World War II (No New Deal)

World War II
Date	September 1st, 1939 - March 9th, 1946
Location	Worldwide
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
Allied powers United Kingdom; Soviet Union; United States;	Axis powers Germany; Italy; Japan
Commanders and leaders
Winston Churchill; Robert Taft; Joseph Stalin;	Adolf Hitler; Benito Mussolini; Hideki Tojo

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1946. The conflict would see all the major powers of the globe involved with conflicts fought on nearly all continents.

Events leading up to the war[]

Course of the war[]

European Theater[]

Invasion of Poland + Initial outbreak of war in Europe (1939 - 1940)[]

The second world war would officially break out on September 1st, 1939, after the German army would invade Poland after numerous false flag border incidents in order to build justification for war. The German assault on the Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte would mark the beginning of the war. By September 8th, the German Army had already reached the outskirts of Warsaw, a Polish counteroffensive would be successful in halting the German advance for several days but would eventually be outflanked by the German Wehrmacht. The Soviet Union would also become involved in the invasion of Poland and begun an invasion of eastern Poland on September 17th. On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to the Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6 October. The Polish government had already gone into exile by late September.

On October 6th, Hitler offered peace to the western allies on the condition that the fate of Poland would be determined by Germany and the Soviet Union. However, this proposal would be rejected, and Germany would begin an offensive against the nations of western Europe.

At the same time of the German-Soviet invasion of Poland, Joseph Stalin and the USSR had also begun to expand into the Baltic Sea region. After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts that stipulated the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries. In October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there. Finland refused to sign a similar agreement and war would begin between the Soviet Union and Finland, resulting in the Soviet Union being kicked out of the League of Nations.

Western Front + Fall of France (1940-1941)[]

By 1940, the war in Europe had turned westward. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April of 1940 in order to secure iron shipments from Sweden which the allied powers were attempting to cut off. British disapproval of the handling of the Norwegian campaign would lead to Winston Churchill being appointed Prime Minister on May 10th, 1940. On the same day of Churchill's appointment, Germany would begin an offensive against France. In order to circumvent heavy French Maginot Line fortifications on the German-French border, Germany would invade the neutral nations of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands in order to access a weak spot in the French defense. The Germans carried out a flanking maneuver through the Ardennes region, which was mistakenly perceived by Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armored vehicles. By successfully implementing new blitzkrieg tactics, the Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. However, the British managed to evacuate a significant number of allied troops at Dunkirk.

On June 10th, 1940; Italy had begun an invasion of France, formally declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom. The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14 June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime, which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which the United Kingdom attacked on 3 July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany. Following the fall of France, the Germany Luftwaffe would turn its focus towards an all-out aerial bombardment of the British mainland, officially beginning the Battle of Britain.

The United Kingdom would once again rejection Hitler's peace offering amidst a brutal bombing campaign on London. The German air superiority campaign started in August but failed to defeat RAF Fighter Command, forcing the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain. The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in the Blitz but had failed to significantly disrupt the British war effort and largely ended in May 1941.

Throughout the 1940s, the United States government under the leadership of Al Smith had begun taking efforts to assist the western allies against German aggression. An American volunteer corps known as the "Craig Corps" which was led by former Secretary of War Malin Craig. Other aid would include weapon shipments and economic aid to the western allies; however, this aid would be severely limited when isolationist Robert Taft would become President of the United States in 1941. Taft's isolationism would create tension between both the Robert Taft and Prime Minister Churchill, who repeatedly talked negatively about one another behind each other's backs.

At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers. The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country, with the exception of the Soviet Union, which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three. The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia and Romania joined. Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to the Axis war against the Soviet Union.

Mediterranean Campaign (1940 - 1941)[]

The Mediterranean campaign of the second world war would officially begin in June of 1940 when Italian troops in North Africa would attack and besiege the British Island of Malta. Further fighting would occur in the late summer when the Italians would begin an invasion into British-held Egypt and successfully conquer British Somaliland. In October of 1940, the Italian government would submit an ultimatum to the Greek government demanding annexation to Italy, the Greek government refused, resulting in an Italian invasion of Greece. Italy would lose to Greece, with the Greeks pushing Italy all the way back to Tirana, however German assistance in the invasion of Yugoslavia would result in Greece falling by June 1st, 1941.

By December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa. The offensives were highly successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner.

Operation-Barbarossa — German troops in the Soviet Union (1941)

Invasion of the Soviet Union (1941)[]

In the leadup to the Invasion of the Soviet Union, relations between Nazi Germany and the USSR had already been deteriorating in the months prior. Fearing that the Soviet Union would enter the war and strike Germany first, Hitler had announced that the Soviets were a threat that had to be eliminated in July of 1940. These plans to invade the Soviet Union would come into fruition when Germany, along with Hungary and Romania, would begin Operation Barbarossa and invade the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941. The goal of Operation Barbarossa was ultimately the German capture of all land west of the Volga–Arkhangelsk line, more commonly known as the A-A line. Even the Soviet military command had been planning counter-offensives, the Soviet Union was forced to go on defensive throughout the early stages of operation Barbarossa.

