World War II: causes, course, and consequences

World War II

The role that the President of the United States of America played in the entry of America into the II World War is a question that has been debated by historians again and again over the years. The widespread belief is that President Roosevelt, upon becoming aware, by 1937, of the threat being caused to America by Japanese and German expansion, saw no other option but to try to arouse an isolationist nation. The famous speech by the President in October 1937 delivered in Chicago is referred to as the Quarantine Speech. This speech was made about two months after the Japanese invasion of China in order to create awareness of the dangerous situation brought about by the Axis Powers. FDR was also demonstrating, in a landmark decision on America's foreign policy, his stand against the Axis Powers. Due to the widespread opposition to this resolve of the president, it is generally believed that he had to compromise on his decision to deal with the totalitarian states with a firm hand. 1

The general situation at that time was that of unrest because of Japan's expansion plans and the alliances of European powers with Japan, thereby giving Japan the much needed economic and political boost to be able to oppose America. It was at this time too that isolationist sentiment was at it's strongest in America. The President has been criticized by some historians of usurping congressional powers to put across his interventionist foreign policy that was of no great benefit to anybody. However, he has also been hailed for the same foreign policy in that, it was due to opposition that he was restricted from pursuing a more flexible policy that could have even succeeded in actually preventing the II World War from breaking out; America would have had the co-operation of England and France in stopping such a devastating war from happening. 2

The general opinion, however, is that FDR was not completely truthful in his treatment of his Foreign Policy. Historians believe that he was playing a subtle game of subterfuge whereby he secretly helped England and France and China while declaring his love for peace and hatred of war. He was also, without the knowledge of the general public, secretly helping opposers of the Axis powers and thereby protecting his own nation. 3 Charles Beard, in his book, 'President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War 1941', declared that though the President had made a vow to keep the nation away from fighting any war, he made no serious attempts to keep up this promise. In fact, he was trying his best to get involved in the war in Europe by totally disregarding his promises that the 'boys' would be kept safe from war except in the case of any direct attacks on them. 4

In 1941, the President sent his naval troops across the Atlantic to defend the English ships from attacks from Germany while at the same time refusing to allow American destroyers to protect British battleships. The President declared that his neutrality pledge was still standing and that there was no progress in the Atlantic Conference that had been held to discuss the state of affairs at that time. The Americans were greatly disappointed at this juncture since they were all eagerly awaiting the chance to get into the fight against Hitler and his atrocities. 5 This is where most historians state that the President Roosevelt acted deliberately in order to expose Pearl Harbor to Japanese attack, thereby grabbing the chance to make a rightful entry into the II World War. 6

There are quite a few controversial reports on whether the President was aware of the upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor or not. But, whatever happened will always be a mystery and the fact remains that the Japanese attacked America in the sneakiest manner possible and forced America into joining the Second World War. Even at this stage, the President, who had been insisting that America would not join the War, was still saying the same thing. But, in secret, he had been holding meetings with Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister to whom he had declared that America and the British would inevitably go to war together and win this war. Therefore, from this viewpoint, America's entry into the II World War seems to be inevitable. 7

America, in the early days before the World War II, had been engaged in a campaign against both Japan and Germany. She had, in fact, frozen all assets of Germany that were in the United States of America. She also sent out a fleet of 50 destroyers to Britain. These acts, however, brought no response from Germany because they were aware that the United States of America was definitely more powerful than them and they did not want to repeat what had happened during World War I again. The President of the United States of America also concentrated on Japan. Germany and Italy that were at war with Britain and Japan that was at war with China had, in fact, signed the Tripartite Treaty in September 1940. This treaty came to be later known as the Berlin-Rome- Tokyo Axis Alliance or, just the Axis. This was a mutual defense treaty whereby these countries had pledged to defend each other when the inevitable happened. FDR knew that, in the case of the United States of America declaring war on Japan, both Italy and Germany would also be forced to do so. 8

The President of America had begun a campaign against Japan that involved freezing Japan's assets in America, closing the Panama Canal against Japan's use for her shipping, ceasing all export of essentials to Japan like oil, etc., and finally, insisting that Japan remove all her troops from China and Indochina in order to receive America's vital exports and trade once more. Evidence shows that America was coercing Japan into violating her Tripartite Treaty with Germany and Italy and thereby forcing her to make the first move against America so as to appear to be the bad party. The bait that America dangled for Japan was the posting of America's Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. This was a vulnerable position for the troops and they were liable to be attacked from all sides. In spite of numerous protests against this posting by Admiral J.O. Richardson, the general impression was that the President was, in fact, determined to enter the War if Great Britain also cooperated with him in his re-election. 9

When J.O. Richardson was quickly replaced with Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, he was assured that he would be kept informed of any impending attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor. This did not happen and he was completely in the dark when Japan attacked his troops in Pearl Harbor, despite the fact that America was proficient in deciphering diplomatic as well as naval messages from Tokyo to its various embassies in Japan and in Hawaii. There was, in fact, information that had been sent by the Japanese Admiral, Yamamoto, declaring that Pearl Harbor had indeed been targeted. Dusko Popov, a Yugoslav working for both Germany and Great Britain, had discovered the impending attack on Pearl Harbor, and had also reported it to the FBI in New York. However, no action was taken and the attack was carried out as planned. Thus, the conspiracy that enabled Japan to plan out her campaign against America succeeded into America throwing the ball into Japan's court and forcing her to make the first move.10

Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler declared war on the United States of America. Why did Hitler do this? Some researchers are of the opinion that it was an inevitable fact that Germany would declare war given the American provocations on Japan and her entry into the European War when there was hardly reason enough for her to do so. Hitler had actually been following a non-interference policy since the division of powers between America and Germany was not on an equal level and he could have let matters lie and let the Japanese fight the United States alone when they attacked Pearl Harbor. But he did declare war on America soon after the attack. Historians believe that though the Allied powers thought that Hitler had large plans for conquest and, in order to fulfill these plans, he literally pushed Japan into war with America. 11

However, there is no kind of evidence to support these claims. The fact is that Germany had to keep America at a neutral level. Japan was nothing but a pawn in these plans. 12 The Americans found themselves helpless in the onslaught of Japanese attacks on American garrisons in the Pacific. By 1942, the U.S. Army was divided into the Air and Ground and Service Forces. This unit decided that the total number of fighters needed would approximate 9 million men divided into 215 combat divisions. America had to not only support her own troops but also those of her Allies: France, Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R. The primary troops were ready to fight by 1942 against the Axis. 13

It is necessary, at this point, to get a general overview of the situation in Germany at this time. In 1944, powerful forces both from the east as well as from the west bombarded Hitler. Added to this were the threats posed by air raids and submarine attacks by Russia supported by her allies. Germany had to attack Russia in 1941, knowing fully well that there could be a massive defeat in store for her. Initially, Russia's losses were huge. But, Russia being a large country with vast resources, this victory was short lived. In December 1941, Germany lost the war and the finale came when America joined the war when she was still full of strength and Germany was completely weak. 14 America, at this juncture, decided to defeat Germany at the very outset in case there was actually a world war. 15

Accordingly, despite the American citizen's desire for neutrality, America did enter the war, after the devastating attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This was done the very next day after the attack when America declared war on both Japan and Germany. 16 Severely weakened by counter attacks and the advance of the Russian troops, Germany could no longer fight the war on an equal footing with the Allies. In 1945, U.S. troops managed to set foot on the Rhine, after which there was no hope for Germany. Both British and American armies entered German soil, along with French troops in a massive air attack.

The power of the Allied forces was beyond compare at this point when they were able to enter Ruhr and capture about 325,000 Germans as prisoners. The invaders also penetrated Austria and Czechoslovakia and Germany had to give up even more of her citizens in surrender. Meanwhile, the Soviets had entered Berlin and met with the American troops that were already present there. In the fighting that followed, Hitler found that he could not cope, and he finally committed suicide in April, after which Berlin had to surrender. 17 This then was the battle against Germany carried out by the United States of America and her Allies.

Japan, however, was another major player in the Second World War. Japan was a country lacking in natural resources and had to rely on outside help for its share. The United States was a major supplier of such resources as oil and petroleum. But when Japan attacked China for reasons of expansion, America disapproved and shut off all supplies to Japan. When this was done, Japan had no option other than to look elsewhere for its supplies and this is what happened. Southeast Asia had rich natural resources and this is where she set her sights on as the American embargo showed no signs of loosening up. 18 The United States stood between Japans plans of expansion to the East Indies by stationing her troops in Pearl Harbor and thereby preventing any communications between Japan and the East Indies. Frustrated, Japan started planning her attack on the U.S. troops at Pearl Harbor. 19

This surprise attack was meant to immobilize U.S. forces so that in the confusion after the attack, Japan would be able to seize the Dutch East Indies, as well as Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. Following the successful capture of these islands, they would fortify themselves by strengthening the islands of the South and the Central Pacific. Once this was done, they would be strong enough to oppose the Americans and also negotiate peace with them. In comparison to the Japanese forces, the United States' forces were very minimal; they were comprised of two small forces foe land defense. The American Navy and Army had developed certain strategies to fight the Japanese in the case of an attack. The Navy was to fight across the Pacific while the Army was to fight across the Alaska-Hawaii- Panama line. However, all these strategies came to naught, when the Japanese actually attacked on December 7, 1941. 20

Both the U.S. air forces and the U.S. armed forces were almost completely destroyed in this devastating attack and the Japanese captured Malaya and Singapore and Burma and the Dutch East Indies in a rapid series of victories. Macarthur tried his best to defend Manila against Japanese advance, to no avail, since the U.S. troops were grossly inadequate for such an immense task. He just could not face the Japanese on their beaches and he retreated to Bataan Peninsula from where he assumed that he would be able to plan out counter strategies against Japan. This was not to be and in May 1942, the fight for Philippines ended and the U.S. had to surrender the Bataan forces to the Japanese. The exhausted forces were made to march towards camps in Luzon in inhuman conditions. This 'Bataan Death March' filled the hearts of Americans with extreme hatred for the Japanese. This did not in any way deter the Japanese from establishing an entire empire of conquered territories, something that even they found a mite difficult to actually believe. 21

They had succeeded beyond their wildest expectations in defeating a country of the caliber of the United States of America. They were further tempted to try to go beyond this and try to venture into Honolulu and the Solomon Islands and herein began their descent and eventual defeat at the hands of America and her Allies. These forces together were a definite threat to the Japanese Empire whereby Japan did not possess the resources to both defend her boundaries and also produce more planes and ships for her defense forces. The Battle of Midway in 1942 in the Coral Sea proved to be a lost battle for the Japanese and a turning point for the Americans. The losses suffered were heavy and a large number of planes and ships and soldiers were lost. The Navy headed by Admiral Nimitz, and the Army under General Macarthur carried on long and bloody campaigns against the Japanese in order to set up a base for the Allied Forces to wage war on Japan and in June 1944, Saipan, Guam and Tinian were all captured by U.S. troops. 22

This proved to be a basis for political unrest in Japan and resulted eventually in the fall of the Tojo Government. The Marianas were captured during the Battle of the Philippine Sea with the primary intention of providing a base in the heart of Japan for the B29, the state- of- the- art new bomber of the Army Air Forces. This facilitated the strategic bombing of Japan and thus began the defeat of Japan by the United States of America. The U.S. bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the final cap to the whole episode, along with the declaration of war by the Soviet Union. The Japanese in 1945 had to lay down their arms and offer to, under the leadership of Emperor Hirohito surrender. 23

The War in Europe was launched by the Americans to strike against the Nazi Germany. In 1944, the Germans tried to halt the progress of the Allies into Germany in a bloody campaign also known as the Battle of the Bulge. However there was to be no success for Hitler and he became totally exhausted in this attempt at defiance against America. The German soldiers became a totally disorganized force whereby there was no control and they began to surrender out of fear and exhaustion. It was in 1945 that the Soviets reached Berlin and Hitler killed himself. Meanwhile, Mussolini had been killed when trying to escape to Switzerland and this is how the United States of America defeated all the Axis powers namely Japan, Germany, and Italy. 24 With the U.S. victory in the War of Europe and in the Pacific War, the Greatest War in human history, the Second World War, was won, and May 8, 1945 was declared as V-E Day.