Saturday, January 17, 2009

Historia del seculo vinti, Parte 8


(Languages of this post: Interlingua, English)


Le prime phase del Secunde Guerra Mundial:

Ante unes annos le europeos foras de Germania habeva concludite que le reactivation del industrias bellic de Germania indicava que Hitler iva a initiar actiones aggressive contra illes. Su prime actiones expansioniste esseva contra le nationes le plus debile de Europa. Le grande potentias timeva un repetition del distruction del Prime Guerra Mundial e sperava que le ambitiones de Hitler se limitarea a iste parve paises, e le responsa de Anglaterra e Francia se limitava a protestas diplomatic.

Le prime operation german esseva le anexion (Anschluss) de Austria per medio de un invasion militar le 13 (dece tres) de martio de 1938 (mille nove centos trenta e octo). Le proxime mense le population austriac ratificava le invasion german in un plebiscito.

Le secunde operation de Hitler esseva le invasion de Chechoslovachia con le pretexto de recuperar le territorio del Sudetes, que habeva un minoria de origine german de unes 3.200.000 (tres million duo centos mille) personas. Ma Germania voleva plus Lebensraum (spatio pro viver) e divideva Checoslovachia in le protectoratos de Bohemia e Moravia. Slovachia remaneva un alliato independente del Tertie Reich.

Chechoslovachia sperava inutilemente le adjuta de Francia e Britannia, ma lor indecision e le manovras diplomatic de Hitler lassava iste populo slave sub le controlo del Nazis.

Durante le conferentia de München inter Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain (Anglaterra), e Daladier (Francia), iste paises signava un tractato que definiva clarmente le frontieras inter Francia e Germania; e in illo le germanos promitteva que ultra Checoslovachia, Germania non habeva altere ambitiones de expansion territorial.

Post le annexion de Austria e Checoslovachia, Hitler invadeva Polonia. In le norte de Polonia, le corridor de Danzig separava le Prussia oriental del resto de Germania. Le citate libere de Danzig (in le bordo del corridor) esseva german per lingua, cultura, e tradition. Le strategia de Hitler pro occupar iste area comenciava in martio con le occupation german del porto lithuan de Memel.

Le guerra comencia:

Contra iste menacia, Britannia signava un pacto de assistentia con Polonia in april, e le ministro de affaires exterior britannic, Lord Halifax, preveniva Hitler in un telegramma del consequentias catastrophic que poterea resultar ex su desiros expansioniste. Ma Hitler invadeva Polonia le 1 (prime die) de septembro, 1939 (mille nove centos trenta nove), e duo dies postea, le angleses e le francesees declarava le guerra contra Germania.

In tres septimanas le armea german annihilava le resistentia polonese e arrivava a Varsovia. Le 27 de septembre, 1939, post un bombardeo devastante, le capital polonese cadeva a in le manos del Panzerdivisionen (divisiones de tanks) german. Iste victoria fulmine causava un grande impression in le paises del Europa occidental, specialmente in Britannia e Francia.

Timente un invasion immediate in su territorio per le armea german, Francia reinfortiava su linea Maginot, ma Hitler habeva altere prioritates immediate. Ille invadeva Danmark e Norvegia in april, 1940 (mille nove centos quaranta). Danmark capitulava sin resistentia, ma Norvegia resisteva le invasion del Nazis.

Le armea francese e un corpo expeditionari anglese essayava impedir le occupation de Belgio, ma le Wehrmacht (armea terrestre german) esseva troppo poterose. Le 27 de maio Belgio capitulava ante le germanos, qui tunc circumfereva le truppas anglofrancese in Calais, e illes debeva retirar se.

Le sol porto que le germanos non poteva occupar esseva Dunkerque. Adjuvate per le fortia aeree britannic, le marina de guerra, le marina mercante, e mesmo per voluntarios qui offereva lor imbarcationes modeste, un total de 225.000 (duo centos vinti cinque mille) soldatos anglese e 112.000 (cento dece duo mille) franceses escappava al costas de Anglaterra inter le 28 (vinti e octo) de maio e le 2 (duo) de junio. Le historia nunc cognosce iste operation como le retraite de Dunkerque.

Germania occupa Paris:

Le 15 (dece cinque) de junio de 1940 (mille nove centos quaranta), le armea german penetrava Paris, e le 22 (vinti duo) del mense Pétain, le heroe de Verdun in le Prime Guerra Mundial, signava pro le franceses le armistitio francogerman.

Francia tunc se divideva in duo zonas, un de illos occupate e administrate directemente per Germania; e le altere, per per un governamento "libere" in Vichi del marechal Pétain, qui esseva obligate a cooperar con le Nazis. Francia anque signava un armistitio con Italia, que fortemente voleva participar in le guerra post le victorias german.

Post le occupation de Francia per Hitler, le general De Gaulle exhortava desde London que Francia continuava le lucta. De Gaulle non habeva multe ressources bellic ultra le soldatos francese qui habeva arrivate in Anglaterra per Dunkerque, ma su prestigio personal habeva un forte effecto symbolic e fortificava le resistentia contra le Nazis in le interior de Francia.

