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World War II

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Map of World War 2

Abovee: Map of World War II

In the aftermath of World War I, the United States attempted to disengage itself from European affairs. The U.S. Senate rejected American membership in the LEAGUE OF NATIONS, and in the 1920s American involvement in European diplomatic life was limited to economic affairs.

Moreover, the United States dramatically reduced the size of its military in the postwar years, a measure widely supported by a public increasingly opposed to war. Events in Europe and Asia in the 1930s and early 1940s, however, made it impossible for the United States to maintain a position of neutrality in global affairs.

Gathering of the Nazi Party

Above: The Nazi Party gathering

Rise of the Nazi Party and German Aggression

After its defeat and disarmament in World War I, Germany fell into a deep economic decline that ultimately led to the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party during the 1930s. The Nazis rearmed the nation, reentered the Rhineland (1936), forced a union with Austria (1938), seized Czechoslovakia under false promises (1938), made a nonaggression pact with Russia to protect its eastern frontier (1939), and then overran Poland (September 1939), bringing France and Great Britain into the war as a consequence of their pledge to maintain Polish independence. In May 1940 a power thrust swept German troops forward through France, drove British forces back across the English Channel, and compelled France to surrender. An attack on England, aimed to deny use of Britain as a springboard for reconquest of the Continent, failed in the air and did not materialize on land. Open breach of the nonaggression treaty was followed by a German invasion of Russia in June 1941.

Naval Battle in World War II

Above: Naval war between US and Japan During WWII (1941-1945)

Prior to America’s formal entry into war, the United States assisted France and Britain by shipping tanks and weapons. The United States turned over naval destroyers to Britain to hold down the submarine menace and itself patrolled large areas of the Atlantic Ocean against the German U-boats, with which U.S. ships were involved in prewar shooting incidents. The United States also took over rights and responsibilities at defense bases on British possessions bordering the Atlantic.

German Army Invading Poland

Above: German Army invading Poland in the year 1939 0f world war II

In 1940 the U.S. course was mapped by rapidly passing events. The German invasions of Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France triggered American actions. In his Chicago speech of 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had promised to quarantine aggressors. In his Charlottesville, Virginia, speech on 10 June 1940, he went further. He not only indicted Germany’s new partner, Italy, but also issued a public promise of help to “the opponents of force.” In June also he assured himself of bipartisan political support by appointing the Republicans Frank Knox and Henry L. Stimson to head the Navy and War Departments, respectively.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Above: President Franklin Roosevelt signing the Selective Service and Training Act on September 16, 1940

The Selective Service and Training Act of 1940 instituted peacetime conscription for the first time in U.S. history, registering sixteen million men in a month. In August 1941 Roosevelt and the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, met at Argentia, Newfoundland, to formulate war aims; with their staffs they delved into overall strategy and war planning. For the first time in U.S. history the country was militarily allied before a formal declaration of war. At this meeting the ATLANTIC CHARTER was established. In September 1941 the draft act was extended beyond its previous limit of one year-even though by the slim margin of a single vote in Congress-and the full training, reorganization, and augmentation of U.S. forces began.

Map of Japan Sneak Attack in Pearl Harbor

Above: Map showing Japanese sneak attack against Pearl Harbor

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

During the Nazi buildup in Germany, Japan had been fortifying Pacific islands in secret violation of treaties, encroaching on China in Manchuria and Tientsin in 1931 and in Shanghai in 1932, starting open war at Peking in 1937, and thereafter, as Germany’s ally, planning further conquests.

The United States opposed this Japanese expansion diplomatically by every means short of war, and military staff planning began as early as 1938 for the possibility of a two-ocean war. American policymakers determined that the nation’s security depended on the survival of the British Commonwealth in Europe and the establishment in the Pacific of a U.S. Navy defense line that must run from Alaska through Hawaii to Panama.

On 7 December 1941, a sneak attack by Japanese carrier-based planes surprised and severely crippled the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, dooming American forces in the PHILIPPINES. Japan was now free to expand into Southeast Asia and the East Indies, toward Australia. On 8 December, Congress declared war on Japan, and on 11 December it responded to war declarations from Italy and Germany-allied to Japan by treaties-by similar declarations put through in a single day of legislative action in committees and on the floor of both houses of Congress.

Below: US battleship sinks in the sudden air-attack of Japanese in Pearl Harbor

Battleship Sinks in Pearl Harbor Attack

Before the month of December was out, Churchill was again in Washington, bringing with him military and naval experts for what has been called the Arcadia conference. Within weeks Washington had created the Combined Chiefs of Staff, an international military, naval, and air body that was used throughout the war to settle strategy, establish unified command in the separate theaters of war, and issue strategic instructions to theater commanders.

Bombing in Germany

Above: Allied Aircraft dropping bombs in Germany

Organization, Preparation, and Strategy

Almost immediately after the declaration of war, under the first WAR POWERS ACT, the United States began a reorganization and expansion of the army and the navy, including the National Guard already in federal service. Increasing numbers of reservists were called to active duty, not as units but as individuals, to fill gaps in existing units, to staff the training centers, and to serve as officers in new units being formed. Additional divisions were created and put into training, bearing the numbers of World War I divisions in most cases, but with scarcely any relation to them in locality or in personnel of previously existing reserve divisions. New activities were created for psychological warfare and for civil affairs and military government in territories to be liberated or captured. The air force also underwent a great expansion, in personnel, in units, and in planes. Notable was the creation and shipment to England of high-level, precision daylight bombing units, which worked with the British to rain tons of bombs on enemy centers. Later they assisted the invasions and major attacks. Disrupting German factories and rail lines and weakening the entire German economy, the bombing campaign was extremely important in Hitler’s downfall. The armed forces of the United States, in general, expanded their strength and put to use a host of details in tactics and in equipment that had been merely experimental in the preceding years. From new planes to new rifles, from motorization to emergency rations, from field radio telephones to long-range radar, progress was widespread.

In addition to new concepts of operation and new and improved mechanized matériel, there was an all-out popular war effort, a greater national unity, a greater systematization of production, and, especially, a more intense emphasis on technology, far surpassing the efforts of World War I. The U.S. effort would truly be, as Churchill predicted after the fall of France in 1940, “the new world with all its power and might” stepping forth to “the rescue and liberation of the old.”

