

"Hirohito"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266804/Hirohito]

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Predappio in northern central Italy. His father was a blacksmith. Employment prospects in the area were poor so in 1902 Mussolini moved to Switzerland, where he became involved in socialist politics. He returned to Italy in 1904, and worked as a journalist in the socialist press but his support for Italy's entry into World War One led to his break from socialism. He was drafted into the Italian army in September 1915.

In March 1919, Mussolini formed the Fascist Party, galvanising the support of many unemployed war veterans. He organised them into armed squads known as Black Shirts, who terrorised their political opponents. In 1921, the Fascist Party was invited to join the coalition government.

By October 1922 Italy seemed to be slipping into political chaos. The Black Shirts marched on Rome and Mussolini presented himself as the only man capable of restoring order. King Victor Emmanuel invited Mussolini to form a government. He gradually dismantled the institutions of democratic government and in 1925 made himself dictator, taking the title 'Il Duce'. He set about attempting to re-establish Italy as a great European power. The regime was held together by strong state control and Mussolini's cult of personality.

In 1935, Mussolini invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) and incorporated it into his new Italian Empire. He provided military support to Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Increasing co-operation with Nazi Germany culminated in the 1939 Pact of Steel. Influenced by Hitler, Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislation in Italy. His declaration of war on Britain and France in June 1940 exposed Italian military weakness and was followed by a series of defeats in North and East Africa and the Balkans.

In July 1943, Allied troops landed in Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his former colleagues in the Fascist government. In September, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies. The German army began the occupation of Italy and Mussolini was rescued by German commandos. He was installed as the leader of a new government but had little power. As the Allies advanced northwards through Italy, Mussolini fled towards Switzerland. He was captured by Italian partisans and shot on 28 April 1945.

"Benito Mussolini"[http://www.comandosupremo.com/Mussolini.html]

"Mussolini"[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWmussolini.htm]

Adolf Hitler

Baptized a Catholic, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was born on April 20, 1889, in the Upper Austrian border town Braunau am Inn, located approximately 65 miles east of Munich and nearly 30 miles north of Salzburg.

His father, Alois Hitler (1837-1903), was a mid-level customs official. Born out of wedlock to Maria Anna Schickelgruber in 1837, Alois Schickelgruber changed his name in 1876 to Hitler, the Christian name of the man who married his mother five years after his birth. Alois Hitler's illegitimacy would cause speculation as early as the 1920s -- and still present in popular culture today -- that Hitler's grandfather was Jewish. Credible evidence to support the notion of Hitler's Jewish descent has never turned up. The two most likely candidates to have been Hitler's grandfather are the man who married his grandmother and that man's brother.

Hitler served only nine months of his five-year term. While in prison, he wrote the first volume of Mein Kampf. It was partly an autobiographical book (although filled with glorified inaccuracies, self-serving half-truths and outright revisionism) which also detailed his views on the future of the German people. There were several targets of the vicious diatribes in the book, such as democrats, Communists, and internationalists. But he reserved the brunt of his vituperation for the Jews, whom he portrayed as responsible for all of the problems and evils of the world, particularly democracy, Communism, and internationalism, as well as Germany's defeat in the War. Jews were the German nation's true enemy, he wrote. They had no culture of their own, he asserted, but perverted existing cultures such as Germany's with their parasitism. As such, they were not a race, but an anti-race.

There are many factors that contributed to the start of the war. Mistakes were made that may have played a huge role in starting the war. There are many reasons for the start of the war and no one reason started it. Hitler was a vengeful man who was still angry at the world from what happened to Germany in the last world war and how they had to pay reparations. Hitler started his army and they began to rearm and the league of nations did nothing to stop him. Hitler was trying to better Germany and he didn't care about anyone else.

Once released from prison, Hitler decided to seize power constitutionally rather than by force of arms. Using demagogic oratory, Hitler spoke to scores of mass audiences, calling for the German people to resist the yoke of Jews and Communists, and to create a new empire which would rule the world for 1,000 years.

Hitler's Nazi party captured 18% of the popular vote in the 1930 elections. In 1932, Hitler ran for President and won 30% of the vote, forcing the eventual victor, Paul von Hindenburg, into a runoff election. A political deal was made to make Hitler chancellor in exchange for his political support. He was appointed to that office in January 1933.

Upon the death of Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler was the consensus successor. With an improving economy, Hitler claimed credit and consolidated his position as a dictator, having succeeded in eliminating challenges from other political parties and government institutions. The German industrial machine was built up in preparation for war. By 1937, he was comfortable enough to put his master plan, as outlined in Mein Kampf, into effect. Calling his top military aides together at the "FÅhrer Conference" in November 1937, he outlined his plans for world domination. Those who objected to the plan were dismissed.

