Questions tagged [world-war-two]
Questions related to aspects of World War II (1939-1945 AD). An international conflict whose major participants were the fascist countries of Germany, Italy, and Japan engaged against the allied nations of the UK, France, China, the USSR, and the USA. The conflict began with the German invasion of Poland and formally ended with the American victory over Japan.
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Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
During World War 2, Hitler was fighting a war with Great Britain and her colonies, but while fighting that war, he attacked the Soviet Union even though they had a non-aggression pact. Everyone knows ...
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Why was France granted an equal status among victors of World War II?
How is it that France emerged from World War II with a similar status as the U.S.A., Britain, the Soviet Union, and China in terms of possession of a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, ...
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On 1941 Dec 7, could Japan have targeted the Panama Canal instead of Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack?
This question comes from a slightly related one.
At the time of WW2, most US industry was on the East Coast, including all of the shipbuilding for Carriers and Battleships. If the Panama Canal went ...
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When did the allies find out about the killing of Jews during WW2
When watching "Saving Private Ryan" I noticed during the opening scene that one of the soldiers (who is Jewish) gets emotional when he discovers a Hitler Youth knife, I could only assume it was ...
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Why didn't Imperial Japan attack the Soviet Union during World War 2?
Japan and the Soviet Union shared a common border in Manchuria and the German invasion of the Soviet Union weakened the Soviets greatly. In view of the advantages to Japan in seeing the Soviet Union ...
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Why didn't Germany blockade the Strait of Gibraltar during WW2?
The Strait of Gibraltar, at its narrowest point, is about 14 km wide. Why didn't Germany blockade it during WW2?
It seems to me that only a handful of submarines and destroyers could do the job. Wasn'...
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Why is the consensus that WW2 started on September 1, 1939 and not July 7, 1937?
Looking at Wikipedia, dates given are 1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945, which end in the defeat of Japan.
However why is the starting date when Germany invaded Poland and not when the Japanese ...
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Did Russian winter seriously contribute to German defeat on the Eastern Front in WWII?
When people discuss the causes of Hitler's defeat in Russia, one topic is frequently mentioned: climate. People claim that winter contributed significantly to the problems of German army on the ...
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Why did the British scuttle the u-boats surrendered after WWII?
Between November 1945 and February 1946 the British scuttled 116 of the 156 German u-boats surrendered at the end of WWII during Operation Deadlight. They were towed to deep water off Ireland and sunk....
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Why didn't France and the UK invade Germany in September 1939?
On September 3rd 1939, when UK and France declared war on Germany, both ordinary Polish people and government officials became enthusiastic. There were spontaneous demonstrations of support for the ...
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Why, in the US, is Japanese brutality ignored compared with the Nazi brutality in WW2?
Instead of accepting too much of what I have read in my textbooks, I have read up a bit about WW2 on my own and have always pondered, why in the USA is the brutality and actions of the Japanese during ...
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Why were Navajo code talkers used during WW2?
In history class, we are covering WW2. On the topic of code-talking, Native American language usage was mentioned, but nothing was said about cryptography. An online search did not come up with any ...
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Why did Churchill order the destruction of the bombes?
I've read several claims that Churchill ordered the destruction of the Bombe code-breaking machines, but I don't really understand the motivation for it. Can you explain it to me, or give a reference?
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Did World War II-era bombs actually whistle?
In WWII-era films and newsreels, aerial bombs are often shown making a whistling sound as they fall; starting high pitched, then decreasing as the bomb approaches the Earth (example here, starting at ...
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What damage did anti-tank rifles hope to inflict on tanks in WW2?
Initially I was surprised to learn that such a thing as an anti-tank rifle even exists. It seems a ludicrous idea to try to shoot a tank with a rifle.
But let's suppose that the bullet really hits a ...
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Why didn't Wehrmacht soldiers refuse to kill civilians?
Why didn't Wehrmacht Soldiers refuse to execute civilians (and Kids) when it was clear that they did nothing wrong?
I know that they were probably told they're partisans or Jews or something along ...
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Why did the Germans spare Allied troops trapped at Dunkirk?
I haven't seen the movie but know enough of the story to understand that Allied troops had fallen back to Dunkirk for evacuation but were trapped there until transport came.
I also understand that ...
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How did Nazi Germany finance itself during WW2?
How did Nazi Germany finance itself during the war? They produced a large amount of war material during 1939-1945, but how was this production financed? What were Germany's revenue streams that ...
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Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
In the early months of World War II, the United Stated spent several millions of dollars to fortify the West Coast against possible Japanese attack, going as far as to stretch a gigantic submarine net ...
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Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
At the beginning of WW2, although they were slow in actually attacking Germany, Britain and France did declare war against it after Germany invaded Poland. The reason for this was the treaty where ...
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Did Imperial Japan choose to ally with Nazi Germany because of ideological similarity?
There are certain similarities that can be drawn between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Both were dictatorships, both believed in racism (though against different people), and both were wanting to ...
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Why didn't Hitler have more submarines in the English channel?
Hitler was expecting an invasion somewhere on the coast of north of France. So why didn't he have more submarines there that could torpedo the invading allied fleet when they were crossing the channel?...
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Why didn't battleship Bismarck have more support?
The primary objective of battleship Bismarck was to sink transporters coming from the U.S. and sailing to Europe transporting goods (oil, food). It encountered HMS Hood and sank it.
German cruiser ...
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Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
Throughout the Second World War, many people in Spain were under the hope that the victory of the Allies would trigger an invasion of Spain to defeat the dictatorship of Franco, a fascist who won the ...
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Was Switzerland really impossible to invade during WW2?