Picture of Sewell Avery

Above: President Sewell Avery of Montgomery Ward 1944 removed from his office due to disobedience of National War Labor Board rules.

In an unprecedented burst of wartime legislative activity, Congress passed the Emergency Price Control Act and established the War Production Board, the NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD, the Office of War Information, and the Office of Economic Stabilization. Critical items such as food, coffee, sugar, meat, butter, and canned goods were rationed for civilians, as were heating fuels and gasoline. Rent control was established. Two-thirds of the planes of civilian airlines were taken over by the air force. Travel was subject to priorities for war purposes. There was also voluntary censorship of newspapers, under general guidance from Washington.

Plane on Aircraft Carrier

Above: Picture of a plane on aircraft-carrier vessel

There was special development and production of escort vessels for the navy and of landing craft-small and large-for beach invasions. There was a program of plane construction for the air force on a huge scale and programs for the development of high-octane gasoline and synthetic rubber. Local draft boards had been given great leeway in drawing up their own standards of exemption and deferment from service and at first had favored agriculture over industry; soon controls were established according to national needs. By 1945 the United States had engaged more than sixteen million men under arms and improved its economy.

Picture of George C. Marshalls

Above: Picture of Gen. George C. Marshall

The grand strategy, from the beginning, was to defeat Germany while containing Japan, a strategy maintained and followed by the Combined Chiefs of Staff. The strategy was closely coordinated by Roosevelt and Churchill-except on one occasion when, in the early summer of 1942, Admiral Ernest J. King (chief of naval operations) and General George C. Marshall (army chief of staff) responded to the news that there would be no attempt to create a beachhead in Europe that year by suggesting a shift of U.S. power to the Pacific. Roosevelt promptly overruled them.

World War II Pacific Campaign Map (Philippine Islands)

Above: World War II Pacific Campaign Map (Philippines)

Campaign in the Pacific

Almost immediately after the strike at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippines and overran American garrisons on Guam and Wake Island in late December. They soon captured Manila and then conquered the U.S. forces on the Bataan peninsula by April 1942, along with the last U.S. stronghold on Corregidor on 6 May. Japan then feinted into the North Pacific, easily seizing Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands, which it held until March 1943.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur had been pulled out of the Philippines before the fall of Corregidor and sent to Australia to assume responsibility for protecting that continent against Japanese invasion, increasingly imminent since Singapore and Java had been taken. With great skill, MacArthur used American and Australian forces to check Japanese inroads in New Guinea at Port Moresby. He also used land and sea forces to push back the Japanese and take the villages of Buna and Sanananda, although not until January 1943. To block a hostile thrust against MacArthur’s communications through New Zealand, marine and infantry divisions landed in the Solomon Islands, where they took Guadalcanal by February 1943 after bitter, touch-and-go land, sea, and air fighting.

US Army Led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur(Center)

Above: US Army led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur(Center) inspecting beachhead on Leyte, Philippines.

Almost concurrently, the navy, with marine and army troops, was attacking selected Japanese bases in the Pacific, moving steadily westward and successfully hitting the Marshall Islands at Eniwetok and Kwajalein, the Gilberts at Makin and Tarawa, and-turning north-the Marianas at Guam and Saipan in June and July 1944. To assist the army’s move on the Philippines, the navy and the marines also struck westward at the Palau Islands in September 1944 and had them in hand within a month. American control of the approaches to the Philippines was now assured. Two years earlier, in the Coral Sea and also in the open spaces near Midway, in May and June 1942, respectively, the U.S. Navy had severely crippled the Japanese fleet. MacArthur’s forces returned in October 1944 to the Philippines on the island of Leyte. Their initial success was endangered by a final, major Japanese naval effort near Leyte, which was countered by a U.S. naval thrust that wiped much of the Japanese fleet. U.S. forces seized Manila and Corregidor in February 1945, thus bringing to a successful conclusion the BATAAN-CORREGIDOR CAMPAIGN.

Marines Captured Iwo Jima from Japanese

Above: Marines landed in and captured Iwo Jima Island from the Japanese

American land and sea forces were now in position to drive north directly toward Japan itself. Marines had landed on Iwo Jima on 19 February and invaded Okinawa on 1 April, both within good flying distance of the main enemy islands. The Japanese navy and air force were so depleted that in July 1945 the U.S. fleet was steaming off the coast of Japan and bombarding almost with impunity. Between 10 July and 15 August 1945, forces under Adm. William F. Halsey destroyed or damaged 2,084 enemy planes, sank or damaged 148 Japanese combat ships, and sank or damaged 1,598 merchant vessels, in addition to administering heavy blows at industrial targets and war industries.

Fighter Planes

Above: Fighter Planes at the Air Base of China

Until the island hopping brought swift successes in 1944, it had been expected that the United States would need the China mainland as a base for an attack on Japan. The sea and land successes in the central and western Pacific, however, allowed the United States, by the spring of 1945, to prepare for an attack on Japan without using China as a base.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Above: Picture of General Douglas MacArthur

This situation was the result of three major factors: (1) the new naval technique of employing the fleet as a set of floating air bases, as well as for holding the sea lanes open; (2) the augmentation and improvement of U.S. submarine service to a point where they were fatal to Japanese shipping, sinking more than two hundred enemy combat vessels and more than eleven hundred merchant ships, thus seriously disrupting the desperately needed supply of Japanese troops on the many islands; and (3) MacArthur’s leapfrogging tactics, letting many advanced Japanese bases simply die on the vine. Not to be overlooked was MacArthur’s personal energy and persuasive skill.

Map of Italy Invasion in World War II

Above: Map of Italy Invasion in World War II

Campaigns in Africa and Italy

Pressures, notably from Russian leaders, began building early in the war for an invasion of the European mainland on a second front. Because of insufficient buildup in England for a major attack across the English Channel in 1942-even for a small preliminary beachhead-U.S. troops were moved, some from Britain with the British and some directly from the United States, to invade northwest Africa from Casablanca to Oran and Algiers in November 1942. After the long coastal strip had been seized and the temporarily resisting French brought to the side of the Allies, British and American forces under the command of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower pushed east. The Germans were reinforced and concentrated. Sharp and costly fighting by air, army, and armor attacks and counterattacks, notably in February 1943 at the Kasserine Pass, ended with the Allied conquest of Tunisia and a great German surrender at Tunis, Bizerte, and Cape Bon. Meanwhile, at the CASABLANCA CONFERENCE in late January, Roosevelt and Churchill called for the “unconditional surrender” of the Axis powers. It would be a war to the finish, not a negotiated, temporary peace.

