World War II: The Longest War In History

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Following the end of World War I in 1918 came the start of World War II in 1939. Many people in the U.S. tried to stay in the isolationist state, but after the attack on the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941 the U.S. declared war with Japan on December 8, 1941 (Boundless). Soon after, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on December 11th (Boundless). However, before the U.S. entered World War II, the war was going on for two years between the Axis powers and the Allies. The Axis powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allies were France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. starting in 1941 (Royde-Smith). World War II remains the deadliest and largest war in history with over 75 million lives taken …show more content…

It was a war between the past World War II Allies members, the Soviet Union and the U.S. (“Cold War History”). Many Americans were worried about the Russian leader, Joseph Stalin, and his rule over the communist Soviet Union (“Cold War History”). In turn, the Soviet Union resented the U.S. for not accepting that they were apart of the international community. They were also angry that the U.S. delayed their entry into World War II which resulted in the death of millions of Russians (“Cold War History”). President Harry S. Truman instituted the Truman Doctrine in 1947 stating that the U.S. would offer political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations that were under any threats (“The Truman Doctrine”). This was in response to the British government revoking their assistance to the Greek government in the war between the Greek communists and the Greek government (“The Truman Doctrine”). Both Greece and Turkey were in danger of falling under the communist Soviet Union’s control (McClenaghan and Magruder). The war did not fully take off until about 1948 when the Soviet Union unsuccessfully blocked off West Berlin in what is known as the Berlin Blockade, or until the U.S. formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with their allies in Europe (“Cold