The Character of Warfare Castellanos, Javier March 31, 2009 Period 1

Close to 60 million people died in World War II Close to 60 million people died in World War II. Over half of them were civilian victims. The Soviet Union lost between 20 million and 25 million, more than anyone else.(Bulliet, 779) New technologies also influenced the war. (Bulliet, 779) Chemists found ways to make synthetic rubber out of coal or oil (Spodek, 577) Physicists perfected radars that warned when enemy ships, submarines, and aircraft was approaching. (Andrea, 201) Cryptanalysts broke enemy codes and were able to decode secret military operations. (Andrea, 222) Pharmacologists developed antibiotics that would eventually save the lives of countless of soldiers who would otherwise have died of infections. (Spodek, 578_ Aircraft development was striking. (Spodek, 577) U.S aircraft technology was mostly recognized for the construction of huge bomber planes designed to drop bombs on enemy cities.(Bulliet, 800) The Japanese developed the Mitsubishi “Zero” fighter plane.(Bulliet, 800) The German developed radically new aircraft technology. (Bulliet, 776) In October 1939, President Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein warning against the dangers of nuclear power. (Spodek, 777) By 1945, the United States had built two atomic bombs. (Bulliet, 800) German Bombers Damaged Warsaw in 1939 and Rotterdam and London in 1940. (Andrea, 208) The British bombed the city of Cologne and British and American Bombers destroyed the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden and Other German cities. (Andrea, 208) These raids were meant to lower the morale of the enemy.(Bulliet,800) The Americans also bombed Tokyo, killing 80,000 people and left countless homeless. (Andrea, 201) http://hsgalleries.com/images/ki27jb_1.jpg http://www.britsattheirbest.com/images/f_wwii_firemen.gif

World War II was the first war in which more civilians died than soldiers. (Bulliet, 792) The Nazi’s main goal was to exterminate all Jews. (Spodek, 565) Hitler deprived German Jews of their citizenship and legal right as soon as he came into power. (Spodek, 565) Many were rallied into ghettos. (Spodek, 565) German Companies built huge extermination camps in which to carry out Hitler’s final plan of exterminating all Jews. (Spodek, 565) Many German citizens supported the genocide. (Spodek, 565) Trainloads of cattle cars arrived at Jewish communities and took off all Jews to concentration camps. (Bulliet, 792) They were robbed of all their possessions. (Spodek, 565) Many died in the trains due to lack of air and oxygen. (Spodek, 565) When they arrived at the camps, those who were strong would be put to work and fed little to nothing until they died of starvation and malnutrition, while those who were weak such as children and the elderly were shoved into gas chambers where they were murdered with poison gas. (Spodek, 565) Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp and it was made to kill up to 12,000 people daily. (Spodek, 565) Nazi doctors also experimented on Jewish people. (Bulliet, 792) The Holocaust claimed about 6 million Jewish lives. (Andrea, 345) The Nazis also killed Polish people, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, gypsies, the disabled, and mentally ill people. (Andrea, 567) The Soviet Army mobilized about 22 million men.(Bulliet, 792) Soviet women took over the work force, in most countries. (Spodek, 876) The Germans, however, believed that women should stay home and bear children. (Bulliet, 792) http://www.australiafreepress.org/images/auschwitzgaschamber.jpg http://www.librarising.com/astrology/celebs/images2/A/adolfhitler.jpg

The United States flourished during the war. (Bulliet, 792) Many Americans also called the war “the good war” (Spodek, 576) 6 million women entered the labor force, 2.5 million of them performed tasks previously considered “men’s work.” (Andrea, 209) Japanese Americans were herded into internment camps in the desert until the war was over for fear of spying and sabotage, but actually because of their race.(Bulliet, 792) Industries in the United States increased by four times. (Bulliet, 792) http://www.antiquetrader.com/upload/contents/290/field_1751/homefront4%20QU%20June%2006.JPG

Bibliography Andrea, Alfred J., and James H. Overfield. Human Record. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Bulliet, Richard W., Pamela Kyle Crossley, Daniel R. Headrick, Steven W. Hirsch, Lyman L. Johnson, and David Northrup. The Earth And Its Peoples A Global History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Spodek, Howard. The World's History Combined (2nd Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2000.