Map of Italy (Inland) in World War II

Above: Map of Italy (Inland) in World War II

The next step was an invasion of Sicily, using large-scale parachute drops and perfected beach-landing skills, as a step toward eliminating Italy from the war. In September, Italy proper was invaded, the British crossing the Strait of Messina and the Americans landing at Salerno near Naples. Five days later, Italy surrendered, but the Germans occupied Rome and took control of the Italian government. After a long check midway up the “boot” of Italy on a line through Cassino, a dangerous landing was made at Anzio. Fierce German counterattacks there were stopped, and a following breakthrough carried U.S. forces past Rome, which fell on 4 June 1944. In July the Allied forces pushed through to the line of Florence and the Arno River, the British on the east and the Americans on the west. Thereafter, although some British and American advances were made and a final offensive in April 1945 sent American troops to the Po Valley, Italy ceased to be the scene of major strategic efforts; the theater was drained to support the Normandy invasion, in southern France.

Seaborne Reached Normandy

Above: Seaborne reached the shoreline of Normandy

Invasion At Normandy and the Liberation of France

For the principal invasion of France, an inter-Allied planning staff had been created in March 1943 in London. In May the first tentative attack date was set, for early May of the following year, in what was called Operation Over-lord. The buildup of units and supplies proceeded steadily for nearly a year, aided by improved successes against German submarines targeting seagoing convoys. Finally, after several weeks of delays, on 6 June 1944-popularly known as D DAY-the greatest amphibious invasion in history was launched across the English Channel, involving more than 5,300 ships and landing craft. It was a huge, carefully and intricately coordinated land, sea, and air action, with a precisely scheduled flow of reinforcements and supplies. The Germans anticipated that the Allies would land at Calais, so the landings along the Normandy coast caught the Germans completely by surprise.

Soldier killed in combat at Omaha Beach

Above: Soldier killed in combat at Omaha Beach

The battle on the Normandy beaches on 6 June was vicious, particularly at Omaha Beach, where U.S. troops encountered stubborn German resistance. By nightfall the Allies had established a beachhead on the French coast, and within weeks they drove from the Normandy coast deep into the French countryside. Thick hedgerows provided the Germans with excellent defensive terrain, but relentless Allied aerial bombardment and a flank attack by U.S. infantry and tanks, under the command of Gen. George Patton, split the German lines.

Picture of General Omar Bradley

Above: Picture of General Omar Nelson Bradley

The Germans reacted to this penetration by finally drawing their reserve Fifteenth Army out of the Calais area, where it had been held by an Allied ruse and the threat of a second beach landing there. They struck directly west across the American front to try to cut off the leading U.S. troops who had already begun entering Brittany. This German effort was blocked by General Omar Bradley’s forces. Relentless Allied attacks shattered German resistance in northern France and on 25 August Paris fell to American divisions with scarcely a battle.

Allied Forces Occupying Southern France

Above: Allied Forces occupying Southern France

The Germans retreated rapidly and skillfully for the distant frontier and their defense lines, except where they at points resisted the British in order to try and hold the seaports along the northern coast. While these events were taking place, a landing had been made in southern France on 15 August 1944, by a Franco-American force under U.S. command. It swept from the Riviera up the Rhone Valley and joined U.S. forces that had come east across northern France from Normandy. By September Brest fell into U.S. hands, and a German army in southwest France had surrendered, completely cut off. France was almost completely liberated from German occupation.

American Troops in Ardennes Forest at Bulge

Above: American troops in Ardennes Forest in the region of Belgium and Luxembourg.

Battle of the Bulge and German Surrender

In the fall of 1944, Allied forces began the invasion of Germany, which many observers believed tottered on the brink of collapse. On 16 December, however, the Germans launched a sweeping counterattack that caught American and British forces completely by surprise. In several days of intense fighting, the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge hung in the balance. On Christmas Eve, however, an American counterattack sent German forces reeling. American air bombardments turned the German retreat into a crushing rout. The Battle of the Bulge was the Germans’ final major effort of the war. They had used up their last major resources and had failed.

Allied Air Forces

Above: Allied air forces on strike

Through large-scale production and mass transportation, the U.S. air forces in Europe had been built to high strength so that they could take severe losses and still defeat the enemy. From bases in Britain and from bases successively in North Africa and Italy, American bombers had struck at the heart of the German economy. Through large-scale air raids, like those on Ploesti, Romania, a decisive proportion of German oil refinery production was disabled. German planes and tanks faced severe fuel shortages. German fighter planes, beaten back by the British in 1940, were later cut down by the Americans’ heavily armed bombers and their long-range fighter escorts. Except for a short, sharp, and costly new campaign in the final month of 1944, German planes had ceased to be a serious threat. At the same time, to aid the ground troops, the U.S. fighter-bombers were taking to the air under perilous conditions over the Ardennes. German flying bombs (V-1s) and rocket bombs (V-2s) had continued to blast Britain until their installations were overrun in late March 1945, but they had no effect on ground operations or on air superiority as a whole.

Rhine River Bridge

Above: Rhine River Bridge Collapsed

In February 1945 the American armies struck out into the Palatinate and swept the German forces across the Rhine. The enemy forces destroyed bridges as they crossed-all but one. On 7 March an advanced armored unit of the U.S. First Army approached the great railway bridge at Remagen, downstream from Koblenz, found it intact, dashed over it, tore the fuses from demolition charges, and drove local Germans back. Troops were hustled over the bridge for several days before it collapsed from damage, but by then pontoon bridges were in place.

