World War II and the Holocaust
The Second World War (1939-1945) was the deadliest conflict in human history, killing an estimated 70-85 million people, and included the Holocaust.
Early German victories
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, using rapid 'blitzkrieg' tactics combining tanks, aircraft, and infantry. In 1940, Germany conquered Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Britain, led by Winston Churchill, held out in the Battle of Britain, as the Royal Air Force prevented a German invasion.
A world at war
In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), opening the war's largest front. In December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and European colonies across Southeast Asia, bringing the US into the war. The Allies (Britain, the Soviet Union, the US, China, and others) fought the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan).
Turning points
In 1942-1943, the tide turned: the US Navy won at Midway (June 1942); British and Commonwealth forces won at El Alamein in Egypt (late 1942); and the Soviet Union destroyed a German army at Stalingrad (1942-1943), the decisive turning point in Europe.
The Holocaust
Nazi Germany systematically murdered about six million Jews, two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population, as well as Roma, disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish civilians, gay men, and political opponents. After mass shootings by mobile killing units in the East, the Nazis built death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Sobibor, where victims were murdered with poison gas.
Resistance and rescue
Jews resisted in many ways, from preserving culture and records to armed uprisings such as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943). Some non-Jews risked their lives to hide and rescue Jews; Israel's Yad Vashem has recognised more than 28,000 people as 'Righteous Among the Nations'. Resistance movements across occupied Europe sabotaged and spied on German forces.
Allied victory
The Allies landed in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944, while Soviet forces advanced from the east. Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945 (V-E Day). In the Pacific, the US captured islands one by one; after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war, Japan surrendered in August 1945, formally signing on 2 September.
Consequences
The war killed an estimated 70-85 million people, a majority of them civilians; the Soviet Union and China suffered the greatest losses. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials prosecuted war crimes, establishing that individuals could be held responsible for crimes against humanity. The United Nations was founded in 1945, and Europe's colonial empires were fatally weakened.
Worked example
The Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946) established a key principle of international law: 'following orders' is not a defence for crimes against humanity. Senior Nazi leaders were tried before an international tribunal, and several were executed. The trials helped shape later international law, including the Genocide Convention (1948) and, decades later, the International Criminal Court.
Key takeaways
Germany's blitzkrieg conquered much of Europe by 1940; Britain held out. Germany's invasion of the USSR and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 globalised the war. Midway, El Alamein, and Stalingrad were turning points. The Holocaust murdered about six million Jews and millions of others. Jews and others resisted; rescuers saved many. D-Day and Soviet advances defeated Germany; Japan surrendered after the atomic bombings and Soviet entry. The war killed 70-85 million and led to Nuremberg and the UN.
Flashcard
Rapid combined-arms warfare
Check your understanding
What principle did the Nuremberg Trials establish?