NON-FICTION #1

• Example of my Non-Fiction Writing

WORLD WAR 2

Twenty-one years after the deadliest and most costly war in human history, the world once again found itself on the brink of a global conflict. The threat of Nazi Germany loomed over Europe. The fascist Italian army seized control of their neighboring countries in the Mediterranean. The Empire of Japan rapidly extended its influence across the Far East. And the Soviet Union draped an Iron Curtain over Eastern Europe. 

Setting the Stage

As the Axis Powers asserted their power and control, Western Europe came together to oppose them. France and Great Britain were the first to stand up to the Axis Powers' aggression. Soon they were joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. It wasn't long until Russia joined the fight against the Axis after Germany betrayed them. Finally, the United States joined the fray and the conflict spanned three continents. The battle lines were drawn and the largest war in human history with ramifications felt even today began. Mankind would never be the same. The origins of World War 2 can be traced back as early as the conclusion of World War 1. At the time, the conflict was unlike any previous war. Not only in terms of human lives but also in terms of international relations. Over seventeen million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. About twenty million people were wounded. Several empires were dissolved. And the punishments imposed on the losing side laid the groundwork for Nazi Germany and the rise of fascism. 

Russia started the First World War with a terrible defeat at the Battle of Tannenberg. Things slightly improved for a short period before the Germans turned their attention to the Eastern Front. By the Autumn of 1916, Russia had suffered devastating losses. Disillusionment and anger towards the war became widespread throughout the country. In 1917, two revolutions changed the Tsarist-ruled nation into a communist state. After an internal civil war, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed in 1922. 

After a long history of isolating itself and being xenophobic, Imperial Japan underwent a drastic change near the end of the nineteenth century. Under the motto "Fukoku Kyōhei" (Rich Country, Strong Army), Japan started to rapidly industrialize, militarize, and build a colonial empire. They embarked on a conquest of Pacific Asia. Most notably their invasion of Manchuria and China. Using brutality and ruthlessness against opposing armies and civilians, their threat became apparent not only to the USSR in the East but also to the United States in the West. At the apex of their power, they had one of the largest maritime empires in the history of mankind. 

In Italy, a form of government known as “fascism” was born. Led by Benito Mussolini, the National Fascist Party took control of Italy in 1922. They believed in Italian Nationalism and the expansion of the Kingdom of Italy. Many in the country, especially Mussolini, believed that they were restoring the Roman Empire. But unlike the other members of what would become the Axis Powers, the Italians didn't have the means to accomplish their lofty goals. Soon they would prove to be the weakest part of the alliance.

Post World War 1, Germany was a struggling country, burdened by their war debt. As part of the losing side, they were forced to pay war reparations to their victorious enemies. On top of that, many restrictions were placed on their military and industry. Wounded pride, inflation, a failing economy, and increasing racism, xenophobia, and nationalism laid the foundation for the Nazi Party. 

The Nazi Party threatened the leadership of the post-World War I Weimar Republic government. Despite several tries to quell their voices, influence, and numbers, the Nazis had unstoppable momentum. Led by an Austrian-born former colonel from World War 1, Adolf Hitler, the party managed to seize control of Germany. Soon, political opponents began to disappear, as they were shipped to concentration camps. The Nazi secret police, known as the "Gestapo", frightened the population into submission. Jews, gypsies, foreigners, communists, artists, and the disabled were demonized. And one of the most horrific regimes ever known was born.

The initial sparks of war were ignited by Nazi Germany's aggression. Under Hitler's orders, Germany's neighboring countries, which were former parts of The German Empire lost after World War 1, were annexed. Austria, Bohemia, Slovakia, Prague, Moravia, and Czechoslovakia all became part of what Hitler promised would be the Thousand Year Reich. Motivated by the need to redeem themselves for a humiliating loss twenty years earlier and the desire for some measure of revenge, Germans got behind their Supreme Chancellor's ambitious plans. 

Though France and Great Britain threatened Nazi Germany with sanctions, trade embargoes, and other diplomatic punishments, it continued to annex countries. Their success made Hitler bold. He decided to turn his attention to their ally Poland. That got the attention of Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR. 

Communists and Fascists are diametrically opposed. By the very nature of their beliefs,  they're enemies. When Nazi Germany prepared to invade Poland, a large country on the USSR's border, compromises had to be made. Stalin, the Soviet dictator, didn't want to risk his rapidly successful nation by having an enemy on their doorstep. So he and Hitler signed a non-aggression pact. Though there was no reason to believe their alliance would last, it at least gave the Soviets a chance to prepare to repel the lightning-fast Blitzkrieg of the Nazi war machine.

