Table of Content:

Introduction
Chapter 1: Formation of Allies WW1 - Page 4
Chapter 2: Rise of Axis Powers - Page 31
Parts I – Rise of Adolf Hitler - Page 31
Part II – Rise of Benito Mussolini - Page 57
Part III – Japan after WW1 - Page 72
Part IV – Rise of Netaji Bose - Page 77
Chapter 3: Axis’s ‘Global Conquest’
Part I – Italian Invasion of Ethiopia – Page 84
Part II – Spanish Civil War – Page 107
Part III – Japanese Invasion of China – Page 133
Part IV – Soviet-Japan Conflict – Page 153
Part V – Burning stones of Europe – Page 160
Part VI – Rise of INA – Page 188
Chapter 5: The Flaps in Allies - Page 198
Introduction
The word ‘Flaps’ in the context of this book, means
‘Agitation and Panic’. It’s a basic fact that the Allies of
WW1 and WW2 have a structural change as many
nations changed sides in conflicts of wars. It’s also a fact
that Allies of WW2 have been spreading exaggerated
thoughts and opinions in order to hide facts. The Allies
nation and few such other nations have been spreading
lies against the truth and portraying few absolute great
personalities as tyrannical leaders. Even so the Former
Indian Governments have been hiding reports of some
secrets which every global citizen and resident should
know. Few politicians and few philosophers had different
opinion than they usually had. Hardly people know these
facts and the education systems have been hiding many
such important details in order to exaggerate few topics.
“The ink with which all History is written is merely fluid
prejudice” – Mark Twin
There is a corrupt ideological understanding or thought
that manipulating History and making the facts a mystery
and inserting propaganda will influence the students who
study and they will feel that the textbook is absolutely
correct which isn’t the case today. The textbooks have
either been provocative to communism in such a manner
that you don’t mention word ‘communism’ still you tell
communism. Great personalities like Barrister
Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar have been
manipulated in such a manner that you don’t mention
them or you don’t respect them. If someone is not
agreeing with his views still fine, you can talk against
them up to an extend against them, but don’t vandalize
their profiles. There is a tendency of writers to either
hide facts and make opinions or to keep half facts and
half opinions. Somewhere the border should be drawn in
regards to respect for all people mentioned in the
textbooks. In textbooks it is ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ and ‘V.D.
Savarkar’ is that any type of justice? Either keep it like
‘Mohan Das Karmchand Gandhi’ and ‘V.D. Savarkar’ or
give both individuals respect.
These textbook writers often respect more to the people
whose ideology matches with them leading to a storm of
uncertainty in the writer’s mind. There are many twisted
individuals who vandalize great profiles on Wikipedia in
order to defame such great people. These communist
writers often paint Anti-Religious Fundamentalists as
Religious Fundamentalists and vice-versa. They support a
particular ideology i.e. green politics and then make sure
you write more in its favour for creating future
politicians/future voters who will support the political
party with that specific ideology.
Especially Communist writers give excess respect to the
people who colonized the country. Like if its ‘Louis
Mountbatten’ then the writers will transform it to ‘Lord
Mountbatten’. If it’s ‘Dalhousie’, who has a big name
[writers can hence only keep his surname instead],
writers make it ‘Lord Dalhousie’ that is their Anti-
Nationalist propaganda which these communists, often
proclaim themselves as ‘Socialists’, write.
Harsh .V. Thakur

Chapter 1: Formation of Allies WW1

World War 1 gave rise to many changes. Wilhelm II was
the then German leader and that time Germany had
excellent relations with Austria-Hungary. In 1914 nearly
every European country had weapons and desire for war.
France wanted to take back its province of Alsace –
Lorraine from Germany, Wilhelm II wanted to conquer
the world and the alliance between Ottoman Empire and
Austria-Hungary was making it clear that something was
coming, but the nations under Austria-Hungary which
included Ukraine, Romania and Slovaks and many more
demanded independence. And many of them declaring
independence [Romania (1878), Serbia (1878), Albania
(1912), Greece (1821), Montenegro (1878)] had made
Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary unhappy. The
militaristic inventions of Railroads, artillery, Fighter
Planes, Machine Guns were predicting heavy wars in
Future. In May 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy
had formed the alliance called as Triple Alliance.
Germany was Europe’s rising power and suspicious of
own nation’s future as sovereign in expense of European
Power of Germany; UK, France and Russian Empire in
1907 formed the Triple Entente.
The Spark of ww1 happened In Sarajevo of Austria-
Hungary on 28th June 1914 a man called Franz Ferdinand
was assassinated by a 19 year old nationalist known as
Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia which
was its hostile nation. On 23rd July in Vienna, the then
capital of Austria-Hungary sent a list of demands which
Serbian government should fulfill and when Serbia
rejected those demands then Austria-Hungary declared
war. Within hours of war declaration on 28th July 1914,
Austria-Hungary started to shell Belgrade with artillery.
Russian Empire had good relations with Serbia and
therefore Russia started to mobilize its army on 30th July.
Wilhelm II had already showed support for Austria-
Hungary in war. Wilhelm II also declared that a conflict
with Russia was inevitable. On 1st August the German
military mobilization started which followed by a
declaration of war between Germany and Russia and
that meant Germany had to also fight against France.
Therefore Germany made the Schieffen plan. That time
France had heavy forces ready at the German-French
Border and it would take time for Germany to fight
through that border, hence Germany decided to use
Belgium. Germany would march its troops through
Belgium and capture Paris and then it would move its
forces to east that is Russian Empire as Russia had a large
army hence it would take Russia a long time. Germany
decided to march 6 million troops [60 lakh troops]
through Belgium and to Paris. While Italy decided to
remain neutral, the triple alliance treaty didn’t forced a
member nation to declare war if its allies did. USA had
also declared its neutrality that it won’t support any side
for a European war and UK was also confused whether to
join or not.
On 4th August after Germany invaded Belgium UK sent an
ultimatum to Berlin to move its forces away from
Belgium and after Germany ignored the ultimatum UK
declared war on Germany. On 5th August the British war
Council declared it would use Indian in the war effort. On
that day a man called as ‘Barrister Mohan Das
Karmchand Gandhi’ gave and unconditional support to it
when he was travelling on British Steamer SS Kinfauns
Castle which had reached English Channel from Cape
Town. The same man who later led Green Politics via
Non-Violence.
On 12th August a British Expedition Force [B.E.F] landed
in France. While Belgium still didn’t allowed Germany to
invade which led to the brutal battle of Liege. France
wasn’t aware of Germany’s plan. France decided to
attack under its Plan XVII, France had plans to occupy
and recapture its province of Alsace – Lorrain and hence
France decided to go offensive, but in the battle German
forces made French retreat with enormous losses on
both sides. It’s estimated about 329,000 were casualties
for French while 256,000 on German sides. The British
Expedition Force with Belgium’s army clashed with
German force in Battle of Mons on 23th August 1914, but
German forces made the British Retreat to Marne where
happened the Battle of Marne from 6th to 12th
September. In which the Germans had to retreat and
both sides had casualties nearly a quarter million. Both
sides move towards North leading to the First battle of
YPRES in October 1914. Then to prevent Machine Guns
both sides dig in leading to the Trench warfare.
All nations had an old school war mentality like they felt
Calvary was effective. Russian Empire, Serbia and France
needed to change their army’s dressing style. All the
three armies had caps and not helmets, Serbian army
didn’t wore boots while the French army was easy to
spot due to its red trousers and Germany used the
French dressing code to its advantage by shelling French
Regiments.
Trench warfare is one of the deadliest warfare the world
ever saw with casualties over millions.

In Trench warfare both sides dig in the ground and there

is no man’s land in between.
But each Trench required a lot’s of requirements and
these ‘requirements’ weren’t facilities, these
‘requirements’ were many different trenches for one
side.
No man’s land had barred wires, mines and what not, the
soldier who used to go with the regiment to take the
other side trench didn’t knew whether he would return
or not. Trench warfare works like this:
One side sends its troops to enemy trench in wave by
wave manner.
The other enemy trench uses Machine Guns and fire on
the troops attacking
This is used to go until the Enemy trench
Many times if the attacking side would give up or wait for
some time the defending side would do the same.
In this way for 1 Kilometer 1000s used to die and many
times no trench used to get occupied with casualties sky
rocking. Living in trenches was also a hard job one side
the enemy uses artillery injuring/killing many while there
is stagnant water leading to diseases and rats, corpses,
poisonous water and such conditions weren’t helping the
troops psychologically.
On 28th August 1914 Britain won its first naval war also
known as battle of Helgoland Bight, sinking three
German cruisers. UK had strongest navy in the world
with many modern battleships. Seeing this as an
advantage Britain made a naval blockade against
Germany preventing any supplies reaching Germany. This
Brought the German Economy to its Knees, but after a
week on 5th September 1914 British naval ship called has
H.M.S Pathfinder sunk becoming the first British Ship to
sink. It was sunk by German Submarines by launching
torpedoes. German Navy had a surface range of 9
thousand miles which meant they could sink any ship
undetected and this brought a challenge to British Naval
Dominance.
While on the Eastern Front Russian Empire’s army was
ready. On 26th August Russian empire invaded Germany
which led to the battle of Tannenberg from 26th August
to 30th August, the Germans won and took many
Russians as Prisoners of war. The Second German Victory
came with the battle of Masurian Lakes from 7 th
September to 14th September. The Russians were forced
to retreat and within a week they suffered casualties
close to 3.5 lakhs. On the other hand Austria-Hungary’s
army suffered a humiliating loss at the battle of Cer from
15th August to 24th August against Serbia. Austria-
Hungary also suffered a loss against Russian Empire
which forced them to retreat in September 1914.
Franz Joseph was Austria-Hungary’s leader, he was
intelligent man, but not strategic. He had turned down
Germany’s plans and also used to demand help from
Wilhelm II. The Germans had to come to the aid of their
ally and hence Germany attacked Warsaw, it led to the
battle of LODZ in November 1914 and there was no clear
winner as both sides stood strong.
The Allies were using their colonies to advantage. When
war had broken out British Australia took immediate
control of German colonies near Australia.
Allies also quickly took control of German Colonies in
Africa.

The Ottoman Empire [today’s Turkey and many more

countries], had a variation in opinions on whether to join
war or not and Ottomans already had sever casualties
with the Balkans war against Russian Empire. The
Ottomans with navy attacked the cities of Odessa and
Sevastopol which were already under Russia. While the
Ottomans attacked the Caucasus Mountains of Russians
and Ottomans weren’t prepared for cold leading to many
deaths and this helped Russians as Russian Empire
crossed the Ottoman Frontier. The Japanese Empire
under Ōkuma Shigenobu wanted more resources, hence
Japan joined Allies and captured Tsingtao a colony of
Germans on Chinese ports [7th November 1914]. At
battle of Coronel in South America Germans sunk two
ships of UK. The same navy moved to the Falkland Islands
of Britain in South America and lost on 8th December
1914.
British knew that if they could take advantage of war and
capture Ottoman oil plants then there economy would
get a solid boost, hence British captured the Barsa on
23rd November 1914 getting control of oil. While the
Germans sent spies in Afghanistan to convince local
tribes to attack British India, but that failed. On 2nd
December 1914 Austria-Hungary occupied Belgrade, but
the Serbians counter attacked and drove out Austria-
Hungary’s forces. On 16th December the German Navy
attacked British coastal Guard killing many civilians.
While on 20th December 1914 happened the First battle
of Champagne, in which the French won small gains, but
heavy casualties. On 19th January 1915 Germany sent
Airships which bombed UK killing many civilians. UK
again imposed a naval blockade and to respond to it
Germany declared that it would attack every single
merchant ship which shall come close to UK. On 7th
February 1914 happened the Second battle of Masurian
lakes in which Germany won, but on other hand Russians
kept on defeating Austria-Hungary. On 22nd April 1915
the Germans attacked by poison gas at Ypres, this forced
the allies to abandon the trenches, but Germans didn’t
had enough reserves to take advantage of these. Soon
both sides were supplied with gas masks. On 24th April
Ottoman Empire started to deport Armenian, a minority
in Ottoman Empire, suspected of helping Ottoman
Empire’s enemies. This minority was transported to
Sahara desert, left there to die. Nearly 10 to 15 lakh
people died in the genocide. The today’s Turkish
government also refuses such high deaths and even
questions about the genocide. Mean while on 5th May
1915 American ship R.M.S Lusitania was sunk by
Germans in the Irish Sea leading to 98 crew members
and passengers and 121 Americans. Americans were
outraged by it.
In summer of 1915 Italy joined the war, not with its allies
of Triple Alliance, Italy wanted more land which France
and UK promised hence Italy joined Allied Powers against
the Central Powers. Italy first declared war on Austria-
Hungary and later Ottoman Empire which followed war
declaration against Germany. Now Germany and Austria-
Hungarian forces together attacked Russian Empire and
on 5th August 1915 Warsaw was captured, the Russians
started to retreat. Bulgaria now joined the war, in 1915
autumn, Bulgaria wanted itself to be bigger and after loss
in Balkan wars of 1912-13, Bulgaria joined the war. The
combined German, Austria-Hungarian, Bulgarian forces
together attacked Serbia and Serbia’s capital Belgrade
was captured by 9th October. Within 2 months Serbia lost
and its casualties were horrific with deaths of 1/3 of its
forces the highest proportion of any nation. Through
Albanian mountains the Serbian army evacuated itself.
By sea the Serbian Army came to Corfu, a significant
Greece island.

Albania already had strong relations with Austria-

Hungary and after the combined German, Bulgarian and
Austria-Hungarian forces drove out the Serbians, these
troops stayed in Albania till the end of the war which
made it look like a friendly invasion. 1915 wasn’t the year
of allies with multiple losses.
Its 1916, the world was tired of this war and the conflict
needed to end somewhere. Portugal also had started
friendly ties with UK which wasn’t supported by
Germany, so Germany declared war on Portugal which
led Portugal to join Allied Forces. The Austria-Hungarian
Forces launched an attack on Montenegro on 6th January
1916 and within 3 weeks Montenegro surrendered. The
war continued with small scale damage against German
colonies in Africa while Large Scale Damage at the
Western Front [Russian Empire versus German Empire
and Austria-Hungary]. Nearly entire Europe had declared
Conscription and in 1916 Britain declared Conscription
from every colony resulting in mass recruitment in British
Army. On 24th April Ireland started ‘Eastern Rising’ which
was a major armed rebellion since 1798 in Ireland. The
rebellion was of 5 days, which led to unconditional
execution of the Rebellion leaders. The British now
decided to break Ottoman Empire, they told the Arabs
that if they would support Allied Forces then they would
be granted Independence from the Ottoman Empire,
while France and UK signed a secret deal called as ‘Skyes-
Picot agreement’ on 4th May under which the then
Ottoman Territory shall not be granted autonomy
instead that territory shall be divided by the French and
British. The Arabs started their war in Mecca.
That time the British and the Germans had made war
battleships called as ‘Dreadnought’ and to make such
one battleship was really expensive for either side and no
side wanted to lose even a single battleship in war, but
both sides ‘Dreadnoughts’ had a battle called as ‘Battle
of Jutland’ after which both sides decided to prevent the
use of these ships in their battles and wars. From 21 st
February Germany started the battle of Verdun and now
the war got more brutal. The Allied forces had decided a
plan to neutralize Central Powers. The Plan was that the
Russians would push back the Germans and so would the
French leading to a collapse of Germany. There Britain
started sending is Reserves of Conscripted men to
France. Germany decided to make mass movements as
Germany attacked Verdun, the Germans knew that
French would fight till the last man to prevent the loss of
this important city. Hence Germany attacked Verdun and
French knew that they weren’t able to defend it,
therefore French started to send waves of French troops
leading to mass casualties. Now France asked Britain to
do something and Britain attacked Germany which was
the Battle of Somme; leading to 57 Thousand British
casualties on just the first day. On 4th June 1916 Russian
Empire started Brusilov Offensive in which they advanced
fast leading the Austria-Hungarian forces to retreat.
Seeing this scenario Romania joined the war from Allied
Forces and attacked Austria-Hungary, but Romania had
to face forces from Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary and
Germany which led to Romania’s casualties of a quarter
million. On 21st November 1916 Austria-Hungarian
Emperor Franz Joseph died and was succeeded by his
son, Charles I. While in Britain Prime Minister Herbert
Asquith forced to resign on 5th December and new Prime
Minister was David L George. French Commander
General Joffre was also replaced by Maurice Sarrail on
13th December 1916. US economy took over the
economy of entire British Empire in 1916 as USA was
giving heavy supplies for money to UK.
The Germans knew that if the war would go for long then
they may not win as Allied Forces had many resources.
Therefore on 1st February the Germans started an
unrestricted Submarine warfare, in which every ship
having resources was sunk. Germany planed to starve
Britain to surrender. Germany had started to sink every
ship and USA was giving heavy supplies of food, oil,
weapons to British Forces and in it many US vessels sunk
and now it was bound that US would intervene. Britain
had also intercepted a telegram from Germany to its
Ambassador in Mexico, also known as ‘Zimmermann
Telegram’, requesting Mexico to declare war on US and
attack US.
Following the February Revolution in Russian Empire,
which began in Petrograd due to shortage of Supplies,
had soon spread over the entire nation, as result Tsar
Nicolas II was abdicated and a provincial government was
set up led by Prince Georgy Lvov. The Provincial
government promised to continue the war. On 6th April
1917 US entered the war from allies, but they would take
few months to mobilize the army. Germany had now
decided it’s now or never and hence started a ruthless
war. Wilhelm II now knew that if Russia would stay long
in the conflict a victory was impossible, hence he asked
Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist who was in exile in
Switzerland, Lenin was eager to return to Russian Empire
after the February Revolution and on 16th April he
reached Russian Empire at Petrograd.
Greece was fighting among itself, to join which side in
the war. In April 1917 Germany had sunk 60 lakh Ships
which carried food and essential supplies to Britain. In
July convoy naval system were invented as Allies had
started to transform their Merchant Ships to carry
military. This led to the decline in ships sunk by
Germany.
King Constantine wanted to join the Central Powers
while the Prime Minister wanted to join Allies. On 27th
June 1917, the king was abdicated and Greece joined
allies. On 19th July the Weimar National Assembly of
Germany passed a peace resolution in order to stop the
war, the German High Command ignored it. In the same
year, 1917, many nations joined Allies. Brazil joined allies
on 26th October, Liberia on 4th August 1917, China on 14th
August 1917 and Siam on 22nd July all declared war on
Germany as Germany sunk ships of respective countries
carrying supplies for Allies. On 11th March 1917 British
captured Baghdad. On 6th July the Arab rebels captured
Aqaba. On 2nd July Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour
declaration in which it was mentioned that Britain would
create a Country for Jews in Palestine. On 11 December
1917 Britain captured Jerusalem from Ottoman Empire
ending 400 year reign of Ottomans in Jerusalem.
In Russian Empire Vladimir Lenin of Bolshevik Party
started another revolution known as “October
Revolution” and promised to end the war. The Provincial
Government was taken down and Lenin took the lead of
the country. Russian Empire ended and Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic was created [RSFSR] and the
Russian Civil war started. Lenin as promised pulled out
Russia out of the war. Now Britain was the only strong
power as Italian forces were about to collapse, French all
dependent of other Allies and US taking months to
mobilize. On 20th November Britain started a major army
movement called as ‘Battle of Cambrai’. The British push
back with tanks, but after some hours of pushing back,
the Tanks either break up or stop due to mechanical
problems. With the ongoing Russian Civil war, Finland
declared its Independence on 6th December 1917. On 9th
December 1917 Romania signed an armistice with the
Central Powers. RSFSR also signed an armistice on 15th
December 1917. German army now moves to German-
France border as Trench warfare continues.
In the spring on 1918, US President Wilson made a 14
point document, stating his vision for globe after the
war:
1. No More Secret treaties
2. Free navigation of seas
3. No more economic barriers between nations
4. Reduction in armed forces
5. Impartial settlement of colonial issues
6. German troops to withdraw from Russia
7. The restoration of Belgian Independence
8. France to be Liberated and to reclaim Alsace–
Lorraine
9. Italy’s Frontiers to be readjusted along the lines of
nationality.
10. Self Determination of People of Austria-
Hungarian Empire.
11. The Balkan stated to be freed from occupation
12. The Turkish Empire to be dismantled
13. An Independent Polish state to be created
 14. A ‘general association of nations’ to be formed
to guarantee independence and territorial integrity
of all nations.
Many European leaders dismissed it as a ‘wishful
thinking’. On 3rd March 1918 Germany and RSFSR signed
a peace treaty called as ‘Treaty of Brest – Litovsk’ in
which RSFSR gave a vast territory to Germany for peace.
From 21st March Germany started a ‘spring offensive’
with Operation Michael and advanced much making
allies retreat.

