CAUSES:

• Dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles,

• Rise of fascism and Nazism,
• Policy of appeasement.
• The Japanese invasion of China,
• Failure of the League of Nations and
• Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
SYLLABUS
Attack On Pearl Harbour
CONSEQUENCES:
The Bombing Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki

• The defeat of the Axis Powers

• Formation of United Nations
• Cold War
CAUSES OF SECOND WORLD WAR

• Although the invasion of Poland by Germany was the immediate cause for
the outbreak of the Second World War, the real causes for the outbreak of
the war were much deeper and varied in character.
 1. DISSATISFACTION WITH THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
• The Treaty of Versailles by which the First World War came to an end, created more
problems than it solved.
• The treaty demanded the accession of German territories and the creation of many states.

• This sowed the seeds of bitterness and conflict.

• This treaty was based on the spirit of revenge,

and Germany was forced to sign the treaty.

• German colonies were forcibly taken away, and

she was divided into two parts for the benefit of
Poland..
• She was burdened with huge war indemnity
which she could never pay.
• Military power was reduced.
• The humiliation gives rise to the spirit of
revenge.
• Germany started looking for an opportunity
to do away with the harsh treaty.
• This was not possible without an aggressive
policy and armament. Hence the war
became inevitable
 2. RISE OF FASCISM AND NAZISM

• The rise of extreme nationalism in Italy and Germany in the

form of Fascism and Nazism, respectively contributed to the
cause, which led to the Second World War.

• Italy wanted to revive the glory of the old Roman Empire. She
joined the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1937 and formed a 10-year
alliance with Germany in 1939 to strengthen her position.

• Mussolini established a dictatorship in Italy. He opposed the

Treaty of Versailles.

• Italy demonstrated its imperialistic design by attacking

Abyssinia, the League of Nations failed to take any action
against Italy, Italy, which exhibited the weakness of the
League.
• In Germany. Hitler wanted to reestablish the
prestige of Germany in the international
field.
• It flouted the military causes in the Treaty of
Versailles and declared a rearmament in
1938.
• He annexed Austria and dismembered
Erstwhile Czechoslovakia.
• Thus Mussolini and Hitler drove the
countries of the world toward another
World War.
 3. POLICY OF APPEASEMENT
Appeasement refers to the policy of conciliating an aggressive power at the expense of some other country.
It means accepting the hostile demands of an aggressive nation to gain peace.
• Britain and France followed the policy of dictatorial countries like Germany and Italy because they felt that
the dictators had a real cause of grievances due to the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
• If their grievances were removed, they would not disturb world peace.
• Further, they wanted to check the rising tide of Communism and Russian Bolshevism. Britain and France
feared that Germany would divert toward Russian Bolshevism.
• They therefore allowed Germany to rearm and remilitarize the Rhineland and capture Austria and
Czechoslovakia.
• So without the Western countries, the policy of appeasement Fascism or Nazism could not have survived.
• So long and would not have been able to unleash the 2nd World War.
 4. JAPANESE INVASION OF CHINA

• Japanese policy of expansion was another cause

of the war. Japanese ambition rose after the First
World War.

• She was determined to dominate the Far East, in

1931 Japan intervened in Manchuria and despite
the league opposition occupied it and set up a
government there.

• Japan also started an undeclared war against

China in 1931. China appealed to the League of
Nations to declare sanctions against Japan.

• Britain and France, the leading member of the

league, did not pay any attention to the appeal.
.
• Japan joined the Berlin-Rome Axis to
form the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis to
further its policy of expansion and
conquest.

• In 1933 Japan left the League of

Nations and started to obtain the
British and American properties in
China.

• Britain and France followed the policy

of appeasement, thinking that the
Japanese could be used to weaken
China.

• Thus, the war was inevitable under

these circumstances
 5. FAILURE OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS

• The League of Nations was created after the First World War to prevent future wars. However,
the league suffered an early blow when the U. S did not join the deal.

• Even those who joined the league were not interested in the principle of collective security.

• The League of Nations succeeded in allying the threat of war in cases where the parties were
small nations.

• The league did nothing when Poland with the backing of France captured a part of Lithuanian
1920.

• In 1923 there was a threat of war between Italy and Greece. Italy refused to submit to the
league intervention and the dispute was settled by direct mediation of Great Britain & France.

• Therefore, in every crisis, the league was either defied Or ignored.