German Soldiers Captured at Ruhr Pocket

Above: German soldiers captured in Ruhr pocket near Gummersbach, Germany

Avoiding the heavily wooded Ruhr region in the center, the previously planned northern crossing of the Rhine was effected with navy, air, and parachute help on 2 March 1945; all arms drove directly eastward into Germany while the First and Third Armies drove eastward below the Ruhr, the First Army soon swinging north through Giessen and Marburg to make contact at Paderborn and Lippstadt with the northern force. More than 300,000 Germans were thus enclosed in the Ruhr pocket.

German Army Collapsed and Surrendered

Above: Portrait of victory celebration for the downfall of Germany’s Military Potency

Germany’s military strength had now all but collapsed. The British on the American left raced toward Hamburg and the Baltic. The U.S. First Army pressed through to Leipzig and met the Russians on 25 April 1945 at Torgau on the Elbe River, which had been established at the YALTA CONFERENCE as part of the post hostilities boundary with Russia. The U.S. Third Army dashed toward

Gen. Alfred Jodl of Germany

Above: Gen. Alfred Jodl of Germany signing the unconditional surrender document

Bavaria to prevent possible German retreat to a last stand in the south. The southernmost flank of the American forces swung southward toward Austria at Linz and toward Italy at the Brenner Pass. The U.S. Seventh Army, on 4 May, met the Fifth Army at Brenner Pass, coming from Italy, where German resistance had likewise collapsed. Germany asked for peace and signed its unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters at Reims on 7 May 1945.

Atomic Explosion in Hiroshima, Japan

Above: Atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima, Japan (August 6, 1945)

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japanese Surrender

Progress in the Pacific theater by this time had been substantial. U.S. ships and planes dominated sea and air close to Japan. Troops were soon to be redeployed from the European theater. Protracted cleanup operations against now-isolated Japanese island garrisons were coming to a close. American planes were bombing Tokyo regularly. A single raid on that city on 9 March 1945 had devastated sixteen square miles, killed eighty thousand persons, and left 1.5 million people homeless, but the Japanese were still unwilling to surrender. Approved by Roosevelt, scientists working under military direction had devised a devastating bomb based on atomic fission. A demand was made on Japan on 26 July for surrender, threatening the consecutive destruction of eleven Japanese cities if it did not. The Japanese rulers scorned the threats. President Harry S. Truman gave his consent for the use of the atomic bomb, which was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, killing 75,000. There were more warnings, but still no surrender. On 9 August, Nagasaki was bombed. Two square miles were devastated, and 39,000 people were killed. Five days later, on 14 August, the Japanese agreed to surrender. The official instrument of surrender was signed on 2 September 1945, on board the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Below: Picture of damage caused by the atomic bomb explosion

Damage Caused of The Atomic Bomb Explosion

State of Hiroshima, Japan after impact & boy suffers from a radiation burn

The defeat of the Axis powers did not resolve all of the geopolitical issues arising from World War II. The spirit of amity among the Allied powers collapsed shortly after the war, as the United States and the Soviet Union rapidly assumed a position of mutual hostility and distrust. Germany was divided in half by the Allied victors, with West Germany aligned with the United States and East Germany with the Soviet Union. The United States also established security pacts with Japan and Italy, bringing them within the American defense shield against the Soviets. Ironically, therefore, during the Cold War the United States found itself allied with the former Axis nations and found itself at odds with its former ally, the USSR. Not until 1990, when the COLD WAR finally came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union, was Germany reunited as one nation.

INDO-PAKISTANI WAR OF 1971

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Map of Kashmir Region

Above: Map of Kashmir Region

It was a major war between India and Pakistan, which finally led to the Bangladesh Liberation War or the Pakistani Civil War. Exact dates are under dispute. The battle in western India from 3rd to 16th December 1971 is termed the Indo-Pakistani war by both India and Bangladesh. Within two weeks Pakistan suffered a humiliating defeat.

Picture of Sheik Mujibur Rahman

Above: Picture of Sheik Mujibur Rahman

LIBERARTION WAR OF BANGLADESH:
The Bangladesh Liberation War was the main cause behind the Indo-Pakistani conflict. The former was an outburst of the tensions between the dominant West Pakistanis and the majority of Bengalis in East Pakistan. Sparks began to fly with the victory of the Awami League in the 1970 elections in Pakistan. It won 167 of the 169 seats in East Pakistan thus securing a simple majority in the 313-seat Lower House of the Pakistani Parliament. Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League presented six points and claimed the right to form a government. The leader of Pakistan’s Peoples Party, Bhutto, refused to allow Mujibur Rahman to become the Prime Minister and President Yahya Khan summoned military action – the military largely consisting of men from West Pakistan.

Awami League in protest march

Above: Awami League protest march

Dissidents began to be arrested en masse and East Pakistani soldiers and police personnel began to be disbanded. There were strikes and non-cooperation movements and soon the military began to take action on Dhaka from the night of 25th March 1971. The Awami League was declared illegal and several members fled to exile. Mujib was arrested and taken to West Pakistan. On 27th March 1971, Ziaur Rahman, a Major in the Pakistani army rebelled and declared the independence of Pakistan on behalf of Mujibur. The exiled Awami League leaders formed a government in exile in April in Badyanathtola of Meherpur. The East Pakistan Rifles, an elite paramilitary forced, defected and extended support the new government. The Bangladesh Army took shape with the support of civilian guerillas.

Refugees fleed passing through dead brethren

Above: Refugees fleed, walking through dead brethren

LIBERATION WAR OF BANGLADESH – INDIA’S INVOLVEMENT:
Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, extended full support to Bangladesh on 27th March 1971. Bangladesh-India border came to be opened. Frightened citizens ran to India for shelter. The Indian provinces of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura opened border refugee camps. Exiled Bangladeshi officers and Indian volunteers immediately set about to recruit and train freedom fighters of the Mukti Bahini guerillas.
With the intensification of massacres on East Pakistan, an estimated 10 million refugees fled to India starting of a chain of economic and social instability in the host country. The USA, an old friend and ally, continued to materially help West Pakistan.

Picture of Indira Ghandi - The First Lady Prime Minister in India

Above: Picture of Indira Ghandi - First lady Prime Minister in India

In the middle of 1971 Indira Gandhi began diplomatic maneuvers by touring Europe. She was able to win over both UK and France to block USA in any pro Pakistani moves in the UN. Gandhi’s trump card was the signature of a 22-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union. A stunned USA saw India given the assurance that China would not be involved in the conflict. So far China had been giving moral support to Pakistan but little in terms of military aid. China did not move her troops further into India.

