Facts and statistics about World War II reflect upon the disaster that followed after its parent war, World War I. The human-made human destruction war included a vast majority of the world’s nations.
When did it start?
1939-1945
Years that might remain forever engraved in the history of humankind.
Also known as…
Second World War
Causes of the World War II
The causes of the Second World War trace its connection with the first disastrous massacre, World War I.
Wars never end, they make sure to leave a deep bruise that never heals. And the First World War did the same work
It left an angry void between the hearts of nations which then filled insecurity and uneasiness.
History marks that the First World War which broke out in 1914 and hailed till 1918 was the major reason for the onset of the Second World War. The imprint and unsettled views that breathed for 20 years finally resulted in World War II.
How did it begin?
The war signs roared on the 1st September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by the old friends of wars, the Nazis.
Thereby, Britain and France followed the declaration of war on Germany.
Front-runners
The war saw two opposing military alliances charging against each other.
They were the Allies and the Axis.
The Allies comprised of United States, Soviet Union, China, United Kingdom, and France.
The Axis comprised loose countries such as Italy, Japan, and Germany with Germany as their coalition head.
However, these loose countries wanted to expand themselves thus choosing the sides of Axis. But the fact remains constant that though being on the same team they lacked coordination and also had varied reasons to participate in the war.
Nazi’s and the holocaust horror
The Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler (the monster disguised in a human body) made sure that the Aryan race held their heads high by declaring him and his race as ‘pure’. Also, his accusation of the Jewish being impure led him to hold a mass massacre of Jews under the blanket of the Second World War.
The monstrosity of Nazis’ genocide on Jews hailed from 1941 to 1945 known as the holocaust. The victims included a list of 6 million Jews tortured to death.
The Concentration Camps saw 50,000 deaths each month with 6,000 Jews pushed into gas chambers every single day!
According to the facts and statistics about World War II that we gathered, Hitler himself designed the Nazi symbol. The red backdrop symbolized the social idea of Nazism. White represented nationalism and the black Swastika stood for struggle faced by the Aryan man.
However, it is important to note that he did not invent the Swastika. It is actually an ancient religious and spiritual symbol used in the Indian subcontinent. Since Hitler stole it for not-so-religious-and-spiritual-propaganda, the use of Swastika at present stands a little on shaky grounds.
Facts and statistics about World War II
Facts and statistics about World War II gathered state that:
Firstly, Japan and China were already on the war frontier before the beginning of World War II. The war is famously documented in history as the Second Sino-Japanese war.
Secondly, the Axis powers got their name from Benito Mussolini following a treaty between Germany and Italy. Mussolini declared that from then, the rest of Europe and indeed the rest of the world would revolve around them!
Thirdly, the Allied powers came to know as the United Nations after the declaration of January 1942. Thus leading to the foundation of what we know as the United Nations.
Fourthly, Nazis stood on the battlefield terming the strongest among all as they conquered major parts of Europe.
Fifthly, as a counter-attack on Nazis, the Axis powers decided to invade the Soviet Union. This resulted in Operation Barbarossa (one of the important wars in the history of World Wars).
Sixth, the holocaust created by Nazis in Hebrew meant DESTRUCTION!
Seventh, the most iconic figure of World War II was Anne Frank. The diary, written by her documents a clear picture of the life of Jews in hiding, the fear that the Jewish families went through, and the urgency of their survival.
Eighth, Anne Frank’s death occurred just before one month of the rescue of Jews by the Americans.
Ninth, after the end of the war, the Allied forces became permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
India during the Second World War
Unlike all the other places of the World, both wars- World War I and World War II had a great impact on India.
For Americans, World War II was most importantly a fight for civilization.
But for Indians, the breakout of World War II was not simple because India remained a British colony throughout the war years. On the contrary, the British government expected Indians to participate in the war.
Thousands of allied troops from a wide variety of countries, including the British, the UK, the United States, and China had their base in India. Thus converting India into a logistic hub.
The dead-end
According to the facts and statistics about World War II, the deadly war ended with the invasion of Germany by the Allies in the Battle of Berlin.
The surrender of Germany took place on 8th May 1945 declaring a victory day in Europe.
However, Japan tried its best not to surrender which resulted in dropping two atomic bombs in Hiroshima on 6th and Nagasaki on 9th by the US.
Facts and statistics state that if there was a third atomic bomb planned, it would have targeted Tokyo.
After facing the severity of atomic bombs, Japan finally surrenders on 15th August 1945. The official documents then signed on 2nd September marks the official end of World War II.
Causalities and death records
At around 10 am on the morning of 7th December of 1941, hundreds of Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbour. The attack killed almost 2,000 people. Several American warships along with 200 American planes met their destruction.
The attack on Pearl Harbour took place as revenge on America for passing a number of economic sanctions along with trade embargos. America acted on it in the first place because Japan had invaded China!
Yet, Japan known for its famous Kamikaze (suicide attacks) in World War II created great havoc. This involved pilots flying their planes directly into their targets. Though their attacks pictured destruction, their attacks proved to be correct as low as 11%.
However, Kamikaze did manage to sink 47 Allied ships and damaged almost 300 of them.
The atomic bombs killed almost 300,000 people!
If we look at the statistics- 15,000,000 battle deaths, 25,000,000 battle wounded, and more than 45,000,000 civilian deaths traced its number in worldwide causalities.
Conclusion
World War II ended way back in 1945 but if we ask the question, ‘Did it really end?’ in the present scenario the answer would be NO! Though the US and Soviet Union fought together they did end up later facing each other in Cold War. Thus giving us an impression, no matter which side you belong a war is a war and you’re fated to face the consequences.
At present in 2022, the entire world is at stake. Every single individual has one question in their mind, “The war between Russia and Ukraine, is it going to end in World War III?” the answer could be YES…
World Wars have a history of beginning with small flames and ending in huge bomb fires. So, are we sitting on the edge of World War III? Might be YES…