 1939

Wary of Nazi and Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe, Great Britain and France tried to find a diplomatic solution to what they saw as an impending war. Though initially approached by the Soviet Union to form an alliance against Germany, neither country trusted a nation led by communists. When they realized that an invasion of Poland, a country whose borders the British had sworn to protect, was inevitable, they attempted to establish an alliance with the Russians. They were too late. It was a mistake they regretted after learning about Germany and the USSR entering a non-aggression pact. On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland.

Winston Churchill, a World War 1 veteran, thirty-nine-year politician, and First Lord of the Admiralty, was part of the War Cabinet that had to decide what to do about Germany invading Poland. They decided to go to war. On September 3, 1939, Great Britain declared war on Germany. France, one of their oldest allies followed suit. Churchill watched as his country bumbled and fumbled through the early days of the conflict. Soon he'd take charge and become one of the greatest wartime leaders in modern Western history. 

Poland fell in only a matter of a couple of weeks. The speed at which Nazi forces conquered the country surprised everyone. It was evident that World War 2 would involve faster, and more mobile warfare compared to World War 1. 

Not willing to join their allies France and Great Britain, the United States opted to stay out of the newly ignited war. Though they did provide supplies to both nations, they kept their soldiers at home. It didn't take long for their isolationist 

In November, the USSR invaded Finland. Widely considered easy, the Soviets were surprised by the Finnish resistance. The US sent money to help Finland fight the invaders. But eventually, they succumbed and surrendered

1940

1940 marked a significant escalation of the war in Europe. Hitler and Mussolini ratify their alliance. Italy declares war on the British and French. Winston Churchill became the British Prime Minister, replacing the incompetent Neville Chamberlain. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. That year also saw the Nazi war machine attack mainland France and the neutral nations of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. The Battle of Britain unfolded over Great Britain. 

Operation Weserübung saw Nazi Germany invade both Denmark and Norway. It was meant as a preemptive strike denying the French and British from establishing troops in either country. The very definition of Blitzkrieg, "lightning war," was evidenced by the successful invasion of Denmark in a little less than six hours. Norway proved to be a harder fight as French and British soldiers joined Norwegians in defense of the country. But despite some success, they too lost to the Germans.

The British public, dissatisfied with the defeat in Norway, demanded the removal of the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. That led to the former First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill being anointed Prime Minister. Under his leadership, British forces achieved more success and displayed a markedly tougher and more resilient approach. It ended up being arguably the most important event for the Allied Forces that year. 

Nazi German forces invaded France and the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium) in May 1940. Two operations successfully crushed the French army and pushed the Allies to the brink of defeat.  

German operation Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) consisted of armored units rolling through the Ardennes and into the Somme Valley in order to surround and cut off Allied units in Belgium. It pushed French, British, and Belgian soldiers to the sea. The infamous battle of Dunkirk saw the remains of the Allied forces fighting for survival as they waited to be evacuated by the British military.

Though Dunkirk was a military failure for the Allied forces, it served as a major morale victory for the British. Most of the forces there were evacuated against formidable odds. To this day it's revered by Great Britain. 

The second German operation was called Fall Rot (Case Red). It called for tanks and air support to finish off the French. Faced with superior German armor and the Luftwaffe, a depleted French army stood no chance. It wasn't long until all organized French military resistance was snuffed out. And on June 14, the Nazi German Army entered Paris unopposed. France stayed under Nazi control until 1944. 

Filled with confidence from their dominance in France, the German military shifted their focus to Great Britain. Starting in July 1940, the German Luftwaffe launched a massive bombing campaign against the British mainland. The goal of the German bombing campaign was to force the British to surrender, without the need for an invasion. They didn't anticipate how resilient the nation led by Winston Churchill was. 

Faced with a fiercely defensive Royal Air Force (RAF), the Luftwaffe found themselves in pitched air battles. Even though they had the numbers advantage, the Germans failed to cripple and/or destroy the RAF. Their terror bombing of British cities failed to break the British government and/or citizens. In the end, it was Nazi Germany's first loss in World War 2. Words cannot convey how important the victory was to the British and the Allied forces. Many consider it to be a turning point in the war. 

