HIST103 Study Guide

Unit 12: The Causes and Consequences of World War II

12a. Discuss the causes of World War II as well as the motivations of the combatants

  • What were the causes of World War II?
  • How did the Policy of Appeasement lead to World War II?
  • What is fascism, and how did it lead to the formation of the Axis Powers?

The unresolved political and power dynamics of World War I and general economic instability created several power vacuums that would erupt again in warfare during World War II. German resentment toward the Treaty of Versailles and economic depression encouraged the country's extreme nationalist elements to accept Adolf Hitler's fascist rhetoric. 

The Nazi Party promoted Hitler's antisemitic beliefs, which he outlined in his bestselling book Mein Kampf. He blamed the Jewish people for the hardships Germany suffered. On November 9-10, 1936, party supporters attacked and destroyed Jewish businesses during Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass). The Nazi government gradually ostracized the Jews, took away their rights as citizens, forced them to live in ghettos, and eventually transported them into forced labor, concentration, and extermination camps. Historians estimate the government killed six million Jews and at least five million prisoners of war during the Holocaust.

The Empire of Japan's incursions into Asia was fraught with atrocities and genocide. Japan had conquered Korea in 1910, invaded Manchuria in 1931, and entered China itself in 1937. Historians estimate that more than 300,000 civilians were killed during the six-week Rape of Nanking in China in December 1937.

Bound by similar fascist beliefs, Germany, Italy, and Japan engaged in a military alliance known as the Axis Powers. England and the members of the British Commonwealth, France (before the German occupation beginning in July 1940), the Soviet Union (after June 1941), and the United States (after December 1941) formed the Allied Powers. 

To review, see An Unstable Peace and Holocaust.


12b. Describe the fighting that took place, with special attention to the different places where the war was fought

  • What were the main military strategies during the war?
  • What were the theaters of the war?
  • Why did the US drop atomic bombs on Japan?
  • How were deception and espionage part of the war effort?

World War II advanced military strategy in addition to military technology. Conflict occurred in the European and Pacific Theaters.

The European Theater relied on fighter planes, tanks, and submarines to drive the Axis powers out of France, Western Europe, and North Africa. Germany tested its strategy for victory, known as blitzkrieg or "lightning war", on Poland on September 1, 1939. Within days, Britain and France declared war on Germany to form the Allied Powers. Germany had overrun Western Europe a few weeks after it had launched its westward offensive on May 10, 1940. However, Germany failed to capture Britain during its battles between the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Germany turned its attention to the Soviet Union when it launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. The Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 was a major turning point that determined Hitler's eventual defeat. The German Third Reich surrendered on May 7, 1945.

The Pacific Theater primarily involved the United States and Japan after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Japan had to take the small islands in the Pacific, using an island-hopping strategy to land and refuel its planes. Japanese kamikaze pilots terrified the Allied forces by using their fighter planes as weapons to crash into Allied ships during battle. The Battle of Midway in June 1942 was an important turning point in the war because it allowed the United States to reverse Japan's island refueling strategy and attack Japan directly. 

Beginning in August 1942, the United States, via the Manhattan Project, constructed an atomic bomb that the United States dropped on Japan – first on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the second on Nagasaki three days later, killing 129,000–226,000 civilians. The Japanese Emperor Hirohito (1901–1989) announced his decision to surrender on August 12, 1945.

To review, see:


12c. Analyze the post-war consequences of World War II and how they reshaped Europe and the world

  • How did the end of World War II lead to the creation of the United Nations?
  • What is the UN Security Council, and why are the former Allied Powers on it?
  • What impact did the U.S. occupation of Japan have?
  • How was the end of World War II related to the formation of Israel?
  • How did it help end colonialism?

The end of World War II gave birth to a power struggle between the two great superpowers – the United States and the Soviet Union – in a battle between capitalism and communism that would characterize the Cold War (1947-1991), which we discuss in more detail in Unit 13. 

Europe and Asia were in shambles. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill determined the new European boundaries and their respective spheres of influence at Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July–August 1945). Japan ended the war in the Pacific when it surrendered unconditionally after the U.S. dropped its atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

The Allies were determined not to repeat the mistakes of World War I. U.S. President Harry Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948, also known as the Marshall Plan, which would provide $13.3 billion in economic aid to Western Europe, including Germany and Italy (which became known as the Western Bloc). The Soviet Union and members of the Eastern Bloc refused the benefits.

The United Nations (UN) was a modern version of the League of Nations, which the United States took part in to help it succeed. The Allied Powers (the United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China) are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and each member has veto power.

The main goal of the UN is to serve as a world forum to promote peace and prevent a third world war. The roots lay in the Atlantic Charter, which Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt drafted in 1941 to plan the post-war world that emphasized democratic governments based on self-determination, free trade, and collective security. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, affirming that people have the right to life, liberty, education, and self-determination and paved the way for the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties. It also prohibited torture and acts of genocide.

The post-war period saw the official establishment of Israel as a sovereign nation and officially recognized homeland of the Jewish people. The Holocaust provided a clear rationale for the Zionist movement that had promoted such a homeland since the late 19th century. In 1947, the UN approved partitioning Palestine to create Israel, which became an official country in 1948. This led to increased tensions between the Arab Palestinians and Jewish Israelis that continue to this day.

To review, see:


Unit 12 Vocabulary

  • Allied Powers
  • antisemitism
  • Atlantic Charter
  • atomic bomb
  • Axis Powers
  • Battle of Britain
  • Battle of Midway
  • Battle of Stalingrad
  • Blitzkrieg
  • British Commonwealth
  • concentration camp
  • Eastern Bloc
  • Emperor Hirohito
  • Empire of Japan
  • European theater
  • extermination camp
  • Franklin Roosevelt
  • German Luftwaffe
  • ghetto
  • Hiroshima
  • Holocaust
  • Israel
  • Jewish homeland
  • kamikaze
  • Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)
  • Manchuria
  • Manhattan Project
  • Marshall Plan (Economic Recovery Act of 1948)
  • Mein Kampf
  • Nagasaki, Japan
  • Nazi party
  • Operation Barbarossa
  • Pacific theater
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Rape of Nanking
  • Royal Air Force (RAF)
  • sphere of influence
  • superpower
  • UN General Assembly
  • UN Security Council
  • United Nations (UN)
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights