FREE ESSAY ON WORLD WAR II

WORLD WAR II

INTRODUCTION
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 
World War II was a man named Adolf Hitler. 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.
However, 
One of the cruelest reasons for the war was Hitler's racist hate for Jews. He would
actually be the cause of 
one of the greatest injustices done againest human-kind in the history of the world.
As the war progressed many countries became involved in the war. British forces, which
consisted 
of troops both from England and Canada, along with France, originally declared war on
Germany. Germany 
allied themselves with Italy and Japan, known as the Axis powers, hoped to defeat the
Allies. As the war 
progressed though, and more countries allied themselves with the Allied Forces, such as
the United States 
and the Soviet Union, resistance became futile and in August, 1945, the allies had
successfully defeated the 
Nazi armies.
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
When World War I came to a close in mid-November of 1918, many ideas were 
circulating in Europe as to what the peace settlement should entail. In Britain, leaders
were 
thinking about how to increase British colonial power. In France, many wanted to
permanently 
punish the Germans, partly in revenge for Germany's aggression in World War I, but also,

perhaps for the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. In Germany, citizens were worried about how

radical changes after the war could affect their daily lives. All these biases, worries,
plans, and 
ideas came together in Paris on the 28th of June 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles,
establishing 
the post-war peace in Europe. Yet just twenty years later, war would once again break out
in 
Europe. So why were the peace settlements of World War I unable to prevent the outbreak
of 
war twenty years later in World War II? To understand this, one must first have a
detailed 
understanding of the World War I peace settlement at Versailles
Germany was also punished in regard to its colonial and imperial power. During the 
war, Germany had control of many small islands and archipelagos in the South Pacific. The

Treaty of Versailles gave these islands to Britain and Japan. In Africa, France gained
the 
Cameroon from Germany and Britain was given German East Africa and German West Africa. 
All German assets in other colonies were to be immediately dissolved into the current 
government of those colonies. Finally, Germany's military was to be greatly reduced in
size. The 
Treaty mandated that Germany's standing army could be no larger than 100,000 men. In 
addition, their Navy was reduced, and according to Article 198, The armed forces of
Germany 
must not include any military or naval air forces. (2) Germany's army was, in effect,
useless, 
and without an air force, the Allies hoped that Germany would be unable ever to wage
war.
The Treaty of Versailles also charged Germany with the task of paying heavy 
reparations. The treaty set up a reparations committee that would meet sometime in 1921
to 
determine reparations for Germany to pay. Until then, Germany would pay $5,000,000,000 
due May 1, 1921. The Germans would have to wait to see what reparations they would really

pay. Until then, though, they started on the $5,000,000,000, already a very daunting task
for 
the nation.
The economic strain put on Germany was probably the single most important factor in 
increasing hostility of the Germans towards Britain and France. Then the reparations
committee 
finally met and determined that Germany should pay another $25,000,000,000, plus other 
costs, bringing the total up to $32,500,000,000 to be paid by 1963! (3) This demand, 
however, was ridiculous. Germany had hardly enough money to pay the entire original fee.
This 
demand would crush the German economy, and many experts predicted it could even cause the

starvation of the German people. 
Not only were Britain and France overly vindictive in assessing these reparations, but 
they were also short-sighted in thinking they would derive anything beneficial out of it.
Basically, 
Britain and France demanded all of Germany's money, yet they also took away all territory
from 
Germany that could produce this money. By taking away Germany's colonies, they, in
effect, 
eliminated all of Germany's investments and assets in their Colonial power. Future income
and 
industry generated from these colonies would not be there for Germany. With German
industry 
completely destroyed, there was no practical way for them to pay Britain and France.
Germany realized that there was no way they could pay the reparations if their industrial

territories, such as the Saar Basin, and their colonies were taken away. Unfortunately,
the Allies 
did not see this. With numerous counter-proposals denied, Germany's only other option was
to 
resort to printing more money. This would cause massive inflation, further devastating
the 
German economy. In 1918, there were seven German Marks to the United States Dollar. In 
1923, 4,210,500,000,000 Marks equaled the dollar! (8) Germany's last economic resort had

