The Second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945.

The Second World War was, in some ways, the result of the First World War. That war had not been settled properly. The Germans felt that they had been treated badly, especially by the French, who demanded that huge amounts of money be paid to them for damage caused in the war.

The result of that was to make Germany so poor it could not feed its people or recover properly. This meant that there was great unhappiness among the people of Germany and so they were quick to support an extreme leader, mainly because he promised better times and a return to the pride that Germans once felt. His name was Adolf Hitler and he led the Nazi Party.

For a while, everything he said came true. But it was also a promise based on hate for certain kinds of people and the promise to expand Germany again.

Most European countries did not want war again, so they would not stand up to Germany. But finally, the Prime Minister of Britain could do nothing else but to declare war on Germany. That was in 1939.

By then most of Europe was in German hands. The early years of the war were a stalemate. Germany found it could not beat the RAF (British Air Force) and so could not risk sending an army over in landing craft in case their boats were sunk by the RAF. But, all the same, even with the amazing help of the Commonwealth and Empire, there was nothing much Britain could do to push Germany back.

Then, quite by chance, an event happened on the far side of the world that was to change all that. It happened on Dec 7, 1941. Japan made an agreement with Germany and then attacked the United States. That meant that the United States was at war with both Germany and Japan.

With massive support from the United States, both in military and in goods, the balance of forces was changed. Eventually the Germans and their allies were pushed back, and the Nazis defeated.

The lesson of the First World War was not, however, forgotten. Europe lay in ruins. The Americans then gave loans to help the European countries grow back again. As a result the Germans (and all the other countries) were able to rebuild and no one felt bitter. Within a few years, the first group of European countries began forming together, and now that group is called the European Union.

The War as seen from Britain
In the first years of the war, the Germans invaded many of the countries of Europe, but because Britain was an island, it was difficult for the Germans to invade. In order to invade the Germans had to send ships with their army. But these could easily have been destroyed by the British air force. So, from July 1940 to June 1941, the Battle of Britain and then the Blitz was fought in the skies above Britain.

On cloudy nights, when anti-aircraft guns could not see them, the German Air Force would drop bombs on the factories and cities of the United Kingdom. The goal of the Germans was to destroy Britain’s air defences so they could invade, but this never happened and eventually the invasion was called off.

At the same time, German U-boats patrolled the seas, to prevent supplies from reaching the United Kingdom. One reason this did not work was because the Americans built more than 2,700 Liberty ships to bring supplies to Britain. The U.S. also supplied military and other supplies through the Lend-Lease program.

Of course, the British also had help from the nations in the British Empire and the Commonwealth. Countries like India and Australia contributed millions of soldiers and a huge amount of supplies to fighting the Axis powers, and without them, the war could not have been won.

The war as seen from the U.S.
As WWII began in Europe, many people in the U.S. did not want to get involved in what they saw as Europe’s fight. But Pearl Harbor changed all that. Because Germany and Japan were allies, he U.S. decided that it was necessary to fight in both the Pacific and in Europe at the same time.

In January 1942, U.S. troops arrived in Great Britain and fought alongside the British and other Allied forces in Africa and Europe.

At the same time, U.S. and Allied troops were fighting in the Pacific, to defeat the Japanese.

When the U.S. entered the war, the country was still in the Depression, but now they needed to build ships and planes very quickly. Almost overnight, there were jobs for almost anyone who wanted one and the nation’s factories and manufacturers were booming again. So while Europe was being destroyed, the U.S. was forging ahead. After the war this would help mean that the U.S. was wealthier than anywhere else in the world.

There were also jobs in the military, as millions of people joined up to fight. After the war, the GI Bill would help many of these people pay for a college education and training, and this would help the economy boom in the after war period as well.

When the war ended, the U.S. did not make the mistake that happened after WWI – of bankrupting Germany. Instead, they developed the Marshall Plan. Under this plan the U.S. gave money to Western European countries that had been ruined by the war, and this helped them rebuild, as well as giving further jobs in the U.S. The only condition was that the countries agreed to work together and to commit to democracy. From this idea the EU developed.

The U.S. was also the only military power left able to defend against the growing threat of the Soviet Union, so the U.S. felt it was necessary, for its own security, to be a leading member of NATO, which it remains to this day.