Cultura Inglesa-Ww2

OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL ASPECT OF THE WW II.

Causes of the war. World War II was the worst war in history and killed more people than any other war before. It lasted from 1939 to 1945 and starting out from Europe spread to nearly every part of the world.
About 17 million soldiers died during six years of the war. Even more civilians, men, women and children died from bomb attacks,illnesses or starvation. Millions of Jews died in German concentration camps. The war left many other people without jobs and homes.
Many cities and industries in Europe and Asia were completely destroyed by bombs and large areas of land were devastated.
There are many causes of the war and some of them go back to the end of the First World War. The end of World War I and the peace that followed in1919 changed the face of Europe and the borders of countries completely. New nations emerged. The countries that lost the war, especially Germany and Austria had to give up a lot of land. They also had to pay money to other countries for the damages that happened during the war.
Economic problems. After the war many countries were in debt. The losers had problems paying reparations and the winnersborrowed a lot of money from the United States which they could not pay back. Inflation in many countries left people without any savings. In the 1930s the Great Depression, starting out in the USA, spread to Europe and stopped the continent's recovery. Millions of people were out of work and poverty rose.
Political movements. The problems after the war made the governments in many countriesweaker and weaker. Two movements became more and more powerful: Communism, known as the Left, called for a revolution of the working class. Fascism, known as the Right, wanted a strong national government.
The Axis and Allied Powers .Two groups of nations fought against each other during the Second World War. During the 1930s Germany, Italy and Japan led a group of nations called the Axis. Theleaders of these countries were dictators. They wanted their own countries to grow and others to become weaker. In the years before the beginning of World War II all three Axis powers had strengthened and modernized their armies. In the 1930s the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany. In 1933 the party's leader Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and became known as der Führer. He promised to takerevenge on the countries that had defeated Germany in the First World War and make Germany the most powerful country in the world. He also claimed that only Germans were the true race and wanted to get rid of Jews, Communists and other weaker people. In Italy Benito Mussolini, known as the Il Duce, became the leader of the Fascist Party, which gained many supporters. He promised to bring law and orderto the country and help solve its economic problems. The Axis Powers invaded other countries and expanded their territory. At the beginning of the 1930s Japan invaded Manchuria because it had a lot of raw materials. In 1938 it attacked China and later on expanded to Southeast Asia. In 1935 Italy took over Ethiopia. Germany started its conquest of foreign territories by invading Austria. Italy andGermany also sent soldiers to help another dictator, Francisco Franco, in the Spanish Civil War.
The Allies were made up of a total of 50 countries. They were led by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France, China and the United States and opposed the Axis.

The beginning of the war. On September 30, 1938 Great Britain, France and Germany signed the Munich Agreement. It gave Germany the rightto take over the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia. The two Allies hoped it would satisfy Hitler and keep them out of the war. The agreement, however, was broken and Hitler not only invaded the Sudetenland but took over all of Czechoslovakia.
It was clear that Poland, on Germany's eastern border, would be the next target. Great Britain and France promised to help Poland if it were...