My question is not about an alternative scenario, nor about the reasons that caused Switzerland to not get invaded (as could be seen here: Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?). ...
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Why did Hitler not invade Sweden?
I was looking over a map of where the Nazis invaded and they never attacked Sweden.
I was wondering why since it seems like a much better strategic move than invading Russia. Why might they have ...
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Why were there no internment camps for German-American citizens in USA during WW2?
I am certainly aware of Japanese-Americans being detained in internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent declaration of war on United States by the empire of Japan.
About 110,000+ ...
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Why were Spain and Portugal neutral / not invaded in WWII?
Why weren't Spain and Portugal involved in World War II with either side? Was not Franco sympathetic with the Axis powers given the help they offered during the civil war?
Also, given their strategic ...
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Why did Hitler declare war on the USA?
Since there had not been any offensives launched by either side against the other, why declare war just because Japan had attacked the USA?
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How were tanks scrapped after World War Two?
Both Axis & Allied nations produced thousands of tanks during the Second World War. However, not many of these vehicles survive to this day (there are exceptions of course). When reading about the ...
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How did pilots know when to release bombs on airplanes during World War2?
Given that during this time computing technology wasn't advanced enough to calculate when to drop bombs accurately on a target, I recall hearing something about bomber pilots using a modified watch to ...
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Did the Soviets excel in one area of weaponry during World War II?
The Germans had some of the best machine guns and tanks during World War II. Likewise, the Americans had a big advantage with the M1 Garand (which Patton famously called "The greatest battle implement ...
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Has Britain's 1940 invasion of Iceland been downplayed by historians?
On the face of it Operation Fork (Britain's invasion of Iceland in 1940) wasn't so terribly different from Germany's territorial landgrabs in 1939 and 1940.
Britain and her allies will have ...
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When did FDR announce he was running a 3rd time, and was there any outrage?
When did President Franklin Roosevelt announce he was running again for a 3rd term? And was there any shock or outrage at this?
I noticed the Vice President, John Garner, actually ran against FDR in ...
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Why didn't the USA move to the left after WWII? [closed]
After the second world war, and after the full impact of what the Nazis had done became clear, it seems like international politics moved to the left: in the east and far-east, support for communist ...
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How did the Nazis plan to defeat America during World War II?
Yamamoto famously advised against a war with the United States, because he could tell how powerful they would be once they got going. The Nazis, however, declared war on the United States of their ...
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Why were the Allies so much better cryptanalysts?
When I read about World War II, more specifically about the use of cryptography in that war, I get the impression that the Allies were much more successful in breaking the enemy codes than the Axis ...
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Why did the Germans use the Enigma machine rather than the far superior "Lorenz" cipher machine?
Basically, the only good thing about the "Enigma" cipher machine was its name. Other than that, it was grossly inferior to the "Lorenz" one, apparently only used by some of the main, top-ranking ...
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Did the leaflets from the US to Hiroshima/Nagasaki civilians on bombing cities reduce the civilian casualties of the two nuclear bombs in August 1945?
I read on Wikipedia
Various leaflets were dropped on Japan, three versions showing the names of 11 or 12 Japanese cities targeted for destruction by firebombing. The other side contained text stating ...
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Why did English adopt Kamikaze (神風) as a loanword instead of Tokko (特攻) during/after WWII?
Kamikaze (you know, the 'crash plane into boat' thing) is, for Japanese learners like myself, initially a very confusing word. In Japanese it's 神風, 神 meaning god, gods, divinity, etc. And 風 means wind,...
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Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
Leaving aside the naval battles of the Pacific, why did the Japanese army do so poorly against allied forces (specifically United states and Australian forces) when on the defensive. While logistics ...
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(Why) are there two different versions of the photograph of inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp?
It is alleged that the picture on the 42nd page of the May 6th, 1945 issue of the New York Times Magazine, depicting inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp, and taken five days after liberation, ...
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In WW2, why did Germany sink allied supply convoys instead of capturing them?
When reading about naval warfare in WW2, it suddenly struck me that sinking supply convoys was a huge waste of resources, especially in the later years when Germany was desperate for oil and other ...
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Why didn't the US choose to demolish Tokyo with an atom bomb?
Tokyo was Japan's capital. Why didn't the US choose Tokyo to demolish with Atom Bomb?
Bonus Question: What factors decided to bring Hiroshima and Nagasaki on table?
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Was there a contingency plan in place if Little Boy failed to detonate?
It's August 6th, 1945. The first atomic bomb ever dropped hurtles to the ground. Its fuse fails and with a thunk it buries itself in the ground. The Enola Gay flies home, its crew worried they did ...
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How did Italy and Germany get rubber in WWII?
Japan invaded Southeast Asia and Indonesia to obtain rubber in WWII. Germany and Italy clearly used large amounts of rubber in WWII to build vehicles and planes, but in the 1940s rubber was only ...
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What is the logic for the map maker classifying the map this way, specifically in Canada?
I recently came across the map displayed above. It is a map showing the spread of totalitarian and authoritarian governments right before WWII. The countries that are black are totalitarian ...
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Were kamikaze pilots an effective strategy for Japan?
history.howstuffworks.com claims kamikaze pilots were not overly effective. Wikipedia states that there was no noticeable increase in number of ships lost even as kamikaze pilots became more common, ...
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Was it militarily possible to "island hop" the Philippines if not for MacArthur?
The battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines led to the destruction of half of what remained of the Japanese navy. It also "sucked in" all the troops that Japanese could spare from elsewhere, leading ...
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Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest and most difficult of WW2. But, if I understand correctly, most of the casualties were incurred during the fighting for the southern part of the island. ...
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