been disastrous.
German aggression was greatly aroused by the ridiculous and often mistaken territorial 
adjustments made by Britain and France. One such incident was in the transfer of German 
territory to Poland. The allies had determined that the territory of Allenstein, in the
eastern part 
of Germany should be given to Poland. The German delegation sent a counter-proposal
stating 
that Allenstein had a large German population, and the Polish population was miniscule.
When a 
vote was actually held there, 97.9% of the population voted to be part of Germany, with
the 
remaining 2.1% wanting to join with Poland. (9)
Although Allenstein was eventually granted to Germany, the main problem is obvious. 
The Allies postponed other votes in Upper Silesia, most likely to prevent a similar
setback from 
occurring. Germany had a significantly greater population than Poland in almost every
territory 
taken away from them, and the allies probably knew this. What greater way of creating 
animosity is there than taking masses of people from their country? The Allies were very

ignorant in this case, ignoring the fact that they were brewing hatred all throughout
Germany by 
taking territories that were almost 100% German away from Germany. 
Britain and France had now completed one of the most devastating peace treaties in 
history. Mistakes had been made that would increase German aggression, and would drive 
Germany to desperate options. The economic impacts and the territorial changes worked 
together to do this. Germany had no way to pay the reparations, without having their
territories 
and colonies. If Germany refused to pay the reparations, even more territory would be 
occupied. This gave Germany reason to rearm and aggressively retake their territories
such as 
the Saar Basin and the Rhineland. In addition, the political situation in Germany easily
allowed 
the rise of radical ideas. With the inflation, the Weimar Republic, which was governing
Germany 
in the early 20s, collapsed and socialist revolts and strikes in cities like Kiel caused
total political 
upheaval. In addition, the hatred of Britain and France for taking Germans away from
their 
country in places like Danzig and Alsace-Lorraine created even more instability.
All these factors, ignored by those who created the treaty, easily allowed a man named 
Adolf Hitler to come to power. Hitler was a very charismatic leader, an excellent
speaker, and 
was offering solutions to the economic and social hardships of Germany, combined with
national 
pride. The German people immediately were willing to join his cause, no matter how
radical it 
was. Soon, Hitler began to remilitarize Germany, planning to regain the territories lost
with the 
Versailles Treaty, with great support from the German people. As for the League of
Nations, 
which was formed from many of the allied countries in World War I it was unable to do 
anything. Britain and France were often to busy worrying about their own economic and
social 
problems to worry about foreign affairs, yet alone fight another war. Hitler had
carefully 
analyzed the League's reactions toward other aggression at the time. When Japan invaded 
Manchuria, the League let it pass. Similarly, when Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935,
the 
Allies only imposed economic sanctions on Italy, which were actually ignored by most
League 
members. If the League of Nations would have been stronger, perhaps with help from the 
United States, aggression by Germany, Italy and Japan could have been prevented. But the
U.S 
was still angry that their opinions that Germany were getting treated unfairly were
ignored at 
Versailles, and maintained a somewhat neutral policy. Hitler and Germany were able to
take 
over the Rhineland, the Saarland, the Sudetenland, (which had been given to the nation of

Czechoslovakia by the peace settlements) and unify with Austria with the League left only
to 
watch. Finally, on the 1st of September 1939, just 20 years after the end of World War I,

Hitler invaded Poland. The Treaty of Versailles had failed; Europe was once again at
war.
The Treaty of Versailles had one true plan in preserving the peace, to completely 
eliminate Germany's territorial, imperial, military, and economic power so much, that the
country 
could never wage war again. The means of doing this in the treaty, however, were not well

thought out. Under the threat of military action, Germany was forced to pay huge
reparations to 
Britain and France. But all of Germany's income producing territories and colonies had
been 
taken away; it was impossible for them to pay. With the economy devastated, Germany
turned 
to the radical ideas of Adolf Hitler, and would eventually wage war on Britain, France,
and 
many others. Many at the time of the Treaty of Versailles knew that there would be
problems 
with it; revenge and punishment would not preserve the peace. Some even tried to publicly

offer solutions like Woodrow Wilson, the president of the United States at the time, and
John 
Maynard Keynes, a leading economist. Unfortunately, the leaders of Britain and France 
ignored these problems and signed the Treaty of Versailles into existence. 
HITLER AND THE NAZI'S
Hitler was born in a small town in Austria in 1889. As a young boy, he showed little 
ambition. After dropping out of high school, he moved to Vienna to study art, but he was

