Millions of soldiers died in WWII, but what for? Why was it started?

Question

I just wanted to know...I saw that was the worst war for deaths overall, of any war. Why did it start? There was so much support for our soldiers, too.

Answer 1

Originally, Germany started it in Europe as a grab for land and resources. Japan was in it for the same reason and invaded China. The support for the soldiers seemed to be huge from the public of the allied countries.

Answer 2

Germany was angry because they thought they got a raw deal at the Treaty of Versailles which ended WW1.

The Great Depression hit Germany as hard as it hit America, making it easier for a madman like Hitler to rise to power and scapegoat Jews and other countries for Germany's suffering.

Hitler wanted to conquer the world so Germany started World War II and joined Italy and Japan in coordinating there efforts at world conquest.

America was poor back then and the Great Depression cause us to pull together to survive. When Japan attacked us, we were caught completely off-guard and we naturally pulled together to fight the Axis powers.

Even our nations scientists along with some of the world's greatest minds, worked together on the Manhattan Project to develop the A-bomb before Hitler did knowing that it could change the course of the war.

After WW2, we had the bomb and A LOT of money. We quickly became the most powerful and wealthiest nation on Earth. Then we became spoiled. So much so that all most people think about now is how they can get rich enough so that they don't have to put up with their neighbor's BS anymore. With this mindset, the attacks on 9/11, which also caught us off-guard, didn't unite us in the same way as Pearl Harbor did, especially since GWB told people to go shopping instead of asking for recruits to fight terrorism.

Answer 3

Adolf Hitler (Germany) invaded Czech Republic, Poland, France and others, was bombing England wanting to invade or at least intimidate them from joining the fight. He was also torpedo-ing our ships that were ferrying munitions, food supplies, and other supplies to those fighting Germany. There was evidence of his efforts to exterminate all Jews. Nevertheless most Americans wanted not to defend against his atrocities.

Germany had caused WW1 too. Because of that the world had imposed pretty severe resrictions on Germany that they couldn't build arms and armies, and that they should pay reparations. These sanctions may or may not have caused the terrible economy, inflation, and depression there. (We were having our depression here too.) But those sanctions were what caused everyday Germans to rally around madman Hitler.

Japan was with Germany and they were invading China and other places. Both Germany and Japan were after oil and industrial might = power. The US had a few pilots in China fighting Japan, but little other fighting.

Then Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. That outraged the American Public and gave President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the political capital he needed to join the war.

We went "first" to Europe (where FDR had been eager to join in defense of England and France.) We (along with English armies, French resistance, and Russian Armies who were fighting Hitler & them from the East) kicked Hitler's butt and won "VE" Day ( Victory, Europe.) While that was the primary fight we basically engaged Japan in a holding pattern. (They invaded the Phillipines and temporarily kicked us out of there. We later returned. McCarthur, famously "I shall return." - and did.

Then we went hard at Japan. Because the Jungle warfare was so intense, and because the Japanese soldiers were brainwashed that we'd eat them if they were captured they fought like devils (in reality, Japanese prisoners were treated well. US Prisoners of Japan were marched to death or were tortured and starved to death.)... Because invading Japan proper (in order to achieve Unconditional Surrender , the only acceptable outcome, we had decided.) would have cost MILLIONS more US lives.... we warned the Japanese of the atomic bomb, told them the date we would drop it, and advised them to evacuate Hiroshima. (They didn't, we dropped an atomic bomb then.) This was repeated and we dropped another on Nagasaki.

Japan then surrendered, unconditionally. That day was VJ day (Victory, Japan.)

To answer your question, Hitler's aggression caused WW2.
We got into it only when we were attacked by Japan however. Japan and Germany were working together to dominate the world (the Axis.) We were with the Allies: England, France, Russia, and China, primarily.

That left us the first Country to use an Atomic weapon in war.
Let's hope we are also the last and only to do so. (That an atomic weapon is NEVER used again.)

Answer 4

I can't believe that you don't know that Hitler was going across Europe taking over all those countries and killing people like they were flies. Britain was in a heated battle with them and Hitler was killing Jews just because they were Jews. Then we were attacked by Japan in Pearl Harbor. So we were drug into the war, because we were blind sided by a sneak attack. We were not in the war up until Japan attacked us. The most deaths of all the wars was the Civil war, because we were fighting ourselves. American's had a brain back then and they knew that they lived in a great Country and supported their Country. Not like today when the Media is constantly lying about our Military and our Country. The Democrats are dividing the country and causing unrest. And i am just sick of the lies from all of them.