Hitler wanted to see how far he could go he thought no one could stop him. When Hitler broke the treaty of Versailles and marched his troops into Rhineland a non-military zone that caused some tension and that was just one of the first things that Hitler got away with. His actions of persecution towards the people in germany and the places that he took over also contributed a lot too the war. France had requested to the league of nations to get Hitler's troops out of Rhineland and The League of Nations still did nothing. Many of the European countries were not prepared for war and they decided that Hitler had not done anything severe enough to take any action upon him. Hitler wanted to kill the impurities in their population so he started the mass killings of the jews in an attempt to make them extinct. in territory and when he demanded to have a piece of Czecholslavakia the league of nations gave it to him to appease him. Instead we ended up in a war of epic proportions. Hitler believed that his country was impure because of the other nationalities living in it. He claimed that Germany will not have the moral right to enter into colonial politics until he got rid of the impurities in his own country. Eventually Hitler thought that he would not be stopped and went on to take over other areas. When all along they should have taken action from the start and stopped him while they could before he rearmed himself to the point of no return. Instead of appeasing Hitler and giving him what he wants to subside him we should have taken a collective security approach and crushed the uprising.


"Hitler"[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm]
"Adolf Hitler"[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/hitler_adolf.shtml]

The Holocaust

Though there are other cases in history of Genocide, the Holocaust was characterized by its methodical, systematic, efficient, almost scientific murder of any person with Jewish roots. Assimilation or conversion offered no protection in this situation.

At the core of the Holocaust we find modern anti-Semitism, the current version of Jew Hatred - that same phenomenon which appeared throughout the centuries, perhaps finding its most blatant manifestation with the medieval Church. The modern German anti-Semitism was based on racial ideology which stated that the Jews were sub-human (untermensch) while the Aryan race was ultimately superior. The Jew was systematically portrayed as a low-life, as untouchable rot (faulniserscheinung) and as the main cause of Germany's problems.


In 1933, the Jew people stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany would occupy or influence during WWII. By 1945, the Germans and their allies killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the "Final solution" the Nazi policy to murder the Jews of Europe. Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). At least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients, mainly Germans, living in institutional settings, were murdered in the so-called Euthanasia

It is important to note that the success of the Nazi machine could not have been so great were it not for the cooperation of the local populations of the conquered territories such as Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and even western countries such as France. On the other hand, there were cases of governments and individuals who did their best at risk to their own lives to save the Jews. One such example was the organized evacuation from Denmark of the Jewish population to Sweden.

Following the war, many have asked why the Jews succumbed to the Nazis like "sheep to the slaughter." One cannot ignore the many shows of resistance among the Jews to their fate: The Jewish Partisans who fought in the forests of Eastern Europe, the Jews who joined forces with the local underground resistance, and the uprisings in ghettos and in concentration camps.

"The Holocaust Chronology"[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/holocaust/chrono.htm]

"The Holocaust"[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001286.html]

The Holocaust Crimes."[http://www.auschwitz.dk/]

Fascism

The apparent flag of the Fascist National Party (Partido Nazionale Fascista) during the 1930s and 1940s, seen flying alongside the national flag of Italy and flags of other countries during various ceremonies in the 1930s and 1940s

Fascism

The first fascist movement developed in Italy after World War I. Journalist and war veteran Benito Mussolini served as the guiding force behind the new movement. Originally a Marxist, by 1909 Mussolini was convinced that a national rather than an international revolution was necessary, but he was unable to find a suitable catalyst or vehicle for the populist revolutionary energies it demanded. At first he looked to the Italian Socialist Party and edited its newspaper Avanti! (Forward!). But when war broke out in Europe in 1914, he saw it as an opportunity to galvanize patriotic energies and create the spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice necessary for the country's renewal. He thus joined the interventionist campaign, which urged Italy to enter the war. In 1914, as Italian leaders tried to decide whether to enter the war, Mussolini founded the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia (The People of Italy) to encourage Italy to join the conflict. After Italy declared war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in May 1915, Mussolini used Il Popolo d'Italia, to persuade Italians that the war was a turning point for their country. Mussolini argued that when the frontline combat soldiers returned from the war, they would form a new elite and bring about a new type of state and transform Italian society. The new elite would spread community and patriotism, and introduce sweeping changes in every part of society.