denied the chance to join Vienna academy of fine arts. 
When WWI broke out, Hitler joined Kaiser Wilhelmer's army as a Corporal. At this time he

was not a person of great importance. He was to become a creature of a Germany created by
WWI, and 
his behavior was shaped by that war and its consequences.Futhermore, he had emerged from
Austria 
with many prejudices, including a powerful prejudice against Jews. Again, he was a
product of his 
times, for many Austrians and Germans were prejudiced against the Jews. 
In Hitler's case the prejudice had become maniacal it was a dominant force in his 
private and political personalities. Anti-Semitism was not a policy for Adolf Hitler-it
was 
religion. And in the Germany of the 1920s, stunned by defeat, and the ravages of the
Versailles 
treaty, it was not hard for a leader to convince millions that one element of the
nation's society 
was responsible for most of the evils heaped upon it.
Hitler's Nazi party came to power almost entirely because of accidents. In 1929 the
American 
Stock Market crashed, a powerful symbol of the growing depression. Germany was
particularly badly 
affected, since Germany's economy was partly dependent on Americas prosperity and a large
number
of loans made by America to Germany were called back and the German economy crashed.
Since the German government suffered badly in the depression the existing Weimar
government, 
put in place by the victorious Allies, was blamed. Without the depression the government
was not 
particularly liked since it was indecisive and it had not central power. Hitler used his
twenty-five points from 
the beginning of the Nazi party. These were a set of promises appealing to everybody,
they included 
elements of socialism and told people what they wanted to hear. They promised to stop
reparations to the 
victors of the First World War, end unemployment, give a strong leadership and they
attacked immigrants 
and particularly Jews. The twenty-five points were attractive to those most vulnerable to
the depression, 
especially ex-soldiers, the unemployed and the middle classes. 
In the time of crisis the German people had swung to an extreme group, the Nazis were an
easy 
way out, and they were also attractive since they apparently promoted the old and
respected German 
militaristic values. In the hard times they were effective since the democratic parties
could not solve any of 
the problems facing Germany. In the 1930 elections the Nazis greatly increased the number
of seats that they 
held in parliament, by 1932 they had nearly 200 seats, although they did not have a
majority they were the 
largest single party.
On January 30th 1933, Hitler became the new Chancellor of the Reich. Immediately
thereafter he 
scrapped the old Weimar republican constitution and replaced it with a dictatorship being
run by none other 
than himself. Following the death of President Hindenburg on the 2nd of August 1934,
Hitler assumed full 
leadership of the nation under the titles of Chancellor and Reichsfuehrer. In the coming
year Hitler was to 
re-establish conscription; this startled the rest of Europe. Even to be more startling
was the fact that,
un-noticed, Germany's air-fleet, in the years before, had grown to be of great
proportions and continuely
growing very rapidly.
In 1938, the Sudeten portions of Czechoslovakia, which had previously been a part of
Germany, 
were given back to Germany following the end of the Munich pact, which stated that these
areas were
to be a part of Czechoslovakia following World War I. On the 14th of March, 1939, Hitler
invaded 
Czechoslovakia and declared that it ceased to exist, and now being a protectorate of the
Reich. Their citizens
were only given a second-class citizenship, inferior to a full citizenship of Germany.
Hitler didn't stop 
there though, he demanded the return of Danzig which was taken away by the Versailles
Treaty. This 
brought a crisis with Poland and in September, 1939, Hitler and his troops marched into
Poland and 
conquered it in just a few weeks.
INVASION OF POLAND
When France and Britain agreed to return the Sudeten back to Germany, it was in hopes to
avoid and another armed conflict with Germany. When it became clear that Hitler next
planned an
invasion of Poland, Great Britain had no choice but to issue a threat of war if Germany
went through
with the operation. The threat was simply disregard, and the attack on Poland was carried
out as planned. 
On 1st of September,1939, at least 80 different divisions of Hitler's armies fully
equiped with tanks, 
motor cars, machine guns, heavy artiillery, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons very
superior and 
more well organized than that of Poland's. 
Hitler's method of attack was more important than just the sheer size of his army. He
used a
blitzkrieg approach meaning lighting attack. He boldly drove his armored and motorized
units deep 
into enemy territory and effectively eliminated their established battlefronts and
strongholds. The
