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Historians have said that World War II was a continuation
of World War
I - but with greater violence and less regard
for the values of civilization. The Treaty of Versailles
- which had officially ended World War I - had caused the European
balance of power to swing wildly. Germany had been stripped
of her colonies, divided into pieces, and burdened with a staggering
war debt. New nations were created; old hostilities were renewed.
Some of these hostilities had found a voice in a new political
philosophy: fascism.
In
the Pacific, Japan's ambitions would bring her into conflict
with America. Both nations laid claim to the markets of Asia;
in particular, to the fabled markets of China.
Both were willing to use force to obtain them. In Germany,
Hitler established a Third Reich, to last a thousand
years. In Italy, Mussolini declared a new Roman Empire to reinstate
the glory that had been Rome. In Japan, Emperor Hirohito
presided over the Empire of the Rising Sun. Against these forces
stood Britain, France, and the Netherlands . . . countries who
wanted the map of the world to remain unchanged. The result
was war. On the sidelines, America would watch and wait as the
outlines of the war unfolded.
On
December 7, 1941 - a day that will live in infamy - Japanese
planes bombed the American naval installation at Pearl Harbor.
The United States was now at war with Japan in the Pacific.
Four days later, on December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared
war on America. Now the United States was also at war with the
Axis powers in Europe. The Pacific and European War became
formally linked.
In
1941, prospects for the allied powers were not bright. Japanese
troops overran Pacific positions that had been considered impregnable.
German troops had not only subdued much of Europe, but also
pushed effectively into North Africa. But perhaps as important
were the conflicting Allied visions of war, which caused bitter
debate over questions such as the opening of a second front.
Then,
Hitler made a fatal blunder: his German army invaded Russia.
In Italy, Mussolini lost control of the people. In the
Pacific, the Japanese war machine was on the defensive. As the
war titled in favor of the Allies, the three major Allied
powers - America, Britain, and Soviet Russia - met at three
major conferences during 1943-1945. At these meetings they would
divide up the postwar world.
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