Mukti Bahini - Freedom Fighters of India

Above: Formation of the freedom fighters Mukti Bahini

Meanwhile activities of the Mukti Bahini began to tell upon the Pakistani Army. But the swell of refugees rushing to India turned into a tide causing immense pressure. India became more involved by supplying weapons and training to the Mukti Bahini and began to take part in the shelling of East Pakistani targets.

Map of Pakistan and its border from India and Iran

Above: map of Pakistan and its border from India and Iran (click map to enlarge)

INDIA’S OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT WITH PAKISTAN:
By November there was a huge build up of Indian forces on the border. War seemed imminent. India was just waiting for the rains to cease to allow for freer movement. Moreover snow and ice would close the mountain passes thus stalling Chinese intervention. On 23rd November Yahya Khan declared Emergency asking the people to be ready for war.

Submarine operation

Above: Picture of submarine in operation

Sunday 3rd December – in the evening Pakistan attacked eight air fields in northwest India. The inspiration behind this operation was Israeli success in the Arab-Israel Six Day War. The lesson gained was to strike without warning. But in this case the Indians were ready. The raid proved a failure. In a counter attack the Indians proved their superiority. In the east India joined hands with the Mukti Bahini to form the Mitro Bahini (Allied Forces) and an impressive air, sea and land attack was made on East Pakistan.

Massacre under Yahya Khan’s reign

Above: Massacre during the reign of Yahya Khan

Yahya Khan swiftly tried to capture territory in the western zone so as to be in a bargaining position in the east. For Pakistan’s very existence as a united country the operation in the western zone was of vital importance. India however made rapid gains in the west by capturing 5,500 square miles of Pakistani territory. As a gesture of goodwill, by the Simla Agreement of 1972 India returned to Pakistan the regions she had gained in Pak occupied Kashmir and Pakistan-Punjab. India’s involvement in the Bangladesh war of liberation gave the deathblow to Pakistan’s existence in the eastern region.

“The Indian Army merely provided the coup de grace to what the people of Bangladesh had commenced–active resistance to the Pakistani Government and its Armed Forces on their soil.”

Indian Air Force assault in Pakistan

Above: Indian Air Force assault in Pakistan

The Indian Navy proved its superiority in the ocean by successfully carrying out Operation Trident – which was an assault on the Pakistani seaport of Karachi. Two of Pakistan’s Destroyers and one Minesweeper were destroyed in Operation Python. The Indian Navy made its presence felt in the Bay of Bengal also. The Indian Air Force conducted 4,000 sorties in the west but its counterpart in Pakistan could hardly retaliate. This was because hitherto the technical personnel had mainly been Bengalis. Another reason for defeat was that the PAF, riddled with losses because of its eastern operations was in no position to further worsen matters. In the east the small air contingent of PAF no 14 squadron was easily destroyed giving Indian Air Force undisputed mastery of the air space. Within only a fortnight Pakistan was brought to its knees. The Pakistani forces surrendered on 16th December. On 17th December India announced a unilateral cease-fire to which Pakistan agreed.

Picture of President Richard Nixon

Above: Picture of US former President Richard Nixon

INVOLVEMENT OF AMERICA AND SOVIET UNION:
Pakistan was supported politically and materially by USA. Nixon, backed by Kissinger was afraid of Soviet plans towards the south and southeast. Pakistan was close to China, with whom USA was looking for a rapprochement. A visit was scheduled for February 1972. Nixon reasoned that Indian victory over West Pakistan would lead to total influence of Soviet Union. It would seriously harm the global image of America as well as its new ally – China. In order to prove its credentials to China, Nixon directly violated the US congress imposed bans on Pakistan and sent military support via Jordan and Iran. Parallel to this action China was encouraged to supply arms to Pakistan. The Nixon administration turned a blind eye to reports about genocide in East Pakistan and even ignored the ‘blood telegram.’

US 7th fleet Aircraft Carrier heading to the Bay of Bengal

Above: US 7th fleet Aircraft Carrier heading to the Bay of Bengal

When no doubt remained about Pakistan’s defeat Nixon sent a naval ship, USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal on 11th December 1971. It was interpreted by India to be a nuclear threat. On 6th and 13th December, the Soviet Union dispatched from Vladivostok, two groups of ships containing nuclear arms as well as a submarine. From 18th December to 7th January 1972 the Soviet ships trailed the US task force.

Troops and refugees movement map

Above: Map of Bangladesh with troop and refugee route movements (click map to enlarge

Bangladesh had won the sympathies of the Soviet Union. The Communist country gave support to the Indian Army as well as to the Mukti Bahini. Soviet Union had reasoned that the independence of Bangladesh would weaken both USA and China. Therefore India was assured of Soviet Union’s support in the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty of August 1971.

Soldiers and Civilian brutally murdered during the war

Above: Soldier and Civilian brutally murdered during the war

RESULTS:
The immediate result was the surrender of Pakistan to the Mitro Bahini – joint forces of Bangladesh and India. Secondly Bangladesh was born as an independent nation – being the third largest Muslim country in the world. Pakistan’s military became demoralized and Yahya Khan had to resign. Bhutto replaced him. Released from West Pakistani prison, Mijibur Rahman returned to Dhaka on 10th January 1972. Approximately one to three millon people were killed during the war. Some however put the toll lower at 300,000.
Faced with imminent and sure defeat, on 14th December the Pakistani army together with local cohorts killed Bengali doctors, teachers and other intellectuals as part of their programme against Hindu minorities. The latter made up the majority of urban educated elite. Young men, seen as potential rebels, especially students were also targeted.