On 9th April Germany attacked north which made them

more close to city of Calais and Ypres; this was
‘Operation Georgette’. On 27th May 1918, the Germans
advance towards Paris taking hold of River Marne; this
was known as ‘Operation Blucher’. By now US soldiers
start their offensive in the trench warfare. And by 1st July
nearly 1 million soldiers are there on French soil with
10,000 more arriving every day. While now Allied forces
land in Russia and this was their intervention in Russian
Civil war. Now Allied Forces start a ‘Hundred Day
offensive’ in which trench warfare for WW1 ended as
American, British Canadian, British and French troops
moved fast. On 15th September 1918 Greece and allied
forces attack Occupied territory of Serbia and after 2
weeks Bulgaria Signs armistice with Allied forces. Allied
forces by 26th October 1918 occupy Aleppo in Ottoman
Empire. On 26th September Allied Forces start a Grand
offense making Germans retreat a long way.
On 4th October 1918, Germany requested for Armistice
to US president Wilson. On 30th October 1918 Ottoman
Empire signed an Armistice with Allied Forces. On 3rd
November 1918, Austria-Hungary signed an armistice
with Allied forces. Germany was starving for resources
and a revolution started in Germany. The Kaiser, Wilhelm
II and the Royal family was abdicated and German
Empire was dissolved to Weimar Republic. On 11th
November 1918, Germany signed armistice with allies
and it comes in force at 11 am, till then the fighting
continues. On 18th January 1919 happens the Paris Peace
Conference and delegates of countries decide the
creation of League of Nations. On 28th June 1919
Germany signed the treaty of Versailles which imposed
harsh terms for Germans as German army was restricted
to size and it had to pay all war reparations to allies.
Germany also lost more of its territory to its neighbours.

And the remaining German colonies are ceased by Allies.

Austria-Hungary was dissolved with Formation of Poland,
increase in size of Romania, Formation of Czechoslovakia
and Formation of Hungary, Formation of Austria and
lastly Formation of Yugoslavia. The Ottoman Empire was
also dissolved with most dissolved states under European
control. And Shandong, colony of Germany, in China is
given to Japan making China furious. Lives were changed
and world was transformed.
Now the questions were:
 How long will the peace last?
  Will League of Nations be competent enough to
keep the peace? And what will be the future?
References for the Chapter:-

 https://youtu.be/dHSQAEam2yc [Oversimplified WW1 Part 1]

 https://youtu.be/PbwH1ZBnYds [Epic History TV WW1 – 1914]
 https://youtu.be/YSzHDW0IsoE [Epic History TV WW1 – 1915]
 https://youtu.be/l-b746J2SdI [Epic History TV WW1 – 1916]
 https://youtu.be/Mun1dKkc_As [Oversimplified WW1 Part 2]
 https://youtu.be/zz0Wz-o4dTI [Epic History TV WW1 – 1917]
 https://youtu.be/zapbLqZUwrA [Epic History TV WW1 – 1918]
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I [WW1 - Wikipedia]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Meet-Sergeant-Major-
Mohandas-Karamchand-Gandhi/articleshow/44124189.cms [Meet
Sergeant Major Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – Times of India]
 Chapter 2: Rise of Axis Powers
Part I – Rise of Adolf Hitler
On 9th November 1918, Wilhelm II with the Royal Family
was abdicated.
On the Same day in Weimar a Provincial Government
was established under Social Democratic Party (SDP) and
the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
(USDP). In December 1918, elections were held for a
National Assembly tasked with creating a new
parliamentary constitution. On February 6, 1919, the
National Assembly met in the town of Weimar and
formed the Weimar Coalition. They also elected SDP
leader Friedrich Ebert as President of the Weimar
Republic. After signing the treaty of Versailles on 28th
June 1919, Germany was forced to reduce its Military to
1 lakh men and not more, Germany was not allowed to
keep Tanks, Air Planes and Submarines in it Military. That
time the German economic exchange was called as
‘Marks’ like ‘Indian Rupees’. The Allied Forces demanded
war reparations from Weimar Republic, Allied Forces
Demanded 132 billion gold marks [33 billion US Dollar].
This money’s pay was divided in 3 bonds: A, B, and C. Of
these, Germany was required to pay towards 'A' and 'B'
bonds totaling 50 billion marks (US$12.5 billion)
unconditionally. The payment of the remaining 'C' bonds
was interest free and contingent on the Weimar
Republic's ability to pay, as was to be assessed by an
Allied committee. The Allied Forces also prevented
Germany to join League of Nations.
On August 11, 1919, the Weimar Constitution was
signed into law by President Ebert. The law faced
venomous opposition from the military and the radical
left. The Constitution contained 181 articles and covered
everything from the structure of the German state
(Reich) and the rights of the German people to religious
freedom and how laws should be enacted.
The Weimar Constitution included these highlights:
 The German Reich is a Republic.

 The government is made of a president, a chancellor

and a parliament.

 Representatives of the people must be elected

equally every four years by all men and women over
age 20.
 The term of the President is seven years.

 All orders of the President must be endorsed by the

Chancellor or a Reich Minister.

 Article 48 allows the President to suspend civil rights

and operate independently in an emergency.

 Two legislative bodies (the Reichstag and the

Reichsrat) were formed to represent the German
people.

 All Germans are equal and have the same civil rights
and responsibilities.

 All Germans have the right to freedom of expression.

 All Germans have the right to peaceful assembly.

  All Germans have the right to freedom of religion;
there is no state church.

 State-run, public education is free and mandatory

for children.

 All Germans have the right of private property.

