Stages of World War II

The Second World War It is one of the most important conflicts in the history of the world, bringing a series of catastrophic consequences that changed the world forever. The conflict had a long duration, being the cause for which we can find several stages within the war depending on the events that occurred. To know the different parts of this important historical moment in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the stages of World War II.

The first of the stages of World War II is the so-called Blitzkrieg, being able to place it chronologically between 1939 and 1940. It is known for the first attacks launched by the Axis powersto be able to take relevant positions, being quick attacks and that is why this stage is called Blitzkrieg.

In 1939, Hitler was already the leader total of Nazi Germany, having ended the opposition and positioning himself as head of the German state for life. The Nazism considered that Germany had been humiliated by different European states after its defeat in the First World War and, therefore, a total war had to be started to recover what they considered as their own.

First conquests of the Nazis

The first conquest of Germany was Czechoslovakia, a country that had a small territory made up of a large part of the German population that, according to Hitler, suffered from inequalities. Hitler asked Czechoslovakia that the territory passed into German hands but, after the rejection, he decided to attack the area and conquer all of Czechoslovakia.

After the conquest of Czechoslovakia Hitler set his eyes on Gdansk, an area of ​​Poland in which the German population was very numerous and, therefore, he asked the Polish government to give him the area. Poland refused and signed mutual defense treaties with France and Great Britain. Few months later Hitler invaded Poland, thus initiating the Second World War.

In a blitzkrieg, Germany conquers all of Poland in a short time, while countries like France, the United Kingdom or Australia declared war on him. While this was happening, the other Axis powers, allied with Germany, also took positions, conquering Italy regions such as Albania, Somalia or Libya, and the Japanese initiating the conflict with China that took years getting ready.

In the mid-1940s the Germans launched a massive lightning attack invading Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. The first three states fell rapidly, and it was then that Germany made the first of the great movements of the war, occupying France. The support of Italy attacking from the south caused France to surrender, and the Germans occupied the French capital of Paris.

After that, they took place bombing between England and Germany, while the latter occupied areas such as Greece or Yugoslavia. It was at this time with its greatest ally busy, and with almost no military resources, that England asked the United States for help.

The second stage of the Second World War takes place when all the most powerful states entered to fight between 1941 and 1942; therefore when the war became a true world conflict. And it can be said that right now World War II was divided into three parts differentiated, being the following:

• Continental front: Once France is occupied and the rest of continental Europe being part of Germany, either by conquest or by alliance, Hitler set his eyes on the USSR. Germany's invasion phase of the USSR was called Operation Barbarossa, and it took place in the summer of 1941. The attack came as a great surprise to the Russians, who were unprepared and suffered heavy casualties, but the The arrival of winter turned the tables, and finally the Germans had to withdraw from the Russian zone and stop the invasion.
• Pacific Front: The pearl harbor attack on the Japanese side it entailed the United States entry In the Second World War. The American entry was vital to a war in which China seemed increasingly defeated by the Japanese power. This part of the war was based on the importance of controlling the Pacific by the end of World War II.
• The Balkans and North Africa: Italy, with German support, had a series of conflicts to control these two areas as Hitler thought that the control of the African coast was vital to stop possible surprise attacks by the Allies Italy did not have German military power and, after years of fighting, began to lose African areas to Allied pressure.

The first victories over the Axis powers in the three conflict zones they led the Allies to initiate a counteroffensive to defeat Hitler. The entry of the USSR and the United States made the rest of the Allies have much greater support than just two years before

• The USSR launched a counteroffensive against Nazi Germany, ending with its occupation in the area of ​​Belarus and the Baltic area, this being horrible for German interests, which were surrounded by Russians and Allies.
• On the other hand, the Allies, once Italy had defeated in Africa, decided attack the Italian peninsula. The Allies were too numerous, so the Italian government betrayed Hitler and he signed a peace treaty with the allies. Shortly after Hitler occupied all of Italy, starting a war between the Allies and their Italian supporters and the Germans and the part of Italy that still supported Mussolini.
• The so-called Normandy's landing, when a huge number of British and American fighting forces landed in Normandy, initiating the Allied liberation. In a short time the Allies managed to liberate France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands from the German invasion, forcing the Germans to retreat to their country.
• In the other part of the world the Japanese were getting weaker, suffering attacks from the United States and China both by land, by sea and by air, and it was only a matter of time before Japan surrendered.

To conclude this lesson on stages of World War II we must talk about the last of these stages, being the end of the war and therefore the moment in which the Allies defeated the Axis powers.

The Allies and the USSR They took all the areas invaded by Germany, both reaching Berlin to make the region surrender. Hitler, seeing that he had lost the war, committed suicide and, after that, Germany lost the war.

The only Axis power that had not ended World War II was a very weakened Japan. The United States tested its new weapon to end the war forever, the so-called atomic wars that were launched against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This brought the surrender of Japan and thus the end of World War II.