Polish command were even more surprised with the German Air Forces. They attacked with
lightening 
speed to destroy the Poles airbases, ammunition depots, and rail communications. This
disrupted
almost all transport and troop movements that the Poles desperately needed. Even more
important, 
it prevented any successful reconnosince by the enemy that would have been much needed
to
deal with any offensive attacks. 
On September 2nd, 1939, a day after the Polish invasion began, Premier Chamberlain of 
Great Britain gave a speech in which he finally stated that, This country is at war with
Germany...(Wernick 
8). The joint declaration of war on Germany with France became official the same day. In
spite of efforts to 
avoid combat, the fears of the British people had come true on that day. However, the
British and both
the French never offered any assistance to Poland till it was too late.Without adequate
scouting and military intelligence, the Poles lost control of even their own forces. Even
larger defense units could not plan major attacks and because of this the Polish army
began to dissolve. The President and Commander in Chief of Poland both fled as fugitives
and by September 28, 1939, the German's conquest of Poland was completed.
ENGLAND AND FRANCE ENTER THE WAR
Although England and France both entered the war when Hitler invaded Poland, No support 
was sent to Poland to aide in their fight. At home, both forces were rallying their
Navies to form a 
maritime blockade. The blockade was not set near the German Shores but at the narrow sea
approaches
to the continent. The combined forces of both the British and French sides was nearly
nine times large as
the navies on the German side. All ships entering the continent were searched and any
supplies heading
to Germany were confiscated and sent elsewhere. 
Because the Germans could not compete with such a large outfit they started to produce
their
notourious submarines again, which gave them quite an edge in the first World War. The
Sea Wolves,
as they were called, reaked havoc on the Allied ships. After only three months of war, a
total of 134 ships 
were lost on all sides, with about seventy five of these being from the British navy
alone. At this time, 
the British announced that as of December 4th, all German exports, regardless of
ownership or the carrier
would be seized. This brought forth protests from countries that chose to remain neutral
and even threats 
of retalliation from Japan. By the end of the year, German exports had been cut in half.
In the first nine months of the war, no important developments were made by either side.
In the 
first weeks of the war, the French made advancements into no man's land but with the
arrival of German
re-inforcements in the West after the conquest of Poland, they were pushed back across
their border.
The Germans, under strict orders, were not to invade on any French soil. This was
Hitler's attempt to 
force Britain and France to peace without him having to give up Poland or Czechoslovakia.
His attempts
failed. In just a few short months, Hitler and his troops invaded Poland, Finland,
Norway, Denmark, 
Belgium, Luxemburg and on June 25th, 1940, even France were forced to lay down their arms
to the 
growing German army in order to save their own people from death on their own soil. With
help from 
the Allies, to no avail though, the Germans still won the battles and occupied these
areas.
U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAR
The whole while war had been waging in Europe, the United States took a neutral stand.
The U.S., like Great Britain, had hoped to avoid bringing the horrors of war to it's
people again. For them, the memories and losses of World War I were still fresh in their
minds. Although the U.S participated in a peace treaty to
prevent the capture of Shanghai by the Japanese, who were waging another war in the
Eastern hemisphere; 
already increasing Japanese expansion throughout China and occupying the French Indochina
in July, 1940,
the U.S. didn't want to put their troops placed in any danger.
On the morning of December 7,1941, at Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base in Hawaii, the
Japanese fleet of carriers that had been making it's way toward the Hawaiian Islands went
into action. Wave after wave of Japanese aircraft came into the harbor and attacked the
American fleet as it sat helpless. No one saw the attack coming, so defense to the
assault was minimal. In the aftermath , the final tallies were five U.S. battleships and
ten warships had been destroyed, and three more battleships were severely damaged. The
death toll was also high. Over 2,400 American soldiers were killed in the strike. That
was not the only attack that day, In twenty four hours Japan had launched attacks on Hong
Kong, the Malay pennisula, Borneo and the U.S. outpost of Guam.
On December 8, The U.S, with Franklin Roosevelt as the President, declared war on Japan.
The U.S. was joined by Great Britain, the Netherlands, and several Latin American