Le battalia de Anglaterra:

Con le occupation del paises del occidente europee, le prime phase del guerra habeva finite. Nonobstante, le angleses non voleva firmar un tractato de pace con Germania ma insisteva que illes luctarea usque le defaite total del germanos.

Quando le guerra comenciava, le anglesees eligeva Winston Churchill como lor prime ministro e le prime lord del admiralitate. Le attacco german comenciava immediatemente. Ben que Hitler voleva invader Anglaterra, le resistentia resolute del angleses frustrava iste plan, e ille acceptava le plan de Göring de bombardear systematicamente le portas e industrias britannic.

In septembre, 1940 (mille nove centos quaranta), le germanos comenciava incursiones aeree a in Britannia. Le Luftwaffe (fortia aeree) de Germania esseva multo superior al Fortia Aeree Regal de Britannia. Durante le hiberno de 1940-1941 (inter mille nove centos quaranta e mille nove centos quaranta e un) le operationes punitive contra le objectivos militar e civil de Anglaterra habeva multe successo. London esseva fortemente damnificate; e Coventry, destruite.

Ma iste defaites solmente fortificava le resistentia anglese. Post un breve periodo de recuperation, le industria de guerra de Britannia interprendeva un programma extensive de disveloppamento technic, cuje resultatos esseva le construction de bombatores e aviones de chassa con un grande radio de action.

Al fin de 1941 (mille nove centos quaranta e un), le guerra aeree inter le angleses e le germanos arrivava a un condition de equilibrio, e in 1942 le fortias aeree anglese e american esseva ben superior al capacitates del Luftwaffe german.

Le offensive del Mediterraneo:

Italia, post un periodo de neutralitate, formava un alliantia con Germania. Le italianos voleva annexar unes territorios mediterranee como Corsica e altere zonas controlate per Fancia.

Le 10 de junio, 1940 (mille nove centos quaranta), Italia declarava le guerra contra Francia e Britannia. Su participation in le guerra comenciava le operationes militar in le Mediterraneo. Ma le italianos habeva perdite le talentos militar del romanos classic, e le fortias militar del angleses les vinceva decisivemente.

Germania tunc inviava a Lybia un armea elite commandate per le habilissime marechal Rommel, qui desde le prime momentos de su campania in Africa demonstrava un enorme talento strategic. Multo rapidemente ille e su truppas se adaptava perfectemente al exigentias de battalia in le desertos de Africa e conquireva omne Libya.

In januario, 1942 (mille nove centos quaranta e duo), ille conquireva Tobruk, e su truppos tunc advantiava a El Alamein in Egypto, ubi ille debeva suspender su activitates a causa de un manco de reinfortios.

A causa de iste paralyse del fortias German, le General Montgomery habeva le opportunitate de montar un contraoffensive. In Octobre, 1942 (mille novecentos quaranta e duo), truppas italogerman debeva ceder multe territorio in Libya, e le fortias britannic poteva dominar omne le frontes de Africa.

Le campania russe:

Le 22 (vinti e duo) de junio, 1941 (mille nove centos quaranta e un), Germania invadeva le Union Sovietic sin declarar le guerra, initiante lo que Hitler nominava Operation Barba Rubie. Durante le prime phases de su invasion de Russia, le Wehrmacht habeva multe successo, avantiante simultaneemente per le nord, le centro, e le sud de Russia. Letonia, Lithuania, e Estonia esseva occupate in solmente duo septimanas. Le battalia de Uman, del 10 al 12 (dece al dece duo) de augusto, consolidava le occupation de Ucrania, e le battalia de Kiev aperiva le cammino a Moscova.

Le 15 (dece cinque) de octobre, 1941 (mille nove centos quaranta e un), post le battalia de Briansk, le armea german esseva solmente unes cento kilometros de Moscova. Durante le hiberno, le germanos postponeva le assedia de Moscova pro recuperar se del viage desde Kiev, ma le truppas sovietic, accostumate al tempore hibernal de lor proprie pais, obligava le Wehrmacht a ceder parte del terreno conquirite inter Moscova e Leningrado.

Durante le estate de 1942 (mille nove centos quaranta duo), le armea german, reinfortiate con altere divisiones, comenciava un nove offensiva verso Stalingrado, le centro del industria militar sovietic, e lo occupava temporaneemente post un battalia multo sanguinari. Ma Stalingrado deveniva un trappo pro le germanos. Circumferite per truppas sovietic, le germanos debeva capitular in decembre, 1943 (mille nove centos quaranta e tres).

Le intervention de Japon:

Le japoneses habeva ambitiones de controlar le ressources material del "Grande Asia Oriental" pro disveloppar lor economia e lor industria militar. Con iste fin, illes manteneva un stato de guerra con lor paises vicin--specialmente con China. Iste movimentos del japaneses verso le exploitation del paises asian presso lor pais preocupava le Statos Unite e le potentias europee in iste parte del Oriente--Francia, Hollanda, e Anglaterra--le quales voleva augmentar al maximo possibile lor proprie depredationes in iste area.

In responsa al politicas expansioniste de Japon, le Statos Unite, Anglaterra, e Hollanda negava a Japon importationes de ferralia e petroleo con le scoppo de asphyxiar le economia japonese. Ma iste actiones solmente provocava le expansion del programmas militar del japoneses.

Le potente flotta naval del Statos Unite se manteneva in Hawaii, e le japoneses decideva paralysar lo. Le 7 (septe) de septembre, 1949 (mille nove centos quaranta e un), aviones japonese in un attacco fulmine destrueva le major parte del flotta american e le naves de battalia anglese Repulse e le Prince of Wales.

Le japoneses sapeva que le Statos Unite e Anglaterra declararea le guerra contra illes a causa de iste actiones, ma illes esseva confidente que le Statos Unite requirerea multe tempore pro reconstruer su flotta e que le angleses esserea multo occupate con le germanos in Europa e non poterea retaliar multo tosto. Intertanto, le japoneses usava lor superioritate naval pro occupar Hong Kong, Singapur, Birmania, Indonesia, Malasia, Thailandia, e numerose insulas del Pacifico central.

Le responsa del Statos Unite:

Como in le Prime Guerra Mundial, le Statos Unite conservava un attitude favorabile verso Francia e Britannia, inviante a illos mercantias e material de guerra protegite per fortias naval american.

Ben que le opinion public american generalmente esseva contra le participation del Statos Unite in le guerra, le attacco japonese contra le marina de guerra american in Hawaii incholerisava quasi omne le population american, e le congresso del Statos Unite rapidemente dava a Roosevelt le declaration de guerra contra le axe german/japonese/italian que ille voleva.

Germania beneficiava bastante del participation del japoneses in le guerra proque le russos debeva divider un parte significante de lor fortias militar pro defender se contra Japon, le quales non esseva disponibile pro luctar contra le germanos. Hitler habeva promittite que si le Statos Unite declarava le guerra contra Japon, ille declararea le guerra contra le Statos Unite, e quatro dies post le attacco japanese in Hawaii, ille lo faceva.

Le guerra contra Japon:

Immediatemente post iste declarationes de guerra, le Statos Unite non poteva participar multo activemente proque le americanos non habeva ni le personal militar ni le material de guerra pro luctar multo efficacemente. Ma in 1943 (mille nove centos quaranta e tres), a causa del tremende capacitate industrial e demographic del Statos Unite, le americanos jam habeva construite un fortia militar potentissime.

Sex menses post le attacco japonese contra Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, le Statos Unite comenciava su guerra contra Japon ma reservava le major parte de su ressources militar pro le guerra contra Germania, e assi le progresso del guerra in le Pacifico esseva assatis lente pro le Statos Unite, que habeva besonio de sex menses (desde augusto, 1942 [mille nove centos quaranta duo] a februario, 1943 [mille nove centos quaranta tres] pro conquirer le insula de Guadalcanal in le Pacifico. In februario, 1945 (mille nove centos quaranta e cinque], le americanos occupava Iwo Jima e in April, Okinawa.

Post le defaite de Germania, le Statos Unite fortificava su campania contra Japon. Pro evitar un invasion que costarea multe vitas american, le Statos Unite lassava cader sur Hiroshima le prime bomba atomic usate in un guerra. Tres dies postea, le americanos destrueva Nagasaki con un altere bomba atomic, destruente quasi completemente ambe citates. Le 2 (duo) de septembre, Japon capitulava al Statos Unite sin conditiones.

Le guerra contra Germania:

Le 8 (octo) e 9 (novem) de novembre, 1942 (mille nove centos quaranta e duo, le Statos Unite comenciava con le angleses su prime operation contra Germania in le norte de Africa sub le direction del general american Dwight Eisenhower. Le general Montgomery commandava le fortias de Anglaterra. Le 13 (dece tres) de maio, 1943 (mille nove centos quaranta e tres), le armeas german e italian de Africa capitulava ante le fortias angloamerican.

In julio, 1943 (mille nove centos quaranta tres), Eisenhower e Montgomery comenciava le invasion de Italia con un incursion a in Sicilia. Illes conquireva le sud de Italia sin grande difficultates ma incontrava un resistentia potente german in Montecassino e in le Appeninos. Le 28 (vinti octo) de april, 1945 (mille octo centos quaranta cinque), le americanos e le angleses controlava omne Italia, ma le effectos de iste victoria esseva minimal proque le germanos non habeva dedicate multe ressources militar al defensa de Italia.

Le 25 de augusto, 1945 (mille nove centos quaranta cinque), le rege italian dimitteva Mussolini. Ma con le adjuta del SS nazi, Mussolini escappava a Salo, un parve village in le nord de Italia, e declarava un nove republica italian. Post le defaite decisive del germanos in Italia, Mussolini faceva un tentativa desperate pro escappar a Switza, ma le resistentia italian le capturava e le fusilava.

Le invasion de Normandie:

Ante invader Normandie, le angleses e le franceses se preparava multo intensivemente. In un tentativa de diminuer le resistentia del germanos, illes habeva propagate information false indicante que lor intention esseva de invader Francia per Calais, sperante que le germanos concentrarea lor fortias militar circum Calais ante le invasion del alliatos per Normandie.

Finalmente, le 6 (sex) de junio, 1944 (mille nove centos quaranta e quatro), post un periodo longe de preparation attentissime, le angleses e americanos, sub le commando del general Eisenhower, comenciava lor invasion de Normandie. Pro iste invasion illes habeva assemblate un machina militar potentissime--includente tanks amphibie armate designate specialmente pro iste operation militar, pontes portabile, 3,5 milliones de homines, 1.200 (mille duo centos) naves de guerra, 13.000 (dece tres mille) aviones, 1.000 (mille) lanchas de assalto, e 1.600 (mille sex centos) naves de mercancia.

In iste operation, le angleses e americanos perdeva solmente 2.500 soldatos, un cifra multo basse pro un operation tan grande. Le defaite final del germanos esseva assecurate per le successo del invasion de Normandie, per un secunde invasion in le sud de Francia comenciate pauc tempore postea, e specialmente per un assalto forte e continue per le russos in le est.

In augusto, le truppas alliate, inter le quales il habeva unes unitates francese, liberava Paris. Le general De Gaulle, in multe aspectos le symbolo del resistentia francese contra Hitler, deveniva le prime capite de stato francese post le guerra.

Le grande offensiva sovietic (que habeva comenciate le 12 [dece duo] de januario, 1945 [mille nove centos quaranta cinque]) habeva occupate le est de Germania durante le invasion de Francia per le angleses, americanos, e franceses, e le 2 (duo) de maio, duo dies post le suicidio de Hitler, le russos occupava Berlin. Le 7 (septe) de maio le germanos capitulava inconditionalmente in Francia a Rheims.

Le conferentia de Yalta:

Durante le guerra, le angleses, americanos, e russos habeva conferite diverse vices pro organisar un strategia commun pro continuar le guerra e organisar le pace. Unes pauc menses ante le fin del guerra (in februario, 1945) le presidente american, Franklin Roosevelt; le chef del stato sovietic, Josef Stalin; e le prime ministro britannic, Winston Churchill, se reuniva in Yalta (in le peninsula del Crimea in le Mar Nigre). Iste conferentia produceva un manifesto recognoscente que, post le guerra, le duo potentias principal in le mundo esserea le Statos Unite e le Union Sovietic, e que Britannia esserea un pais de secunde rango.

Durante le conferentia de Yalta tamen differentias emergeva inter Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Omnes esseva de accordo que Germania esserea disarmate e dividite in zonas administrate per un del potentias alliate. Roosevelt e Churchill voleva dar al franceses lor proprie zona administrative. Stalin insisteva que le franceses non habeva contribuite bastante al guerra pro justificar un zona francese. Ille voleva divider omne Germania inter le russos, le americanos, e le angleses, augmentante lor influentia (specialmente le influentia russe) sur le futuro de Germania.

Le puncto le plus conflictive del conferentia esseva le futuro de Polonia. Le problema politic veniva del existentia de duo governamentos polonese, un in London, que habeva representate su pais symbolicamente durante le guerra, e un governamento de facto establite per le russos quando illes habeva expellite le germanos ex Polonia.

Al fin del conferentia, Stalin poteva preservar le governmento que ille habeva formate in Polonia ma con representation del governmento in exilio de London. Secundo le accordo final, iste governamento mixte deciderea le forma final de un governamento democratic pro Polonia, le qual cederea unes territorios oriental al Union Sovietic contra le compensation de territorios occidental cedite per Germania.

Le conferentia de Potsdam:

In maio, 1945, post le defaite de Germania, le dirigentes politic del Statos Unite, Britannia, e Russia habeva un secunde reunion in Potsdam, presso Berlin. Como Franklin Roosevelt habeva morite, le presidente Harry S. Truman representava le Statos Unite. Clement Atlee, cuje partito laboriste habeva formate un nove governamento in Anglaterra, representava le angleses. E Stalin representava Russia.

Le conferentia de Potsdam establiva un commission de ministros de affaires international del paises que habeva vincite Germania. Iste commission determinarea le conditiones de pace con le paises que appoiava Hitler. (On non considerava que Austria esseva un de iste paises proque durante le guerra Austria formava un pais unificate con Germania). Atlee, Truman, e Stalin generalmente esseva de accordo sur conditiones de pace pro Italia, Hungaria, Romania, Finlandia, e Bulgaria, ma illes decideva lassar que lor diplomates negotiava le detalios--un processo que resultava in le tractatos de Paris de 1947 (mille novem centos quaranta e septe).

Multo plus difficile esseva le problema de Germania. Nonobstante, Atlee, Truman, e Stalin esseva de accordo sur, inter altere cosas, le necessitate de su demilitarisation; sur le inauguration de un programma intense de denazification e de democratisation; sur un judicio formal del criminales de guerra (pro le qual on formava un tribunal special in Nuremberg); e sur le regulation del population german.

Illes establiva le quatro zonas dividente Germania sub le administrationes del Union Sovietic, del Statos Unite, de Anglaterra, e de Francia. Berlin, que esseva in le zona sovietic, esserea governate sub le direction conjuncte del russos, angleses, franceses, e americanos. Assi le alliatos initiava le processo de formar duo germanias, le republica popular del est e le republica federal del west.

Le problema del frontieras oriental german con Polonia e Russia creava problemas plus difficile, e Stalin, Truman, e Atlee non poteva arrivar a un solution definite. Ma illes arrivava a un accordo providente que le territorios german al est del fluvios Oder e Niesse esserea administrate provisionalmente per Polonia. Le alliatos promitteva a Stalin que ille reciperea Königsberg, (postea Kalingrado) in le costa baltic e un parte del Prussia oriental.

Le alliatos protestava que Russia habeva establite un governamento communiste in Polonia, provocante un responsa del Russos que Anglaterra non habeva le derecto de intervenir contra le communistas in le guerra civil que il habeva in Grecia (1944-1949 [desde mille nove centos quaranta e quatro usque mille nove centos quaranta e nove]).

Finalmente, le Union Sovietic promitteva declarar le guerra contra Japon, ben que Truman habeva conquirite Japon post lassar cader bombas atomic sur Hiroshima e Nagasaki. Ma le actiones militar del russos in le oriente permitteva que illes recuperava lor territorios perdite a Japon in le guerra russo-japanese de 1905 (mille nove centos cinque). Le russos anque poteva plantar lor fortias militar in qualque insulas japonese.

Le tractatos de Paris:

In februario, 1947 (mille nove centos quaranta e septe), quasi duo annos post le conclusion del guerra, le victores del Secunde Guerra Mundial signava un serie de tractatos con iste effectos principal: Finlandia perdeva Carelia. Italia esseva obligate a pagar reparationes de guerra e perdeva Trieste, que deveniva un entitate politic independente. Hungaria retornava a su frontieras de 1937. Romania debeva ceder al Union Sovietic Besarabia e Bukovina. Bulgaria acceptava le existentia de Trieste como un stato libere. Japon esseva demilitarisate e obligate acceptar un governamento militar administrate per le general american Douglas MacArthur, e le imperator japonese deveniva un monarcha constitutional.

In 1955 (mille nove centos cinquanta e cinque) Austria signava un tractato con le americanos, le russos, le angleses, e le franceses que terminava le occupation del alliatos contra firme garantias austriac de neutralitate.

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The first phase of World War II:

A few years previously the Europeans had concluded that the reactivation of Germany's war industries indicated that Hitler was going to initiate aggressive activities against them. His first expansionist actions were aginst the weakest nations of Europe. The great powers feared a repetition of the destruction of World War I and hoped that the ambitions of Hitler would be limited to these small countries, and the response of England and France was limited to diplomatic protests.

The first German operation was the annexation (Anschluss) of Austria by means of a military invasion on March 13, 1938 (March the thirteenth, nineteen thirty-eight). The following month the Austrian population ratified the German invasion in a plebiscite.

Hitler's second operation was the invasion of Chechoslovachia under the pretext of recovering the Sudetenland, which had a minority of 3,200,000 (three million two hundred thousand) people of German descent. But Germany wanted more Lebenraum (living space) and divided Czechoslovachia into the protectorates of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovachia remained an independent ally of the Third Reich.

Czechoslovachia vainly hoped for French and British assistance, but their indecision and the diplomatic maneuvers of Hitler left these Slavic people under the control of the Nazis.

During the conference of Munich between Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain (of England), and Daladier (of France), these countries signed a treaty that clearly defined the borders between France and Germany, and in it the Germans promised that beyond Czechoslovachia, Germany did not have any other ambitions for territorial expansion.

After annexing Austria and Czechoslovachia, Hitler invaded Poland. In the north of Poland, the Danzig corridor separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. The free territory of Danzig (at the edge of the corridor) was German by language, culture and tradition. Hitler's strategy for occupying this area started in March with the German occupation of the Lithuanian port of Memel.

The war begins:

To confront this threat, Britain signed an assistance pact with Poland in April, and the British foreign-affairs minister, Lord Halifax, warned Hitler in a telegram of the catastrophic consequences that could result from his expansionist desires. But Hitler invaded Poland on September 1 (September the first), 1939 (nineteen thirty-nine), and two days afterward, the English and the French declared war on Germany.

In three weeks the German army overcame Polish resistance and arrived in Warsaw. On September 20, 1939 (September the twentieth, nineteen thirty-nine), after devastating bombing, the Polish capital fell into the hands of German Panzerdivisionen (tank divisions). This lightning victory had a great impact on the western European countries, especially Britain and France.

Fearing an immediate invasion of its territory by the German army, France reinforced its Maginot line, but Hitler had other immediate priorities. He invaded Denmark and Norway in April, 1940 (nineteen forty). Denmark captulated without resistance, but Norway resisted the Nazi invasion.

The French army and an English expeditionary force tried to stop the occupation of Belgium, but the Wehrmacht (German land army) was too powerful. On May 27 (May the twenty-seventh) Belgium surrendered to the Germans, who then surrounded the Anglo-French troops in Calais, and they had to retreat.

The only port that the Germans were not able to occupy was Dunkerque. With the assistance of the British Royal Air Force, the British Navy, the merchant marine, and even of volunteers who offered their modest seagoing vessels, a total of 225,000 (two hundred twenty-five thousand) English soldiers and 112,000 (one hundred twelve thousand) French escaped to the coasts of England between May 28 and June 2 (May the twenty-eighth and June the second). History now calls this operation the retreat of Dunkerque.

Germany occupies Paris:

On June 15, 1940 (June the fifteenth, nineteen forty), the German army penetrated Paris, and on the twenty-second of the month Pétain, the hero of Verdun in the First World War, signed the Franco-German amistice on behalf of the French.

France then was divided into two zones, one of them occupied and administered directly by Germany; and the other, by a "free" government in Vichi led by Marshal Pétain, which was obligated to cooperate with the Nazis. France also signed an armistice with Italy, which was eager to participate in the war after the German victories.

After the occupation of France by Hitler, General De Gaulle exhorted the French from London to continue the fight. De Gaulle did not have many ressources for waging war beyond the French soldiers who had arrived in England through Dunkerque, but his personal prestige had a strong symbolic effect and strengthened resistance against the Nazis within France.

The Battle of Britain:

With the occupation of the western European countries, the first phase of the war had ended. Nevertheless, the English did not want to sign a peace treaty with Germany, insisting that they would keep on fighting for the total defeat of the Germans.

When the war broke out, the English elected Winston Churchill as their prime minister and first lord of the admiralty. The German attack started immediately. Though Hitler wanted to invade England, the resolute resistance of the English frustrated this plan, and he accepted Göring's plan to systematically bombard the British ports and industries.

In September, 1940 (nineteen forty), the Germans started aerial incursions into Britain. The Luftwaffe (air force) of Germany was greatly superior to the Royal Air Force of Britain. In the winter of 1940 (nineteen forty) and 1941 (nineteen forty-one) punitive operations against English civil and military targets were very successful. London was heavily damaged; and Coventry, destroyed.

But these defeats only strengthened English resistance. After a short recovery period, the war industries of Britan undertook an extensive program of technical development, resulting in the construction of bombers and long-range fighter planes.

At the end of 1941 (nineteen forty one), the air war between the English and the Germans reached a condition of equilibrium, and in 1942 English and American air power overcame the capacities of the German Air Force.

The Mediterranean Offensive:

Italy, after a period of neutrality, formed an alliance with Germany. The Italians wanted to annex some Mediterranean territories such as Corsica and other zones controlled by France.

On July 10, 1940 (July the tenth, nineteen forty), Italy declared war against France and Britain. Italian participation in the war started with miltary participation in the Mediterranean. But the Italians had lost the talents for warfare of the classical Romans, and the military forces of the English conquered them decisively.

Germany then sent to Lybia an elite army commanded by the most capable Marshal Rommel, who from the first moments of his campaign in Africa demonstrated an enormous strategic talent. Very quickly he and his troops adapted themselves perfectly to the demands of warfare in the deserts of Africa and conquered Libya.

In January, 1942 (nineteen forty-two), he defeated Tobruk, and his troops then advanced to El Alamein in Egypt, where he had to suspend his activities because of a lack of reinforcements.

Because of this paralysis of the German forces, General Montgomery had the opportunity to mount a British counteroffensive. In October, 1942 (nineteen forty-two), Italo-German troops had to give up a lot of territory in Libya, and the British forces were then able to dominate all the fronts in Africa.

The Russian campaign:

On June 22, 1941 (June the twenty-second, nineteen forty-one), Germany invaded the Soviet Union without declaring war, starting what Hitler called Operation Barba Rossa. During the first phases of his invasion of Russia, the Wehrmacht was very successful, advancing simultaneously through the north, the central, and the south of Russia. Lativa, Lithuania, and Estonia were occupied after only two weeks. The Battle of Uman, from August 10, and 12 (from August the tenth to August the twelfth), consolidated the occupation of the Ukraine, and the battle of Kiev opened the road to Moscow.

On October 15, 1941 (October the fifteenth, nineteen forty-one), after the battle of Briansk, the German army was only a few kilometers from Moscow. During the winter the Germans postponed the siege of Moscow so they could rest after their march from Kiev, but the Soviet troops, accustomed to the winter weather of their own country, forced the Wehrmacht to give up part of the territory conquered between Moscow and Leningrad.

During the summer of 1942 (nineteen forty-two), the German army, reinforced with other divisions, started a new offensive toward Stalingrad, the center of Soviet military industry, and occupied it temporarily after a very bloody battle. But Stalingrad became a trap for the Germans. Surrounded by Soviet troops, the Germans had to capitulate in December, 1943 (nineteen forty-three).

