The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 ends World War I. It is negotiated by France, Britain, Italy, and the US in the Paris Peace Conference. The treaty requires Germany to pay reparations of $31 billion ($400 billion in 2024 dollars), causing hyperinflation and economic collapse by 1923.
Rise of fascism. Fascist leaders claim that unquestioning obedience to a totalitarian state is needed to rescue their nations from economic chaos.
Hitler’s rise to power
The Sturmabteilung (SA, “stormtroopers”) led by Röhm were Nazi paramilitary which attacked anti-Nazi protestors and Jews. It grew to 2,000,000 members, mostly radical working class. German army leader Göring and SS leader Himmler accuse Röhm of planning to betray Hitler because Röhm wanted to absorb the German Army into the SA. Further, President Hindenburg threatens to depose the Nazi regime unless the SA was reduced, triggering the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934 when Hitler executes around 100 SA leaders. Afterwards, Reich Marshall Göring becomes the most powerful Nazi leader after Hitler. The Schutzstaffel (SS, “protection squadron”) led by Himmler becomes the main Nazi secret police and carries out the Holocaust.
Nazi Germany killed 6 million Jews, 2 million Poles, and 3 million Soviet prisoners of war. In Poland, Nazis killed 90% or three million of the Jews. Nazis also killed many Romany (Gypsies), Slavs (Poles and Russians), gay people, and disabled people, who they viewed as subhuman. The Nuremburg Laws of 1935 strip Jews of German citizenship and rights. Nazis detain Jews in walled-off ghettos without food, heat, or medicine, with hundreds of thousands dying in in Warsaw and Lodz. Allied countries accept few Jewish refugees despite knowing about their horrific persecution. In the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, Nazis send 30,000 Jews to concentration camps. Josef Mengele and others perform deadly experiments on prisoners. In 1939, Jews were required to wear a yellow star and obey a curfew, and were banned from using bikes or buses or socializing with non-Jews.
In 1942, Nazis formulate the “Final Solution of the Jewish question” at the Wannsee Conference. Concentration camps at Auschwitz and Treblinka each exterminate about 1 million people in gas chambers, accumulating mountains of jewelry, glasses, shoes, and bones from victims.
The Diary of Anne Frank (1947) traces her emotional growth hiding in a secret annex in Amsterdam. She writes “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” In August 1944, the Nazis discover the family and Anne dies of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just weeks before it is liberated.
September 1939. Germany invades Poland and France and Britain declare war.
The Battle of the Atlantic is the naval theater of the war. Germany sinks 3,500 merchant ships with U-boat wolf pack tactics over the course of the war and spent more money on its navy than on its ground vehicles. Hitler was skeptical that strategic bombing was effective, and Luftwaffe leader Göring refuses to collaborate with the navy. Britain achieves superiority with a larger industrial capacity, larger convoys, cheaper destroyer escorts and frigates, advances in sonar (codenamed ASDIC), and long-range B-24 Liberators.
Balkans campaign.
The area bombing directive of 1942 targets German civilians, leading to the firebombing of Hamburg in 1943 killing 37,000 and the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 killing 25,000.
North African campaign
Witold’s Report in 1943 describes the Auschwitz gas chambers.
The Italian campaign. Allies invade Sicily in July 1943 and invade mainland Italy in September, leading to an Italian Civil War between fascits and the Italian resistance movement. General Patton slaps two shell-shocked soldiers. In April 1945, Mussolini is executed and Army Group C (600,000 soldiers) surrenders at Caserta.
In the 20 July plot of 1944, military officers fail to assassinate Hitler with a briefcase bomb. von Moltke prevented the deportation of Danish Jews and was executed in January 1944. In 1942, Major General Oster and Colonel von Tresckow recruited oppositionists into the army and connected with General Olbricht, who suggested using Operation Valkyrie to deploy the Replacement Army. In March 1943, they try to bomb Hitler’s plane but it fails to detonate. On July 1, 1944, Stauffenberg is appointed Chief of Staff to General Fromm, commander of the Replacement Army. However, the bomb fails to kill Hitler. Olbricht continues with the coup anyway, which fails.
On June 6, 1944, Operation Overlord starts with the Normandy beach landings of 160,000 troops across the English Channel, with 10,000 casualties. Dwight D. Eisenhower is Supreme Allied commander, resolving disagreements between allies. The beach was divided into five sectors, from west to east: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Omar Bradley leads the First United States Army which lands at Utah and Omaha. He is described as quiet, unassuming, capable, and absolutely dependable. The British land at Gold and Sword and the Canadians at Juno.