Western Europe wasn't the only theater of war in 1940. The Mediterranean also saw intense fighting. Italy advanced on British-held Egypt and started a war with Greece. Great Britain initiated a counteroffensive against the Italians in Egypt and the Italian-held East Africa.

After capturing British Somaliland, Italian forces advanced toward Egypt. Their goal was to seize the Suez Canal, a strategically important body of water. Compared to other major battles or theaters, the casualties were small and fighting was infrequent. Ultimately, the British forces in Western Africa defeated the Italians, including the complete defeat of the Italian 10th army after Operation Compass. Mussolini had no choice but to look to Hitler for support. This led to the arrival of Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel, also known as "The Desert Fox," which shifted the tide of the war in Africa.

1941

1941 was the start of the fall of the Axis Powers. Though they saw some success a series of poor strategic decisions laid the groundwork for their eventual defeat four years later. Arguably it was the most momentous year of World War 2.

In 1941, the Axis Powers were in a comfortable position. Germany held most of Western Europe, including France. Japan quickly conquered the Asian Pacific without facing any real resistance. The Soviet Union prepared to expand its communist influence. Only the Italians struggled in Africa but were helped immensely by Rommel and his Deutsches Afrika Korps arrival in Libya. None of them were prepared for their carefully prepared dominoes to start falling one by one.

As fighting spread throughout Europe, a powerful but inactive force lay across the Atlantic. The United States, seemingly determined to stay out of World War 2, supported its allies through supplies and arms. All the while they came into political conflict with the expanding Empire of Japan in the Pacific.

America seemed determined to try to work out a peaceful solution to its issues with Japan. The solutions included renouncing trade treaties, imposing embargoes, and using diplomatic means. Japan invaded and occupied China, a historical trade partner of the United States. Emboldened by the success of their European Axis allies, the Empire of Japan continued to expand by invading the Dutch East Indies. 

It soon became apparent that European and American interests in Southeast Asia were in danger of being the next targets of Japanese aggression. America and European countries increased their sanctions and embargoes on Japan. The US did everything it could to reinforce the Philippines and prepare for an eventual invasion. They warned the Japanese that any attack on the Philippines or any neighboring countries would result in war.

Under pressure from American and European sanctions, and with the United States supporting China, the Empire of Japan felt it had little choice but to go to war. So it prepared to strike first and hopefully destroy the US Pacific fleet in one swift attack. Their target? The American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 

On December 7, 1941, three hundred and fifty-three Japanese planes launched in two waves from six aircraft carriers in the Pacific. Their destination was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Their targets were the eight US battleships stationed in the naval base located there.

Caught completely by surprise the US Navy suffered three thousand five hundred and eighty-one casualties (2,403 of which died), one hundred and eighty-eight destroyed planes, damaged and/or sank three cruisers and three destroyers. There was extensive damage to the residents' facilities. And most importantly the Japanese attack managed to sink three battleships. The next day the United States formally declared war on The Empire of Japan. On December 11, the US declared war on Germany and Italy. One of the largest armies and most powerful industrial nations in the world joined the fight against the Axis Powers. 

As German forces helped the Italians fight a back-and-forth battle in North and Western Africa, Hitler and the Nazi command made a decision that would forever change the course of the war. Going against the non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin and the USSR, Hitler decided to launch an assault on the Soviets. 

A paranoid Adolf Hitler was frustrated by Great Britain's refusal to surrender. He thought that they were waiting for the Americans and Soviets to join their cause. So he had a choice. Either he'd try to strengthen his ties to the USSR, or he'd have to try and take them out of the fight before the United States joined the war. Somewhere beyond his megalomania, he knew that Germany couldn't take on both of them simultaneously.

In November 1940 Nazi Germany negotiated with the USSR to try and reinforce their alliance and ensure that they wouldn't have to fight them. But the proud Soviets had demanded that the Nazis found unacceptable. After the unsuccessful negotiations, Hitler ordered preparations for war with the Russians.

Throughout Russian history, enemy invasions always failed. The sheer size of the country and harsh winter weather made it nearly impossible to occupy or conquer. That didn't deter the Nazis who believed themselves to be genetically and technologically superior. So against better judgment Operation Barbarossa was launched on June 22, 1941.

Aided by Italian, Finnish, Hungarian, and Romanian troops, Operation Barbarossa aimed to swiftly capture the Baltic Region, Ukraine, Moscow, and conclude at the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan Line. Altogether, the Axis forces in the attack consisted of about four million soldiers and six hundred thousand vehicles. 