 All Germans have the right to equal opportunity and

earnings in the workplace. [1]
Despite the New constitution, Germans were not
satisfied as inflation [money price of goods] was
increasing. Germany was unable to give any money as
hardly revenue was generated, but France and Belgium
were satisfied with this. In a blatant League of Nations
breach, French and Belgian troops occupied
Germany’s main industrial area, the Ruhr,
determined to get their reparation payments. The
Weimar Government ordered the workers in Ruhr to
go on strike as to passively resist the occupation. The
Weimar government started to print more and
money, but this effort devalued the economy and as
result the cost of living rapidly increased. People had
now started the Bartering system, underground. In
late 1923, Weimar economy reached its lowest point
that was 4 Trillion Weimar Marks = 1 US Dollar. [2]
In 1923 Weimar Republic elected Gustav Stresemann
as their new chancellor in 1923. He ordered Ruhr
workers back to the factories and replaced the Mark
with a new currency, the American-backed
Retenmark. In late 1923, the League of Nations asked
U.S. banker and Director of the Budget, Charles
Dawes, to help tackle Germany’s reparations and
hyperinflation issues. He submitted the “Dawes Plan”
which outlined a plan for Germany to pay more
reasonable reparations on a sliding scale. Dawes was
later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
The Dawes Plan and Stresemann’s leadership helped
stabilize the Weimar Republic and energize its economy.
In addition, Germany repaired relations with France and
Belgium and was finally allowed into the League of
Nations, which opened the door for international trade.
In general, life improved in the Weimar Republic. Much
of the Weimar Republic’s recovery was due to a steady
flow of American dollars into its economy. But
unbeknownst to Germany, America had positioned itself
for an economic disaster of its own as it struggled with
increased unemployment, low wages, declining stock
values and massive, unliquidated bank loans.
On October 29, 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed,
sending America into a devastating economic meltdown
and ushering in the Great Depression. The stock market
crash had a global ripple effect. It was especially
devastating for the newly recovered Weimar Republic. As
the flow of American money dried up, Germany could no
longer meet their financial responsibilities. Businesses
failed, unemployment plummeted again, and Germany
faced another devastating economic crisis.
Soon on 5th January 1919 a new political faction emerged
called as ‘German Worker’s Party’. On 24th February
1919, this party rebranded itself to ‘National Socialist
German Worker’s Party’. The party was basically anti-
Semitic, also known as anti Jew. National Socialist
German Worker’s Party soon became economically
socialist and politically anti-communist. It became a far-
right wing party. The party was led by Anton Drexler. He
made clear that the word ‘Socialist’ didn’t meant the
communist meaning of helping or supporting the middle
class, it meant social welfare of all Germans. In July 1919,
while stationed in Munich army Adolf Hitler was
appointed as intelligence agent of the reconnaissance
unit of the army by Captain Mayr the head of
the Education and Propaganda Department in Bavaria.
Hitler was assigned to influence other soldiers and to
infiltrate the DAP [National Socialist German Worker’s
Party]. While attending a party meeting on 12 September
1919 at Munich's Sterneckerbräu, Hitler became involved
in a heated argument with a visitor named Professor
Baumann, who questioned the soundness of Gottfried
Feder's arguments against capitalism; Baumann
proposed that Bavaria should break away
from Prussia and found a new South German nation
with Austria. In vehemently attacking the man's
arguments, Hitler made an impression on the other party
members with his oratorical skills; according to Hitler,
the "professor" left the hall acknowledging unequivocal
defeat. Drexler encouraged him to join the DAP. On the
orders of his army superiors, Hitler applied to join the
party and within a week was accepted as party member
555 (the party began counting membership at 500 to
give the impression they were a much larger party).
Hitler's first DAP speech was held in the Hofbräukeller on
16 October 1919. He was the second speaker of the
evening, and spoke to 111 people. Hitler later declared
that this was when he realized he could really "make a
good speech”. At first, Hitler spoke only to relatively
small groups, but his considerable oratory and
propaganda skills were appreciated by the party
leadership. With the support of Anton Drexler, Hitler
became chief of propaganda for the party in early 1920.
Hitler began to make the party more public, and
organized its biggest meeting yet of 2,000 people on 24
February 1920 in the Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in
München. Such was the significance of this particular
move in publicity that Karl Harrer resigned from the
party in disagreement. It was in this speech that Hitler
enunciated the twenty-five points of the German
Workers' Party manifesto that had been drawn up by
Drexler, Feder and himself. Through these points he gave
the organization a much bolder stratagem with a clear
foreign policy (abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles,
a Greater Germany, Eastern expansion and exclusion of
Jews from citizenship) and among his specific points
were: confiscation of war profits, abolition of unearned
incomes, the State to share profits of land and land for
national needs to be taken away without compensation.
Hitler quickly became the party's most active orator,
appearing in public as a speaker 31 times within the first
year after his self-discovery. Crowds began to flock to
hear his speeches. Hitler always spoke about the same
subjects: the Treaty of Versailles and the Jewish
question. This deliberate technique and effective
publicizing of the party contributed significantly to his
early success, about which a contemporary poster wrote:
"Since Herr Hitler is a brilliant speaker, we can hold out
the prospect of an extremely exciting evening". Over the
following months, the party continued to attract new
members, while remaining too small to have any real
significance in German politics. By the end of the year,
party membership was recorded at 2,000, many of whom
Hitler and Rohm had brought into the party personally,
or for whom Hitler's oratory had been their reason for
joining. Hitler's talent as an orator and his ability to draw
new members, combined with his characteristic
ruthlessness, soon made him the dominant figure.
However, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising
trip to Berlin in June 1921, a mutiny broke out within the
party in Munich. Members of its executive committee
wanted to merge with the rival German Socialist
Party (DSP). Upon returning to Munich on 11 July, Hitler
angrily tendered his resignation. The committee
members realized that his resignation would mean the
end of the party. Hitler announced he would rejoin on
condition that he would replace Drexler as party
chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain
in Munich. The committee agreed, and he rejoined the
party on 26 July as member 3,680. Hitler continued to
face some opposition within the NSDAP, as his
opponents had Hermann Esser expelled from the party
and they printed 3,000 copies of a pamphlet attacking
Hitler as a traitor to the party. In the following days,
Hitler spoke to several packed houses and defended
himself and Esser to thunderous applause. His strategy
proved successful; at a special party congress on 29 July
1921, he replaced Drexler as party chairman by a vote of
533 - 1. The committee was dissolved, and Hitler was
granted nearly absolute powers as the party's sole
leader. He would hold the post for the remainder of his
life. Hitler soon acquired the title Führer ("leader") and
after a series of sharp internal conflicts it was accepted
that the party would be governed by the leader principle.
Under this principle, the party was a highly centralized
entity that functioned strictly from the top down, with
Hitler at the apex as the party's absolute leader. Hitler
saw the party as a revolutionary organization, whose aim
was the overthrow of the Weimar Republic, which he
saw as controlled by the socialists, Jews and the
"November criminals" who had betrayed the German
soldiers in 1918. The SA ("storm troopers", also known as
"Brownshirts") was founded as a party militia in 1921 and
began violent attacks on other parties when the parties
had meetings and conferences.
In January 1923, France occupied the Ruhr industrial
region as a result of Germany's failure to meet
its reparations payments. This led to economic chaos, the
resignation of Wilhelm Cuno's government and an
attempt by the German Communist Party (KPD) to stage
a revolution. The reaction to these events was an
upsurge of nationalist sentiment. Nazi Party membership
grew sharply to about 20,000. By November, Hitler had
decided that the time was right for an attempt to seize
power in Munich, in the hope that the post-war German
military would mutiny against the Berlin government and
join his revolt. In this, he was influenced by former
General Erich Ludendorff, who had become a
supporter—though not a member—of the Nazis.
On the night of 8 November, the Nazis used a patriotic
rally in a Munich beer hall to launch an attempted coup
d'état. This so-called Beer Hall Putsch attempt failed
almost at once when the local Reichswehr commanders
refused to support it. On the morning of 9 November,
the Nazis staged a march of about 2,000 supporters
through Munich in an attempt to rally support. Troops
opened fire and 16 Nazis were killed. Hitler, Ludendorff
and a number of others were arrested and were tried for
treason in March 1924. Hitler and his associates were
given prison sentences. In prison Adolf Hitler wrote his
Auto Biography known as Mein Kampf [My Struggle]. The
Allied Powers after WW2 exaggerated and called this
book as ‘The most Dangerous Book’ and so was some
part altered or censored.[3] The Nazi party’s non-jailed
members under the banner of National Socialist Freedom
Movement ran the election in May 1924 and were the 6
largest party in Parliament with only 32 seats and Hitler
was in prison. [4]
On 20th October 1924 the President dissolved the
Parliament and re-elections happened and this time the
party was only secured 14 seats.[5] Hitler was released
from the prison in December 1924.[6] The National
Socialist German Worker’s Party was back, also known as
‘Nazi Party’. The 1928 elections happened and Nazi party
was on its all time low with only 12 seats.[7] After
the 1928 German federal election, a grand coalition was
formed under the Social Democratic chancellor Hermann
Müller. The coalition collapsed on 27 March
1930. President Hindenburg appointed Centre
Party politician and academic Heinrich
Brüning as chancellor, who formed a minority
government. The new government was confronted with
the economic crisis caused by the Great Depression.
Brüning disclosed to his associates in the German Labour
Federation that his chief aim as chancellor would be to
liberate the German economy from the burden of
continuing to pay war reparations and foreign debt. This
would require an unpopular policy of tight credit and a
rollback of all wage and salary increases (an internal
devaluation). The Reichstag rejected Brüning's measures
within a month, who then used emergency powers to
pass it anyway. The Reichstag rejected the emergency
decree with 256 votes from the Social Democrats, the
Communists, the German National People's Party and
the Nazis. Brüning asked Hindenburg to dissolve the
Reichstag, who promptly did so on 18 July 1930. [8] New
elections were held on 14 September 1930. The
Communist Party of Germany also made its Para-military
and attacked the Nazi rally Bunzlau. People feared a
communist revolution as Communist Party got 77 seats.
The Nazi Party got 107 seats that means 95 more seats
than the elections two years ago. The SDP [Social
Democratic Party of Germany] lost 10 seats but remained
the majority party.[9] Since 1929, Germany had been
suffering from the Great Depression; unemployment had
risen from 8.5% to nearly 30% between 1929 and 1932,
while industrial production dropped by around 42%. In
March 1930, the governing grand coalition of the pro-
republican parties (the Social Democratic Party (SPD),
Centre Party and both liberal parties) collapsed.
Hindenburg appointed a minority government, headed
by the Centre Party's Heinrich Brüning, which could only
govern by using Hindenburg's emergency powers.
The September 1930 elections produced a highly
fragmented Reichstag, making the formation of a stable
government impossible. The elections also saw the Nazi
Party rise to national prominence, gaining 95 seats.
Brüning's policies, implemented via presidential decree
and tolerated by parliament, failed to solve the economic
crisis but weakened the parliamentary system. In March
1932, presidential elections pitted the incumbent
Hindenburg, supported by pro-democratic parties,
against Hitler and the Communist Ernst Thälmann. Hitler
received around a third of the vote and was defeated in
the second round in April by Hindenburg, who won a
narrow majority. However, at the end of May 1932,
Hindenburg was persuaded to dismiss Brüning as
chancellor and replaced him with Franz von Papen, a
renegade from the Centre Party, and a non-partisan
"Cabinet of Barons". Papen's cabinet had almost no
support in the Reichstag. Only three days after his
appointment, he was faced with the opposition and had
Hindenburg dissolve the Reichstag and called for new
elections for 31 July so that the Reichstag could not
dismiss him immediately. [10] On 31st July 1932 election
results were declared, the Nazi Party had 230 seats, but
needed 305 seats to be the Majority. The elections
resulted in significant gains by the Nazi Party; with 230
seats, it became the largest party in parliament for the
first time, but lacked an overall majority.[11] Neither the
Nazi Party nor Hindenburg had a governing majority and
the other parties refused to co-operate, meaning no
coalition government with a majority could be formed.
Papen's minority government continued in office, leading
to another early election in November.[12] The November
1932 elections was again a disappointment for Nazi Party
as it lost 34 seats and Communist party gained 11.[13]
Previously Chancellor Franz von Papen, a former member
of the Catholic Centre Party, had governed without
parliamentary support by relying on legislative decrees
promulgated by President Paul von
Hindenburg under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution.
However, on 12 September 1932 Papen had to ask
Hindenburg to dissolve parliament in order to pre-empt
a motion of no confidence tabled by the Communist
Party, which was expected to pass since the Nazis were
also expected to support it due to their desire for fresh
elections. [14]
After the election, Papen urged Hindenburg to continue
to govern by emergency decree. However, on 3
December, he was replaced by Defense Minister Kurt von
Schleicher, who held talks with the left wing of the Nazi
Party led by Gregor Strasser in an attempt at a Third
Position (Querfront) strategy. The plans failed when
Hitler disempowered Strasser and approached Papen for
coalition talks. Papen obtained Hindenburg's consent to
form the Hitler Cabinet on 30 January 1933. [15]
The Nazis seizure of power commenced on 30 January,
when President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as
Chancellor, who immediately urged the dissolution of the
Reichstag and the calling of new elections. In early
February, the Nazis "unleashed a campaign of violence
and terror that dwarfed anything seen so far".
Stormtroopers [SS] began attacking trade union
and Communist Party (KPD) offices and the homes of
left-wingers.
In the second half of February, the violence was
extended to the Social Democrats, with gangs of
brownshirts breaking up Social Democrat meetings and
beating up their speakers and audiences. Issues of Social
Democratic newspapers were banned. Twenty
newspapers of the Centre Party, a party of Catholic
Germans, were banned in mid-February for criticizing the
new government. Government officials known to be
Centre Party supporters were dismissed from their
offices, and stormtroopers violently attacked party
meetings in Westphalia. Only the Nazis and DNVP were
allowed to campaign unmolested. [16]
Six days before the scheduled election date, the German
parliament building was set alight in the Reichstag fire,
allegedly by the Dutch Communist Marinus van der
Lubbe. That event reduced the popularity of the KPD and
enabled Hitler to persuade Hindenburg to pass
the Reichstag Fire Decree as an emergency decree
according to Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The
emergency law removed many civil liberties and allowed
the arrest of Ernst Thälmann and 4,000 other leaders and
members of the KPD shortly before the election,
suppressing the Communist vote and consolidating the
position of the Nazis. [17]
Although Hitler could have banned the KPD outright, he
opted not to do so. He feared a violent Communist
uprising in the event of a ban, and he also believed the
KPD's presence on the ballot could siphon off votes away
the Social Democrats. Instead, he opted to simply have
Communists functionaries jailed by the thousands. The
courts and prosecutors, both already hostile to the KPD
long before 1933, obligingly agreed with the line that
since the Reichstag fire was a Communist plot, KPD
membership was an act of treason. As a result, for all
intents and purposes, the KPD was "outlawed" on the
day the Reichstag Fire Decree took effect and
"completely banned" as of the day of the election. While
the Social Democrats (SPD) were then not as heavily
oppressed as the Communists, the Social Democrats
were also restricted in their actions, as the party's
leadership had already fled to Prague, and many
members were acting only from the underground.
Hence, the Reichstag fire is widely believed to have had a
major effect on the outcome of the election. As a
replacement parliament building and for 10 years to
come, the new parliament used the Kroll Opera
House for its meetings.
The resources of big business and the state were thrown
behind the Nazis' campaign to achieve saturation
coverage all over Germany. Brownshirts and SS patrolled
and marched menacingly through the streets of cities
and towns. A "combination of terror, repression and
propaganda was mobilized in every community, large
and small, across the land". The elections still didn’t
helped Nazi party to secure majority as 324 seats was the
half way and Nazis could only secure 288 seats.[18]
Despite achieving a much better result than in
the November 1932 election, the Nazis did not do as well
as Hitler had hoped. In spite of massive violence and
voter intimidation, the Nazis won only 43.9% of the vote,
rather than the majority that he had expected.
Therefore, Hitler was forced to maintain his coalition
with the DNVP to control the majority of seats. The
Communists (KPD) lost about a quarter of their votes,
and the Social Democrats suffered only moderate losses.
Although the KPD had not been formally banned, it was a
foregone conclusion that the KPD deputies would never
be allowed to take their seats. Within a few days, all KPD
representatives had been under arrest or gone into
hiding.
Although the Nazi-DNVP coalition had enough seats to
conduct the basic business of government, Hitler needed
a two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act, which
allowed the Cabinet, effectively the Chancellor to enact
laws without the approval of the Reichstag for four years.
With certain exceptions, such laws could deviate from
the Weimar Constitution. Leaving nothing to chance, the
Nazis used the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to
arrest all 81 Communist deputies and to keep several
Social Democrats out of the chamber.
Hitler then obtained the necessary supermajority by
persuading the Centre Party to vote with him with regard
to the Reichskonkordat. The bill was passed on 23 March
with 444 votes for and 94 against. Only the Social
Democrats, led by Otto Wels, opposed the measure,
which came into effect on 27 March. As it turned out, the
atmosphere of that session was so intimidating that the
measure would have still passed even if all Communist
and Social Democratic deputies had been present and
voted against it. After the outlawing all Communist and
Socialist Parties in November Nazi Party decided to take
complete control of Parliament, all other parties were
made illegal parties and only Nazi Party was legal party
and hence gained all seats in parliament. [19]
On the Same day of Nazi Parliament majority Germany
had a referendum, the question was “Should Germany
pull out of league of nation?”[20] German Parliament
could have decided on itself but it didn’t, Adolf Hitler and
Nazi party allowed people’s voice and no type of force
was used to force the people vote yes as fair amount of
people voted no/against. Out of the total 95.30 percent
turnout, 93.4% voted for the withdrawal from League of
Nations while 4.7% voted to not to withdraw from
League of nations and the rest 1.9 votes were invalid
votes. Invalid votes means the ballot paper was scribbled
so the yes/no couldn’t be understood, it wasn’t the
paper given by election officials or the name of candidate
was wrong or the person who didn’t contest or the
voting paper is blank. [21]
On 2nd August 1934, the then German President Paul von
Hindenburg died thanks to lung cancer at age of 83. So
17 days after his death a referendum happened in
Germany and the question was “The office of the
President of the Reich is unified with the office of the
Chancellor. Consequently all former powers of the
President of the Reich are demised to the Führer and
Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler. He himself nominates
his substitute. Do you, German man and German woman,
approve of this regulation provided by this law?” The
turnout was of 95.65 and 89.93% voted yes while 10.07%
voted no and out of the total turnout 97. [22]
Winston Churchill during WW2 showed his so called
‘sympathy’ for Jews, but did he really had any sympathy?
The Answer is ‘NO’. Churchill was a strong racist man; he
called Indians "a beastly people with a beastly religion".
During 1943 Bengal Famine Churchill stated that any
potential relief efforts sent to India would accomplish
little to nothing, as Indians "bred like rabbits". His War
Cabinet rejected Canadian proposals to send food aid to
India, asking the US and Australia to send aid in their
stead; according to historian Arthur Herman, Churchill's
overarching concern was the ongoing Second World War,
leading to his decisions to divert food supplies from India
to Allied military campaigns.[23]
An article known as ‘How the Jews Can Combat
Persecution’ was written by Winston Churchill in 1937
three years before he became Prime Minister, that time
in Germany the genocide of Jews had started and “Nazi
boycott of Jewish Business had started”. Churchill’s
private office stopped its publication by the Sunday
Dispatch in March 1940, weeks before he was suddenly
elevated to the post of Prime Minister. The newspaper's
editor was told that it would be "inadvisable" to print
and the article has since remained in the Churchill
Archives which are now fully catalogued and available,
allowing such material to be easily identified. [24] This
article was an anti-Jew article which Churchill hided for
power and to oppose Hitler. It’s an accepted fact that
during the 20th Century in Europe there was a historical
debate between Christianity and Judaism and in the
debate the Jews were always subject to persecutions and
genocides.
In the ‘Nazi Boycott of Jewish Business’ many jobs and
business of Jews were taken away and were given to
non-Jewish people and the Jew genocide, sadly, but in a
way helped German economy. Germany also had started
Conscription to increase its employment rate with
investing in many Defense Industries and creating jobs.
Germany was investing in such a manner that it expected
a European conquest. Hitler had plans to create
infrastructure and new high way system in which a
tunnel would be made with thick concrete layer to
protect the movement of tanks from air attacks, but it
didn’t worked as planned due unstable roads, but a
normal man couldn’t afford a car so who would use the
high ways? Therefore a new cheaper car was made
known as Volkswagen or people’s car. The Germans
needed few reasons to expand their army and soon in
civilian factories new tractors, planes were made, but
they were military planes and tanks. By 1936 the size of
German army was 8 times than the one asked in treaty of
Versailles. By 1938 the German GDP growth rate was
10% and above. The Germany was now ready for its
proposed expansion. [25]

Part II – Rise of Benito Mussolini and the Game of

Shadows
Italy was a young developed Nation due to its unification
in 1870. During the First World War the then Triple
Entente (France, Russian Empire and Britain) had
promised to give Italy several territories including
former Austrian Littoral, western parts of former Duchy
of Carniola, Northern Dalmazia and notably Zara,
Sebenico and most of the Dalmatian islands
(except Krk and Rab), if Italy joined Allies in World War 1
according to the Secret London Pact signed in 1915. [26]
After WW1 the game of Shadows started, Germany was
totally isolated and so was Italy. On 28th June 1919 the
Treaty of Versailles was signed and as it had severely
affected Germany and so it had affected Italy. During
WW1 Italy had made major contributions against Austria-
Hungary to make sure that the Western Allies Front in
Belgium doesn’t falls and for the same nearly 1/10th of
Italian youth died for same, but the Italian war goals
weren’t fulfilled as Italy fought high inflation[high prices
on goods to buy], unemployment and strikes.[27] Vittorio
Emanuele Orlando was the then Prime Minister of Liberal
Union [an alliance of two parties ‘Liberal and Progressive
Left’ and ‘Monarchist and Conservative Right’][28] Vittorio
Emanuele Orlando with the Foreign Minister Sidney
Sonnino primarily wanted the partition of Austria-
Hungary. Within the negotiations for the Treaty of
Versailles, Orlando obtained certain results such as the
permanent membership of Italy in the security council of
the League of Nations and a promised transfer of
British Jubaland and French Aozou strip to the Italian
colonies of Somalia and Libya respectively.[29]
Italy had also failed to secure Dalmatian coast and Fiume
because of US president Wilson’s attitude to it and the
differences between Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele
Orlando and Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino. [30] Also the
more miserable thing was the British and French had
divided the German WW1 African colonies between
them giving Italy nothing. Italy also gained no territory
from the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, despite a
proposal being issued to Italy by the United Kingdom and
France during the war, only to see these nations carve up
the Ottoman Empire between themselves (also
exploiting the forces of the Arab Revolt). Despite this,
Orlando agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which
caused uproar against his government. Civil unrest
erupted in Italy between nationalists who supported the
war effort and opposed the "mutilated victory" (as
nationalists referred to it) and leftists who were opposed
to the war. Also Treaty of Versailles didn’t assigned
Albania and Dalmazia to Italy. [31]
But this wasn’t the end to Italian Misery; Prime Vittorio
Emanuele Orlando was disappointed by the results of
negotiations and was forced to resign just days before
signing Treaty of Versailles. [32] After the resignation of
Vittorio Orlando in June 1919, Francesco Saverio Nitti of
the Radical Party was became Prime Minister. Under his
regime the next problem arose and that was ‘Treaty of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye’. In the treaty the Austria-
Hungarian Empire was dissolved and new nations were
created based on the local language, which would lead to
ww2 as in Austria many people were German speaking.
This proved US President Wilson’s inability to understand
that Languages don’t create nations. [33]

