Essay, Research Paper: WWII

War is one of the most tragic things in our world today. It is even sadder that usually it comes around at least once in our lifetime. In the 20th century alone we have already had two huge wars. These wars were call the World Wars simply because they involved most of the big countries of the world. Many people have died in these wars.. especially the second World War. That is my focus for this essay. The leader of Germany at the time of WW2 and the person who most think started WW2 was a man named Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was born in Austria. By the time that World War 1 started in 1914, he was living in Germany. He served well in the German Army and for that he earned a medal for bravery. At the end of the war Hitler decided to take up politics. By 1921 he was already the founding leader of the Nazi party. Hitler was an incredibly racist man and he had a great hate for Jews. By 1933, Hitler gained political power by winning the election. Soon after he made himself absolute dictator, calling himself the Fuhrer which means "Leader". By the end of the 30's he was already sending Jews off too concentration camps to meet a horrible death. I believe that Hitler was one of the greatest causes of World War 2. Although there are many other reasons, he was definitely one of them. Another reason was the Treaty of Versailles. This was the treaty that was signed at the end of World War 1. This treaty outlined the rules that Germany must follow because of their defeat by Britain and France. Many Germans were angered by the treaty, for most of the rules in the treaty were unfair and Germany lost a great amount of wealth. One of the cruelest reasons for the war was Hitler's racist hate for Jews. He would send them off in cattle cars to places called concentration camps were they would be slaughtered by the thousands. World War 2 was huge and involved a lot of countries. There were thousands of battlefronts and warsites. The two main battlefronts were the battle front between Britain and Germany and the battlefront between the Japanese and the Americans. These battlefronts were split up into smaller battlefronts even still. Many lives were lost in the air, on land and in the sea. Some of the most notable battles were: The Battle of Britain, The Battle of Midway and The Battle of the Atlantic. Since the US and Canada were at war with the Japanese, Japanese Canadians were treated very poorly. The government had decided that all or most Japanese Canadians, even if they were born in Canada had either go home or go and live in one of the camps. These camps were made to keep all the Japanese Canadians together in one location. But the fact was that these camps were very dirty and not fair treatment. Also, the government took away all Japanese possessions and without the Japanese knowing, they were auctioned off at a fraction of their original value! This treatment went on for all of World War 2 and Japanese Canadians were not treaty fairly for many years after. Just recently the government of Canada has decided to pay compensation for their losses but most agree that it doesn't even come close to what they lost. One of the greatest outcomes of the war was the great world power shift. For more than a century Great Britain had been the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world. But they used up too many resources in the wars and their status greatly decreased. One person even wrote that it is not Great Britain any more... it is just Britain. People all over the world suffered through this war. Hundreds of thousands of people died. All for the sake of their countries. And you know what? No one actually gained anything from it. The fact is that all of the countries (excluding the US) lost much, much more than what they gained. Britain lost their power, France lost lives and land, Germany lost everything and Japan lost thousands of civilians in their suicidal attacks called Kamikazes. In my opinion the war was a total waste. Although some people will tell you that we fought and gained the peace that we have today and have had for almost fifty years. People fought for 5 years and lost more than 50 billion dollars. Do think it was worth it? Now, maybe if governments use the past as a guide to the future we won't have to fight such a bloody battle ever again. Especially with nuclear weapons so easily obtainable.