• The authority of the league was flouted by Japan when it seized Manchuria and by Italy when it
took over Ethiopia.

• The coercive machinery of the league was not adequate to perform the task given to them.
• The economic sanctions were of no use
against a determined aggressor.

• Moreover, the member states are not

willing to apply economic sanctions as it
affects their economy as well.

• Besides the league failed to maintain

international peace and the countries of
Europe lost faith in its usefulness .

• Therefore, they enter mutual political and military alliances.

 6. HITLER INVASION OF POLAND

• Hitler invaded Poland in September 1913.

• By the treaty, Germany was divided into two parts
to give the land route to Poland up to the sea and
the port of Danzing was also given to Poland.

• Germany wanted to regain its lost territories. The

city of Danzing was inhabited by the Germans and
by occupying the Danzing corridor Germany could
connect with East Prussia.
• Germany signed a non-aggression pact with
Russia in 1939 August.

• Poland was accused of committing atrocities

against Germans living there.
• On 1st September 1939 German army marched into Poland.
• France and Britain gave an ultimatum to Germany, in reply Germany attacked France.
• On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
• Thus, the invasion of Poland marked the beginning of the Second World War.

• The German armies completed the conquest of

Poland in less than 3 weeks ensuring that no aid
reached Poland.

• Despite the declaration of war, there was little

fighting for many months, therefore, the war
during the period from September 9th 39 to April
1940 was dormant.
 ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOUR

• America followed a policy of strict neutrality.

• The American Congress decided to lend or

lease armament to Britain and China
because the defense was vital to the defense
of the United States.

• The only military force that Japan had

The Japanese made two crucial mistakes at Pearl Harbor.
feared was the U. S Pacific Force, based at
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. On December 7 1941 • They did not destroy the ship under repair facilities at the
Japan and the premiership of General Tojo base nor did they seek out & destroy the US carrier Lexington
ordered a surprise aerial attack on Pearl and the enterprise.
Harbor. • As a result, most of the ship that was damaged was sold to
soon back in action.
• The battleship was sunk, important airfields
were destroyed, and 3700 people were • On December 8th. 1941. The US joined the war halting the
killed. Japanese
 BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

• The Americans started their offensive against Japan

to liberate the island in the South West Pacific.
American Navy and Air Force destroyed the
Japanese freed, but Japan was still firmly and
strongly established in China, Manchuria, and other
places.

• In 1945 Japan in the Philippines formed the special

force called the Kamikaze.

• Young, Japanese pilots steered an explosive lathe in claim into the side or deck of an American
ship.
• Civilians too had been trained in the use of a variety of weapons. This made the land invasion of
define costly and futile.
• Long before the invasion of Japan was planned.
• Scientists in the United States were working on the
most powerful weapon ever conceived the atomic
bomb .

• In July 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated

in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

• After much debate, the decision to use the bomb

was taken.

• Days before the first bomb was dropped on Japan,

American planes dropped leaflets, warning about
the deadly weapon and urging the Japanese
people and the government to end the fighting.
• On 6 August , 1945, the first atomic bomb
ever to be used on humans was dropped
on Hiroshima.

• It destroyed half of the city, killing

thousands of people. Despite the terrible
destruction the Japanese still refused to
surrender.

• On 9 August 1945, another bomb was

dropped on Nagasaki.

• On 2 September 1945, Japan surrendered

unconditionally.

• After six long years. World War II over

• over 50 million people perished in the Second World War.

• Out of them about 22 million soldiers, the rest were civilians.

• About 12 million people lost their lives in the concentration camps or as a result of the terror
unleashed by the fascists.

• Some countries lost a large percentage of the population.

• For example, Poland lost 6 million people out of which 5 million were civilians, which was about
20% of the Polish population.

• The Soviet Union lost about 20 million people, which was 10% of their population, Various
nations took part in the war spent their national wealth, and suffered heavy losses.

