World War II and the Postwar Order

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1Summary 重點摘要

This topic traces World War II from the German invasion of Poland in 1939 to Japan's surrender in 1945, focusing on its turning points, and explains how the United Nations rebuilt the postwar order through collective security and great-power coordination.

2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary

3Step by step Steps

1. Step 1: Fix the span of the war and the marker of its outbreakWorld War II is dated from 1 September 1939, when Germany launched its blitzkrieg against Poland: Britain and France honoured their guarantees to Poland and declared war on Germany one after the other, and the war ended with Japan's surrender in August 1945, lasting about six years. In examinations you must give the exact date and the event, because many candidates mistake the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack for the outbreak of the war. For example, if a question asks when the war broke out, the answer is the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, not the year the United States entered the fighting.
2. Step 2: Understand how the war became globalTwo events in 1941 turned a regional war into a world war. In June Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, turning a former non-aggression partner into an ally against the Axis; in December Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war, and fighting raged simultaneously in Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Pacific. For example, the United States had stayed neutral when war broke out in 1939; only after Pearl Harbor did Congress declare war on Japan — showing that December 1941 was the decisive moment of globalisation.
3. Step 3: Grasp the turning point in EuropeThe Battle of Stalingrad, from late 1942 to early 1943, was the watershed of the European theatre: after months of besieging the city on the Volga, the German army was encircled in its turn and the core of the German Sixth Army was destroyed or captured, leaving Germany on the defensive in the East from then on. For example, picture the Eastern Front as a see-saw: before Stalingrad the Germans pressed forward step by step; afterwards the Soviets pushed westwards step by step until they took Berlin. In answers, use the key phrases '1942-1943' and 'Germany turned from attack to defence' to show the significance of this turning point.
4. Step 4: Analyse the opening of the second frontIn June 1944 the Allies crossed the English Channel and landed on the Normandy coast of France, successfully opening a second front. Before this the Allies had advanced mainly from North Africa and southern Italy; after the landings the main armies drove into France and joined the Soviet advance in the east, catching Germany in a pincer from both sides from which defeat steadily followed. For example, Germany was like a chess player besieged on two flanks — parrying the Soviets in the east and the Anglo-American forces in the west, its troops stretched and supplies strained; the Normandy landings are therefore seen as the battle that hastened Germany's surrender.
5. Step 5: Organise how the war endedThe end of the war came in two stages. In Europe, Soviet forces took Berlin in the spring of 1945, Hitler took his own life, and Germany surrendered unconditionally in May. In Asia and the Pacific, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August while the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and Japan surrendered in August. For example, candidates often confuse the order or the months of the two surrenders — remember Germany came first (May) and Japan came later (August), and the atomic bombs were linked only to Japan's surrender, not to Germany's.
6. Step 6: Assess the cost of the war and the changed orderThe war killed an estimated fifty million people or more, devastated cities and economic infrastructure, and the Nazi massacre of the Jews shocked the world. The postwar order changed completely: the traditional European powers such as Britain and France were gravely weakened, their colonies demanded independence and the colonial system crumbled; the United States and the Soviet Union, drawing on the military and economic strength built up during the war, rose as superpowers and filled the power vacuum, laying the ground for the bipolar confrontation of the Cold War. For example, before the war Britain and France dominated the international stage; afterwards the major issues were settled by Washington and Moscow — a clear shift in the balance.
7. Step 7: Explain the founding background and aims of the United NationsLearning from the League of Nations' failure to stop aggression, the Allies began planning a new organisation during the war: the Declaration by United Nations was issued in 1942, and at the San Francisco Conference of 1945 representatives of fifty states signed the United Nations Charter, which came into force on 24 October, formally establishing the United Nations. Its foremost aims are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations and to achieve international cooperation. The five permanent members of the Security Council — China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States — hold the veto, embodying great-power coordination; yet this also left the organisation paralysed whenever Washington and Moscow clashed, foreshadowing the deadlocks of the Cold War.

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6Common mistakes Mistakes

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8Recap Recap

• World War II broke out in full on 1 September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland and ended with Japan's surrender in August 1945
• Operation Barbarossa (June 1941) and the Pearl Harbor attack (December 1941) brought in the Soviet Union and the United States, making the war truly global
• Stalingrad (late 1942 to early 1943) turned Germany onto the defensive in the east; the Normandy landings (June 1944) opened a second front and crushed Germany in a pincer
• Germany surrendered in May 1945; after the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, Japan surrendered and the war ended
• The United Nations was founded on 24 October 1945 to maintain international peace and security and promote friendly relations and cooperation; the Security Council veto of the five permanent members embodied great-power coordination and foreshadowed Cold War deadlocks