Picture of Indian Soldiers in prison

Above: Picture of Indian Soldiers in prison

A Pakistani stamp was issued showing 90,000 prisoners of war in Indian camps to of globalize the issue. Pakistan had to pay a heavy price in terms of man and money power. Tariq Ali in ‘Can Pakistan Survive/’ says that the country lost half its navy, quarter of its air force and a third of its army. India took about 93,000 prisoners of war including Pakistani soldiers and East Pakistani quislings. Some were family members of the military or Bihari razarkars. Of these 79,676 were uniformed – the break up being as follows:

1. Army – 55,692
2. Paramilitary – 16,354
3. Police – 5,296
4. Navy – 1,000
5. Air Force – 800

Below: Stamp imprinted with an image of prisoners

Stamp imprinted with prisoners image

Since the last World War this was the largest surrender. Initially India wanted to try them for war crimes and brutality in East Pakistan but ultimately they were released as a goodwill gesture. As part of the hand-shaking mood and desire for lasting peace, in the Simla Agreement about 13000 square kilometers of territory was returned to Pakistan.

IMPORTANT DATES:
• March 7, 1971: Declaration by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman that, “The current struggle is a struggle for independence”, in a public meeting attended by almost a million people in Dhaka.
• March 25, 1971: Start of Operation Searchlight to eliminate any resistance. In Dhaka thousands are killed in student dormitories and police barracks
• March 26, 1971: Major Ziaur Rahman declares independence over the radio from Chittagong. Indian radio stations relay the message globally.
• April 17, 1971: Provisional government formed by exiled Awami League leaders
• December 3, 1971: West Pakistan launches a series of preemptive air strikes on Indian airfields. Officially the war between the two countries begins.
• December 14, 1971: Pakistan army starts systematic extinction of intellectuals and quislings.
• December 16, 1971: Lieutenant-General A. A. K. Niazi, supreme commander of Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, surrenders to the Allied Forces (Mitro Bahini) represented by Lieutenant General Aurora of Indian Army. Bangladesh gains independence.

Korean War

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Korean War Portray

Above: Korean War Portray

The Korean War began on 25 June 1950, when forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) attacked southward across the thirty-eighth parallel against the army of the Republic of Korea (ROK). Trained and armed by the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and substantially out-numbering the South Koreans along the front, the North Koreans advanced rapidly, capturing Seoul, the ROK capital, on 28 June.

Photo of President Harry S. Truman (1945 - 1953)

Photo of President Harry S. Truman (1945 – 1953)

The U.S. administration of Harry S. Truman reacted sharply. With Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson taking the lead in advising the commander-in-chief, the United States rushed the Korean issue to the United Nations Security Council in New York. The Soviet Union was boycotting that body over its refusal to grant China’s seat to the recently founded PRC under Mao Zedong, thus making possible the quick passage of U.S.-drafted resolutions on 25 and 27 June. The first called for a cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of DPRK forces north of the thirty-eighth parallel, the second for assistance from member states to the ROK “necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area.” Already the United States was aiding the ROK with arms, ammunition, and air and naval forces. On 30 June, as the North Koreans advanced south of Seoul, Truman committed to the battle U.S. combat troops stationed in Japan. On 7 July the UN Security Council passed another U.S.-drafted resolution creating a United Nations Command (UNC) in Korea under American leadership. Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of U.S. Forces, Far East, to head the UNC.

Casualties in Korean War

Above: Shot of dead bodies killed during Korean War

The Korean War lasted for over three years. Although the United States and ROK provided over 90 percent of the manpower on the UN side, fourteen other governments sent forces of some kind and unofficially Japan provided hundreds of laborers in critical Korean industries and in its former colony’s harbors operating American vessels. On the North Korean side, the PRC eventually committed over a million troops, and the Soviet Union contributed large-scale matériel assistance and hundreds of pilots and artillery personnel. United States forces suffered in battle alone over 142,000 casualties, including 33,000 deaths; the Chinese nearly 900,000 casualties, including 150,000 deaths. Koreans on both sides endured far greater losses. Total casualties in the war, military and civilian combined, numbered over 3 million.

The big three heads of the Government

Above: The Big Three – from left; British Prime Minister Clement Atlee, US President Harry S. Truman, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin

Origins of the War

The war originated in the division of the peninsula in August 1945 by the United States and the Soviet Union. Korea had been under Japanese rule since early in the century. American leaders believed that, with its defeat in WORLD WAR II, Japan should lose its empire but that Koreans would need years of tutelage before being prepared to govern themselves. The United States surmised that a multipower trusteeship over the peninsula, to involve itself, the Soviet Union, China, and perhaps Great Britain, would provide Koreans with the necessary preparation while averting the great-power competition that had disrupted northeast Asia a half century before. Yet as the Pacific war approached its end, the Allied powers had not reached precise agreements on Korea. On the eve of Japan’s surrender, President Truman proposed to Soviet premier Joseph Stalin that their governments’ forces occupy Korea, with the thirty-eighth parallel as the dividing line between them. Stalin agreed.

The Moscow Conference 1945

Above: In Moscow Conference 1945, Ernest Bevin (left), British foreign secretary; V.M. Molotov (center), Soviet foreign minister, and James F. Byrnes, US secretary of state, affirmed four-power commission to rule Korea

At the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers in December 1945, the United States did advance a trustee-ship proposal, but the Soviets watered it down to include merely negotiations toward trusteeship in a joint commission made up of representatives of the two occupation commands in Korea. The new body soon became stalemated, adjourning in May 1946. The Americans aligned with the Korean right in the south, while the Soviets sided with the extreme left in the north. Despite a second attempt to resolve differences in the joint commission in the spring and summer of 1947, the Soviet-American stalemate continued, as the escalating COLD WAR in Europe and the Middle East dampened prospects for accommodation in other areas. In September the United States referred the Korean issue to the UN General Assembly.

Map of Korea with offensive movements during the war

Above: Map of Korea with offensive movements during the war

By this time South Korea was in considerable turmoil. Since the beginning of the occupation, the Americans had favored conservative Korean groups who had either collaborated with the Japanese or spent most of the period of Japan’s rule in exile. The economic division of the country, the influx of over a million Koreans into the territory south of the thirty-eighth parallel from Japan, Manchuria, and North Korea, and poorly conceived occupation policies combined to produce widespread discontent. Meanwhile, the extreme right, led by Syngman Rhee, agitated aggressively for establishment of an independent government in the south. With support in Congress waning for the U.S. occupation, the Truman administration decided to refer the Korean issue to the United Nations.