In the November 1919 elections the Socialist Party led by

Nicola Bombacci got 156 seats, but the Liberal Union’s
Radical party’s Francesco Saverio Nitti continued as
Prime Minister with majority of Liberal Union. The next
major short time success came to Italy’s government
came in 1920 with the ‘Treaty of Rapallo’ Tension
between Italy and Yugoslavia arose at the end of World
War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and
Italy claimed the territories assigned to it by the
secret Treaty of London of 1915. According to the treaty
signed in London on 26 April 1915 by the Kingdom of
Italy and Triple Entente, in case of victory at the end of
World War I, Italy was to obtain several territorial gains
including former Austrian Littoral, northern Dalmatia and
notably Zadar, Šibenik and most of the Dalmatian islands
(except Krk and Rab).
These territories had an ethnically mixed population,
with Slovenes and Croats composing over the half of the
population of the region. The treaty was therefore
nullified with the Treaty of Versailles under pressure of
President Woodrow Wilson, making void Italian claims on
northern Dalmatia. The objective of the Treaty of Rapallo
was to find a compromise following the void created by
the non-application of the Treaty of London of 1915. So
the compromise was found. According to the treaty, the
city of Rijeka would become the independent Free State
of Fiume, thus ending the military occupation of Gabriele
d'Annunzio's troops, begun by the Impresa di Fiume and
known as the Italian Regency of Carnaro.[34]
One side this political battle was happening while other
side a man who ran to Switzerland in 1902 to Prevent
begin conscripted to army, who read there about
Friedrich Nietzsche, Vilfredo Pareto, Georges Sorel these
people influenced him and the same person was later
arrested for begin a part of a violent strike and hence
was sent for 2 weeks in jail and later deported back to
Italy after released in Italy the same person returned to
Switzerland and in 1904 he was arrested again for
falsifying his papers. That man later after release
returned to Italy to serve in the Military in exchange of
begin pardoned. The man was no other than Benito
Mussolini. Benito’s father was a socialist and so his father
views had influenced him. Mussolini on return from
service in army started writing for Socialist Newspapers
and after few years Mussolini became Italy’s one of the
prominent Socialists. In September 1911, Mussolini
participated in a riot, led by socialists, against the Italian
war in Libya. He bitterly denounced Italy's "imperialist
war", an action that earned him a five-month jail term.
After his release, he helped expel Ivanoe
Bonomi and Leonida Bissolati from the Socialist Party, as
they were two "revisionists" who had supported the war.
By 1912 Mussolini was given the Editorship for the
Socialist Newspaper known as ‘Avanti!’ it’s circulation
grew from 20 thousand to 1 lakh under Mussolini’s
editorship. By 1913 Mussolini had rejected egalitarianism
which was a core principle of Socialism. Mussolini felt
that socialism had faltered, in view of the failures of
Marxist determinism and social democratic reformism,
and believed that Nietzsche's ideas would strengthen
socialism. While associated with socialism, Mussolini's
writings eventually indicated that he had abandoned
Marxism and egalitarianism in favor of
Nietzsche's übermensch concept and anti-egalitarianism.
Prior to Mussolini taking a position on the war, a number
of revolutionary syndicalists had announced their
support of intervention, including Alceste De
Ambris, Filippo Corridoni, and Angelo Oliviero Olivetti.
The Italian Socialist Party decided to oppose the war
after anti-militarist protestors had been killed, resulting
in a general strike called Red Week. Mussolini initially
held official support for the party's decision and, in an
August 1914 article, Mussolini wrote "Down with the
War. We remain neutral." He saw the war as an
opportunity, both for his own ambitions as well as those
of socialists and Italians. He was influenced by anti-
Austrian Italian nationalist sentiments, believing that the
war offered Italians in Austria-Hungary the chance to
liberate them from rule of the Austria-Hungarian
monarchy. He eventually decided to declare support for
the war by appealing to the need for socialists to
overthrow the Hohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies in
Germany and Austria-Hungary who he said had
consistently repressed socialism. As Mussolini's support
for the intervention solidified, he came into conflict with
socialists who opposed the war. He attacked the
opponents of the war and claimed that those
proletarians who supported pacifism were out of step
with the proletarians who had joined the rising
interventionist vanguard that was preparing Italy for a
revolutionary war. He began to criticize the Italian
Socialist Party and socialism itself for having failed to
recognize the national problems that had led to the
outbreak of the war. He was expelled from the party for
his support of intervention. [35-36-37]
After being ousted by the Italian Socialist Party for his
support of Italian intervention, Mussolini made a radical
transformation, ending his support for class conflict and
joining in support of revolutionary
nationalism transcending class lines. Mussolini continued
to promote the need of revolutionary vanguard elite to
lead society. He no longer advocated a proletarian
vanguard, but instead a vanguard led by dynamic and
revolutionary people of any social class. Though he
denounced orthodox socialism and class conflict, he
maintained at the time that he was a nationalist socialist
and a supporter of the legacy of nationalist socialists in
Italy's history, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe
Mazzini, and Carlo Pisacane. As for the Italian Socialist
Party and its support of orthodox socialism, he claimed
that his failure as a member of the party to revitalize and
transform it to recognize the contemporary reality
revealed the hopelessness of orthodox socialism as
outdated and a failure. This perception of the failure of
orthodox socialism in the light of the outbreak of World
War I was not solely held by Mussolini; other pro-
interventionist Italian socialists such as Filippo
Corridoni and Sergio Panunzio had also denounced
classical Marxism in favor of intervention. These basic
political views and principles formed the basis of
Mussolini's newly formed political movement, the Fasci
d'Azione Rivoluzionaria in 1914, who called
themselves Fascisti (Fascists). At this time, the Fascists
did not have an integrated set of policies and the
movement was small, ineffective in its attempts to hold
mass meetings, and was regularly harassed by
government authorities and orthodox socialists.
Antagonism between the interventionists, including the
Fascists, versus the anti-interventionist orthodox
socialists resulted in violence between the Fascists and
socialists. The opposition and attacks by the anti-
interventionist revolutionary socialists against the
Fascists and other interventionists were so violent that
even democratic socialists who opposed the war such
as Anna Kuliscioff said that the Italian Socialist Party had
gone too far in a campaign of silencing the freedom of
speech of supporters of the war. These early hostilities
between the Fascists and the revolutionary socialists
shaped Mussolini's conception of the nature of Fascism.
[38]

By the time he returned from service in the Allied forces

of World War I, very little remained of Mussolini the
socialist. Indeed, he was now convinced that socialism as
a doctrine had largely been a failure. In 1917 Mussolini
got his start in politics with the help of a £100 weekly
wage (the equivalent of £6000 as of 2009) from the
British security service MI5, to keep anti-war protestors
at home and to publish pro-war propaganda. This help
was authorized by Sir Samuel Hoare. In early 1918
Mussolini called for the emergence of a man "ruthless
and energetic enough to make a clean sweep" to revive
the Italian nation. Much later Mussolini said he felt by
1919 "Socialism as a doctrine was already dead; it
continued to exist only as a grudge”. On 23 March 1919
Mussolini re-formed the Milan fascio as the Fasci Italiani
di Combattimento (Italian Combat Squad), consisting of
200 members. Mussolini and the fascists managed to be
simultaneously revolutionary and traditionalist because
this was vastly different from anything else in the
political climate of the time; it is sometimes described as
"The Third Way". The Fascisti, led by one of Mussolini's
close confidants, Dino Grandi, formed armed squads of
war veterans called Blackshirts (or squadristi) with the
goal of restoring order to the streets of Italy with a
strong hand. [39]
On 7th November 1921 National Fascist Party was
formed. In 1921, Mussolini won election to the Chamber
of Deputies for the first time. On the night of 27th and
28th October about 30,000 Fascist Blackshirts gathered in
Rome to demand the resignation of liberal Prime
Minister Luigi Facta and the appointment of a new
Fascist government. On 24 October, Mussolini declared
before 60,000 people at the Fascist Congress in Naples:
"Our program is simple: we want to rule Italy".
Blackshirts occupied some strategic points of the country
and began to move on the capital. On 26 October,
former Prime Minister Antonio Salandra warned current
Prime Minister Luigi Facta that Mussolini was demanding
his resignation and that he was preparing to march on
Rome. However, Facta did not believe Salandra and
thought that Mussolini would govern quietly at his side.
To meet the threat posed by the bands of Fascist troops
now gathering outside Rome, Facta (who had resigned,
but continued to hold power) ordered a state of siege for
Rome. Having had previous conversations with
the King about the repression of Fascist violence, he was
sure the King would agree. However, King Victor
Emmanuel III refused to sign the military order. On the
morning of 28 October, King Victor Emmanuel III, who
according to the then Constitution held the supreme
military power, refused the government request to
declare martial law, which led to Facta's resignation. The
King then handed over power to Mussolini (who stayed
in his headquarters in Milan during the talks) by asking
him to form a new government. [40-41]
On 29th October 1922 Mussolini was asked to form his
Cabinet. On 31st October 1922 the Cabinet was formed,
Mussolini required 535 seats to declare majority and the
National Fascist Party had the support of People’s Party
who had 108 seats and Nationalist Bloc in which National
Fascist Party, Social Democratic Party, Liberal Party,
Nationalist Association were part of giving more 275
seats and hence the total seats were 383 seats giving a
comfortable majority to Mussolini. [42]
In 1923 the coalition of National Fascist Party passed the
Acerbo law which declared that Mussolini’s party gaining
25% vote share shall get 2/3rd of seats in parliament and
the remaining third was shared amongst the other
parties proportionally. [43] In 1924’s Italian General
election a coalition known as National List was made in
which National Fascist Party, People’s Party, Democratic
Liberal Party and Liberal Party were part of it. The entire
coalition gained 375 seats. The fascist party’s coalition
had major vote share of 64.9%. [44-45]
The system of Italy was changed and in 1929 Italian
elections the list of Candidates was given in a type of
referendum which was asking the people whether they
approved these candidates or not. Out of the total
89.86% turnout 98.43% voted yes while 1.57% voted no.
It was a show of how communism and socialism was
rejected by Italians and Fascism was accepted. [46]
 Part III – Japan after WW1
Other than any other country in WW1, Japan was in a
comfortable position. Japan had a limited participation in
WW1 and its economy had grown during and after the
war. [47] Japan also was in the phase of rapid change. In
1910 after signing the ‘Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty’
the Korean empire came to an end and Japan had
annexed Korea. [48]

Since 23rd October 1868 Japan was a constitutional

monarchy and after ww1 Japan had gained much
territory. Japan also needed resources to trade as their
imports were high and exports close to nil. Japan needed
more land for more resources. Japan also didn’t wanted
to reply more on import and wanted some of its own
production. The 1918-19 revolution in Japan, also known
as Rice Revolution was now increasing the pressure on
the government. So finally the government decided to
intensify the production of Rice in Taiwan and Korea to
decrease the risen inflation. In January 1919 happened
the Paris Peace Conference and Japan’s policy was clear
in it “Don’t talk unless directly related to Japan”. Japan
had been an isolationist nation until the arrival of US for
trade back in 1853. So Japan was also known as the Silent
Partner in the Paris Peace Conference. [49]
Japan had also played a role in the Russian civil war with
UK and USA, but Japan had to lose 1,500 people in the
conflict. Another problem for Japan was the Washington
Naval Conference November 1921 to February 1922 and
because of it Japan, USA, UK, China, France, Belgium,
France, Netherlands and Portugal who were part of it
had to restrict the production of naval battleships. [50] The
Conference allowed USA to have 5 battleships, UK with
also 5 battleships and three battleships for Japan. Japan
signed four-power pact, giving Japan the right of
unlimited land and armaments (weapons) without
restrictions and protection against Western intervention
in East Asia. Japan’s then elected Prime Minister Katō
Tomosaburō was allowed to annex as much land as much
Japan wanted, for reducing its navy. [51] In 1923 Katō
Tomosaburō died which followed by a terrible
earthquake in 1923 which damaged Japan’s economy. At
this time, one independent party was formed while the
following governments included moderate elements. But
in 1927, this short liberal period ended when Baron Giichi
Tanaka, leader of the Seiyūkai, a minority party in the
Diet (Japanese Parliament) rose to power. The Imperial
Japanese Army was impatient for control of the Diet
while the political class was anxious to gain power over
industrial expansion; previously, the rotation of parties in
power had permitted each party a turn at benefiting
from generous contracts and corruption, leading to an
informal accord between them. A whole sequence of
scandals, however, led to an appreciation of the Imperial
Army's National Feudal Honour Code (Bushi-Do, the War
Code), as a bulwark against the fraudulent politics of the
traditional parties. [52] In 1925, universal suffrage for men
was granted (voting right was given to above 25 men
regardless of income, wealth, ethnicity, race, etc)
(previously in Japan only men above 25 years who gave
direct tax could only vote], which led to the formation of
the Laborists and the Peasant Party. These parties were
basically left wing in nature which gave a massive
challenge to the army. There were more liberals and
radicals in the universities. Very few of them accepted
the religious myth about the Mikado as the descendant
of eternal ages of Amaterasu Omikami and the religious
paraphernalia related to Emperor Worship. These
Japanese were more modern in their viewpoints on the
economy, politics, science, and Western ideas; the
military and its supporters rightfully said that “these
parties upheld pernicious and dangerous ideas.”[53]
The more moderate elements, meeting to form the
Minseito (Constitutional Democratic Party), presented a
challenge to the military. In 1930, the Minseito Party
obtained a decisive majority in the Diet: 273 against and
174 for the military followers. Minseito fielded two prime
ministers, Osachi Hamaguchi, who was already serving as
prime minister since July 2, 1929, and Wakatsuki Reijiro,
who took over after Hamaguchi retired due to wounds
from an assassination attempt (which occurred earlier on
14 November 1930). Wakatsuki retired on 13 December
1931 after he could no longer control the army in
Manchuria (in the next to next part Japanese invasion of
Manchuria). The Seiyukai Party then took control,
installing Inukai Tsuyoshi as Prime Minister. [54]
There is a lot to know about Japan like Japan’s Offensive
on Manchuria, Soviet-Japanese conflict and Japan’s
attack on China and these all events connect us to the
rise of Hideki Tojo. For now it’s better to end this part
and move to the next part of this chapter.
 Part IV – Rise of Netaji Bose
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had a different story to tell.
In 1923 this great personality was elected as the
President for the All India Youth Congress. In 1925 Netaji
was arrested and sent to Mandalay where Netaji
contracted Tuberculosis. Netaji had a gradual Solidified
Growth and his personality made him a leader of great
stature. In 1938, Netaji was nominated to be the
President of Indian National Congress [INC]. And this
meant a political war with Mohandas Karmchand Gandhi.
[55]

Gandhi was a Pacifist liberal leftist who preached the

philosophy of ahimsa; means non-violence. [56] Netaji on
other hand wanted people to use the nationalist
sentiment against British and use force to drive British
out. [57] Gandhi mainly opposed Bose’s presidency and
this didn’t ended here Gandhi advised Netaji took make
his own cabinet and the rift was taking place. In 1939
Indian National Congress had election which was for
INC’s Presidency. Gandhi promoted his candidate who
was Pattabhi Sitaramayya. In that election Netaji came
on a stretcher. Netaji was re-elected as the President of
INC, but Gandhi’s constant opposition and Gandhi-led
clique in the Congress Working Committee forced Netaji
to Resign. [58] On 22nd June 1939 Netaji made his own
political party known as All India Forward Bloc. When
Second World War broke Viceroy Linlithgow declared
that British India would join the Allies. Bose decided to
plan a mass protest for it, but Gandhi’s ahimsa and
promise to Linthgow that if any protest is demanded in
INC then Gandhi would discourage it was itself the red
light to Netaji’s idea. [59] Still Netaji organized as mass
protest in Calcutta asking people to come together to
remove the Holwell Monument which was made by
British to remember about the Black Hole of Calcutta in
which 126 British soldiers died. Netaji was arrested for
organizing such a protest and Netaji well knew that the
British won’t release him until the Second World War
Ended. So Netaji went on a week’s Hunger Strike and this
made the British fear that if Netaji died in jail then
people won’t forget that and may get more aggressive so
Netaji was released and was kept on House arrest.[60]
Now how this man became one of the leaders of axis
from Asia is what is to be known and we will know it in
the 5th Chapter.
References for this Chapter:-
1. https://www.history.com/topics/germany/weimar-republic [Weimar Republic history]

2. https://youtu.be/gAxSVdQofS0 [The Armchair Historian: How did Germany get so strong after

Losing WW1?]

3. https://www.dw.com/en/why-hitlers-mein-kampf-is-a-political-issue/a-18946748 [Made for

minds: Why is Hitler’s Mein Kampf a political issue?]

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1924_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: May 1924

German Federal Elections, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party#CITEREFKolb2005

[Wikipedia: Nazi Party]

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1924_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: December

1924 German Federal elections]

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Hall_Putsch [Beer hall putsch]

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: 1928 German Federal

elections]

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: 1930 German Federal

Elections]

9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: 1930 German Federal

Elections]

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1932_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: July 1932 German

Federal Elections]

11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1932_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: July 1932 German

Federal Elections]

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1932_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: November

German Federal Elections]

13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1932_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: November

German Federal Elections]

14. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/24708076 [Trove: 14th September 1932]

15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_cabinet [Wikipedia: Hitler Cabinet]

16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1933_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: March German

Federal Elections]

17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1933_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: March German

Federal Elections]

18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1933_German_federal_election [Wikipedia: March 1933

German Federal Elections]

19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1933_German_parliamentary_election [Wikipedia:

November 1933 German Federal Elections]

20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_German_referendum [Wikipedia: 1933 German Referendum]

21. [Referred from the Guardian’s article “All Germans rounded up to vote” link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1933/nov/13/secondworldwar.germany2]

22. https://wiki2.org/en/German_referendum,_1934 [Wikipedia Republished: 1934 German

Referendum]

23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Winston_Churchill#India [Wikipedia: Racial views

of Winston Churchill]

24. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/uncovered-the-%E2%80%9Clost%E2%80%9D-paper-

churchill-kept-from-publication [Cambridge University: The “lost” paper Churchill kept from

publishing]

25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAxSVdQofS0 [The Armchair Historian: How did Germany

get so strong after Losing WW1?]

