Research Paper On Wwii

World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. This war killed more people and destroyed more property than any other war with fifty-nine countries being involved in(2). Pearl Harbor, the first sneak attack by another country on US soil was a pivotal beginning to the war for the United States. There were many reasons for the United States to get involved into the war and help its allies, but it was Pearl Harbor which forced us into it. Because of Pearl Harbor, Hitler and the crimes against humanity that he committed it justified United States entry into the war.

But why did it even happen in the first place? The world was going to war again for the second time in 27 years(1). Economic depression was going on throughout European countries and war was the last thing that the world wanted, or needed. How was Germany able to slip through the cracks of appeasement, rebuild and rearm itself for another war? Why wasn't the Treaty of Versailles upheld to check all German aggression? World War II will forever go down in history as the bloodiest war, the most costly war, and one that shouldn't have happened.

When the Germans invaded Poland on September 1st 1939 the world would once again have to take up arms against aggression(1). Unbelievably, so soon after 'the war that will end war', the allied nations had allowed Germany and its axis powers to rearm itself and once again threaten the world. The cost in lives and in dollars was never thought to be as high as it ended up. This would last six years, involve more than two hundred countries, costing 55 million lives and material damage of some 3 billion dollars(1). US involvement would come later in the war because the US had a strong isolationist foreign policy and had made it clear that it would not intervene militarily in Europe to support Britain and France.

The Treaty of Versailles which was created after World War one by the European countries was not being enforced and Germany's invasion of Poland and other countries were going unchecked. England and France, fearing another war established a policy of appeasement to by time and rearm its forces. The European countries believed that Hitler would only retake the Sudetenland; this land was historically Germany's homeland(6). This was another mistake by France and England because with the Sudetenland he gained the famous Skoda armament factories and was ultimately a more dangerous military opponent(6). Until the remainder of Czechoslovakia was swallowed in 1939 all Hitler had done seemed reasonable(6). Until then he had only tried to obtain lands where ethnic Germans lived(6). The disregard of the Treaty of Versailles would be the main factor that allowed Germany to regain their power and ultimately bring the world into another war.

Now that world war had once again begun, US involvement seemed inevitable. The United States didn't want to be involved in foreign, political wars. We wanted to be left alone. As a result, the Senate was strongly against the Versailles Treaty and refused to ratify it(4). We made a separate peace with Germany. This would come back to haunt us after we were forced into war by the attack of Pearl Harbor.

Before the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor occurred, a poll was taken of the U.S. citizen's opinion about Roosevelt taking them into the war. 94% were against the United States getting involved(5). Roosevelt was not going to go against 94% of the US population by declaring war on the axis powers. Some people believe that Pearl Harbor was a way out for Roosevelt because they thought that he wanted to go to war, so he let it happen. Koichi Nakatsubo agrees with this saying:

"The real story behind Pearl Harbor is we warned your country about the attack but you didn't tell your troops because you needed a reason to enter the war and use nuclear weapons."

I don't agree with this statement because we were in the grips of The Great Depression, which started in 1929. Roosevelt or any president would not want to enter into a world war during a depression. Though it ultimately brought us out of the depression there was no way Roosevelt could predict that happening because World War one had a been a cause of bringing us into it.

Japan, who had joined the axis powers, had a smaller army compared to the other World War 2 powers, but it's the resolve of the Japanese that made them dangerous. Pearl Harbor was a gutless sneak attack on American troops. It was a Sunday morning when "361 Japanese warplanes attack American airfields and shipyards, disabling 19 ships, destroying 200 planes, and killing over 2300 men,"(3) this was a deliberate attempt at bringing the US into the war. They did this because they feared the United States entry into the war was soon. Japan felt that a crippling