Korean withstand engaging in Guerrilla Warfare

Above: Korean withstand engaging in Guerrilla Warfare

The Soviets refused to cooperate in creating a unified government in Korea, so the United States persuaded the international organization to supervise elections below the thirty-eighth parallel. These occurred on 10 May 1948, and the boycott of them by leftist and some rightist leaders ensured a victory for Rhee and his allies. When the ROK came into being on 15 August, Rhee stood as its president and the conservative Democratic party dominated the National Assembly. Less than a month later, the Soviet Union brought into existence the DPRK in the north, led by the Communist Kim Il Sung as premier. Confident of the relative strength of their creation, the Soviets withdrew their occupation forces at the end of the year. Given the widespread turmoil in the south, which included guerrilla warfare in mountain areas, the Americans did not withdraw their last occupation forces until June 1949. Even then, they left substantial quantities of light arms for the ROK army and a 500-man military advisory group to assist in its development.

Emergency shipment to the Korean War zone

Above: Emergency shipment of Air Force and Navy aircraft with personnel and equipment to the Korean War zone

Beginning in March 1949 Kim Il Sung lobbied Stalin for approval of and matériel support for a military attack on the ROK. Stalin initially demurred. At the end of January 1950, with the Communists having won the civil war on mainland China, with Mao in Moscow negotiating a military alliance with the Soviet Union, and with support for the ROK in the United States appearing less than firm, he changed his mind. Over the next several months, Stalin approved the shipment to North Korea of heavy arms, including tanks, thus giving the DPRK a clear military advantage over the ROK. North Korea was also strengthened by the return of tens of thousands of Korean nationals who had fought on the Communist side in China. In meetings with Kim in Moscow in early April, Stalin explicitly approved a North Korean attack on South Korea, provided Mao also gave his blessing. Although he believed that the United States would not intervene, especially if the North Koreans won a speedy victory, he made it clear that, if Kim ran into difficulty with the Americans, he would have to depend as a counter on direct Chinese, not Soviet, intervention. When in mid-May Mao endorsed Kim’s proposal for an early attack on the ROK, the plans proceeded to their final stage.

DPRK forces attack repulse enemy out of Korea

Above: DPRK forces attack repulse enemy out of Korea

The Course of the War

Even with the intervention of U.S. troops in July, the DPRK nearly drove the enemy out of Korea. By early August forces fighting under the UN banner were squeezed into the Pusan perimeter, on the southeastern corner of the peninsula. At the end of the month DPRK forces launched an offensive that over the next two weeks inflicted more enemy casualties than in any other comparable period during the war.

UN Troops recapturing Seoul, South Korea

Above: UN forces recapturing Seoul, South Korea

Yet UN troops now outnumbered their opponents and, on 15 September, General MacArthur launched a counteroffensive at Inchon, the port for Seoul. By month’s end UN forces had broken out of the Pusan perimeter and retaken Seoul. DPRK forces were in headlong retreat northward and the United States had altered its objective from reestablishing the thirty-eighth parallel to destroying the enemy and reuniting the peninsula under a friendly government. ROK units began crossing the old boundary on 1 October and other UN units followed a week later, by which time the UN General Assembly had given its endorsement.

DPRK Artillery

Above: DPRK using artillery at the battlefront

Long anticipating such developments, the PRC now moved decisively toward intervention. The DPRK appealed to Beijing for aid on 1 October and Stalin urged Mao to comply. The “Chinese People’s Volunteers” (CPV) under General Peng Dehuai commenced large-scale movements into Korea on 19 October.

Ground combat in Korean War

Above: Ground combat in Korean War

Despite contact with CPV soldiers from 25 October on, UN ground forces did not stop their movement northward. General MacArthur was determined to win a quick and total victory and, despite reservations in the Pentagon and the State Department, Washington proved unwilling to order him to halt. On 24 November UN forces began what they hoped would be an “end-the-war offensive.” Four days later, with CPV forces over 200,000 strong engaged in a strong counterattack against severely overextended UN units, MacArthur declared that he faced “an entirely new war.”

UN launching an air attack

Above: UN launching an air attack

Over the next month UN troops retreated to the thirty-eighth parallel. On New Year’s Eve CPV units crossed the old boundary in an attempt to push enemy forces off the peninsula. MacArthur told Washington that the U.S. choice was between expanding the war to air and naval attacks against mainland China and accepting total defeat.

Picture of General Matthew B. Ridgway

Above: Picture of General Matthew B. Ridgway

Adhering to a Europe-first strategy and faced with allied pressure to both persevere in Korea and contain the war there, the Truman administration refused to follow MacArthur’s lead. During the second week of January the CPV offensive petered out below Seoul in the face of severe weather, supply problems, and the regrouping of UN forces under the leadership of General Matthew B. Ridgway, who had taken over the U.S. Eighth Army in Korea in late December. Over the next three months, UN forces, outnumbered on the ground but controlling the air and enjoying a sizable advantage in artillery, gradually pushed the enemy northward, retaking Seoul in mid-March. A month later UN units held a line slightly north of the thirty-eighth parallel in all sectors except the extreme west.

Map of Korea showing offensive movements

Above: Map of Korea showing war offensive movements

This evolving situation produced a final showdown between Truman and MacArthur. The president was content, if possible, to settle the war roughly where it had begun the previous June, and he was under steady pressure to do so from allies and neutrals in the United Nations. Dissatisfied with less than total victory, the UN commander continued to scheme for an expanded war. Anticipating a Chinese spring offensive at any moment and facing continued public dissent from MacArthur, Truman on 11 April removed his field commander from all his positions, appointing Ridgway in his place. The action set off a storm of protest in the United States, but Truman held firm, aided by UN forces in Korea, which repulsed massive Chinese offensives in April and May. Following consultations in Moscow in early June, the Communist allies decided to seek negotiations for an armistice.

Korean Peace Talk Representatives

Above: Korean representatives for peace talk at Kaesong, Korea (1951)

Peace Negotiations

On 10 July negotiations began between the field commands at Kaesong, just south of the thirty-eighth parallel. Despite restraint on both sides from seeking major gains on the battlefield, an armistice was not signed for over two years.