nations. In retalliation, on December 11, Germany and Italy, which had previously signed
a military alliance with Japan, Also declared war on the U.S. Their strategy was to win
the Eastern world to cut off valuable resources such as oil, tin and rubber. The U.S. had
their own plan though. Along with Britain and the Soviet Union, they had planned to
defeat Germany and Italy first than take care of the problems in the east.
THE ALLIED AND AXIS POWERS
There were now two groups fighting this war, the Allied forces, consisting of the U.S,
Britain and the Soviet Union, and the Axis forces made up of Germany, Italy and Japan.
The first large-scale U.S forces went into North Africa in November, 1942. The Germans,
trapped between American troops on the west, British troops on the east, and the free
French Forces on the south, the Germans and Italians were forced to surrender in May,
1943. This victory, put the Allies in control of the Mediterranean and paved the way for
the invasion of Europe.
The first target for the Allies was Italy. Using the newly won North African bases as a
jumping point, American forces invaded Sicily in June, 1943, and conquered it in five
weeks. This led to many air attacks from the Allies on Italy. After three months, British
and American soldiers landed in Southern Italy.
Italy's Dictator, Mussolini fled north. Italy surrendered but many Germans were still
stationed there and still fighting. For two years, the Allies made their way throughout
Italy taking Rome in June, 1944 and finally pushing the German resistance out of Italy in
May, 1945 This was very important to fighting elsewhere in Europe because with the war in
Italy, it kept large numbers of German troops from being used somewhere else where they
may have been needed.
At the time of the battles in Italy, wars were waging elsewhere in Europe. German defeats
were growing in numbers and things were starting to look brighter for the Allies. The
Soviets, who previously
had a non-agression act with Germany, had been on the defensive side of a seige on
Stalingrad. For three months the Soviets just defended, when they counter-attacked the
Germans were defeated losing almost their entire force. Throughout 1943 and 1944, The
Soviets drove the Germans out of the Soviet Union and back across Europe. In
September,1944, they had moved across Eastern Europe and were at the gates of Warsaw,
Poland, where five years earlier Hitler started his conquest into the rest of Europe.
TURNING POINTS OF WORLD WAR II
One of the main turning points of the war was D-Day. On June 6, 1944 a long awaited,
carefully planned out assault was carried out on the beaches of Normandy. In May, while
preparing the invasion, the Allied forces were sending fake radio signals to different
locations. Futhermore, the also had rows of inflatable tanks and landing craft situated
away from the true staging area. All these factors confused the Germans. They sensed an
attack but were unsure of the location. Also, they were confused as to the size of the
attack.
On D-Day, five thousand Allied ships crossed the english channel and started what is
still the most intense bombardment in naval history. In addition, under the cover of
thousands of airplanes, the Allied armies amphibious forces landed on Omaha beach, Utah,
Juno, Gold, and Sword. On Omaha beach and Utah beach, the troops found nothing but
slaughter. However, on Juno beach, Gold beach, and Sword beach, the Allied forces made
their way through lighter defenses and easier terrain. Within a day, the joined naval
forces combined with the airborne pushed their way into France eventually ridding it of
all German influence.
After swiftly conquering France, the troops pushed on. They forced Nazi control and
influence out of Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg. In December, they were met by a
counter-attack of the German forces, this only caused a temporary delay. The Allies drove
relentlessly onward, Finally crossing into Germany in March, 1945.
As the Allies advanced into Germany, the Soviets moved in from Poland, seized Austria,
and approached Berlin. The two armies met at the Elbe River and spliting Germany in two.
At this point the war came to a rapid end. German armies were cut to pieces and pounded
from the air frequently. On May 2th, both Allied forces met and entered Berlin. Just five
days later, Germany surrendered unconditionally. Germany was eventually divided into four
zones, each zone was to be occupied by either British, French, Soviet or American
military at all times. Sadly, while the Allied forces made their way through Berlin,
Hitler commited suicide and was never to answer or to be punished for the atrocious
crimes he commited as Dictator of Germany.
THE HOLOCAUST
In April 1933, just three months after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, the Nazis
issued a degree, ordering the compulsory retirement of non-Aryans from the civil service.
This included Poles, Russians, and their favorite target, the Jews. This law was the