For the first week, the Allies focused on linking the beachheads. The US Army fights northwest and captures the deepwater port of Cherbourg on the tip of the Contentin peninsula on July 1. The British pin down every Panzer unit in the Battle for Caen. Operation Cobra on July 25 is the US breakout west of St. Lo, sweeping east through bocage (hedgerow) country using tusked “Rhino” tanks. Omar Bradley leads the Twelfth US Army Group, the largest US formation in history with 1.3 million soldiers across four field armies. The Allies close the Falaise pocket on 21 August, capturing 50,000 Germans, the rest escaping across the river Seine. In Operation Dragoon, the Allies land in Southern France on August 15, which diverts forces from the Balkans, ceding them to Stalin.
The Allies liberate Paris on August 25. The French Committee of National Liberation becomes the Provisional Government of the French Republic. It holds elections for a Constituent Assembly in 1945, which drafts a constitution for a Fourth French Republic that is rejected. The Constituent Assembly of 1946 drafts a bicameral constitution which is adopted in a referendum on October 1946.
In September, the Siegfried Line campaign is a rapid armored drive across France.
Operation Bodyguard was the plan to protect the Normandy landings by deceiving the Nazis. Operation Fortitude planted evidence of plans to invade Pas-de-Calais, with Juan Pujol García inventing 27 imaginary spies. The Double-Cross System captured every single German spy, including Wulf Schmidt.
Bombing and channel minesweeping began at midnight. Around 25,000 US paratroopers failed to block approaches to Utah beach for three days. The invasion fleet involved 200,000 sailors, mostly from Britain. The Landing Ship, Tank (LST) had a shallow draft, flat keel, and a large bow door that could open into a ramp. Hobart’s Funnies were early combat engineering vehicles, including Duplex Drive (DD) amphibious tanks, Crocodile flamethrower tanks used to clear bunkers and trenches, Crab fail tanks for mineclearing, armored bulldozers, and Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVREs) which could be fitted with a mortar, demolition charges, a reel of steel and cloth path, or an assault bridge.
Temporary Mulberry harbours were used for the landing. Corncobs (blockships) were scuttled to act as gooseberries (outer breakwaters), around 10 per sector. Phoenixes were towable concrete breakwaters, 146 total, up to 6,000 tons. Bombardons were floating steel breakwaters, 24 per mile, which broke up during storms at the end of June. To the west, the more protected Mulberry harbor at Arromanches was built in the first week and used to land 2.5 million men and 4 million tons of supplies over ten months.
Battle of the Bulge on December 1944 was Hitler’s failed attempt to split the Allied forces, with 80,000 US casualties and similar German casualties. In the Battle of Elsenborn Ridge, the Americans block the Germans from three key northern roads, using time-on-target concentrated artillery fire with shells armed with proximity fuses. In the siege of Bastogne, the Americans hold important southern roads despite a temporary German encirclement, forcing Germans to advance slowly through dense Ardennes forest. Patton’s Third Army arrives on December 26, ending the siege.
In the Yalta Conference on February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin ratify the European Advisory Commission London Protocol dividing Germany into occupation zones. Stalin agrees to invade Machuria, which would reduce US casualties.
Hitler commits suicide on April 30, and Germany surrenders on May 7, 1945.
In June 1941, Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, encircling most of the Western Soviet army, 500k soldiers. In September, the First Battle of Kiev again encircles 500k Red Army soldiers. The Siege of Leningrad results in 2M Soviet deaths and 500k German losses, before the Soviets break the siege in the Operation Iskra in January. The Battle of Moscow in September 1941 results in a German defeat, with 500k German and 1M Soviet losses.
October 1941. German Siege of Sevastopol.
Under Shōwa Statism, the military dominates politics and advocates imperial expansion across Asia. There is broad domestic support to secure iron and coal resources and overturn unequal treaties imposed by the West.
Japanese expansion in Asia leads to conflict with France and Britain.
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, bringing the US into the war. This was a preemptive strike to neutralize the US. Japan attacked all eight US battleships, though four were quickly repaired. 2,400 Americans die, though most Americans were on shore leave. Casualties would be ten times higher if the battleships sank in deep water. Japan ignored important facilities like the shipyard, power station, and oil tanks. Further, all three US carriers were away and uninvolved in the battle.
The same day, Japan invades the Philippines, an American colony with oil and rubber resources. Japan captures the port of Manila after five brutal months of war. 25,000 Americans are killed and 100,000 are captured and sent to Japan on hell ships.
The Doolittle Raid of April 1942: US bombs Tokyo, killing 50.