Surprise and speed would be the tactics that would lead them to victory. Or at least that was the plan. And at first, it worked. Germany won many major victories. The Soviet policy of burning and looting any valuable resources as they retreated further into Russia ultimately had a heavy impact on the Axis forces. Combined with wet and unbearably cold weather, the offensive stalled. Nowhere was that more evident than in the Siege/Battle of Stalingrad.

Consisting of intense close-quarters combat, frequent air raids, food shortages, and brutal weather, the Battle of Stalingrad was a perfect example of how Operation Barbarossa unfolded for both sides. By the time the battle of a strategically unimportant city was over, about two million people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed, wounded, or captured. It was the battle that shattered the Nazi German army in Russia. They never recovered.

Before they knew it, the troops of Operation Barbarossa found themselves in a foreign land with diminishing supplies against a larger enemy force. Defeat was inevitable. Despite ultimately being victorious and driving the Axis powers out of the USSR, German atrocities and the unforgivable actions of the Waffen-SS scarred the country for decades to come. 

1942

In 1942, the tide of war started to turn against the Axis powers. But they were in no way out of the fight. Both the British and American navies are engaged in naval battles with the Japanese, stopping the expansion of their empire. The RAF begins bombing Cologne marking the first time the war has touched Germany's homeland. The Germans are facing a counteroffensive from the Red Soviet Army. In the African campaign, British forces defeated Rommel and the German and Italian forces at El Alamein. 

American troops are concerned about the Japanese threatening their ally Australia, so they are attempting to stop them in the Solomon Islands. Starting on August 7, 1942, US Marines landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, and Tulagi. Though the fighting lasted until February of the following year, the three large-scale land battles, seven naval battles, and almost daily dogfights ended with an American victory. The victory marked the first time the Japanese were decisively stopped in the Pacific and was the stepping stone for Allied forces.

After defeats at El Alamein and Tunisia, the Allied Forces finally defeated the Germans in North Africa. Rommel is reassigned to France. The Italians retreat to Italy to prepare for an Allied invasion. 

1943

The Axis Forces faced an Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy in July 1943. It only takes a month to take the island. As the fighting continued in the southernmost part of the country, Benito Mussolini was removed from power by the increasingly frustrated Italian government and people. Italy was tired of losing battles and seeing more of their sons killed in a seemingly pointless and futile war. On September 8, 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allies. Though Axis forces in the country continue to fight.

Allied bombings of Germany ramp up. RAF bombers reach and bomb Berlin. American bombers conduct air raids over the country. The German people are starting to really feel the effects of the war. Enthusiasm and support begin to dwindle. This is only made worse by the German 6th Army's surrender at Stalingrad in February. 

The Allied Forces are steadily advancing towards France and Germany. Defeats in Russia and North Africa make it their war to win or lose. Under intense pressure, Adolf Hitler begins to make ill-advised military decisions at an increasingly alarming rate.

1944

After successfully landing in Anzio and Rome, Italy, the American, British, and Canadian forces are preparing to invade Nazi Germany-controlled France. Meanwhile, the Soviets start to push towards Germany from the east. The vice is tightening as the war in the European Theater approaches its end.

Nazi Germany knew that an invasion of France was imminent. The great general Erwin Rommel was tasked with defending northern France (Normandy) from the Allied forces. Despite all their preparations, they weren’t ready for what was to be the largest seaborne invasion in military history. Miscommunications, false Intel, and enemy espionage left them vulnerable to the attack.

The night before what would be known as “D-Day”, twenty-four thousand Allied paratroopers were dropped behind German lines in Normandy, France. They were accompanied by extensive bombing and naval bombardments. With the Nazis having to worry about defending their backs, a seaborne invasion force approached from the English Channel.

On June 6, 1944, five thousand boats and almost one hundred and sixty thousand Allied troops crossed the English Channel and landed in Normandy. Caught somewhat unawares, the Germans still put up a stubborn fight. Though they sustained heavy losses, the Allied troops won a decisive victory opening a door to Northern France. At the same tie in the south, forces from Italy invaded Southern France. Nazi Germany's occupation of France was coming to an end. A couple of months later, on August 25, 1944, Allied Forces entered a liberated Paris. 

By September, the Allies reached the German border. Not willing to surrender, Hitler orders one last offensive. It became known as the Battle of the Bulge. 