The Kiev offensive was overwhelmingly successful, resulting in encirclement and elimination of four Soviet armies, and made possible further advance into Crimea and industrially developed Eastern Ukraine in what would become the First Battle of Kharkov. By October of 1941, the Axis operational objectives in Ukraine and the Baltic region were achieved, with only the sieges of Leningrad and Sevastopol continuing. Large territorial gains were made by Axis forces, but their campaign had failed to achieve its main objectives: two key cities remained in Soviet hands, the Soviet capability to resist was not broken, and the Soviet Union retained a considerable part of its military potential. The blitzkrieg phase of the war in Europe had ended.

By December 5th, Soviet reserves were freshly mobilized, allowing for the Soviets to gain a numerical advantage over the Axis troops. Despite being under armed, the Soviet army managed to push the German troops 62 miles (100 kilometers) west. This was the start of a massive Soviet counteroffensive which would put German troops on the defense.

Axis military stagnation in Europe (1942 - 1943)[]

Following the German declaration of war against the United States on March 16th, 1942; American troops and weapons had begun to be sent to Europe and the US submarines in the Atlantic had begun targeting German U-boats, significantly weakening the German navy's efforts in the Atlantic Ocean to cut off the British Isles from supply shipments.

After the Soviet winter would come to an end, the German army would attempt to seize Soviet oil fields in the caucuses through an offensive in the southern Soviet Union, with one of the major targets being the city of Stalingrad. However, the Soviet Army was able to move industrialization efforts into the east and was able to properly train units to be prepared for the German onslaught. And after months of fighting, the Axis 6th army consisting of 250,000 Germans, Romanians, and Croatians would be encircled in early 1943. The encirclement came after the Soviets took advantage of weak flanks and bad weather. This encirclement would be devastating for Germany and would result in the Soviets gaining the upper hand. After the recapturing of Stalingrad, the Soviets would begin to push the significantly weakened axis army westward, with Stalin declaring the Soviets should take "Not one step back".

The war had also begun to turn against the axis in the Mediterranean. After a decisive victory at El Alamein, the British-led allied forces would push the axis out of Africa entirely by May of 1943, making Italy vulnerable to an allied invasion. Soon after the allies secured hegemony in North Africa, the invasion of Italy would begin in July of 1943 when an army of British-American soldiers would successfully land in Sicily, cutting off axis access to the Mediterranean in the process. The Italian people, discontent with war, would overthrow Mussolini's government in the midst of the allied invasion, beginning the Italian Civil War.

The Holocaust[]

NormandySupply edit — The C-Day landings (1944)

C-Day, Fall of Berlin, German Surrender (1944 - 1945)[]

On June 15, 1944 (known as C-Day), after years of pressure put on Germany by the Soviet Union, the western allies would begin a naval invasion into northern France, targeting the beaches of Normandy and specifically the city of Calais in which the day gets its name from. The Invasion would be overseen by General George C. Marshall. Marshall had originally planned for the invasion to take place in 1943 but was met with strong opposition from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. As a result, the invasion would begin in 1944 when Germany was significantly weaker. The landings would see some of the most brutal fighting of the war, as US soldiers fought the German fortifications. A heavy allied bombing campaign on the city of Calais would lead to its capture on June 20, 1944. However, the western allies attacking Calais would result in the western allies' gains in the west coming to a momentary halt. The western allies, weakened by the heavy losses at C-Day, would be further stalled by the Battle of the Bulge, but would resume advancement into Germany by May of 1945.

Even as the western allies halted, the Soviets would continue to make significant gains on the eastern front. The Soviets would capture Warsaw in January of 1945. The Soviets would also capture Berlin in May of 1945 and would push as far as Frankfurt by June of 1945 until the remnants of the Nazi government would surrender to the allied powers on June 27th, 1945.

Pacific Theater[]

Early Japanese gains (1940 - 1942)[]

Japan had been fighting against China in the Second Sino-Japanese War since 1937. However, the pacific theatre of the second world war is believed to have officially begun in September of 1940 when Japan would officially invade French Indochina, in which the United States and United Kingdom would freeze oil exports going into Japan. German successes in Europe encouraged Japan to increase pressure on European governments in Southeast Asia. The Dutch government agreed to provide Japan with some oil supplies from the Dutch East Indies, but negotiations for additional access to their resources ended in failure in June 1941. In July 1941 Japan sent troops to southern Indochina, thus threatening British and Dutch possessions in the Far East.

