Figure 1.--Operation Barbarossa which Hitler unleased on the Soviet Union (June 1941) unleased the major theater of the War--the Eastern Front. It was here that the outcome of the War was decided. The destating German victories in the early months of the War and the primitive conditions the Germans found convinced them that they had won the War. By October when we believe a Germn soldier took this photograph, Soviet resistance was beginning to stiffin. The men and boys in this peasant village had no way of knowing what the Germans had in store for them in the New Order the NAZIs were planning.

World War II was the most titantic war in human history. Operations spanned the globe, even reaching into remote Arctic areas and steemy Pacific jungles that few people knew. There were several important theaters of operations. These included Northern Europe, the Eastern Front, the Mediterranean, China-Burma-India, and the Pacific. They were in effect two separate wars. The connecting point was the Axis, although actuall cooperation between the European and Asian Axis partners was limited. NAZI Germany launched the war in Europe. Even before America entered the War, the decession was taken that NAZI Germany was the great danger. The Western Allies thus adopted a Germany First Strategy. Thus when Hitler broke his Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin and attacked his Soviet ally, both Britain and America hastened to aid the Soviet Union. The scale of war on the Eastern Front is difficult to comprehend. Victory here may have brought Hitler victory. He gambled on on victory in one emmense stroke--Barbarossa (1941). The Wehrmacht almost succeeded. The Soviets, however, held at Moscow and delivered an enormous blow on the Wehrmact. The Soviets achieved this victory basically on their own. The subsequent campaign was a massive bloodletting. But the Soviets gradually gained the advanyaged, enprmously aided by Americam Lend Lease supplies. While the War was settled on the Eastern Front, but the other theaters were of considerable importance. Britain by defying the NAZIs (1940) meant that Hitler could never focus exclusively on the Soviet Union. Brtain's defiance also helped to complicate Hitler's attempt to organize an anti-Bolshevick cruasade in Europe. Britain also was the platform for the strategic bombing campaign (1941-45) as well as the eventual breeching of Festung Europa (1944). The Mediterranean was of lesser importance, but it was where the Wehrmacht taught the British and Americans how to fight modern mobile warfare. D-Day and the Anglo-American campaign in Western Europe was of immense importance, not only in defeating NAZI Germany, but also in preserving democracy in Western Europe. With the failure of NAZI Germany to defeat the Soviet Union, Japan ever after its stunning success at Peall Harbor (1941) and series of victories in South East Asia and the Pacific (1942) did not have the industrial capacity to succeed in a protacted war. The Japanese militarists like Hitler gambled. They convinced themselves that America would not have the moral fortitude to attempt to win back the expansive empire carved out by the Japanese aggressions. It was also a dreadful miscalculation.

The European War

There was on country responsible for the war in Europe. German Führer led a rager reluctant German people to war. NAZI Germany launched the war in Europe with the invasion of Poland (1939). The major theaters were: Northern Europe, the Eastern Front, and the Mediterranean, Even before America entered the War, the decession was taken that NAZI Germany was the great danger. The Western Allies thus adopted a Germany First Strategy. Thus when Hitler broke his Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin and attacked his Soviet ally, both Britain and America hastened to aid the Soviet Union. The scale of war on the Eastern Front is difficult to comprehend. Victory here may have brought Hitler victory. He gambled on on victory in one emmense stroke--Barbarossa (1941). The Wehrmacht almost succeeded. The Soviets, however, held at Moscow and delivered an enormous blow on the Wehrmact. The Soviets achieved this victory basically on their own. The subsequent campaign was a massive bloodletting. But the Soviets gradually gained the advanyaged, enprmously aided by Americam Lend Lease supplies. While the War was settled on the Eastern Front, but the other theaters were of considerable importance. Britain by defying the NAZIs (1940) meant that Hitler could never focus exclusively on the Soviet Union. Brtain's defiance also helped to complicate Hitler's attempt to organize an anti-Bolshevick cruasade in Europe. Britain also was the platform for the strategic bombing campaign (1941-45) as well as the eventual breeching of Festung Europa (1944). The Mediterranean was of lesser importance, but it was where the Wehrmacht taught the British and Americans how to fight modern mobile warfare. D-Day and the Anglo-American campaign in Western Europe was of immense importance, not only in defeating NAZI Germany, but also in preserving democracy in Western Europe.

Connecting Point: The Axis

The Axis began with the Pact of Steel Between Hilter and Mussolini. After the NAZIs launched the War, the Japanese ascribed to the Axis (1940). Several countries dominated by Germany and Japan also joined the Axis. The connecting point between the European and Pacific Wars was the Axis. Even so, actuall cooperation between the European and Asian Axis partners was limited. This might have been different, but when the Soviets held at Moscow (1941) and the British held in the Middle East (1942) and India (1942). The European and Asian Axis countries were unable to make contact. The Axis helped encourage Japan to attack the United States, but the major impact of this was ironically to bring America into the war against NAZI Germany. The Axis never coorinated their military effort and there was only limited technological and industrial cooperation.

The Asian War

As in Europe, there was on country responsible for the Asian War and that country was Japan. Unlike Germany, however, the decesion for war was not that of one man, but rather a military clique. The Asian theater of World War II is often referred to as the Pacific War by Americans. This is a reasonably accurate description of the American participation in the War and it was in the Pacific that the outcome of the War was largely settled, but a better description would be the Asian War. It was in China that the Japanese launched the War. And it was American diplomatic protestations abd economic scantions to assist China that that brought America and Japan in conflict. And it was in China that the bulk of the Japanese Army ws deployed. And it was in part to force the Chinese to surender, by curring them off from outside aid that the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. And American Allies, Britain and the Soiviet Union deployed important armies in Asia to defeat the Japanese. The decesion to go to war against America and Britain has to be the most misguided decesion in the long history of the Japnese people. It wa a decesion made by a military clique with a total misaprenension of both America and modern warfare. The first is perhaps understndable the second as military men seems baffeling. It seems a decession taken on the basic of a mixture of medieval warrior code, economic natioinalism, and xeopephobic racism. With the failure of NAZI Germany to defeat the Soviet Union, Japan ever after its stunning success at Pearl Harbor (1941) and series of victories in South East Asia and the Pacific (1942) did not have the industrial capacity to succeed in a protracted war. This was especially the case because the Asian war would be decided in the Pacific by naval and air forces which would be largely fubctions of industrial and scientific capacity. Any basic assessments of the American and Japanese industrial base would lead one to the conclusion that war with America was national suiside. The Japanese militarists, however, like Hitler gambled. They convinced themselves that America despite its industrial capacity had not willingness to fight. They believed that America would not have the moral fortitude to attempt to win back the expansive empire carved out by the Japanese aggressions. It was like Hitler's gamble, also a dreadful miscalculation. In the end the Japanese were reduced to suiside campaigns in an effort to stave off defeat. The major theaters of the Asian War were China, Burma and India, and the Pacific. There was one striking difference between the Asian and European War. With the exception of China, the countries which Japan invaded and conquered were not indepedent countries, but rather European colonies and the American semi-colony of the Philippines which was about to granted independence. Thus the Japanese were not viewed in quite the same way as the Germans in Europe nor were the victorious Allied armies viewed as liberators. Here the situation varied from country to country.

Created: 12:54 AM 7/24/2007
Last updated: 2:54 AM 8/3/2007