Causes for WW2, Essay Example

Question 1. What were the causes for WW2 in both Europe and Asia? What nations belonged to the Axis Powers? What nations belonged to the Allies? What were the differences between the type of fighting that took place in Europe and in the Pacific Islands? Were there any type of atrocities in this war that had not occurred in other wars? Explain. List and briefly explain, if necessary, three long lasting effects from WW2.

There were many reasons that sparked the Second World War. Chief of the reasons was the struggle for power between two powerful coalitions. The war led to the death of over 6 million Jews. A total of 60 million people were killed.

It all started when Japan overran Manchuria, France invaded Ethiopia and when Adolf Hitler usurped power in Germany. Adolf went against a treaty signed during world war one by rearming the military followed by his threats towards European countries.

The two warring factions forged alliances with respective titles. The axis powers were led by Germany, Italy and Japan Empire, and were the aggressors. The allies were led by the UK, France, Soviet Union and the United States. Other allies in the Asia-Pacific included China when it was invaded by Japan. United States joined forces in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan (Lloyd, 2000).

The Axis

Nazi Germany went to war in 1939, Japan 1937 and Italy 1940. Each country under Axis went to war on its own and had no intention of assisting each other. These countries never shared resources and neither did they share in planning of strategies. When Italy was defeated, Japan and Germany each operated on their own. Germany carried its war campaigns in Europe and Japan in Pacific. There were other powers under the Axis but the key players were Japan and Germany (Lloyd, 2000).

The Allies

The allies were driven by the commitment to defend Poland and were not a cohesive force. They were originally led by the Britain and France. Every other country that was invaded by the Nazi Germany became an allied force. When France fell, Britain became the only major country of the allies. The rest of the allies composed of UK commonwealth forces commanded in exile.

Question 2. What were the causes of the Korean and Vietnam Wars? Why was the United Nations at least partially successful in Korea but the United States was not in Vietnam? What was the difference in the way the two wars were fought by the military forces of both sides? Explain.

The engagement in the Korean and the Vietnam wars were ideologically rooted to Trauma Doctrine which was expressed in the “Domino Theory” of MacNamara. It was the idea of the Americans that the entry of Korea along with Vietnam to the communists would pose a significant risk to other countries. There lacked an appeasement policy among the Americans leading to the fortification of Germany by Hitler that culminated to the WW11. Therefore, the Americans had to engage the communists’ forces in to war in attempts of keeping the nations away from the control of the Soviet.

The reason behind the success of the United Nations at least partially successful in Korea was that, the Germans tired of war and they were also tired of the economic effects that it had on the people. Much support was accorded to the United Nations because of the robust action that they took against the aggressor. America also dominated the United Nations with over 90 % military personnel. The origin of the Korean War was America and this had the implication that UN was obligated to stick to the issue of the cold war.

The United States was however very not very successful in the Vietnam War. There lacked sufficient support from the society and politics together with News Media played a pivotal role in this failure. There also lacked great interest in winning but the opinion was creating significant pressure to North Vietnam to abandon South Korea (Lloyd, 2000). The main reason behind the involvement of the Americans was keeping the integrity of independent nations and avoiding a situation of succumbing to the control of the communists.

Works Cited

Lloyd C. (2000). International Perspectives on Vietnam.  College Station: Texas A & M University Press.