26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy#Territory [Wikipedia: Kingdom of Italy –

Overview-Territory]

27. https://www.polytechpanthers.com/ourpages/auto/2012/1/24/45532409/ItalyandGermanyafter

WWI.pdf [PDF: Italy and Germany after WW1]

28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1913_Italian_general_election [Wikipedia: 1913 Italian General

Elections]

29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles#Italian_aims [Wikipedia: Treaty of Versailles –

Italian aims]

30. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles#Italy [Wikipedia: Treaty of Versailles –

Reactions – Italy]

31. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy#Italy's_territorial_settlements_and_the_reaction

[Wikipedia: Kingdom of Italy – World War I and the failure of liberal state (1915-1922) – Italy’s

territorial settlement and the reaction]

32. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Emanuele_Orlando#The_Paris_Peace_Conference

[Wikipedia: Vittorio Emanuele Orlando – The Paris Peace Conference]

33. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Saint-Germain-en-Laye_(1919) [Wikipedia: Treaty of

Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)]

34. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Rapallo_(1920) [Wikipedia: Treaty of Rapallo (1920)]

35. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini#Beginning_of_Fascism_and_service_in_World_

War_I [Wikipedia: Benito Mussolini – Political Journalist, intellectual Socialist]

36. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini#Expulsion_from_the_Italian_Socialist_Party

[Wikipedia: Benito Mussolini – Expulsion from the Italian Socialist Party]

37. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um6s_bbmfbA&t=204s [Tales of History: The Rise and Fall

of Benito Mussolini]

38. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini#Beginning_of_Fascism_and_service_in_World_

War_I [Wikipedia: Benito Mussolini – Beginning of Fascism and service in ww1]

39. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini#Formation_of_the_National_Fascist_Party

[Wikipedia: Benito Mussolini – Rise to Power – National Fascist Party]

40. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini#March_on_Rome [Wikipedia: Benito Mussolini –

Rise to Power – March on Rome]

41. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_Italian_general_election#Historical_background [Wikipedia:

1924 Italian General election – Historical Background]

42. https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/italy-1919-1990/

[University of Central Arkansas: 20. Italy (1919 – Present)

43. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acerbo_Law#Terms_of_the_law [Wikipedia: Acerbo law – terms of

law]

44. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_Italian_general_election [1924 Italian General Elections]

45. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_List_(Italy) [Wikipedia: National List (Italy)]

46. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Italian_general_election [Wikipedia: 1929 General elections]

47. https://www.pittsfordschools.org/cms/lib/NY02205365/Centricity/Domain/961/L22%20-

%20Japan%20After%20WWI.pdf [L22: Japan after ww1]

48. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea#Japanese_occupation_and_Japan-Korea_Annexation

[Wikipedia: Korea – Japanese occupation and Japan - Korea annexation]

49. https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a03301/ [Nippon.com: Japan’s Post-World War I Foreign

Policy: The Quest for a Co-Operative Approach]

50. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Conference#Results [Wikipedia: Washington

Naval Conference – results]

51. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan_(internal_politics_1914%E2%80%931944)#Japan

ese_policy_from_1919_to_1927 [Wikipedia: Empire of Japan (Internal politics 1914-1944)

52. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan_(internal_politics_1914%E2%80%931944)#Japan

ese_policy_from_1919_to_1927 [Wikipedia: Empire of Japan (Internal politics 1914-1944)

53. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan_(internal_politics_1914%E2%80%931944)#The_R

oad_to_Imperialism_in_Japan:_1927_to_1931 [Wikipedia: The Road to imperialism in Japan 1927

-1931]

54. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan_(internal_politics_1914%E2%80%931944)#The_R

oad_to_Imperialism_in_Japan:_1927_to_1931 [Wikipedia: The Road to imperialism in Japan 1927

-1931]

55. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#1921–1932:_Indian_National_Congress

[Wikipedia: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – 1937-1940:Indian National Congress]

56. https://votecharlie.com/blog/2016/02/political-compass.html [Vote for Charlie: Blog – The

Political Compass: I’m a sort of like Gandhi]

57. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#1921–1932:_Indian_National_Congress

[Wikipedia: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – 1937-1940:Indian National Congress]

58. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#1921–1932:_Indian_National_Congress

[Wikipedia: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – 1937-1940:Indian National Congress]

59. https://books.google.co.in/books/about/The_Shadow_of_the_Great_Game.html?id=-

A9uAAAAMAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y [The shadows of the Great Game: The

untold story of India’s Partition]

60. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#1937–1940:_Indian_National_Congress

[Wikipedia: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – 1937-1940:Indian National Congress]

 Chapter 3: Axis’s Global Conquest
The rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and rise of Benito
Mussolini in Italy was required that time as Germany was
facing as many crises as one couldn’t imagine and lack of
strong government in Weimar was also not helpful to
German progress, so can be said about Italy. Italy was in
better position than Germany after the First World War,
but the lack of stability wasn’t quite supportive to Italy’s
Expanse. The Japanese economy was growing but not to
the expectations and lack of resources was a problem
which Japan needed to fix soon.
Part I – Italian Invasion of Ethiopia
From 1894 to 1896, Italy and Ethiopia fought the
First Italo-Ethiopian war in which Italy lost. The war
due to the miscommunication by the Translators.
Italian occupation of Eritrea which happened in 1882 and
the subsequent expanse of Italian Empire in East Africa
led to the war between Kingdom of Italy and Ethiopian
Empire. After the war which lasted till October 1889 both
countries signed a treaty known as ‘Treaty of Wuchale’
which has two versions one was Italian and other was
Amharic version in Ethiopian language.

The misunderstanding, according to the Italians, was due

to the mistranslation of a verb, which formed a
permissive clause in Amharic and a mandatory one
in Italian. In the Amharic version of the treaty, Article 17
states that “His Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia can
use the Government of His Majesty the King of Italy for
all treatments that did business with other powers or
governments.” According to this version, the Emperor of
Ethiopia is granted a choice and is not mandated to use
the Italian government to conduct foreign relations.
The Italian version stated that Ethiopia was obliged to
conduct all foreign affairs through Italian authorities, in
effect making Ethiopia an Italian protectorate, while
the Amharic version gave Ethiopia considerable
autonomy, with the option of communicating with third
powers through the Italians. Menelik II who was the king
of Ethiopia was not in favor of this and rejected
protection from Italy. Unable to resolve this
disagreement, the treaty was denounced by Menelik II. [1]
Following this Italian Empire and Ethiopian Empire was at
War. This war was also long for like 2 year. It started in
1894 till 1896 but ultimately Italy lost the war. So now
Mussolini had the opportunity to correct the past.
Italy wanted to capture the ‘Horn of Africa’ means East
Africa. In 1889 Italy had occupied Somalia and made its
Italian protectorate. On 14th December 1925 Italy signed
a secret pact with Britain which aimed to allow Italy
Dominate East Africa. London recognized that the area of
high Ethiopia was of Italian interest and agreed to the
Italian request to build a railroad connecting Somalia and
Eritrea. Although the signatories had wished to maintain
the secrecy of the agreement, the plan soon leaked and
caused indignation in the French and Ethiopian
governments. [2] In 1925 UK gave Jubaland to Italy as a
gift for joining Allies in WW1. [3]
In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Walwal oasis
(also Welwel) in the eastern Ogaden, well beyond the 21
league limit. The fort was in a boundary zone between
the nations and who owned it was not defined. [4] On 29
September 1934, Italy and Abyssinia released a joint
statement renouncing any aggression against each other.
On 22 November 1934, a force of 1,000 Ethiopian militia
with three fitaurari (Ethiopian military-political
commanders) arrived near Walwal and formally asked
the Dubats garrison stationed there (comprising about 60
soldiers) to withdraw from the area. The Somali NCO
leading the garrison refused to withdraw and alerted
Captain Cimmaruta, commander of the garrison of
Uarder, 20 kilometers (12 mi) away, to what had
happened. The next day, in the course of surveying the
border between British Somaliland and Ethiopia, an
Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commission arrived at
Walwal. The commission was confronted by a newly
arrived Italian force. The British members of the
boundary commission protested, but withdrew to avoid
an international incident. The Ethiopian members of the
boundary commission, however, stayed at Walwal. From
5–7 December, for reasons which have never been
clearly determined, there was a skirmish between the
garrison of Somalis, who were in Italian service, and a
force of armed Ethiopians. According to the Italians, the
Ethiopians attacked the Somalis with rifle and machine-
gun fire. According to the Ethiopians, the Italians
attacked them, supported by two tanks and three
aircraft. In the end, approximately 107 Ethiopians and 50
Italians and Somalis were killed. Neither side did anything
to avoid confrontation; the Ethiopians repeatedly
menaced the Italian garrison with the threat of an armed
attack, while the Italians sent two planes over the
Ethiopian camp. One of them fired a short machine gun
burst, which no one on the ground noticed, after the
pilot saw Captain Cimmaruta in the midst of the
Ethiopians and thought he had been taken prisoner by
them. [5]
Britain and France, preferring Italy as an ally against
Germany, did not take strong steps to discourage an
Italian military build-up on the borders of Ethiopia
in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. Mussolini needed a
means to deter Hitler from annexing Austria while much
of the Italian Army was being deployed to the Horn of
Africa, which led him to draw closer to France to provide
the necessary deterrent. King Victor Emmanuel III, the
king of Italy, shared the traditional Italian respect for
British sea power, and insisted to Mussolini that Italy
should not antagonize Britain as the price of his assent to
the war. In this regard, British diplomacy in the first half
of 1935 greatly assisted Mussolini's efforts to win the
support of the king for the invasion. On 7 January 1935,
a Franco-Italian Agreement was made giving Italy
essentially a free hand in Africa in return for Italian co-
operation. Pierre Laval told Mussolini that he wanted
Franco-Italian alliance against Germany and Italy had a
"free hand" in Ethiopia. In April, Italy was further
emboldened by participation in the Stresa Front, an
agreement to curb further German violations of
the Treaty of Versailles. The first draft of the
communiqué at Stresa summit spoke of upholding
stability all over the world, but the British Foreign
Secretary, Sir John Simon, insisted that the final draft
declared that Britain, France and Italy were committed to
upholding stability "in Europe", which Mussolini thought
was British approval for invading Ethiopia. In June, non-
interference was further assured by a political rift that
had developed between the United Kingdom and France
following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement.[28] As
300,000 Italian soldiers were transferred to Eritrea and
Italian Somaliland over the spring and summer of 1935,
the world's media was abuzz with speculation that Italy
would soon be invading Ethiopia. In June 1935, Anthony
Eden arrived in Rome with the message that Britain was
opposed to an invasion and with a compromise plan for
Italy to be given a corridor in Ethiopia to link the two
Italian colonies in the Horn of Africa, which Mussolini
rejected outright. As the Italians had broken the British
naval codes, Mussolini knew of the problems in the
British Mediterranean fleet, which led him to believe that
the British opposition to invading Ethiopia, which had
come as an unwelcome surprise to him, was not serious.
The prospect that an Italian invasion of Ethiopia would
cause a crisis in Anglo-Italian relations was seen as an
opportunity in Berlin. Germany provided some weapons
to Ethiopia, not because Hitler wanted to see the
Emperor Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia win (which
he most certainly did not), but because he was afraid
that the Italians would win the war quickly. From the
German perspective, having the Italians bogged down in
Ethiopia in a lengthy war would probably lead to Britain
pushing for the League of Nations to impose sanctions on
Italy (which the French almost certainly not veto out of
fear of destroying relations with Britain), which would
cause a crisis in Anglo-Italian relations, and allowed
the Reich to offer its "good services" to Italy. In this way,
Hitler hoped to win Mussolini as an ally and destroy
Stresa Front. A last possible foreign ally of Ethiopia to fall
away was Japan, which had served as a model to some
Ethiopian intellectuals; the Japanese ambassador to Italy,
Dr. Sugimura Yotaro, on 16 July assured Mussolini that
his country held no political interests in Ethiopia and
would stay neutral in the coming war. His comments
stirred up a furore inside Japan, where there had been
popular affinity for the African Empire. Despite popular
opinion, when the Ethiopians approached Japan for help
on 2 August they were refused, and even a modest
request for the Japanese government to officially state
its support for Ethiopia in the coming conflict was
denied. [6]
At precisely 5:00 am on 3 October 1935, General Emilio
De Bono crossed the Mareb River and advanced into
Ethiopia from Eritrea without a Declaration of War. In
response to the Italian invasion, Ethiopia declared war on
Italy. At this point in the campaign, roadways
represented a serious drawback for the Italians as they
crossed into Ethiopia. On the Italian side, roads had been
constructed right up to the border. On the Ethiopian side,
these roads often transitioned into vaguely defined
paths. General Emilio De Bono was the Commander-in-
Chief of all Italian armed forces in East Africa. In addition,
he was the Commander-in-Chief of the forces invading
from Eritrea, the "northern front." De Bono had under
his direct command a force of nine divisions in three
Army Corps: The Italian I Corps, the Italian II Corps, and
the Eritrean Corps. General Rodolfo Graziani was De
Bono's subordinate. He was the Commander-in-Chief of
forces invading from Italian Somaliland, the "southern
front." Initially he had two divisions and a variety of
smaller units under his command. Soon after De Bono
advanced from Eritrea, Graziani would advance into
Ethiopia from Somaliland with a force of Italians, Somalis,
Eritreans, and Libyans. [7]
On 5 October, the I Corps took Adigrat and, by 6 October
1935, Adwa was captured by the II Corps. In 1896, Adwa
was the site of a humiliating Italian defeat during
the First Italo–Ethiopian War and now that historic
defeat was "avenged." But, in 1935, the Italian capture of
Adwa was accomplished with almost no Ethiopian
resistance. Haile Selassie had ordered Ras Seyum
Mangasha, the Commander of the Ethiopian Army of
Tigre, to withdraw a day's march away from the Mareb
River. Later, he ordered Ras Seyum and Dejazmach Haile
Selassie Gugsa, also in the area, to move back fifty-five
and thirty-five miles from the border. [8]
On 7 October, the League of Nations declared Italy
the aggressor and started the slow process of
imposing sanctions. However, these sanctions did not
extend to several vital materials, such as oil. The British
and French argued that if they refused to sell oil to the
Italians, the Italians would then simply get it from the
United States, which was not a member of the League
(the British and French wanted to keep Mussolini on side
in the event of war with Germany, which by 1935 was
looking like a distinct possibility). In an effort to find
compromise, the Hoare-Laval Plan was drafted (which
essentially handed 3/5ths of Ethiopia to the Italians
without Ethiopia's consent on the condition the war
ended immediately), but when news of the deal was
leaked public outrage was such that the British and
French governments were forced to wash their hands of
the whole affair. [9]
On 11 October, Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa and
1,200 of his followers surrendered to the commander of
the Italian outpost at Adagamos. De Bono notified Rome
and the Ministry of Information promptly exaggerated
the importance of the surrender for propaganda
purposes. Haile Selassie Gugsa was Emperor Haile
Selassie's son-in-law. But less than a tenth of Haile
Selassie Gugsa's army defected with him. Two weeks
before the invasion, Haile Selassie had been warned that
Haile Selassie Gugsa was not to be trusted and he was
shown evidence that suggested that his son-in-law was
already in the pay of the Italians. But the Emperor had
shrugged it off. [10]On 14 October, De Bono issued a
proclamation ordering the suppression of slavery which
was indeed a good job. [11]
By 15 October, De Bono's forces moved on from Adwa
for a bloodless occupation of the holy capital of Axum.
The old Fascist entered the city riding triumphantly on a
white horse. However, the invading Italians he
commanded looted the Obelisk of Axum and, in 1937, it
was taken to Rome. [12]
Timeline of Second Italo-Ethiopian War:-[13]
1930
 Italy builds a fort at Walwal, an oasis in the Ogaden
on the Borders between Italian Colony and Ethiopia.
1934