In May 1942, the Japanese fail to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The US intercepted the battle plans and damage the Shōkaku and most aircraft on Zuikaku.
Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. The US intercepted the battle plans and destroys the Japanese navy.
Rear Admiral Fletcher holds overall command from a hastily patched up Yorktown, while Rear Admiral Spruance leads the Enterprise and Hornet carriers. Vice Admiral Nagumo leads Carrier Divisions 1 (Kaga and Akagi) and 2 (Hiryū and Sōryū) of the Kidō Butai.
At 4:30, Nagumo launches his initial attack on Midway with 112 planes. It fails, so at 7:15, he orders his reserve planes re-armed with land bombs. At 8:00, Nagumo receives a scouting report of a large naval force to the east, of unknown composition. He decides to rearm with torpedos instead of attacking with half his aircraft ready. Nagumo would need 30 minutes to launch them against the enemy ships, and the Midway bombers would need the flight deck imminently as they returned. The hangars are filled with stacked bombs and torpedoes, fuel hoses, and armed planes. Meanwhile, Spruance’s staff was relatively inexperienced and slow, and Spruance chooses to launch uncoordinated attacks to prevent the Japanese from assembling a full counterstrike. Without fighter escort, almost all the initial US torpedo planes are lost, and none of the Mark 13 torpedos explode properly. Nonetheless, the attacks draw the Japanese combat air patrol Zeros away to the southeast and deplete their fuel.
Two dive-bomber squadrons from the Enterprise under McClusky run low on fuel finding their target, but keep looking, and follow the destroyer Arashi to the Japanese carriers. A miscommunication causes both Enterprise squadrons to dive at Kaga, which is destroyed. Lt. Best redirects to Akagi and lands one fatal hit, penetrating the mid-ship deck elevator to the upper hangar. Yorktown’s VB-3 destroys the Sōryū. Hiryū sinks the Yorktown with 16 aircraft, and later, Yorktown sinks the Hiryū with 24 dive bombers. Admiral Yamamoto and Kondo led supporting battleships with scout planes which were unavailable to support, because they were dispersed to hide them from the US fleet and slower than the carriers.
Operation Cartwheel is MacArthur’s leapfrogging strategy for the southern prong of attack towards the Philippines, with attacks on lightly guarded beaches to cut supply lines, bypassing most islands. The Solomon Islands campaign starts with the Guadalcanal campaign in August 1942. The Western New Guinea campaign in the Bismarck Archipelago starts with the Landing at Aitape (Operation Persecution) and the Battle of Hollandia (Operation Reckless) in April 1944.
The northern prong is led by Nimitz, who favors island hopping, frontal assaults with heavy casualties. The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign includes the Battle of Tarawa on November 1943, Battle of Kwajalein in January 1944.
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. The Battle of Saipan in June 1944. The Battle of the Philippine Sea is the largest carrier battle, where Japan loses almost all 450 of its carrier aircraft. The US obtained the plans for Operation Z plans to lure the US fleet into battle. The Japanese flagship explodes due to volatile fumes from unrefined fuel. The Battle of Guam and Battle of Tinian in July 1944. The Battle of Peleliu and Battle of Anguar in Palau in September 1944.
Philippines campaign begins with the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, the largest naval battle. Halsey’s powerful US Third Fleet was supposed to protect the San Bernardino Strait, but falls for a Japanese decoy, allowing Kurita’s Center Force to attack Kinkaid’s Seventh Fleet, which manages to escape with suicidal attacks by small destroyers and poorly equipped aircraft. The Battle of Leyte is MacArthur’s amphibious landing.
Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign: Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and Battle of Okinawa in April 1945 near the Bonin Islands.
Strategic bombing of Japan in 1945 kill over 300,000 people, including 100,000 dead in one air raid of Tokyo. The Manhattan Project develops the nuclear bomb. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki kill around 150,000 people on August 6 and 9, respectively. On August 10, Emperor Hirohito surrenders in the Potsdam Declaration.
Atrocities: Japanese troops kill 10 million Chinese and Koreans: the Nanjing massacre, the Manila massacre, comfort women, Vietnamese Famine of 1945.
The Myanmar military commits the Rohingya genocide, with around 1 million refugees fleeing to Bangladesh.
The Nuremberg trials charge leaders with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
1945 Yalta Conference. Churchill, Stalin, and FDR decide the post-war organization of Europe. They dissolve the League of Nations and transfer the remaining Mandates to become UN Trust Territories. Japan loses Korea, which is divided between Soviets and Americans.