Week 11: WW2 Reflection
The topic for this week is a highly discussed area of U.S. history, and it had a profound effect on the way wen are as a nation today. World War 2 killed more people and involved more countries than any other war in history. About 70 nations took part in combat, and about 52 million people lost their lives, only 17 million being combatants in the war. This means that 35 million innocent civilians and jews were killed amidst the turmoil of the war. The war began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Germany was economically ruined following World War 1 and was forced to pay $33 billion in reparations by the treaty of Versailles. This caused violent, anti-democratic, ant-Semitic groups to flourish and embark on a campaign to invade and control all of Europe. The nazi party became the most powerful and Germany and led by the one and only Adolf Hitler. Japan and Italy, along with Germany, were denied a favorable balance of world trade after the first world war, and they all bel...