 September 29: Italy and Ethiopia release a joint

statement refuting any aggression between each
other.
 November 23: An Anglo–Ethiopian boundary
commission discovers the Italian force at Walwal.
British members of the delegation soon retire to
avoid an international incident.
 December 5: Tensions result in a border clash at
Walwal.
 December 6: Abyssinia [Ethiopia] protests Italian
aggression at Walwal.
 December 8: Italy demands apology for Walwal
incident.
1935
 January 3: Ethiopia appeals to the League of
Nations for arbitration into the Walwal incident.
 January 7: On Pierre Laval's visit to Rome, the French
and Italians sign a pact which, among other
conditions, allows Italy a free hand in dealing with
Ethiopia in exchange for Italian support against
German aggression.
 February 23: Benito Mussolini sends Emilio De
Bono to Eritrea and Rodolfo Graziani to Italian
Somaliland along with 100,000 Italian troops to
prepare for invasion.
 March 8: Ethiopia again requests arbitration and
notes Italian military build-up.
 March 13: Italy and Ethiopia agree on a neutral zone
in the Ogaden.
 March 17: Ethiopia again appeals to the League due
to Italian build-up.
 March 22: The Italians yield to pressure from the
League of Nations for arbitration into the Walwal
incident.
 May 11: Ethiopia again protests the Italian
mobilization.
 May 20 – 21: The League of Nations holds a special
session to discuss the crisis in Ethiopia.
 May 25: The League of Nation’s council resolves to
meet if no fifth arbitrator has been selected by June
25, or if a settlement isn't reached by August 25.
 June 19: Ethiopia requests neutral observers.
 June 23 – 24: Britain sends Anthony Eden to offer
concessions about Ethiopia, they are rejected by
Italy.
 June 25: Italian and Ethiopian officials meet in the
Hague to discuss arbitration.
 July 9: The discussions fall apart.
 July 25: Britain declares an arms embargo on both
Italy and Ethiopia.
 July 26: The League of Nations confirms that no fifth
member has been selected.
 August 3: The League of Nations limits arbitration
talks to matters except for the sovereignty of
Walwal. They are to meet again on September 4 to
examine relations between the two countries.
 August 12: Abyssinia [Ethiopia] pleads for arms
embargo to be lifted.
 August 16: France and Britain offer Italy large
concessions in Ethiopia to avert war which are
rejected.
 August 22: Britain reaffirms its embargo on
armaments.
 September 3: The League of Nations exonerates
both Italy and Ethiopia of the Walwal incident since
both powers believed it was within their border.
 September 10: Pierre Laval, Anthony Eden and
Sir Samuel Hoare agree on limitations to Italian
sanctions.
 September 25: Ethiopia again asks for neutral
observers.
 September 28: Ethiopia begins to mobilize its large,
but poorly-equipped, army.
 October 3: Italy invades Ethiopia. Italian forces under
De Bono advance from Eritrea into northern
Ethiopia. Italian forces under Graziani stand ready to
advance from Italian Somaliland into southern
Ethiopia. Italy is condemned by the League of
Nations for attacking without formal declaration of
war.
 October 5: The northern Italian army captures
Adigrat.
 October 6: The northern Italian army captures
Adowa.
 October 7: The League of Nations declares Italy the
aggressor, prepares to set sanctions against it.
 October 11: The League of Nation’s members voted
to impose sanctions unless Italy withdraws.
 October 14: De Bono issues a proclamation ordering
the suppression of slavery in Ethiopia.
 October 15: The northern Italian army
captures Axum.
 October 18: Britain assures Italy it will not take
independent action in the Mediterranean.
 October 27: Mussolini gives Badoglio permission to
use mustard gas "as an 'ultima ratio' to overwhelm
enemy resistance and in case of counter-attack."
This was in direct violation of the 1899 and 1907
Hague Conventions, which outlawed the use of
chemical weapons.
 November 6: Due to the cautious approach of
General De Bono, Mussolini threatens to replace
him.
 November 8: The northern Italian army
captures Mekele.
 November 18: Sanctions go into effect against Italy.
They do not include oil or steel.
 December 8: Hoare-Laval Plan is signed, which
conceded two-thirds of Ethiopia to Italy.
 December 9: Hoare-Laval Plan is made public. It is
rejected by Ethiopia and causes political scandal in
France and Britain.
 December 17: De Bono is replaced by Marshal Pietro
Badoglio as Commander in Chief of the entire
operation and as the commander in the north. Soon
 after, Haile Selassie launches his "Christmas
Offensive" to test the new Italian commander.
 December 26: Italian aviator Tito Minniti is killed by
Ethiopian forces.
 December 28. Ostensibly in response to Minitti's
killing and mutilation, Mussolini gives Badoglio
permission to use mustard gas "on a vast scale".
Again, this was in direct violation of the 1899 and
1907 Hague Conventions, which outlawed the use of
chemical weapons
1936
 January 3: Emperor Haile Selassie protests to the
League of Nations about Italy's bombing of villages.
 January 7 – 10: In the Battle of Ganale Dorya,
General Graziani counter-attacks the advancing
troops of Ras Desta Damtew. After more than three
days of slaughter, the Ethiopians break and flee.
 January 20: Negele Boran in Sidamo province is
captured by Graziani. Ethiopia asks for stronger
sanctions against Italy.
 January 20– 24: The inconclusive First Battle of
Tembien brings the Ethiopian "Christmas Offensive"
to an end.
 February 10: The Italians attack and the Ethiopians
under Ras Mulugeta counterattack in the Battle of
Amba Aradam southwest of Chalacot.
 February 19: The Battle of Amba Aradam ends and
the Ethiopians are defeated with heavy losses,
including Mulugeta and his son.
 February 27: The Second Battle of Tembien begins.
 February 29: The Ethiopians are defeated in
the Second Battle of Tembien leaving few survivors
from the armies of Ras Kassa and Ras Seyoum.
 February 29: The Battle of Shire begins.
 March 3: The League of Nations asks Italy and
Ethiopia to open negotiations.
 March 4: The Battle of Shire ends with the
destruction of Ras Imru's army.
 March 5: Ethiopia accepts negotiations appeal.
 March 20: Ethiopia again appeals to the League of
Nations, stating that nothing effective had yet been
enforced.
 March 21: Emperor Haile Selassie protests to the
League of Nations again, reporting Italian atrocities
 such as use of chemical weapons, destruction of
ambulances and the massacre of civilians.
 March 29: Italian planes firebomb Harar.
 March 31: Emperor Haile Selassie personally leads an
unsuccessful counterattack in the Battle of
Maychew. This is the last major battle of the war on
the northern front.
 April 1: Ethiopia pleads for removal of arms
embargo, financial assistance, and heavier sanctions
on Italy; Achille Starace's East African Fast Column
arrives in Gondar.
 April 4: Most of what remained of Haile Selassie's
withdrawing army is destroyed at Lake Ashangi.
 April 14: The Battle of the Ogaden begins on the
southern front.
 April 17: The League of Nations admits failure in the
Italo-Ethiopian dispute.
 April 25: The Ethiopians are defeated during the
Battle of the Ogaden, but much of the Ethiopian
army escapes.
 April 26: Badoglio's launches his "March of the Iron
Will" from Dessie.
 April 27: Princess Tsehai of Ethiopia appeals to the
League of Nations.
 May 2: Emperor Haile Selassie leaves the capital city
of Addis Ababa for Djibouti, whence he travels to
Europe to personally address the League of Nations.
He appoints Ras Imru Haile Selassie as his regent
during his absence.
 May 5: The "March of the Iron Will" is completed
and Addis Ababa is captured by Italian forces.
 May 7: Italy officially annexes Ethiopia.
 May 8: Graziani enters Harar.
 May 9: Victor Emmanuel III is proclaimed Emperor of
Abyssinia and Badoglio is appointed as his Viceroy in
Ethiopia.
 May 10: Italian troops from the northern front and
from the southern front link up at Dire Dawa.
 June 1: Italy merges Ethiopia with Eritrea and Italian
Somaliland, calling the new state Africa Orientale
Italiana (Italian East Africa).
 June 11: Marshal Graziani is appointed Viceroy of
Ethiopia.
  June 30: Emperor Haile Selassie addresses the
League of Nations. The League officially condemns
the Italian actions.
 July 4: The League of Nations drops all sanctions
against Italy.
 July 28: Two sons of Ras Kassa lead several thousand
men in an attempt to recapture Addis Ababa from
the Italians, but are driven back by the Italian
garrison. Suspected of supporting this action, the
archbishop of Dessie, Abuna Petros, is shot by the
Italians.
 October: The Italians begin armed campaigns into
the two-thirds of Ethiopia still administered by
Imperial officials.
 December 18: Ras Imru surrenders to the Italians
near the Gojeb River. Italy declares the country
pacified.
1937

 February 19: The final battle between the two

armies is fought at Gogetti. The surviving elements
of the armies of Sidamo and Bale are encircled and
destroyed by the Italian forces near Lake Shala.
 Dejazmach Beiene Merid and Dejazmach Gabre
Mariam are killed; Ras Desta Damtew although
wounded escapes the slaughter, only to be hunted
down and killed five days later.
 February 19: Yekatit 12 massacre. In response to the
attempted assassination of Marshal Graziani by
Ethiopian rebels, between 19,200 and 30,000
Ethiopian civilians were massacred in Addis Ababa.
 December 21: Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta is
appointed Emperor (or king) of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is
completely annexed by Italy.
Italy’s scarcity in resources was somewhat addressed by
capturing East Africa, but the lack of food in Ethiopia was
making Italy send a lot of food to East Africa.

Part II – Spanish Civil War

Europe was already changing with Germany, Italy their
Dictators while USSR’s formation and rise of Vladimir
Lenin and after him Rise of Joseph Stalin were already
changing the spheres. The Spanish Civil War was an
important event in Europe as USSR, Germany, Italy and
many nations used this as an opportunity to test their
armament. USSR was supportive to the Republican
Government while Nazi Germany was supportive for the
Nationalist military rebels. But the Background of Spanish
Civil War goes way back to 19th Century.
The 19th century was a turbulent time for Spain. Those in
favour of reforming Spain's government vied for political
power with conservatives, who tried to prevent reforms
from taking place. Some liberals, in a tradition that had
started with the Spanish Constitution of 1812, sought to
limit the power of the monarchy of Spain and to establish
a liberal state. The reforms of 1812 did not last after
King Ferdinand VII dissolved the Constitution and ended
a short-lived liberal government with French royalist
military assistance. Twelve successful coups were carried
out between 1814 and 1874. There were several
attempts to realign the political system to match social
reality. Until the 1850s, the economy of Spain was
primarily based on agriculture. There was little
development of a bourgeois industrial or commercial
class. The land-based oligarchy remained powerful; a
small number of people held large estates
(called latifundia) as well as all the important
government positions. The landowners' power was
challenged by the industrial and merchant sectors,
largely unsuccessfully. In 1868 popular uprisings led to
the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of
Bourbon. Two distinct factors led to the uprisings: a
series of urban riots, and a liberal movement within the
middle classes and the military (led by General Joan
Prim), who were concerned about the ultra-conservatism
of the monarchy. In 1873 Isabella's replacement,
King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated due to
increasing political pressure, and the First Spanish
Republic was proclaimed. However, the intellectuals
behind the Republic were powerless to prevent a descent
into chaos. Uprisings were crushed by the military. The
old monarchy returned with the restoration of the
Bourbons in December 1874, as reform was deemed less
important than peace and stability. Despite the
introduction of universal male suffrage in 1890, elections
were controlled by local political bosses. The most
traditionalist sectors of the political sphere systematically
tried to prevent liberal reforms and to sustain
the patrilineal monarchy. The Carlists – supporters
of Infante Carlos and his descendants – fought to
promote Spanish tradition and Catholicism against the
liberalism of successive Spanish governments. The
Carlists attempted to restore the historic liberties and
broad regional autonomy granted to the Basque
Country and Catalonia by their fueros (regional charters).
At times they allied with nationalists (separate from
the National Faction during the civil war itself), including
during the Carlist Wars. Periodically, anarchism became
popular among the working class, and was far stronger in
Spain than anywhere else in Europe at the time. [13]
If one analysis the situation then we can rightly say that
the Monarchy was responsible for the same. In 1897 an
Italian anarchist assassinated Prime Minister Antonio
Cánovas del Castillo, motivated by a growing number of
arrests and the use of torture by the government. The
loss of Cuba, Spain's last valuable colony, in the Spanish–
American War of 1898 hit exports from
Catalonia hardest; there were acts of terrorism and
actions by agents provocateurs in Barcelona. In the first
two decades of the 20th century, the industrial working
class grew in number. There was a growing discontent in
the Basque country and Catalonia, where much of Spain's
industry was based. [14]
The People believed that the government would take the
ownership of all farms [nationalize all farms]. [15]
The average illiteracy rate was 64%, with considerable
regional variation. Poverty in some areas was great and
mass emigration to the New World occurred in the first
decade of the century. Spain's socialist party, the Spanish
Socialist Workers' Party and its associated trade union,
the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), gained
support. The UGT grew from 8,000 members in 1908 to
200,000 in 1920. Branch offices (Casas del pueblo) of the
unions were established in major cities. The UGT was
constantly fearful of losing ground to the anarchists. It
was respected for its discipline during strikes. However, it
was centrist and anti-Catalan, with only 10,000 members
in Barcelona as late as 1936. The PSOE and the UGT were
based on a simple form of Marxism, one that assumed an
inevitable revolution, and were isolationist in character.
When the UGT moved their headquarters from Barcelona
to Madrid in 1899, many industrial workers in Catalonia
were no longer able to access it. Some elements of the
PSOE recognized the need for cooperation with
republican parties. [16]
In 1912 the Reformist Party was founded, which
attracted intellectuals. Figures like its leader, Alejandro
Lerroux, helped attract wide support from the working
class. His advocacy of anti-clericalism made him a
successful demagogue in Barcelona. He argued that
the Catholic Church was inseparable from the system of
oppression the people were under. It was around this
time that republicanism came to the fore.[17]
The military was keen to avoid the break-up of the state
and was increasingly inward-looking following the loss of
Cuba. Regional nationalism, perceived as separatism, was
frowned upon. In 1905 the army attacked the
headquarters of two satirical magazines in Catalonia
believed to be undermining the government. To appease
the military, the government outlawed negative
comments about the military or Spain itself in the
Spanish press. Resentment of the military and
of conscription grew with the disastrous Rif War of 1909
in Spanish Morocco. Lerroux's support of the army's aims
lost him support. Events culminated in the Tragic
Week (Spanish: Semana Trágica) in Barcelona in 1909,
when working class groups rioted against the call-up of
reservists. 48 churches and similar institutions were
burned in anti-clerical attacks. The riot was finally ended
by the military; 1,725 members of such groups were put
on trial, with five people sentenced to death. These
events led to the establishment of the National
Confederation of Labour (Spanish: Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo, CNT), an anarchist-controlled trade
union committed to anarcho-syndicalism. It had over a
million members by 1923. [18]
Increasing exports during the First World War led to a
boom in industry and declining living standards in the
industrial areas, particularly Catalonia and the Basque
country. There was high inflation. The industrial sector
resented its subjugation by the agrarian central
government. Along with concerns about antiquated
promotion systems and political corruption, the war in
Morocco had caused divisions in the military.
Regenerationism became popular, and the working class,
industrial class, and the military were united in their
hope of removing the corrupt central government.
However, these hopes were defeated in 1917 and 1918
when the various political parties representing these
groups were either appeased or suppressed by the
central government, one by one. The industrialists
eventually backed the government as a way to restore
order. After the formation of the Communist
International in 1919, there was a growing fear
of communism within Spain and growing repression on
the part of the government through military means. The
PSOE split, with the more left-wing members founding
the Communist Party in 1921. The Restoration
government failed to cope with an increasing number of
strikes amongst the industrial workers in the north and
the agricultural workers in the south, but the real change
was yet to come. In 1923, a military coup brought Miguel
Primo de Rivera to power; as a result, Spain transitioned
to government by military dictatorship. Support for the
Rivera regime gradually faded, and he resigned in
January 1930. He was replaced by General Dámaso
Berenguer, who was in turn himself replaced by Admiral
Juan Bautista Aznar-Cabañas; both men continued a
policy of rule by decree. There was little support for the
monarchy in the major cities. Consequently, King Alfonso
XIII gave in to popular pressure for the establishment of a
republic in 1931 and called municipal elections for 12
April of that year. [19]
On 12 April, the monarchic parties won a thin majority
but lost in major cities in the 1931 municipal elections,
which were perceived as a plebiscite on monarchy. The
Socialists, Republican and Communist parties won the
election and had also formed an alliance. [20]
Alfonso left the country on night of the 14 to 15 April as
the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed earlier that
day in order to avoid a civil war but did not formally
abdicate. He eventually settled in Rome. By a law of 26
November 1931, Alfonso was accused by the Cortes of
high treason. [21]
The Second Republic was a source of hope to the poorest
in Spanish society and a threat to the richest, but had
broad support from all segments of society. Niceto
Alcalá-Zamora was the first prime minister of the
Republic. The wealthier landowners and the middle class
accepted the Republic because of the lack of any suitable
alternative. [22] In June 1931 happened the Spanish
General Elections in which Republicans and Socialists,
with the PSOE gaining 116 seats and Lerroux's Radical
Party 94 seats and Lerroux became the Foreign Minister
of Spain. [23]
The government was controlled by a Republican–Socialist
coalition, whose members had differing objectives. Some
more conservative members believed that the removal
of the monarchy was enough by itself, but the Socialists
and leftist Republicans demanded much wider reforms.
The state's financial position was poor. Supporters of the
dictatorship attempted to block progress on reforming
the economy. The redistribution of wealth supported by
the new government seemed a threat to the richest, in
light of the recent Wall Street Crash and the onset of
the Great Depression. The government attempted to
tackle the dire poverty in rural areas by instituting an
eight-hour day and giving the security of tenure to farm
workers. Landlords complained. The effectiveness of the
reforms was dependent on the skill of the local
governance, which was often badly lacking. Changes to
the military were needed and education reform was
another problem facing the Republic. The relationship
between central government and the Basque and
Catalan regions also needed to be decided.
Effective opposition was led by three groups. The first
group included Catholic movements such as
the Asociación Católica de Propagandistas, who had
influence over the judiciary and the press. Rural
landowners were told to think of the Republic as godless
and communist. The second group consisted of
organizations that had supported the monarchy, such as
the Renovación Española and Carlists, who wished to see
the new republic overthrown in a violent uprising. The
third group was of Fascist organizations, among them
supporters of the dictator's son, José Antonio Primo de
Rivera. Primo de Rivera was the most significant leader of
fascism in Spain. The press often editorialized about a
foreign Jewish–Masonic–Bolshevik plot. Members of the
CNT willing to cooperate with the Republic were forced
out, and it continued to oppose the government. The
deeply unpopular Civil Guard, founded in 1844, was
charged with putting down revolts and was perceived as
ruthless. Violence, including at Castilblanco in December
1931, was usual. [24]
On 11 May 1931 rumours that a taxi driver was
supposedly killed by monarchists sparked a wave of anti-
clerical violence throughout south west urban Spain
beginning. An angry crowd assaulted and burned ABC
newspaper. The government's reluctance to declare
martial law in response and a comment attributed
to Azaña that he would "rather all the churches in Spain
be burnt than a single Republican harmed" prompted
many Catholics to believe that the Republic was trying to
prosecute Christianity. Next day the Jesuit Church in the
Calle de La Flor was also burned. Several other churches
and convents were burned throughout the day. Over the
next days some hundred churches were burned all over
Spain. The government blamed the monarchists for
sparking the riots and closed the ABC newspaper and El
Debate.
Parties in opposition to Alcalá-Zamora's provisional
government gained the support of the church and the
military. The head of the church in Spain, Cardinal Pedro
Segura, was particularly vocal in his disapproval. Until the
20th century, the Catholic Church had proved an
essential part of Spain's character, although it had
internal problems. Segura was expelled from Spain in
June 1931. This prompted an outcry from the Catholic
right, who cited oppression. The military were opposed
to reorganization, including an increase in regional
autonomy granted by the central government, and
reforms to improve efficiency were seen as a direct
attack. Officers were retired and a thousand had their
promotions reviewed, including Francisco Franco, who
served as director of the General Military Academy
in Zaragoza, which was closed by Manuel Azaña. [25]
In October 1931 the conservative Catholic Republican
prime-minister Alcalá-Zamora and the Interior
Minister Miguel Maura resigned from the provisional
government when the controversial articles 26 and 27 of
the constitution, which strictly controlled Church
property and prohibited religious orders from engaging
in education, were passed. During the debate held on 13
October, a night that Alcalá-Zamora considered the
saddest night of his life, Azaña declared that Spain had
"ceased to be Catholic"; although to an extent his
statement was accurate, it was a politically unwise thing
to say. Manuel Azaña became the new provisional Prime
Minister. Desiring the job for himself, Lerroux became
alienated, and his Radical Party switched to the
opposition, leaving Azaña dependent on the Socialists for
support. The Socialists, who favoured reform, objected
to the lack of progress. The reforms that were made
alienated the land-holding right. Conditions for labourers
remained dreadful; the reforms had not been enforced.
Rural landowners declared war on the government by
refusing to plant crops. Meanwhile, several agricultural
strikes were harshly put down by the authorities.
Reforms, including the unsuccessful attempt to break up
large holdings, failed to significantly improve the
situation for rural workers. By the end of 1931, King
Alfonso, in exile, stopped attempting to prevent an
armed insurrection of monarchists in Spain, and was
tried and condemned to life imprisonment in absentia.
[26]

A new constitution was approved on 9 December 1931.