The first issue negotiated was an armistice line, and this took until 27 November to resolve. The Communists initially insisted on the thirty-eighth parallel; the UN command, which was dominated by the United States, pressed for a line north of the prevailing battle line, arguing that this would be reasonable compensation for its agreement in an armistice to desist its pounding of North Korea from the air and sea. After much acrimony, the suspension of the talks for two months, and small battle-field gains by the UN side, the parties agreed to the existing “line of contact”-provided, that is, that agreement on all other issues was reached within thirty days.

Two main issues remained on the agenda: “arrangements for the realization of cease fire and armistice … including the composition, authority, and functions of a supervising organization for carrying out the terms;” and “arrangements relating to prisoners of war.” With the UN command relaxing its military pressure on the ground and the Communists securing their defensive lines as never before, neither side had a compelling reason to give way. Nonetheless, by April 1952 essential agreement had been reached on the postarmistice rotation of troops in Korea, the replacement and introduction of matériel, and the makeup and authority of a Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission. The one remaining item was the fate of prisoners of war (POWs).

Prisoners of War (POW)

Above: A communist troops escorting UN prisoners of war

The POW issue was bound to be difficult, as it involved captured personnel on both sides who had participated in the ongoing civil conflicts in Korea and/or China. Many of the prisoners held by the United Nations had begun the war in South Korea, been captured by the DPRK army, and eventually been impressed into it. Others had fought in Nationalist armies during the Chinese civil war and later been integrated into the CPV. Not all of these prisoners wanted to return to the DPRK or PRC at war’s end. Negotiations eventually became stalemated over the fate of Chinese prisoners. In October 1952, after months without progress, the UNC suspended talks.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Above: Picture of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Negotiations did not resume until April of the following year. By this time Dwight D. Eisenhower had replaced Truman as president of the United States (20 January) and Stalin had died (5 March). When negotiations failed to achieve quick success, the American president ordered the bombing of dikes in North Korea, which threatened the DPRK’s food supply; he also threatened to terminate the talks and expand the war. In early June the Communists finally accepted the U.S. position on POWs. The centrality of Eisenhower’s actions in this out-come remains uncertain.

Communist Korean POW

Above: Picture of Communist Korean captured by UN troop

The fighting would have ended in mid-June had it not been for the action of Syngman Rhee, who opposed an armistice without Korea’s unification. His wishes ignored, he ordered ROK guards to release over 25,000 anti-Communist Korean POWs held in the south. This action on 18 June led to strong protests from the Communists and a crisis in U.S.-ROK relations. After the Communists launched successful limited offensives against ROK forces along the battlefront and the Americans promised to negotiate a defense treaty with the ROK immediately following the conclusion of fighting, Rhee finally agreed not to disrupt-but not to sign-an armistice. The Communists joined the UNC in signing the agreement on July 27.

Below: Flag of North Korea (upper) and South Korea (bottom)

Flag of North Korea

Flag of South Korea

Cold War of Superpowers

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{mosimage}The United States and Soviet Union flourished in major competition to authorize the support of the nonaligned countries, with the use of economic and military help.

 

The two countries that were considered to be the superpowers after the Second World War were the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries stood in opposition in many different ways. The two superpowers competed in the form of military-security contention, philosophical challenges between Wilsonian and Leninism point of view and even in the strength of capitalism and communism. As both superpowers avoided the attack in the world war, the competition between the two is commonly known as the Cold War. There were three main factors that created the situation of Cold War between these two Superpowers: The bipolar world, diversified global arena and declining relevance. Cold War was initiated in 1945 and ended in 1990.

The Bipolar world situation was created by occupying different nations and territories by these superpowers in the realm of Cold War. Soviet Union developed a dominant position in the east of Europe by controlling the Baltic Sea, which helped Soviet military forces through Poland to Bulgaria. For the reconstruction of noncommunist nations, the United States incorporated the Marshall Plan in Europe which diminished the domination of the communist party in Italy and France. Cold War for superpowers in a diversified global arena includes the fact that the communist world was getting integrated under the rule of the Soviet Union but it was proved that administration could be communist only in ideology and thus the influence of Soviet power was rejected.

The United States and Soviet Union flourished in major competition to authorize the support of the nonaligned countries, with the use of economic and military help. In many regions, the Cold War of superpowers provided an approach for smaller nations in acquiring economic and arms help, and these challenges set the attitude for the second stage of the Cold War. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, negotiations among superpower played and important role in global politics.

There was a declining relevance of the Cold War between the superpowers during the final decades of the 20th century. The old power clashes between the United States and Soviet Union no longer influenced the ideologies of Lenin and Wilson affairs. Many superpowers came into being like Germany and Japan which engaged in religious revivalism and ethnic nationalism in many fields. This lead to global pressures for equality and the transformations in development of global outlook from the premature days of the Cold War.

The Devastating World War II

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World War II took place among Allies and Enemies alike. It began in 1939 and finally reached its end in 1945. It was said to be the biggest and most devastating war in world’s history. Allies included the United Kingdom, the United States, Soviet Union, Australia, New Zealand and others. Enemies included Germany, Italy, Japan and others. The chief leaders of World War II were Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, Hideki Tojo and Benito Mussolini.

Many disputes were going on within the borders of Germany regarding the Treaty of Versailles. Commencement of the Great Depression provided Hitler and his followers with a s stage that would ultimately give rise to World War II. Germany became enraged when the world powers would not do anything about the fascists. The capitalist democracies perceived the fascists as the rivals of communists and disliked the “anti-communist bulwark” which, were built next to the boundaries of the Soviet Union.

The “non-Aggression Pact” was signed in the fall of 1939 between Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. The Pact was to ensure that Nazi Germany and Communist Russia would become Allies of sorts. They would not attack or harm each other. Russia captured Poland from the East and Germany captured from the West. Great Britain and France vowed to assist Poland and thus war broke out. On December 7th 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. The war became more diversified and complex when the United States became involved with full force. The United States used an atomic bomb which destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki of Japan. America and British initiated techniques of bombing which resulted in the destruction of entire cities and killed thousands of millions of civilians with the use of the atomic devices.

The use of military weapons and machines by the great powers caused many civilians to abandon their homes in search of safer locations. World War II not only gave rise to physical bloodshed but also changed the economic relationships between societies, Nations and individuals. The consequences of the war still influence world associations to date. World War II was differentiated by its savagery and lack of humanity.