Answer 5

Germany owed $33billion after WWI. This put the country in a depression, which spread across the world to America.

When everyone is down, it only takes 1 man to stand up and say "hey, it's not your fault. It' their fault" which lead to Germany's Nationalism. They blamed it on the Jews because in Germany the only people who did have money was the Jews.

Germany Invaded Poland, then France.

Japan wanted to control the Pacific. They made an alliance with Germany.

Answer 6

A bitter little man named Adolf Hitler came to power and he was pissed because the allied forces of WWI blamed Germany when it was Austria-Hungary that started the war. When he seized Czechoslovakia, Hitler claimed that it was really German because of the large number of Germans living there. Western leaders at the time were spineless pricks and wanted to avoid another devastating war, so they just capitulated to Germany even though they had strict limitations on its military and industry. They could have stopped it before it even started but they didnt.


Hitler was probably one of the most brilliant orators ever as well, so this helped a nationalistic surge in Germany.

Answer 7

If you lived in a country that was occupied by the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan), you would soon realise why millions died, and were dying. Nazi Germany and Italy were trying to re-live the glory of the Roman Empire, with slavery included. Japan was doing much of the same in Asia (minus the Roman Empire glory), including the slavery - all in the 20th Century! Fighting to free the people of Europe and Asia, for millions of men and women, was worth fighting and dying for.

Answer 8

Simply stated the instability of Europe at that time created what may be termed as a monster in Germany by the name of Hilter. He was basically a murdering psychopath who had developed quite a talent for public speaking. That in combination with the instability.... especially in Germany.. placed a very powerful military force in his hands. His goal... to literally make an elite white anglo saxton empire bent on giving way to his beck and call. The power that this monster had at his disposal nearly wiped out Europe east to heart of Russia and west to the Atlantic Ocean. Japan had similar thoughts of reckless domination and upon marching and sailing their way through the pacific region had brutally murdered and raped, burned and plundered AND had signed a pact with Germany. If we had not fought that war... this world that we live in now would have been a horrible horrible place to be. It was necessary to preserve any kind of moral sense in our daily lives. Rockwell painted the "Four Freedoms". This was based on a speech given by FDR. He addressed the "Freedom from Want", the "Freedom from Fear", the "Freedom of Religion" and the "Freedom of Speech". Let me tell you........ they were definately at the point of being taken away. We are very fortunate that WWII ended as it did.

Answer 9

It was started by the jews just like the first world war! Some things never change in Germany!

Answer 10

WWII really started off as two different wars. You had a European "theater" or war, and a Japanese "theater". The Germans in Europe invaded Czechoslovakia, annexed Austria, and then proceeded to invade Poland, against guarantees made to both Britain and France. The Polish invasion sparked Britain and France's entry into the war.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japan had already invaded Manchuria, and rapidly spread southward. They encountered British resistance when they marched through the territory of Burma (now Myanmar) and began an assault on eastern India. They also encountered French resistance in Indochina (now Thailand/Vietnam)

Back in Europe, Nazi Germany had continued its expansion through the continent, allying itself with Italy (and to a lesser extent Franco's Spain) and rapidly advancing (and eventually occupying) France. Hitler turned his attention to Britain, and began near-daily aerial attacks on the British Isles as well large-scale sea battles in his effort to starve the Isles of supplies by cutting of shipping convoys. Britain, short on supplies and surviving pretty much on true British toughness and ingenuity was quickly sustaining heavy losses, and an eventual full-scale invasion by German forces (which probably would have won in all realness) was considered an inevitability. With that, Churchill made direct appeals to FDR to bring the US into the war on Britain's side. Strong isolationist sentiment in the US following WWI, however, prevented FDR from making such a move (to do so would have been political suicide).

Japan meanwhile solidified its control of Southeast Asia. During its earlier conquest on Manchuria and aggressive nature in the Pacific, the US had embargoed supplies, particularly vital oil to Japan in protest of their actions. Japan decided to launch a tactical strike against the US to render much of their Pacific Fleet inoperable in the event of a full Japanese invasion (though already suffering from the Depression, without a real reason to get involved, US involvement in the war probably would have been less than what it really amounted to be). The Japanese launched the notorious attack on Pearl Harbor, and days later FDR had secured authorization from Congress to enter the war.

This, in effect, truly started what we consider to be WWII.