The first draft, prepared by Ángel Ossorio y Gallardo and
others, was rejected, and a much more daring text
creating a "democratic republic of workers of every class"
was promulgated. It contained much in the way of
emotive language and included many controversial
articles, some of which were aimed at curbing the
Catholic Church. The constitution was reformist, liberal,
and democratic in nature, and was welcomed by the
Republican–Socialist coalition. It appalled landowners,
industrialists, the organized church, and army officers. At
this point once the constituent assembly had fulfilled its
mandate of approving a new constitution; it should have
arranged for regular parliamentary elections and
adjourned. However fearing the increasing popular
opposition the Radical and Socialist majority postponed
the regular elections, therefore prolonging their way in
power for two more years. This way the provisional
republican government of Manuel Azaña initiated
numerous reforms to what in their view would
"modernize" the country. [27]
As the provisional government believed it was necessary
to break the control the church had over Spanish affairs,
the new constitution removed any special rights held by
the Catholic Church. The constitution proclaimed
religious freedom and a complete separation of Church
and State. Catholic schools continued to operate, but
outside the state system; in 1933 further legislation
banned all monks and nuns from teaching. The Republic
regulated church use of property and investments
provided for recovery and controls on the use of
property the church had obtained during past
dictatorships, and banned the Vatican-controlled Society
of Jesus. The controversial articles 26 and 27 of the
constitution strictly controlled Church property and
prohibited religious orders from engaging in education.
Supporters of the church and even Jose Ortega y Gasset,
a liberal advocate of the separation of church and state,
considered the articles overreaching. Other articles
legalising divorce and initiating agrarian reforms were
equally controversial, and on 13 October 1931, Gil
Robles, the leading spokesman of the parliamentary
right, called for a Catholic Spain to make its stand against
the Republic. Commentator Stanley Payne has argued
that "the Republic as a democratic constitutional regime
was doomed from the outset", because the far left
considered any moderation of the anticlerical aspects of
the constitution as totally unacceptable.
Restrictions on Christian iconography in schools and
hospitals and the ringing of bells came into force in
January 1932. State control of cemeteries was also
imposed. Many ordinary Catholics began to see the
government as an enemy because of the educational and
religious reforms. Government actions were denounced
as barbaric, unjust, and corrupt by the press. [28]
Following the elections of November 1933, Spain entered
a period called the "two black years" by the left. The
CEDA had won a plurality of seats, but not enough to
form a majority. President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora declined
to invite the leader of the most voted party, Gil Robles,
to form a government, and instead invited the Radical
Republican Party's Alejandro Lerroux to do so.
Immediately after the election, the Socialists
alleged electoral fraud; they had, according to the PSOE,
needed twice as many votes as their opponents to win
each seat. They identified the lack of unity in the left as
another reason for their defeat. The Socialist opposition
began to propagate a revolutionary ideal. Stanley Payne
asserts that the left demanded the cancellation of the
elections not because the elections were fraudulent but
because in its view those that had won the elections did
not share the republican ideals.
The government, with the backing of CEDA, set about
removing price controls, selling state favours and
monopolies, and removing the land reforms—to the
landowners' considerable advantage. This created
growing malnourishment in the south of Spain.[84] The
agrarian reforms, still in force, went tacitly unenforced.
Radicals became more aggressive and conservatives
turned to paramilitary and vigilante actions.
The first working class protest came from the anarchists
on 8 December 1933, and was easily crushed by force in
most of Spain; Zaragoza held out for four days before the
Spanish Republican Army, employing tanks, stopped the
uprising. The Socialists stepped up their revolutionary
rhetoric, hoping to force Zamora to call new elections.
Carlists and Alfonsist monarchists continued to prepare,
with Carlists undergoing military drills in Navarre; they
received the backing of Italian Prime Minister Benito
Mussolini. Gil Robles struggled to control the CEDA's
youth wing, which copied Germany and Italy's youth
movements. Monarchists turned to the Fascist Falange
Española, under the leadership of José Antonio Primo de
Rivera, as a way to achieve their aims. Open violence
occurred in the streets of Spanish cities. Official statistics
state that 330 people were assassinated in addition to
213 failed attempts, and 1,511 people wounded in
political violence. Those figures also indicate a total of
113 general strikes were called and 160 religious
buildings were destroyed, typically by arson.
Lerroux resigned in April 1934, after President Zamora
hesitated to sign an Amnesty Bill which let off the
arrested members of the 1932 plot. He was replaced
by Ricardo Samper. The Socialist Party ruptured over the
question of whether or not to move towards Bolshevism.
The youth wing known as the Federation of Young
Socialists were particularly militant. The anarchists called
a four-week strike in Zaragoza. Gil Robles' CEDA
continued to mimic the German Nazi Party, staging a rally
in March 1934, to shouts of "Jefe" ("Chief", after the
Italian "Duce" used in support of Mussolini). Gil Robles
used an anti-strike law to successfully provoke and break
up unions one at a time, and attempted to undermine
the republican government of the Esquerra in Catalonia,
who were attempting to continue the republic's reforms.
Efforts to remove local councils from socialist control
prompted a general strike, which was brutally put down
by Interior Minister Salazar Alonso, with the arrest of
four deputies and other significant breaches of articles
55 and 56 of the constitution. The Socialist Land worker’s
Federation, a trade union founded in 1930, was
effectively prevented from operating until 1936.
On 26 September 1934, the CEDA announced it would no
longer support the RRP's minority government. It was
replaced by an RRP cabinet, again led by Lerroux, that
included three members of the CEDA. After a year of
intense pressure, CEDA, who had more seats in
parliament, was finally successful in forcing the
acceptance of three ministries. As a reaction, the
Socialists (PSOE) and Communists triggered an
insurrection that they had been preparing for nine
months. [29]
The Scenario continued to worsen time to time until it
finally came to 5th October – 19th October 1934’s
rebellions in which the people mass protested with mine
workers going on strike and the conditions worsening,
the leftist government with help of army eliminated the
rebellions as 1,500 to 2,000 were killed and about 15,000
to 30,000 arrested. [30] In 1935 the Radical Republican
Party’s government faced a series of crisis leading to
1936 elections. Manuel Azaña continued as Prime
Minister after 1936’s February elections, but the clear
picture was yet to come.
In short of all the above explanations we can prefer the
Pre-civil war timeline which simplifies things: [31]
 17th May 1902 - Sixteen-year-old Alfonso XIII is
crowned king of Spain. The young king relishes his
power and routinely intervenes in parliamentary
affairs. The result is extreme political instability, and
33 governments are formed in Spain between 1902
and 1923.
 22nd July 1921 - Berber armies led by Abd el-
Krim force the Spanish garrison at Annual (Anwal),
Morocco, to retreat in disarray, marking the start of
a military campaign that would come to be known as
the Rif War. The rout marks the greatest defeat of a
European colonial power by indigenous forces since
the Battle of Adwa.
 13th September 1923 - One week before the
publication of a report directly implicating Alfonso
 XIII in the disastrous outcome of the Battle of
Annual, General Miguel Primo de Riveraorchestrates
a coup d’état that topples the parliamentary
government. With Alfonso’s support, Primo de
Rivera establishes a dictatorship.
 28th January 1930 - The Spanish economy is reeling
as a result of the global depression, and Alfonso
forces Primo de Rivera’s resignation; the physically
broken dictator dies less than two months later. The
monarchy has become too closely associated with
the excesses of the dictatorship, and Republican
sentiment has grown too strong to tolerate Alfonso’s
continued meddling in Spanish politics.
 17th August 1930 - An alliance of former liberal
monarchists, Catalan politicians, and Republicans
meets at San Sebastián and agrees to overthrow the
king.
 12th April 1931 - Republican and Socialist candidates
triumph overwhelmingly in municipal elections. They
demand Alfonso’s abdication, and the military
withdraws its support from the embattled king. Two
days later, facing the prospect of a violent
insurrection, Alfonso flees the country.
 29th October 1933 - José Antonio Primo de Rivera,
the eldest son of the late dictator, establishes the
Falange Española, a far-right nationalist political
group committed to overthrowing the Republican
government. The movement draws heavily on
Italian fascism, and initially it draws little public
support. In its early years, it is largely dependent on
financial assistance from Benito Mussolini for its
survival.

 16th February 1936 - The Popular Front, a broad

left-wing coalition headed by Manuel Azaña, wins
the majority of seats in the
Spanish Cortes (parliament). During the first four
months of Popular Front rule, 113 general and more
than 200 partial strikes take place, while 170
churches, 69 clubs, and the offices of 10 newspapers
are set afire by arsonists. Rightist military leaders
begin plotting the overthrow of the government.
Timeline of Civil War: [32-33]
 17th July 1936 - Spurred to action by the
assassination of extreme-right leader José Calvo
Sotelo by government security forces, a cadre of
right-wing military officers makes its move. An army
mutiny begins in Spanish Morocco, and, at dawn the
following day, Gen. Francisco Franco broadcasts a
manifesto from his base in the Canary Islands,
declaring that the rebellion has begun. Although
Franco’s Nationalist forces quickly occupy a number
of provincial capitals, they are unable to
secure Madrid, and the coup attempt devolves
into civil war.

 14th October 1936 - The first International

Brigades trainees arrive in Albacete, Spain. For the
next two years, some 60,000 of these foreign
volunteers, who were recruited, organized, and
directed by the Comintern (Communist
International)—would fight on the Republican side.
Franco’s Nationalists would draw support from the
governments in Italy and Nazi Germany, despite
both of those countries having signed a
nonintervention pledge. The contest ultimately
 becomes a proxy war between Europe’s fascist
and Bolshevik powers.

 6th November 1936- Nationalist forces arrive at

Madrid, expecting to carry out a triumphal entry.
Instead, they are checked by a strong International
Brigades force, and a 28-month-long siege of the city
begins.
 20th November 1936 - Primo de Rivera, who has
been in police custody since July, is executed by
firing squad. He becomes a martyr for the Nationalist
cause.
 February 1937 – The League of Nations bans the use
of Foreign Volunteers, but it doesn’t affect the
scenario much.
 26th April 1937 - The Republican-held city
of Guernica is bombed by planes of
the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion. Hundreds of civilians
are killed in an attack that would demonstrate the
effectiveness of terror bombing to Hermann
Göring and other Nazi commanders. The almost
complete destruction of the Basque city
inspires Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica (1937).

 19th June 1937 - Bilbao falls to the Nationalists after

a two-month siege. Although Nationalists complete
 their conquest of the Basque Country in October, the
major population centers of Barcelona and Madrid
remain outside their control.

 18th November 1938 - The war has been

characterized by long periods of bloody stalemate
punctuated by rapid breakthroughs by the
Nationalists. An exhausted Republican army, saddled
with the weight of some three million refugees, sees
its last hope of victory on the battlefield
extinguished at the Battle of the Ebro. By February
1939, Barcelona has fallen, and a tide of refugees
pours into France.

 28th March 1939 - Some 200,000 Nationalist troops

enter Madrid unopposed. The Republican
government fled to exile in France weeks earlier, and
the city is in no condition to resist. It has endured a
winter without heat, and starvation has claimed the
lives of countless residents. By the following day,
what remains of Republican Spain has surrendered.
The war has lasted two years and 254 days; as many
as one million lives have been lost, either directly
through combat or as a result of privation. Francisco
Franco establishes a dictatorship that would endure
until his death on November 20, 1975.
The rise of Francisco Franco’s rise was one more
important part in the build up to the Second World War.