first spark in what was to become the Holocaust, one of the most ghastly things that has
happened in history. Before Hitler's campaign against the Jews was halted by the defeat
of Germany, something like eleven million people had been slaughtered in the name of Nazi
racial purity.
The Holocaust had many things leading up to the severe brutality it would turn out to be.
In the years following 1933, the Jews were deprived of their civil rights, of their jobs
and even their property. Violence and brutality became a part of their everyday lives.
Their places of worship were defiled, their windows smashed, their stores ransacked. Old
men and young were beaten and stomped to death by Nazi officers. Jewish women were
ravaged, in broad daylight, on main roads. All these crimes were carried out by Hitler's
own Nazi law enforcers, known as the Gestapo, or the SS.
Some Jews fled Germany. But most, with a belief in God, sought to wait out the Nazi
terror. It was in vain sadly. In 1939, after Hitler's conquest of Poland, the Nazis got
much worse. Jews in their millions were now herded into concentration camps, there to
starve and die as slave laborers. Other millions were driven into dismal ghettos, which
served as holding pens until the Nazis got around to disposing of them.
The mass killings began in 1941, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Nazi
murder squads followed behind the armies enthusiastically killing Jews and other
conquered peoples. First tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands of people were led
off to remote fields and forest to be slaughtered by SS guns. Assembly-line death camps
were established in Poland and train loads of Jews were collected from all over Germany
occupied Europe and sent to their deaths.
At some of the camps, the Nazis tried to disguise their intentions, at others, the Jews
saw scenes beyond belief. What had begun as a law against Jewish civil servants was now
ending in the death six million Jews, Poles, gypsies, Russians, and other sub-humans
Thousands of Jews and other inmates were used as guinea pigs in a wide range of medical
and scientific experiments, most of them of little value.Victims were infected with
diseases, mainly Typhus, to no one's surprise, all of them died quickly. Prisoners were
forced to drink only sea water to see how long castaways might survive. Gynecology was an
area of interest. Various methods of sterilization were practiced by massive X-ray,
irritants, drugs, and surgery without anesthetic. The Jews were also used by Nazi doctors
who needed practice performing various operations. After, these patients would probably
just be sent to the Gas Chamber.
The worse killing machine were called shower baths. After their arrival at a death camp,
the Jews who had been chosen to die were told that they were to have a shower. Dirty from
their long, miserable journey, they sometimes applauded the announcement. Countless Jews
and other victims went peacefully to the shower rooms which were gas chambers in
disguise.
As the Allied armies pushed through conquered German territories, the Jews were freed
from these horrible camps as they came up on them. Finally, when the war ended, so did
the last of the concentration camps that Hitler and his Nazis created during their reign
of terror.
ENDING THE WAR WITH THE JAPANESE
In the years that the Allies were finally making head way with the fighting in Europe,
there was still the conflict in the east with Japan to end. After Italy and Germany had
been defeated, the Allied forces centered their focus on driving the Japanese out of the
areas they invaded in the previous six years. They ended any threat Japan might pose to
Australia and Hawaii. From then on, it was a short matter of time before they were forced
out of the Philipines, the Malay pennisula, the Dutch East Indies, China and forces were
already prepared to invade Japan. 
By June, 1945, the U.S. were able to launch heavy aerial assaults againest the home
islands of Japan. With bases now on the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, The U.S. were
ready to go ahead with their plans. On August 6, 1945, with Japan's forces in widespread
retreat, supply lines disrupted, and with the bombings of the major cities being bombed
more and more heavily, the U.S. dealt their final blow, an atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima. Wiping out a large part of the city, the Japanese still didn't surrender. The
U.S. proceeded to bomb Nagasaki with the same type of bomb and on August 14, 1945 the
Japanese begged for peace.
The surrender terms were issued by the Allies a month before. They stated that Japan was
to be disarmed; their war criminals were to be punished; and there was to be a constant
military occupance in Japan territory. The emperor was premitted to retain his throne,
but a democratic government was to be established. 
Written by Jerry Burt, Newfoundland.....ICQ # 104972002
.
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