The German offensive was launched through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. It succeeded as a surprise attack inflicting very heavy losses on the Allied Forces, especially the Americans. It was a German victory but at the same time, it may have been the last gasp of the Nazi army. When it was over there was little left to defend the homeland. And with the Russians closing in from the east, the war for Germany was all but over.

1945

Nazi German forces fought hard and to the last as Allied forces wept through the country from the east and the west. With most of their forces defeated, Germany enlisted children and old men in last-ditch efforts to defend their homeland. Soviet forces were the first to reach Berlin, the German capital. The Red Army encircled the city and strangled the life out of what was left. 

As the Soviets, Americans, British, and Canadians advanced into the heart of German territory the atrocities of the Nazis began to be uncovered and discovered. Jews, gypsies, ethnic minorities, the mentally disabled, and political opponents of the Nazi regime were being slaughtered by the thousands in concentration camps all over Germany and Eastern Europe.

The most devastated by the Nazi perpetrated genocide was the Jewish population of Europe. Approximately six million Jews were murdered over a four-year period (1941-45). None of these camps was more infamous than a camp found by Soviet forces in Poland known as Auschwitz. 

Nazi German guards, SS, and soldiers carried out the genocidal slaughter of about one point one million people in Auschwitz.  Ninety percent of those killed there were Jewish. They were exposed to horrific medical experiments, forced labor, starvation, and disease. Most were killed in gas chambers where they were coldly and efficiently executed, their corpse thrown in furnaces. The entire world was horrified and disgusted by the Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz and the other concentration camps.

Faced with endless war crimes, surrounded by The Soviet Red Army, and clearly on the brink of defeat, Adolf Hitler took his own life in his bunker on April 30, 1945. A little over a week later the Nazi German army surrendered on May 7, 1945. The war in Europe was over. 

The Japanese continued to fight Allied forces in the Pacific. Though their defeat was unavoidable, honor and pride kept them going. Nowhere was that more clear than at the Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

A small island just south of the Japanese mainland called Okinawa was host to the biggest and bloodiest battle of the War in the Pacific. American forces landed on the island on April 1, 1945. They were surprised to find that the hundred fifteen thousand Japanese soldiers stationed there didn't meet them at the beaches. Instead, they dug into the interior of the island. Bolstered by thousands of civilian volunteers, the Japanese viciously and doggedly fought the Americans for over two months. US forces suffered seventy-five thousand casualties. Ninety-four percent of the Japanese soldiers stationed there died. The victory was an important one as it won a staging ground for an invasion of the Japanese mainland.

As an island between Japan and the Mariana Islands, Iwo Jima was an important strategic point that American forces were determined to wrestle out of Japanese control. On February 19, 1945, thirty thousand American Marines invaded the volcanic island. A month and twenty-six thousand dead American and Japanese soldiers later, US Marines captured the island. That marked the beginning of the end for The Empire of Japan. 

Knowing that the Japanese would fight to the end, Tokyo and other major Japanese cities were constantly firebombed. Even to today, those air raids were some of the most savage and horrifying attacks in human history. Often overshadowed by the dropping of the atomic bombs, more people died throughout the firebombing campaigns. But still, the Japanese didn't surrender.

In an effort to end the war in the Pacific, the dropping of the first atomic bomb in human history was approved by US President Harry Truman. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped and detonated on/in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb initially killed approximately eighty thousand Japanese civilians. The radiation left over from the explosion ended up killing anywhere from an additional ten to eighty thousand in the years that followed. Still, the Japanese didn't surrender. So on August 9, another atomic bomb was dropped on the industrial city of Nagasaki with similarly tragic results. 

On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered. With their surrender, World War 2 came to an end. The years that followed saw Nazi and Japanese war criminals tried, convicted, and punished for their crimes. Members of the Waffen-SS, a Nazi army made of volunteers from countries conquered by Germany, were persecuted and killed for their involvement in many atrocities against their own countrymen. The USSR and the United States emerged from the war as dominant world powers and would be enemies for decades to follow. Numerous countries including France, Germany, Japan, and Russia had to rebuild.

About three percent of the world's population (around sixty million people) died in the six-year conflict. It set the stage for the Cold, Korean, Vietnam, and Afghan war in the decades to come. World War 2 unfortunately introduced the world to atomic weapons, a problem we still deal with today. Millions visit the many museums, monuments, and battlefields where men from all over the world fought and died in the second and last worldwide war. The world is and will never be the same again.