10 points and 5 stars ww2?

Question

summary review 10 points and 5 stars for a summary review of ww2

Answer 1

Ok. Since 1933, Japan had been expanding its empire by going into China. The US, not approving of this, would end up putting an embargo on Japan, trying to cut off raw materials to the island kingdom. As a nation with few natural resources, this act bordered on an act of war, and thus the Japanese would plot and carry out the Pearl Harbor attack in December of 1941. The attack was intended to cripple the US navy, while expanding the Empire throughout southeast Asia.

  In Europe, Mussolini had been in power for almost a decade when Adolph Hitler rose to power in Germany. While Mussolini had dreams of emulating the glories of ancient Rome, he ruled a nation of people uninterested in imperial aims. Hitler, on the other hand, set out on an agenda of "reuniting" the German speaking peoples of Europe, and then expanding a renewed German empire eastwards. This, of course, could not be done without going to war. Throughout the 1930s, Hitler's policies succeeded in gaining territories through intimidation, bluff, and playing on the hopes of the appeasement factions of other European nations.

   In 1939 this came to an end. Attacking Poland after working out a deal with the USSR and Stalin, Germany quickly defeated Poland, which disappeared as a nation. However, Britian and France now declared war due to treaty obligations. However, they were unable to come to Poland's aid, and were scrambling to improve their own military readiness. Thus through the winter of 1939 and into 1940, Germany, England, and France faced off on the western front without fighting.

   Spring of 1940 saw western Europe face the Blitzkreig that destroyed Poland. Outflanking the Maginot line, the Wehrmact rolled into France and smashed the allied armies. France surrendered, and England found itself isolated, hunkering down and awaiting attack.

  While still planning an invasion, Germany launched the Battle of Britian over the summer of 1940. Pushing Britian to the brink of surrender, the attack initially concentrated on knocking out the air capacity of the island nation. But after a raid on Germany, Hitler ordered attacks on civilian targets and cities. While causing widespread destruction, this essentially diluted the effectiveness of the attacks, and by late fall Britian was safe from invasion.

   Mussolini, meantime, decided that he wanted to emulate the conquests of his ally, Hitler. Attacks eastward and in North Africa resulted in humiliating defeats, and Hitler felt obliged to bail out his ally. This would launch the North Africa campaign, which would gain Germany nothing, but eventually allow the Allies to defeat a large German army. And the bailout would delay Hitler's invasion of the USSR for 2 critical months.

   Once the attack on the USSR was launched, it was initially successful. Throughout 1941 the Wehrmact would advance, eventually coming almost in sight of Moscow. But the deadly Russian winters, and rugged tenacity of the Soviet army would stall out the offensive, and an unprepared Wehrmact would suffer heavily through long winter.

   In December of 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked, Hitler declared war on the US, and the manpower and industrial capacity of the US was now thrown completely behind the Allied effort.  In the Pacific, after months  of setbacks, the US would begin its island hopping campaign. With the battle of Midway the Japanese lost enough carriers to lose the ability to go on the offensive. There, the war would be a grinding series of battles that would drive the Japanese back to the home islands.

   In western Europe, the allies worked on defeating Germany in North Africa, then would go on to Sicily, nipping away at the German hold on Europe and forcing the Germans to guess where the main thrust would come from. In the east, after another fairly successful advance, the German army would stall out. Due to Hitler's no retreat orders, Stalingrad would become a charnal house for Soviet and German alike, and by Jan of 1943 300,000 German trooops would be captured.

   After that, the Eastern front was a constant series of attacks by the soviets, driving the Germans relentlessly back. The Germans would counterattack, but not be able to hold the ground. It was simple mathmatics. The USSR had more men, more weapons, and an utter willingness to absorb whatever casualties it took to win. In the west, the allies were working to decide where to attack, and to concentrate their troops. Finally, in July of 1944, D-Day was launched, and Allied forces were back in France. This year saw the Axis powers steadily driven back, and Mussolini deposed.

   1945 was th wrap up. Trapped between the Soviet army, and the US, British, and other allies in the west, the German army ground to a halt. By April of 1945 Berlin itself was in the Allies hands, and Hitler was dead.

   After this, the US could begin looking to finishing off Japan. The invasion of Okinawa gave them warning of the cost of the invasion of the Japanese main island, and the Manhatten Project offered an alternative to hundreds of thousands of casualties. In August, two atomic bombs were used, and Japan finally surrendered.

  After the war, the Soviets now moved to solidify their hold in eastern Europe and on some islands once belonging to Japan. the Cold War rapidly set in. Meantime, with the development of the Marshall Plan, the US led the way in rebuilding the economies of the European nations, and Europe found itself split, with the eastern portion behind the "Iron Curtain".

Answer 2

World War Two - Summary of Events.

The European Theater and The Pacific Theater

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/europe...