Things about World War II

You have literal good versus evil, the Allies vs Axis. The Soviet Union and the Nazis, two massive, gargantuan forces of goose-stepping war machines set on gobbling up anything in their path. The fanatical Japanese Empire that has taken East Asia and has just decisively challenged the only other Pacific power, the United States of America. Even Italy, tiny as it may be, has the history of Rome in its past and has colonial ambitions.

The United Kingdom is on the decline. They've lost direct control of their largest colonies, there is unrest in India, and they are no longer the preeminent world power; only twenty years ago did Ireland win independence. France is still stuck in thirty years ago. The rest of Europe is tired of war, and the United States, the yet to be seen greatest military power on Earth, isn't directly involved. Things are looking grim for democracy.

And then France falls decisively and leaves the British isles standing alone, with the United States half a world away and reeling from Pearl Harbor. The German war machine is gearing up for England, and the Japanese Navy seems unstoppable. Dictators and ideologies of racial purity or ultimate submission will soon break democracy and the free man.

Finally, there is a schism. The largest invasion in the history of mankind begins as the Nazi war machine turns the opposite direction and trounces Russia. Russia fights back and the Axis is essentially broken. And then the United Kingdom, a lonely island, stands up to the Nazis and buys time. The United States strikes back and absolutely crushes the Japanese Navy at Midway, the most important battle in all of naval warfare. The tide is turning.

Africa suddenly becomes important. The Americans are beating the Nazis on land for the first time. They are being pushed back and back and the greatest commander in the Nazi army is losing. Italy is next. The Japanese are losing island after island. Then 2,000,000 allied troops land in France. Time is ticking for the Nazis. After six years of constant warfare, the German war machine is crushed by the combined weight of the Allies, who have picked up a tenuous alliance with Russia.

Meanwhile, the United States fights a second front (with the help of its allies, who I am simply too lazy to name [ilu australia]). The Japanese are beyond fanatical, they are willing to throw themselves off of cliffs. The Americans are fighting an enemy even crueler than the Nazis on the field of battle, and they are doing it without the help of massive, massive armies fighting on a hilly field. Finally, the Japanese homeland is targeted.

And then, a weapon of terrifying power and awesome strength eradicates a Japanese city off of the face of the Earth. With the fury of God's own thunder, a second city vanishes in a blast of light. The Japanese are the first and only victims of nuclear bombs, the more terrible weapon ever created.

There is finally peace.

But peace does not come quietly. The war crimes of the Axis are finally revealed. A dozen million were rounded up and murdered in camps in Nazi Europe, especially the Jews. The Holocaust is exposed to the world. The atrocities the Japanese committed on prisoners of war and the Chinese people are written down for all to see. Despite this, the scientists and advancements are used to the benefit of the Allies, and the Allies are left with a conflicted legacy. Finally, the Cold War begins.

The tenuous alliance with the Soviet Union is shattered. Berlin is blockaded. East and West Germany are split. Korea is divided, and another violent war happens, this time between newly Communist China and the allies. It is brutal and bloody and lasts just as long.

World War II has left the world in pieces, with former allies fighting one another. Nuclear weapons now exist and threaten to wipe out life on Earth. There are now two new world powers and they polarize the world. The borders have been written on the map, and there is nowhere left to hide. The worst war in history was only twenty years after the worst war in history, and a new one is brewing with the capacity to destroy mankind.

World War II is the single most pivotal point in modern history. It has good vs evil, larger-than-life atrocities, amazing battles, a grand scale, and yet somehow it manages to leave a greater conflict brewing afterwards.

That's why it's the most amazing period of human history. We will never tire of it.