• The chief colonial power lost their powers and many countries like India, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka
became independent
 CONSEQUENCES OF SECOND WORLD WAR

1. DEFEAT OF EXCESS POWER

• Up to the middle of 1942 the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) had remarkable success and
captured large territories in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
• But by the end of 1942, the tide began to turn against access power.
• In November 1942, the Allied forces; Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States of
America recaptured African territories lost by France.
• This was followed by their victory over Italy and Germany.
• After the defeat of Germany, the Allied power turned their attention toward Japan.
• Japan had won and occupied most of Southeast Asia.
• The British forces liberated Myanmar, Malaya, the Philippines, and Singapore.
• In the Potsdam Conference held on July 26, 1945, the Allied Powers asked Japan to surrender.
• But Japan refused, consequently America dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Japan offered to surrender on the terms of Potsdam Declaration and the war came to an end.
• Thus, after the war, the access power had to face the following consequences.
Thus, after the war, the access powers had to face the following CONSEQUENCES.

• At the end of the first Second World War, Germany was divided into zones. Each zone was under
the army of each of the Allied powers.
• the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly known as West Germany, was registered by the
UK, France, and the United States, with Bonn as the capital. It came under the capitalist ideology
of the Anglo Americans and their allies and became part of the capitalist blog.
• The German Democratic Republic, known as East Germany, was admitted by the Soviet Union
with Berlin as its capital. It came. Under the influence of the political ideologies of Communist
Russia and became part of the Communist Bloc
• Japan and Italy also became very weak. Unlike Germany, they were not divided into zones to be
governed by conquering forces.
• The American Army was too occupied by Japan until 1952 after this the Japanese would resume
sole control of their affairs.
• Emperor Hero Hito was left on the throne as constitutional monarch and the Japanese parliament
retains some of his laws-making power.
• All land acquired or seized by Japan since 1895 was taken away.
 FORMATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

• The horror of the two World War and the failure of

League of nation led to a meeting of the big three.

• ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

• CHURCHILL PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN,
• STALIN, PREMIER OF THE USSR.
•
• At Yalta in February 1945 the resolved to convene the
conference of the representative of all nation at San
Francisco to draw up the charter of the United Nations.
• During the Second World War. The US and the Soviet Union fought together in cooperation
with each other. However, towards the end of the world, the apparent harmony between the
USA and the Soviet Union declined.
• Old suspicions and ideological differences came to the forefront, though both countries did not
engage in the actual fight against each other. They were state of extreme political tension
between the two.
• The state of tension between countries in which one side adopted policies designed to
strengthen itself and weaken the other without armed conflict is known as the Cold War.

COLD WAR is defined as an atmosphere where there is no armed struggle, but the rival
continues to maintain their peacetime diplomatic relation along with their hostility.

• The Cold War also involved an arms race involving piling of nuclear and conventional weapons,
formation of military alliances, economic warfare and trade approaches, propaganda and proxy wars,
especially those involving superpower support for opposing sides within civil wars. Thus, the USA and
USSR continued to maintain diplomatic relations and did not resort to overt clashes but treated each other
with hostility.
• This led to the division of the world into 2 power blocks One block was led by the USA, and the other
was led by USSR.
 DEMOCRATIC AND THE CAPITALIST BLOCK.

• The block led by USA, called the western block, or the American block,

• believe in liberal democracy based on capitalism. The block compromised. Comprised Belgium, Italy,
Canada, Netherland, Greece, Pakistan, Turkey, etc.

• They consider the political and social system of the USSR as an objectionable and dangerous, as it
had no place for parliamentary democracy and individuality.

• They projected the USSR as the enemy of the world peace and communism, a grave threat for
freedom and liberty throughout the world.

• American tried to maintain her influence by giving economic aid to different countries.

• The United States as a leader of the free world took upon itself the responsibility of preventing
communism from spreading.
 THE COMMUNIST BLOCK.
Therefore, the whole
• The block led by the USSR called the Eastern Block of the Soviet Block, of Europe was divided
• Believe in communism based on Marxist theory.
into two power blocks.
The two blocks openly
• The Soviet bloc countries considered the Western style of Democracy in
the Far East only for the rich in the upper middle class.
propagated against
each other and
• Therefore, they wanted to spread Communism in the world and bring about
a change in the social system of the countries in the world.
considered each
problem from the
• USSR was determined to maintain political, economic and military control
of the countries in Eastern Europe, which have been liberated from Nazi
point of view of the
control. Thus, by 1948, a government that owned allegiance to Moscow blocks and left no
was established in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and opportunity to weaken
Czechoslovakia. the opponent. But at
• Though Yugoslavia and Albania were not directly linked to Russia, as a the same time, they
satellite the governments of these two countries were also communist. made every effort to
avoid a direct conflict.