The Intervention of Japan:

The Japanese had ambitions to control the material resources of Greater Asia to develop their economy and their military industry. With this in mind, they maintained a state of warfare with their neighboring countries--especially with China. These movements against the Asian countries near their country worried the United States and the European powers in this part of the Orient--France, Holland, and England--which wanted to increase as much as possible their own depredations in this area.

In response to the expansionist policies of Japan, the United States, England, and Holland denied Japan importations of scrap metal and petroleum with the goal of suffocating the Japanese economy. But these actions only provoked the expansion of the military programs of Japan.

The powerful naval fleet of the United States was based in Hawaii, and the Japanese decided to paralyze it. On September 7, 1941 (September the seventh, nineteen forty-one), Japanese planes in a lightning attack destroyed most of the American fleet and the English battleships Repulse and the Prince of Wales.

The Japanese knew that the United States and England would declare war against them because of these actions, but they were confident that the United States would need a lot of time to rebuild its fleet and that the English would be very busy with the Germans in Europe and would not be able to retaliate very soon. In the meantime, the Japanese used their naval superiority to occupy Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, Indonesia, Malasia, Thailand, and numerous other islands in the central Pacific.

The American Response:

Just as in the First World War, the United States maintained a favorable attitude toward France and Britain, sending them merchandise and war materiel protected by American naval forces.

Though American public opinion generally was against American participation in the war, the Japanese attack against the US navy in Hawaii enraged almost the entire American population, and the US congress rapidly gave Roosevelt the declaration of war against the German/Japanese/Italian axis that he wanted.

Germany benefited quite a bit from the participation of the Japanese in the war because the Russians had to divide a significant part of their military forces to defend themselves against the Japanese, and these forces were not avaiable to fight the Germans. Hitler had promised that if the United States declared war against Japan, he would declare war against the United States, and four days after the Japanese attack in Hawaii, he did so.

The War Against Japan:

Immediately after these declarations of war, the United States was not able to participate very actively because the Americans did not have either the military personnel or the war materiel to fight very effectively. But in 1943 (nineteen forty-three), because of the tremendous demographic and industrial capacity of the United States, the Americans had built up a very powerful military force.

Six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States started its war against Japan but reserved most of its military resources for the war against Germany, so the war in the Pacific was rather slow for the United States, which needed six months (from August, 1942 [nineteen forty-two], to February, 1943 [nineteen forty-three]) to conquer the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific. In Feburary, 1945 (nineteen forty-five), the Americans occupied Iwo Jima and in April, Okinawa.

After the defeat of Germany, the United States strengthened its campaign against Japan. To avoid an invasion that would cost a lot of American lives, the United States dropped on Hiroshima the first atomic bomb used in war. Three days afterward, the Americans destroyed Nagasaki with another atomic bomb, destroying both cities almost completely. On December 2 (December the second), Japan surrendered unconditionally to the United States.

The War Against Germany:

On December 8 and 9, 1942 (December the eighth and ninth, nineteen forty-two), the United States started, along with the English, the first operation against Germany in the north of Africa under the command of the American general, Dwight Eisenhower. General Montgomery commanded the English forces. On May 13, 1943 (May the tenth, nineteen forty-three), the German and Italian armies in Africa surrended to the Anglo-American forces.

In July, 1943 (July, nineteen forty-three), Eisenhower and Montgomery started the invasion of Italy with an incursion into Sicily. They conquered the south of Italy without great difficulty but ran into strong German resistence in Montecassino and in the Appenines. On April 28, 1945 (April the twenty-eighth, nineteen forty-five), the Americans and the English controlled all Italy, but the effects of this victory were minimal because the Germans had not dedicated much of its military to the defense of Italy.

On August 25, 1945 (August the twenty-fifth, nineteen forty-five), the king of Itally dismissed Mussolini. But with the help of the SS, Mussolini escaped to Salo, a small village in the north of Italy, and declared a new Italian republic. After the decisive defeat of the Germans in Italy, Mussolini made a desperate attempt to escape to Switzerland, but the Italian fascist resistance captured and shot him.

The Invasion of Normandie:

Before invading Normandie, the English and the French made intensive preparations. In an attempt to reduce the resistance of the Germans, they had started a campaign of disinformation indicating that their intention was to invade through Calais, hoping that the Germans would concentrate their military forces around Calais before the allies invaded Normandie.

Finally, on June 6, 1944 (June the sixth, nineteen forty-four), after a long period of very careful preparation, the English and Americans, under the command of General Eisenhower, started their invasion of Normandie. For this invasion they had assembled a very powerful military machine, including armed amphibian tanks designed especially for this military operation, portable bridges, 3.5 (three point five) million men, 1,200 (one thousand two hundred) warships, 13,000 (thirteen thousand) planes, 1,000 (one thousand) assault boats, and 1,600 (one thousand six hundred) freighters.

