Unemployed people in Germany (1930s)
Why did World War II start?
The Depression left everyone in Europe feeling angry and upset, because so many people were poor. People were especially upset in Germany, where they also were angry about losing World War I.
The Depression in Europe
World War I
All our Modern Europe articles
Germany was poorer
Many German people looked for someone to blame for their problems. Some Germans blamed Jews, because they were outsiders, and some of them were rich outsiders. Some Germans blamed the French and the British, or the Russians. In any case the Germans were still much poorer than the British or the French, with their colonies, and the Germans wanted to be better off.
History of Germany
Europe and colonization
Germans invade France
Hitler is elected to power
Germany’s leader, Adolf Hitler, was able to use this anger to get power. Hitler encouraged the Germans to fight back. He built factories and gave people jobs, and ended the Depression.
Germany attacks Poland
In 1939, after making a deal with Russia to keep Russia out of the war, Hitler suddenly attacked Poland. Nobody did anything to stop him, so in 1940 Hitler attacked Norway and Denmark, and soon afterwards Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.
France and the Third Republic
Communist Russia
All of these countries surrendered right away. Hitler thought he would make a new Roman Empire, like Napoleon – he called his empire the “Third Reich” because it came after those two.
Germany attacks Britain
Next Hitler attacked Britain. That was harder because Britain is an island and the British Navy was stronger than the German Navy. So the Germans used airplanes to attack. But this time the British Air Force (the Royal Air Force, or RAF) fought the Germans off.
Japan invades China
Japan and Italy join the war
Germany still wanted more land – more “Lebensraum” – room to live. Italy, as Germany’s ally, invaded Greece and North Africa. In 1941, Germany invaded Russia. Then Japan, also as Germany’s ally, invaded China and attacked the United States Navy in Hawaii. But now things started to go bad.
Ruins of Hiroshima
Russia and the United States fight in the war
Many Russians died, but Germany lost battles in Russia, and the cold winter and snow were too hard for the soldiers. The Russians slowly forced the Germans out of Russia during 1944, and then pushed them back across Poland and Hungary into Germany in 1945.
Who won World War II?
Meanwhile, the United States and Britain began to push the Germans out of France, too. Caught between two enemies, Germany surrendered in 1945, and Hitler shot himself dead. Japan kept fighting, but after the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on civilian cities in Japan, Japan surrendered too.