JapanWar2TC — The Japanese fighting in the Philippines (1942)

Even as Japanese expansion continued in the region, the United States under the Presidency of Robert A. Taft, had taken a policy of appeasement and negotiations with the Japanese. Despite keeping the United States out of the war for all of 1941, a Japanese attack on US army bases on Batan Island would result in the United States formally declaring war against the Empire of Japan on March 15th, 1942. By the end of April 1942, Japan and its ally Thailand had almost fully conquered Burma, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, and Rabaul, inflicting severe losses on Allied troops and taking a large number of prisoners. Despite stubborn resistance by Filipino and US forces, the Philippine Commonwealth was eventually captured in June 1942, forcing its government into exile.

Allies rebound (1942 - 1944)[]

Despite early advances in the Pacific Theatre, the Japanese War effort had begun to halt by 1942 upon the entrance of the United States into the war. With the United States already aware of Japanese involvement in the conflict after the attack on Batan Island, the US navy fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor Hawaii would officially scramble, preventing the Japanese from attacking the fleet at once. This would prove devastating for the Japanese, as the largely in-tact American navy would deliver decisive victories against the Japanese in several battles. The most devastating of these was the Battle of Midway in 1942 which would see 4 Japanese fleet carriers sunk. The battle of Midway was so devastating that the Japanese navy would not be able to recover its losses for the rest of the war, effectively putting them on the defensive.

Despite heavy Japanese losses against the United States in naval warfare, the Japanese continued to make gains in land warfare fighting in both India and China. The Allies had mixed success in mainland Asia. In March 1944, the Japanese launched the first of two invasions, an operation against British positions in Assam, India, and soon besieged Commonwealth positions at Imphal and Kohima. In May 1944, British forces mounted a counter-offensive that drove Japanese troops back to Burma by July, and Chinese forces that had invaded northern Burma in late 1943 besieged Japanese troops in Myitkyina. The second Japanese invasion of China aimed to destroy China's main fighting forces, secure railways between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields. By June, the Japanese had conquered the province of Henan and begun a new attack on Changsha. But by 1944, Japanese advances in both China and India had begun to stagnate and the Japanese military begun to grow weaker from 1944 onwards.

J-Day, Soviet intervention, end of the war (1945-1946)[]

With the allies capturing Okinawa in 1945, the Japanese mainland became vulnerable to a mainland invasion. Even though the United States had acquired atomic weaponry through the Manhattan Project, Taft was adamantly opposed to dropping it due to his fears that it would give the United States military an unprecedent amount of power which could threaten American liberty. As a result, Taft favored "Operation Downfall" which was an invasion of the Japanese mainland. The first landings would begin on November 1st, 1945, with "Operation Olympic" which would see a massive landing on the shores of Kyushu consisting of over 100,000 soldiers, 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, it was the largest army ever assembled in the war. Upon the landing, US Soldiers would meet heavy military and local resistance and both sides would suffer heavily casualties. Eventually Nagasaki would fall on November 12th, at the cost of 12,300 US casualties.

Meanwhile, the Soviets had broken their non-aggression pact and had begun a full invasion of Japanese Manchuria and Korea. On August 9th, 1945; 1st Far Eastern Front under the leadership of Marshal K. A. Meretskov would begin an invasion of northern Manchuria. By September 28th, 1945; the Soviets had secured all of Manchuria and captured the Korean city of Busan, effectively cutting the Japanese off from their front in China. This allowed for the Chinese to begin counteroffensives against Japanese positions in China.

Operation Coronet, the operation to take the Japanese capital of Tokyo, was expected to be launched on March 1st, 1946; but was held off due to bad weather. However, the operation would never occur as the Japanese government would offer conditional surrender on March 8th, 1946; an offer the United States accepted the following day. This decision would outrage the British, who were hoping for an unconditional surrender of both Germany and Japan. The decision to accept the conditional surrender would only see the relationship between Churchill and Taft continue to deteriorate.

Allied partition of Germany - No New Deal — Allied partition of Germany (1945)

Aftermath + Legacy[]

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Germany would be split into occupation zones between the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. The world war left many of the capitalist liberal democracies of Europe in a state of devastation and widespread poverty. The destruction of the war, both in Europe and Asia, would trigger a second wave of immigration from Europe and Asia into the Americas, with many settling in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. The devastation would also result in the spread of communism and socialism, backed by the Soviet Union, across Eurasia. This would result in a communist government being formed in Italy following the 1946 election, the Iran crisis of 1946, the Communist Party of the Netherlands winning a plurality in the 1946 Dutch General Election, the Communists winning the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Communist Party of Israeli forming a government after the 1949 Constituent Assembly Election, the Communists winning the Greek Civil War in 1950, and the Soviet conquest of Hokkaido in 1951. This period of communist expansion would spark tension between the remaining capitalist powers and the newly emerging Soviet superpower, beginning a period of decades of geopolitical competition known as the Cold War.