In this operation, the English and Americans lost only 2,500 (two thousand five hundred) soldiers, a very small number for such a large operation. The final defeat of the Germans was assured by the success of the Normandie invasion, by a second invasion in the south of France starting shortly afterward, and especially by a strong, continuous assault by the Russians in the east.

In August, the allied troops, among whom a were some French units, liberated Paris. General De Gaulle, in many respects the symbol of French resistance against Hitler, became the first head of state in France after the war.

The large Soviet offensive (which had started on January 12, 1945 [January the twelfth, nineteen forty-five]), had occupied eastern Germany during the invasion of France by the English, Americans, and French, and on May 2 (May the second), two days after the suicide of Hitler, the Russians occupied Berlin. On May 7, (May the seventh) the Germans surrendered in France at Rheims.

The Yalta Conference:

During the war, the English, Americans, and Russians had conferred several times to organize a common strategy to continue the war and organize the peace. A few months before the end of the war in February, 1945 (nineteen forty-five), the American President, Franklin Roosevelt; the chief of state of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin; and the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, met at Yalta (on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea). This conference produced a written statement recognizing that, after the war, the two principal powers in the world would be the United States and the Soviet Union, and that Britain would be a second-tier country.

During the Yalta conference, however, differences emerged between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. All agreed that Germany would be disarmed and divided into zones administrated by one of the allied powers. Roosevelt and Churchill wanted to give to the French their own administrative zone. Stalin insisted that the French had not contributed enough to the war to justify a French zone. He wanted to divide all of Germany among the Russians, the Americans, and the English, increasing their influence (especially the Russian influence) over the future of Germany.

The point of greatest conflict in the conference was the future of Poland. The political problem came from the existence of two Polish governments, one in London, which had symbolically represented its country during the war, and a de facto government established by the Russians when they had expelled the Germans from Poland.

At the end of the conference, Stalin was able to keep the government that he had formed in Poland but with representation of the government in exile in London. According to the final agreement, this mixed government would decide the final form of a democratic government for Poland, which would cede some eastern territories to the Soviet Union and, in compensation, annex some western territories given up by Germany.

The Potsdam conference:

In May, 1945 (nineteen forty-five), after the defeat of Germany, the political leaders of the United States, Britain, and Russia had a second summit meeting in Potsdam, near Berlin. Since Franklin Roosevelt had died, President Harry S. Truman represented the United States. Clement Atlee, whose labor party had formed a new government in England, represented the English. And Stalin represented Russia.

The Potsdam conference established a commission of foreign-affairs ministers of the countries that had conquered Germany. This commission would determine the conditions of peace with the countries that had supported Hitler. (Austria was not considered one of these countries because during the war Austria formed a unified country with Germany). Atlee, Truman, and Stalin generally were in agreement about peace conditions for Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, and Bulgaria, but they decided to let their diplomats negotiate the details--a process that resulted in the Paris treaties of 1947 (nineteen forty-seven).

The German problem was much more difficult. Nevertheless, Atlee, Truman, and Stalin were in agreement about the need for its demilitarization; for, among other things, the inauguration of an intense program of denazification; for a formal war-crimes trial (for which a special court was established in Nuremberg); and for the regulation of the German population.

They established the four zones dividing Germany into areas administrated by the Soviet Union, the United States, England, and France. Berlin, which was in the Soviet zone, would be governed jointly by the Russians, English, French, and Americans. The allies thus initiated the process of forming two Germanies, the People's Republic of the east and the Federal Republic of the west.

The problem of the eastern border of Germany with Poland and Russia created more difficult problems, and Stalin, Truman, and Atlee were not able to arrive at a definite solution. But they arrived at an accord providing that the German territories to the east of of the Oder and Niesse rivers would be provisionally administered by Poland. The allies promised Stalin Königsberg (later known as Kalingrad) on the Baltic coast and a part of eastern Prussia.

The allies protested that Russia had established a communist government in Poland, provoking a response from the Russians that England did not have the right to intervene against the communists in the civil war that was going on in Greece (1944-1949) [from nineteen forty-for to nineteen forty-nine]).

Finally, the Soviet Union promised to declare war against Japan, even though Truman had conquered Japan after dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the military actions of the Russians in Asia allowed them to recover their territories surrendered to Japan in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 (nineteen oh five). The Russians also succeeded in planting their military forces on some Japanese islands.

The Treaties of Paris:

In February, 1947 (nineteen forty-seven), almost two years after the conclusion of the war, the victors of the Second World War signed a series of treaties with these principal provisions: Finland would lose Carelia. Italy was abliged to pay war reparations and lost Trieste, which became an independent political entity. Hungary was reduced to its 1947 (nineteen forty-seven) borders. Romania had to cede to the Soviet Union Besarabia and Bukovina. Bulgaria recognized the existence of Trieste as a free state. Japan was demilitarized and obliged to accept a military government administered by the American General Douglas MacArthur, and the Japanese emperor became a constitutional monarch.

In 1955 Austria signed a treaty with the Ameicans, the Russians, the English, and the French that ended the occupation of the allies in exchange for firm Austrian guarantees of neutrality.

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