Fascist movements surfaced in most European countries and in some former European colonies in the early 20th century. Fascist political parties and movements capitalized on the intense patriotism that emerged as a response to widespread social and political uncertainty after WWI (1914-1918) and the Russian Revolution in 1917. With the important exceptions of Italy and Germany, however, fascist movements failed in their attempts to seize political power. In Italy and Germany after World War I, fascists managed to win control of the state and attempted to dominate all of Europe, resulting in millions of deaths in the Holocaust and WWII(1939-1945). Fascism was widely discredited after Italy and Germany lost World War II, but persists today in new forms.

Elements

Scholars disagree over how to define the basic elements of fascism. Marxist historians and political scientists (that is, those who base their approach on the writings of German political theorist Karl Max) view fascism as a form of politics that is cynically adopted by governments to support capitalism and to prevent a socialist revolution. These scholars have applied the label of fascism to many authoritarian regimes that came to power between World War I and World War II, such as those in Portugal, Austria, Poland, and Japan. Marxist scholars also label as fascist some authoritarian governments that emerged after World War II, including regimes in Argentina, Chile, Greece, and South Africa.

Beginning in the 1970s, some historians and political scientists began to develop a broader definition of fascism, and by the 1990s many scholars had embraced this approach. This new approach emphasizes the ways in which fascist movements attempt revolutionary change and their central focus on popularizing myths of national or ethnic renewal. Seen from this perspective, all forms of fascism have three common features: anticonservatism, a myth of ethnic or national renewal, and a conception of a nation in crisis.

"Fascism"Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. 20 December 2008.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism]

"Fascism"Library of economics and liberty.. 2009. 11 October 2008.[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html]

"what is Fascism"Modern History Sourcebook.. Aug 1997 .[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html]

Nazism

Many young unemployed men joined Hitler's Nazi movement. They became uniformed thugs who beat up his political opponents . They wore the Nazi symbol of swastika as a band.

This Ideology based on racism, nationalism, and the supremacy of the state over the individual, was led by Adolf Hitler from 1921 to 1945.

Ideology

This Ideology based on racism, nationalism, and the supremacy of the state over the individual, was led by Adolf Hitler from 1921 to 1945.According to Hitler, the development of this political was based on policies of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. Nazi ideas were heavily invested in the militarist belief that great nations grow from military power.
Hitlers theory also claimed that Aryan race is superior to any other race and that "Great Nations" were creations of races as superior as the Aryan.
The weakest nations, Hitler said were those of impure or mongrel races, because they have divided, quarreling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of all were seen to be the parasitic Untermensch (Subhumans), mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled and so called anti-socials, all of whom were considered lebensunwertes Leben (Lifeunworthy Life) due to their perceived deficiency and inferiority.According to Nazism, it is an obvious mistake to permit or encourage multilingualism and multiculturalism within a nation. Fundamental to the Nazi goal was the unification of all German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into different Nation States. Hitler claimed that nations that could not defend their territory did not deserve it.

Nazi economy

Nazi economic practice concerned itself with immediate domestic issues and separately with ideological conceptions of international economics.

Domestic economic policy was narrowly concerned with three major goals:

• Elimination of unemployment
• Elimination of hyperinflation
• Expansion of production of consumer goods to improve middle- and lower-class living standards.

All of these policy goals were intended to address the perceived shortcomings of the Weimar Republic and to solidify domestic support for the party. In this, the party was very successful. Between 1933 and 1936 the German GNP increased by an average annual rate of 9.5 percent, and the rate for industry alone rose by 17.2 percent.

Success of Nazism

An important question about National Socialism is that of which factors promoted its success, not only in Germany, but also in other European countries (in the 1930s and early 1940s Nazi-type movements could be found in Sweden, Britain, Italy, Spain and even in the US) in the twenties and thirties of the last century? These factors may have included:

• Economic devastation all over Europe after WWI
• Lack of orientation of many people after the breakdown of monarchy in many European countries.
• A perception that there was a disproportionate number of Jews in the German bourgeoisie (or upper class).
• Perceived Jewish involvement in WWI of war profiteering
• Appeal of socialism or socialist rhetoric to the German working class
• Humiliation of Germany at the Treaty of Versailles
• Rejection of Communism (particularly redistribution of wealth ) and the perception that socialism and Communism were Jewish-inspired and Jewish -led movements; hence the Nazi use of the term Judeo-Bolshevik
• Hatred of the Jews

"Nazi economic policy" School history. 2009. 19 October 2008.

"Nazism" History. 2009. 19 October 2008.