The Second World War as a Total War
Second World War was a horrifying event, which left an even deeper
scarf in people’s lives than the First World War. It brought far more
damage and deaths than the previous war. However in order to answer
whether the Second World War was a Total War, we first have to define
what is Total War. Total War is the war that affects all of society-
not just the armed forces, and that uses all the resources available
to be able to win it. It’s “the mobilization of the entire society and
its resources for the war effort”. In this essay several aspects will
be investigated, which would help us answer the question.
The first thing that comes to mind is the scale of war. It was
tremendous. Almost every country participated in the Second World War.
There were Europe, USA, USSR, Scandinavia, North Africa, Japan, China
and Australia involved. And definitely there wasn’t even one country
in the whole world that didn’t suffer from its effects. The war was
fought on several fronts simultaneously, and thus the armies needed as
many soldiers as possible. Volunteering was cancelled and conscription
was introduced. From the start of the war, all men aged 18-41 had to
register for war work- either to fight or to work. However, even
despite the big number of people in the army, it wasn’t the soldiers
who suffered the most. It was the civilians. In this war more
civilians died than soldiers, they were “in the front line of attack”.
Civilians were bombed, imprisoned, massacred, taken as slaves and
starved to death. The most horrifying weapon of World War Two was the
atomic bomb; it became typical at that time and brought horrific
civilian casualties.
The other factor that shows us the totality of war is the scientific
developments, this also includes new technology and war tactics. A
complete new style of fighting was introduced. It involved more
weapons, more machinery, more soldiers and thus obviously more damage
and deaths. For example, a new tactic that became known as Blitzkrieg,
or lightening war, was introduced. Blitzkrieg used shock tactics. The
aim was to paralyze the enemy by devastating use of the most
up-to-date technology and clever military tactics. Motorized vehicles,
tanks and air power were co-ordinated by radio communications as they
pushed deep into enemy territory. This tactic was first used at the
“Battle of Britain”, it was when Germany’s aircraft went to London, it
consisted of 348 German bombers and 317 fighters and it lasted for 57
days. New weapons were also used, e.g. aerial bomb. Railway stations
and airfields were bombed as well as civilians. In the Blitz, Britain
suffered more civilian than military casualties. In each week of
September 1940, 40,000 to 50,000 people lost their homes. In November,
4500 people were killed and thousands more injured. In London alone,
12,500 died in December. People were so terrified that they fled the
city each night, sleep1ing with relatives or in farmers’ barns or just
camping in the open fields. Almost every country that participated in
the war placed great faith in the power of the bombers as an offensive
force against an enemy population. The two targets of this “strategic
bombing” would be the enemy economy and civilian morale. Thus bombing
was to be the primary agent of total war; the aircraft transformed
land warfare and consigned the stalemate of trench warfare to history.
Since the First World War science developed even further and allowed a
higher mass destruction. There was a mass use of tanks, which by now
were highly developed. Fire was one of the most common weapons, as it
was hard to put it down, ex. Spitfire – it fired even through a
propeller! Even firebombs were made. By the end of the war Germany
produced a V1 plane-, which didn’t even need a pilot to get to a
destination! Atomic bombs were invented; new tanks were made
along with anti-tank guns, which were now more effective. Radio beams
were introduced and minefields were used. Another example of a serious
attack is the D-Day Operation in 1944. Its main objective was to
liberate France from German troops, which had been there since 1940.
The Overload began with a series of air attacks and decoy measures.
Some 13,000 Allied aircraft pounded radar installations, rail links
and bridges, and thus effectively cut off the German defenders in
Normandy from reinforcement. About two thirds of the air attacks were
actually away from the invasion area in order to confuse the
defenders. Other measuressuch as false radio messages were
also used to convince the Germans that attacks were taking place
elsewhere. Casualties were only 11,000- remarkable in an operation
that had brought 130,000 men across the channel by sea and 23, 000 by
air. This example just once again proves us that new tactics
and weapons were used in the attacks, which weren’t there in the
previous war. Also the scale of the attacks, and the number of
soldiers involved was much higher. And the last, but not least example
that is good in demonstrating the devastation of the new scientific
developments is the Hiroshima bombing. An atomic bomb, which was
invented by the American scientists, was used in Nagasaki and
Hiroshima. It was a payback from the Americans to the Japanese for the
attack on Pearl Harbour (which was also the main reason to why America
entered the war). The effects of it were disastrous. It took only 1
bomb and 1 plane to kill at least 75,000 people instantly. Tens of
thousands more died from radiation poisons in the years that followed.
