Short Note On Second World War:
It is incredible that the generation which had faced a fierce war would be so readily disposed to resurrect the same holocaust and throw the world once again into a series of devastating events. But even then it happened because wars are born out of a desire for war and when a number of nations are burning with belligerence what else can be expected?
The causes of World War II (1939-45) were similar to those of any other war. This war was the largest, most ferocious and devastating in the history of mankind. During this period a barbarous war was fought not only in Europe but many despoiling battles were fought in Asia, Africa and the Islands in the Pacific Ocean. As far as the question of its origin is concerned its seeds were implicit in basic tendencies towards imperialism, militarism and factionalism.
It is often difficult to foresee future events such as the disintegration of the USSR or the integration of Germany (September 1990). Similarly, it was difficult to imagine that Germany which had been crippled in World War I would start moving forward on the crutches of Hitler so soon.
Really speaking, the Treaty of Versailles acted as a catalyst for the war. To revenge this Treaty was the sole aim of Germany after World War I. Had Germany been treated with the same sympathy and cooperation that were extended towards her after World War II. The rise of Nazism would have been nobody’s guess. Revenge is never good. Perhaps no world leader did understand this fact better than Mahatma Gandhi. Germany took vengeance on France (1870), France took vengeance on Germany (1919), and then again Germany settled accounts with France (1939). Reactionary countries like Japan, Germany and Italy came together.
Churchill, the wartime Prime Minister of Britain was a very wise leader. He infused a new spirit not only in his own country but also in all the war-stricken countries. In his famous address, he said, “Friends! At this time I cannot give you anything except blood, tears, toil and sweat. You want to know our policy; our policy is to fight against an enemy everywhere on the land, in the air, in the seas, the enemy whose devilish power has no match in the whole history. You like to know our object, our objective is to win at any cost. Without victory, we have no existence! Besides Churchill, the unique understanding of Russian leader Stalin, American President Roosevelt, American commander-in-chief Eisenheur, Chinese leader Chiang-kai-Shek etc. brought World War II to an end in favour of the Allies.
After the end of World War II, there was no feeling of revenge in the atmosphere as it had been in 1919 because during the war the Axis nations had let loose their anger through heavy bombing.
They had also learnt a lesson from history. A policy of cooperation with the governments that were formed in Germany, Italy and Japan after the war was adopted. The great UNO was born. After World War II the USA and the USSR emerged as the two great powers and the world was divided into blocs. World War II gave a great setback to socialism and nationalist movements in Asia and Africa escalated. Humanitarianism became very influential in the post-War world. Many years have elapsed since World War II came to an end but the world has not yet got rid of the terror of nuclear annihilation nor has the UNO been acceptable to all the nations.
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