Marselis Francis
History 2020
When World Powers Collide
Too many people consider their birthday the day they were born but little do they know there might have been a huge event that happened the same day. There are so many interesting events that happened on my birthday. The most important event I found On December 11 is that Germany and Italy announce they are at war with America who retaliates with its own declaration of war. This was just the beginning of one of the most tremendous conflicts in history
Seventy-four years ago on the first of September 1939. Germany invaded Poland without warning. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party in Germany. He had the belief that German citizens were superior to all others. Hitler goals were to obtain all of the power in Europe and eliminate everyone he considered to be inferior. This included Gypsies, Jews and the handicapped (World War-2). Hitler as Germany’s Leader he started to take over countries and populated them. Many of the Germans believed that the territory taken from them was taken unethically. The invasion of Poland led to France and Britain declaring war on Germany. Australia moved quickly to support Britain and also joined the war (World War-2).
In 1940 Germany proceeded to take over Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Holland (World War-2). In this stage of the war Hitler was able to gained tons of power. He was able to get a lot of people to conform, but not everyone agreed to join his Nazi plans. There were many acts of resistance and recues. One of the biggest acts of resistance was in Denmark. The citizens of Denmark highly respected King Christian X. He was a victorious man who rode his horse unguarded and alone every morning to greet his people (Polmar 240). He, like the rest of Denmark, was not going to let Germany take over completely. German official G.F. Duckwitz told a rabbi that the Germans were going to relocate the Jews (Polmar 240). The rabbi told the Jewish leaders of the community so that the Jews could all flee. All the Jews in the area fled and the Danish took them in and hid them. Nearly 7000 Jews out of 8000 were saved (Polmar 240). When Allied soldiers finally made it into German territory, they discovered what Hitler had termed his 'final solution' for the Jews. Hitler constructed many concentration camps where millions of Jews, Gypsies and handicapped citizens had been exterminated. There were few survivors of the Holocaust but the things they went through in the concentration camps were horrific. About six million Jews were killed in these concentrations camp.
By the end of September in 1940, the major leaders of World War 2 had divided into two groups: the allies, countries including France, Poland, Britain and the U.S, and the axis powers, Germany, Italy and Japan, and the neutral countries, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland (US- History). The United States wanted to stay out of Europe's problems until the morning of December 7th, 1941 (US- History). This was the day that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on the coast of Hawaii. There had been no formal notification of war so it was a surprise attack.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was enough reason to get the United States involved in the war. December 11, 1941 Germany and Italy have announced they are at war with the United States. America immediately responded by declaring war on the two Axis powers. Three days before President Franklin Roosevelt announced America was at war with Japan (BBC). Hitler accused President Roosevelt of waging a campaign against Germany since 1937 and blamed him for the outbreak of the war (BBC). Over in Washington, President Roosevelt told Congress the free world