THE WEAKNESSES OF THE AXIS POWERS

-Historians have discussed and listed for decades the weaknesses of the Axis Powers as well as the strengths of the Allies and one of the mistakes was allowing Britain to survive since the British kept the war going in the West, the Atlantic and Africa. Britain also acted as the launching pad for the bombing of Germany and Operation Overlord.

-Another mistake was the invasion of the USSR and undoing the gains made by the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This proved to be disastrous for Germany.

-On December 11th 1941, Germany declared war on the USA which caused the involvement of the Americans. According to the historian Steve Gillon, Hitler learnt some lessons from the past and was to keep the USA out of the conflict; now this error only showed Hitler’s lack of judgment.

-Hitler could not attack the USA directly and did not have the same unity with Italy and Japan.

- Germany suffered shortages of rubber, cotton, nickel and oil. It also spent time on sophisticated weapons (V-rockets page 155 i.f) instead of developing aircrafts which might have restored air superiority.

- Last but not the least, Germany did not employ women in munition factories. The Germans and the Japanese rejected interference and direction from civilians, which prevented useful cooperation.

THE STRENGTHS OF THE ALLIES

- The resources of the Allies grew stronger, the USSR’s economy rapidly transformed to a wartime economy, Russia was producing more and better-quality armaments. The American war industry reached full capacity, it could turn over 70,000 tanks and 120,000 aircraft a year.

- According to Richard Overy (Why the Allies won, 2006) the Allies could turn their economic strength into effective fighting power, and that was the key to success.

- The Allies also gave priority to back-up organization. Men with the best organizational skills were fighting in the German Army rather than helping with the planning.

- The Allies poured massive amounts of money and effort into the strategic bombing campaign. The Allies also had a tremendous will to win. Most people believed that this did not just involve the military forces, but concerned issues of life and death fro whole communities.

WAR IN THE EAST: AN OVERVIEW

- The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor dragged the USA into the war, this attack was brilliantly planned by Admiral Yamamoto.

- Roosevelt, calling the attack “unprovoked” asked the Congress to declare war on Japan, and the congress did. Britain also declared war on Japan as well as Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, Guatemala, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Germany declared war on the USA, and now this was a world war.

- After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan also attacked Wake, Guam, The Philippines, Malaya and Hong Kong. The Prince od Wales and the Repulse (British ships) were sunk by the Japanese. They also invaded Burma.

- On December 25th and 26th, Hong Kong and 12,000 prisoners fell into Japanese hands. Japan also invaded the Dutch East Indies. At the end of January of 1942 British, Australian and Indian forces had retreated to Singapore where they were forced to surrender, along with 80,000 soldiers, one of the worst defeats in British history.

- The Japanese had successfully captured the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and Burma. They now had a vast empire which was labelled the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.

THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY (JUNE 1942)

- The Japanese suffered two serious setbacks, first trying to capture Port Moresby on the south of New Guinea and attempting to take Midway Island. The Americans were able to break the Japanese codes and knew exactly when and where the attack was to be carried out. USA was able to beat off the powerful Japanese naval force and destroy three of the Japanese aircraft carriers and a fourth was sunk later that day.

THE ATOMIC BOMB AND THE JAPANESE SURRENDER

- Once the Germans were defeated in May 1945, the US could focus all their might in the Pacific. The Soviets had also promised to attack Japan.

- Japan had been constantly bombed since November 1944, with devastating effects. The new Prime Minister Admiral Kantaro Suzuki tried to get to a peace agreement with the Americans preserving the position of the Emperor, but the allies would only accept unconditional surrender.

- The Americans were alarmed with the fact of the Soviets becoming involved in the East and receiving territories in return, and they were also concerned with the number of casualties a land invasion might cause.

- These were the factors that influenced Harry S. Truman (Roosevelt died in April 1945) to use a new weapon, that had been secretly developed with the British in the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb.

- The first bomb (Little Boy) was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, killing 80,000 people and injuring 80,000 more. On August 9th a second bomb was dropped on the port of Nagasaki, and another 40,000 died.

- After this, Japan surrendered unconditionally and the war was finally over.

WHY WERE THE ALLIES SUCCESSFUL IN DEFEATING JAPAN?

- The Allied victory in the Pacific and South-East Asia had some factors in common with the defeat of the Germans:

1. The Japanese neglected the involvement of the civilians in the military in planning and logistics.

2. The Americans overtook the Japanese in producing new weapons, building up naval and air superiority, developing new planes, and giving importance to aircraft carriers.

3. Japan being a small island with limited industrial power, its economy couldn’t match the American capacity for rapid expansion.