Part III – Japanese Invasion of China

In times of the Second World War, China was in a worse
position; the Communist Party of China [CPC] under Mao
Zedong was creating a chaos in China. There was an
officer named as Hideki Tojo who later happened to
become of the strong leaders in axis. In 1928 the
Japanese army had promoted Hideki Tojo to Colonel.
Tojo told his officers that they were to be both a "father"
and a "mother" to the men under their command. Tojo
often visited the homes of the men under his command,
assisted his men with personal problems and made loans
to officers short of money. [34]
In 1934, Hideki was promoted to major general and
served as Chief of the Personnel Department within
the Army Ministry. [35] The internecine warfare in China
provided excellent opportunities for Japan, which saw
Manchuria as a limitless supply of raw materials, a
market for its manufactured goods, and a
protective buffer state against the Soviet
Union in Siberia. So Manchuria was of strategic
importance for Japan. [36] Japanese economic presence
and political interest in Manchuria had been growing
ever since the end of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–
1905). The Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the war had
granted Japan the lease of the South Manchuria Railway
branch (from Changchun to Lüshun) of the China Far East
Railway. The Japanese government, however, claimed
that this control included all the rights and privileges that
China granted to Russia in the 1896 Li–Lobanov Treaty, as
enlarged by the Kwantung Lease Agreement of 1898. This
included absolute and exclusive administration within
the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Japanese railway
guards were stationed within the zone to provide
security for the trains and tracks; however, these
were regular Japanese soldiers, and they frequently
carried out maneuvers outside the railway areas. There
were many reports of raids on local Chinese villages by
bored Japanese soldiers, and all complaints from the
Chinese government were ignored. [37]
Meanwhile, the newly formed Chinese government was
trying to recover the rights of nation. They started to
claim that treaties between China and Japan were
invalid. China also announced new acts, so the Japanese
people (including Koreans and Taiwanese as both regions
were under Japanese rule at this time) who settled
frontier lands, opened stores or built their own houses in
China were expelled without any compensation.
Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin tried to deprive
Japanese concessions too, but he was assassinated by
the Japanese Kwantung Army. Zhang Xueliang, Zhang
Zuolin's son and successor, joined the Nanjing
Government led by Chiang Kai-shek from anti-Japanese
sentiment. Official Japanese objections to the oppression
against Japanese nationals within China were rejected by
the Chinese authorities.
The 1929 Sino-Soviet conflict (July–November) over
the Chinese Eastern Railroad (CER) further increased the
tensions in the Northeast that would lead to the Mukden
Incident. The Soviet Red Army victory over Zhang
Xueiliang's forces not only reasserted Soviet control over
the CER in Manchuria but revealed Chinese military
weaknesses that Japanese Kwantung Army officers were
quick to note. The Soviet Red Army performance also
stunned Japanese officials. Manchuria was central to
Japan's East Asia policy. Both the 1921 and 1927 Imperial
Eastern Region Conferences reconfirmed Japan's
commitment to be the dominant power in Manchuria.
The 1929 Red Army victory shook that policy to the core
and reopened the Manchurian problem. By 1930, the
Kwantung Army realized they faced a Red Army that was
only growing stronger. The time to act was drawing near
and Japanese plans to conquer the Northeast were
accelerated. In Nanjing in April 1931, a national
leadership conference of China was held between Chiang
Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang. They agreed to assert
China's sovereignty in Manchuria strongly. On the other
hand, some officers of the Kwantung Army began to plot
to invade Manchuria. [38]
Believing that a conflict in Manchuria would be in the
best interests of Japan, and acting in the spirit of the
Japanese concept of gekokujō, Kwantung Army
Colonel Seishirō Itagaki and Lieutenant Colonel Kanji
Ishiwara independently devised a plan to prompt Japan
to invade Manchuria by provoking an incident from
Chinese forces stationed nearby. However, after the
Japanese Minister of War Jirō Minamidispatched Major
General Yoshitsugu Tatekawa to Manchuria for the
specific purpose of curbing the insubordination
and militarist behavior of the Kwantung Army, Itagaki
and Ishiwara knew that they no longer had the luxury of
waiting for the Chinese to respond to provocations, but
had to stage their own. Itagaki and Ishiwara chose to
sabotage the rail section in an area near Liutiao Lake. The
area had no official name and was not militarily
important, but it was only eight hundred metres away
from the Chinese garrison of Beidaying, where troops
under the command of the "Young Marshal" Zhang
Xueliang were stationed. The Japanese plan was to
attract Chinese troops by an explosion and then blame
them for having caused the disturbance in order to
provide a pretext for a formal Japanese invasion. In
addition, they intended to make the sabotage appear
more convincing as a calculated Chinese attack on an
essential target, thereby making the expected Japanese
reaction appear as a legitimate measure to protect a vital
railway of industrial and economic importance. The
Japanese press labeled the site "Liǔtiáo Ditch" or "Liǔtiáo
Bridge", when in reality, the site was a small railway
section laid on an area of flat land. The choice to place
the explosives at this site was to preclude the extensive
rebuilding that would have been necessitated had the
site actually been a railway bridge. [39]
The plan was executed when 1st Lieutenant Suemori
Komoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th
Infantry Regiment, which guarded the South Manchuria
Railway, placed explosives near the tracks, but far
enough away to do no real damage. At around 10:20 pm
(22:20), 18 September, the explosives were detonated.
However, the explosion was minor and only a 1.5-meter
section on one side of the rail was damaged. In fact, a
train from Changchun passed by the site on this damaged
track without difficulty and arrived at Shenyang at 10:30
pm (22:30). [40]
Before the Mukden Incident happened the Wanpaoshan
Incident which was a minor dispute between the Korean
Farmers and the Chinese Farmers, but Mukden Incident
now insisted a battle or may be a long lasting war. The
Chinese–Japanese dispute in July 1931 known as
the Wanpaoshan Incident was followed by the Mukden
Incident. On 18 September 1931 the Japanese Imperial
General Headquarters, which had decided upon a policy
of localizing the incident, communicated its decision to
the Kwantung Army command. However, Kwantung
Army commander-in-chief General Shigeru Honjō instead
ordered his forces to proceed to expand operations all
along the South Manchuria Railway. Under orders from
Lieutenant General Jirō Tamon, troops of the 2nd
Division moved up the rail line and captured virtually
every city along its 730-mile length in a matter of days,
occupying Anshan, Haicheng, Kaiyuan, Tiehling, Fushun, S
zeping-Chieh, Changchun, Kuanchengtzu, Yingkou,
Antung, and Penhsihu.
Likewise on 19 September, in response to General
Honjō's request, the Joseon army in Korea under
General Senjūrō Hayashiordered the 20th Infantry
Division to split its force, forming the 39th Mixed
Brigade, which departed on that day for Manchuria
without authorization from the Emperor. Between 20
September and 25 September, Japanese forces
took Hsiungyueh, Changtu, Liaoyang, Tungliao, Tiaonan,
Kirin,Chiaoho, Huangkutun and Hsin-min. This effectively
secured control of Liaoning and Kirin provinces and the
main line of rail communications to Korea.
Tokyo was shocked by the news of the Army acting
without orders from the central government. The
Japanese civilian government was thrown into disarray
by this act of"gekokujō" insubordination, but as reports
of one quick victory after another began to arrive, it felt
powerless to oppose the Army, and its decision was to
immediately send three more infantry divisions from
Japan, beginning with the 14th Mixed Brigade of the IJA
7th Division.[41]
After the Liaoning Provincial government fled Mukden, it
was replaced by a "Peoples Preservation Committee"
which declared the secession of Liaoning province from
the Republic of China. Other secessionist movements
were organized in Japanese-occupied Kirin by General Xi
Qia head of the "New Kirin" Army, and at Harbin, by
General Chang Ching-hui. In early October, at Taonan in
northwest Liaoning province, General Zhang
Haipeng declared his district independent of China, in
return for a shipment of a large number of military
supplies by the Japanese Army.
On 13 October, General Chang Hai-peng ordered three
regiments of the Hsingan Reclamation Army under
General Xu Jinglong north to take the capital of
Heilongjiang province at Qiqihar. Some elements in the
city offered to peacefully surrender the old walled town,
and Chang advanced cautiously to accept. However his
advance guard was attacked by General Dou Lianfang's
troops, and in a savage fight with an engineering
company defending the north bank, were sent fleeing
with heavy losses. During this fight, the Nenjiang railroad
bridge was dynamited by troops loyal to General Ma
Zhanshan to prevent its use. [42]
In late November 1931, General Honjō dispatched 10,000
soldiers in 13 armored trains, escorted by a squadron of
bombers, in an advance on Chinchow from Mukden. This
force had advanced to within 30 kilometers (19 mi) of
Chinchow when it received an order to withdraw. The
operation was cancelled by Japanese War
Minister General Jirō Minami, due to the acceptance of
modified form of a League of Nations proposal for a
"neutral zone" to be established as a buffer zone
between China proper and Manchuria pending a future
Chinese-Japanese peace conference by the civilian
government of Prime Minister Baron Wakatsuki in Tokyo.
However, the two sides failed to reach a lasting
agreement. The Wakatsuki government soon fell and was
replaced by a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Inukai
Tsuyoshi. Further negotiations with the Kuomintang
government failed, the Japanese government authorized
the reinforcement of troops in Manchuria. In December,
the rest of 20th Infantry Division, along with the 38th
Mixed Brigade from the 19th Infantry Division was sent
into Manchuria from Korea while the 8th Mixed Brigade
from the 10th Infantry Division was sent from Japan. The
total strength of the Kwantung Army was thus increased
to around 60,450 men.
With this stronger force, the Japanese Army announced
on 21 December the beginning of large-scale anti-bandit
operations in Manchuria to quell a growing resistance
movement by the local Chinese population in Liaoning
and Kirin provinces.
On 28 December, a new government was formed in
China after all members of the old Nanjing government
resigned. This threw the military command into turmoil,
and the Chinese army retreated to the south of the Great
Wall into Hebei province, a humiliating move which
lowered China's international image. Japanese forces
occupied Chinchow on 3 January 1932, after the Chinese
defenders retreated without giving combat. The
following day the Japanese occupied Shanhaiguan
completing their military takeover of southern
Manchuria. [43]
With southern Manchuria secure, the Japanese turned
north to complete the occupation of Manchuria. As
negotiations with Generals Ma Zanshan and Ting Chao to
defect to the pro-Japanese side had failed, in early
January Colonel Kenji Doihara requested collaborationist
General Qia Xi to advance his forces and take Harbin. The
last major Chinese regular force in northern Manchuria
was led by General Ting Chao who organized the defense
of Harbin successfully against General Xi until the arrival
of the IJA 2nd Division under General Jirō Tamon.
Japanese forces took Harbin on 4 February 1932. By the
end of February Ma had sought terms and joined the
newly formed Manchukuo government as governor of
Heilongjiang province and Minister of War. On 27
February 1932, Ting offered to cease hostilities, ending
official Chinese resistance in Manchuria, although
combat by guerrilla and irregular forces continued as
Japan spent many years in their campaign to pacify
Manchukuo. [44]
In September 1935, Tojo assumed top command of the
Kenpeitai of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.
Politically, he was nationalist, and militarist, and was
nicknamed "Razor" (カミソリ, Kamisori), for his
reputation of having a sharp and legalistic mind capable
of quick decision-making. [45]
Tojo was a member of the Tōseiha("Control") faction in
the Army that was opposed by the more
radical Kōdōha ("Imperial Way") faction. Both
the Tōseiha and the Kōdōha factions were militaristic
groups that favored a policy of expansionism abroad and
dictatorship under the Emperor at home, but differed
over the best way of achieving these goals. The Imperial
Way faction wanted a coup d'état to achieve a Shōwa
Restoration; emphasized "spirit" as the principle war-
winning factor; and despite advocating socialist policies
at home wanted to invade the Soviet Union. The Control
faction, while being willing to use assassination to
achieve its goals, was more willing to work within the
system to achieve reforms; wanted to create the
"national defense state" to mobilize the entire nation
before going to war; and, while not rejecting the idea of
"spirit" as a war-winning factor also saw military
modernization as a war-winning factor; and saw the
United States as a future enemy just as much as the
Soviet Union.
On 26th February 1936 a coup was organized by a group
known as Young Imperial Japanese Army [IJA]. Tojo
and Shigeru Honjō, a noted supporter of Sadao Araki,
both opposed the rebels who were associated with the
rival "Imperial Way" faction. Emperor Hirohito himself
was outraged at the attacks on his close advisers, and
after a brief political crisis and stalling on the part of a
sympathetic military, the rebels were forced to
surrender. As the commander of the Kenpeitai, Tojo
ordered the arrest of all officers in the Kwantung Army
suspected of supporting the coup attempt in Tokyo. In
the aftermath, the Tōseiha faction was able to purge the
Army of radical officers, and the coup leaders were tried
and executed. Following the purge, Tōseiha and Kōdōha
elements were unified in their nationalist but highly anti-
political stance under the banner of the Tōseiha military
clique, which included Tojo as one of its leaders.
Tojo was promoted to Chief of staff of the Kwangtung
Army in 1937. As the "Empire of Manchukuo" was, in
reality, a Japanese colony in all but name, the Kwangtung
Army's duties were just as much political as they were
military. During this period, Tojo become close to Yōsuke
Matsuoka, the fiery ultra-nationalist CEO of the South
Manchuria Railway, one of Asia's largest corporations at
the time, and Nobusuke Kishi, the Deputy Minister of
Industry in Manchukuo, who was the man de facto in
charge of Manchukuo's economy. Though Tojo regarded
preparing for a war with the Soviet Union as his first
duty, Tojo also supported the forward policy in north
China as the Japanese sought to extend their influence
into China. As chief of staff, Tojo was responsible for the
military operations designed to increase Japanese
penetration into the Inner Mongolia border regions
with Manchukuo. In July 1937, he personally led the units
of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade in Operation
Chahar, his only real combat experience.
After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which was a
confrontation between The Chinese army and the
Imperial army of Japan marking the start of the Second
Sino-Japanese War, Tojo ordered his forces to
attack Hebei Province and other targets in northern
China. Tojo received Jewish refugees in accordance with
Japanese national policy and rejected the resulting Nazi
German protests. Tojo was recalled to Japan in May 1938
to serve as Vice-Minister of War under Army
Minister Seishirō Itagaki. From December 1938 to 1940,
Tojo was Inspector-General of Army Aviation. [46]
On 1st June 1940 Emperor Hirohito appointed Kōichi Kido
who was a leading “Reform Bureaucrat” as the Lord
Keeper of the Privy Seal, making him into the Emperor's
leading political advisor and fixer. Kido had aided in the
creation in the 1930s of an alliance between the "reform
bureaucrats" and the Army's "Control" faction centered
around Tojo and General Mutō Akira. Kido's
appointment also favored the rise of his allies in the
Control faction. On July 30, 1940, Hideki Tojo was
appointed Army Minister in the second Fumimaro
Konoe regime and remained in that post in the third
Konoe cabinet. Prince Konoe had chosen Tojo—a man
representative of both the Army's hardline views and the
Control faction while being considered reasonable to
deal with – to secure the Army's backing for his foreign
policy. Konoe favored having Germany mediate an end to
the Sino-Japanese war, pressuring Britain to end its
economic and military support of China even at the risk
of war, seeking better relations with both Germany and
the United States, and of taking advantage of the
changes in the international order caused by Germany's
victories in the spring of 1940 to make Japan a stronger
power in Asia. Konoe wanted to make Japan the
dominant power in East Asia, but he also believed it was
possible to negotiate amodus vivendi with the United
States under which the Americans would agree to
recognize the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity
Sphere.”[47]
By 1940, Konoe, who had started the war with China in
1937, no longer believed that a military solution to the
"China Affair" was possible as he once did, instead
favored having Germany mediate an end to the war that
would presumably result in a pro-Japanese peace
settlement, but would be less than he himself had
outlined in the "Konoe program" of January 1938. For
this reason, Konoe wanted Tojo, a tough general whose
ultra-nationalism was beyond question, to provide
"cover" for his attempt to seek a diplomatic solution to
the war with China. Tojo was a strong supporter of
the Tripartite Pact between Imperial Japan, Nazi
Germany, and Fascist Italy. As the Army Minister, he
continued to expand the war with China. After
negotiations with Vichy France, Japan was given
permission to place its troops in the southern part
of French Indochina in July 1941. In spite of its formal
recognition of the Vichy government, the United States
retaliated against Japan by imposing economic
sanctions in August, including a total embargo on oil and
gasoline exports. On September 6, a deadline of early
October was fixed in the Imperial Conference for
resolving the situation diplomatically. [48] On October 14,
the deadline had passed with no progress. Prime
Minister Konoe then held his last cabinet meeting, where
Tojo did most of the talking:
“For the past six months, ever since April, the foreign
minister has made painstaking efforts to adjust relations.
Although I respect him for that, we remain deadlocked ...
The heart of the matter is the imposition on us of
withdrawal from Indochina and China ... If we yield to
America's demands, it will destroy the fruits of the China
incident. Manchukuo will be endangered and our control
of Korea undermined.”[49]
The prevailing opinion within the Japanese Army at that
time was that continued negotiations could be
dangerous. However, Hirohito thought that he might be
able to control extreme opinions in the army by using the
charismatic and well-connected Tojo, who had expressed
reservations regarding war with the West, although the
Emperor himself was skeptical that Tojo would be able to
avoid conflict.
On October 13, he declared to Kōichi Kido: "There seems
little hope in the present situation for the Japan-U.S.
negotiations. This time, if hostilities erupt, I have to issue
a declaration of war."[50]
During the last cabinet meetings of the Konoe
government, Tojo emerged as a hawkish voice, saying he
did not want a war with the United States but portrayed
the Americans as arrogant, bullying white supremacists.
He said that any compromise solution would only
encourage them to make more extreme demands on
Japan, in which case Japan might be better to choose war
to uphold national honor.[44] Despite saying he favored
peace, Tojo had often declared at cabinet meetings that
any withdrawal from French Indochina and/or China
would be damaging to military morale and might
threaten the kokutai; the "China Incident" could not be
resolved via diplomacy and required a military solution;
and attempting to compromise with the Americans
would be seen as weakness by them. On October 16,
Konoe, politically isolated and convinced that the
Emperor no longer trusted him, resigned.
At the time, Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni was said to be
the only person who could control the Army and the
Navy and was recommended by Konoe and Tojo as
Konoe's replacement. Hirohito rejected this option,
arguing that a member of the imperial family should not
have to eventually carry the responsibility for a war
against the West as a defeat would ruin the prestige of
the House of Yamato. By tradition, the Emperor needed a
consensus among the elder statesmen or "jushin" before
appointing a prime minister, and as long as former Prime
Minister Admiral Keisuke Okada was opposed to Tojo, it
would be impolitic for the Emperor to appoint him.
During the meetings of the jushin regarding Prince
Konoe's succession, Okada argued against Tojo's
appointment while the powerful Lord Privy Seal Kōichi
Kido pushed for Tojo. The result was a compromise
where Tojo would become Prime Minister while "re-
examining" the options for dealing with the crisis with
the United States, though no promise was made Tojo
would attempt to avoid a war.
After being informed of Tojo's appointment, Prince
Takamatsu wrote in his diary: "We have finally
committed to war and now must do all we can to launch
it powerfully. But we have clumsily telegraphed our
intentions. We needn't have signaled what we're going
to do; having [the entire Konoe cabinet] resign was too
much. As matters stand now we can merely keep silent
and without the least effort war will begin." [51]
And in this Way Hideki Tojo had become the Prime
Minister. This was the changing point of his life this
defined the rise of Hideki Tojo.

Part V – Soviet – Japan Conflict

Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931,
violations of the vaguely defined Manchukuo,
the Mongolia and the Soviet Union border were
frequent. Most of these were misunderstandings, but
some were intentional acts of espionage. According to
the Imperial Japanese Army, between 1932 and 1934,
152 border disputes occurred, largely because the
Soviets found it necessary to gather intelligence
inside Manchuria. For their part, the Soviets blamed the
Japanese for 15 cases of border violation, 6 air intrusions,
and 20 episodes of "spy smuggling" in 1933 alone.
Hundreds more violations were reported by both sides
throughout the following years. To make matters worse,
Soviet-Japanese diplomacy and trust had declined even
further in these years, with the Japanese being openly
called "fascist enemies" at the Seventh Comintern
Congress in July 1935. [52]
There were many small clashes from 1935 to 1937, but
the real two battles were yet to come. The First one was
Battle of Lake Khasan.
On 6 July 1938, the Japanese Kwantung Army decoded a
message sent by the Soviet commander in
the Posyet region to Soviet headquarters in Khabarovsk.
The message recommended that Soviet soldiers be
allowed to secure unoccupied high ground west of Lake
Khasan, most notably the disputed Changkufeng Heights,
because it would be advantageous for the Soviets to
occupy terrain which overlooked the Korean port-city
of Rajin, as well as strategic railways linking Korea to
Manchuria. In the next two weeks, small groups of Soviet
border troops moved into the area and began fortifying
the mountain with emplacements, observation trenches,
entanglements and communication facilities.
At first, the Japanese Korean Army, which had been
assigned to defend the area, disregarded the Soviet
advance. However, the Kwantung Army, whose
administrative jurisdiction overlapped Changkufeng,
pushed the Korean Army to take more action, because it
was suspicious of Soviet intentions. Following this, the
Korean Army took the matter to Tokyo, recommending
that a formal protest be sent to the Soviet Union. The
conflict started on 15 July, when the
Japanese attaché in Moscow demanded the removal of
Soviet border troops from the Bezymyannaya and
Zaozyornaya Hills to the west of Lake Khasan in the south
of Primorye not far from Vladivostok, claiming this
territory by the Soviet–Korea border; the demand was
rejected.[53]
Timeline of Battle:
 14th July 1938 - Japanese diplomats in Moscow,
Russia demanded that Russian troops be removed
from Bezymyannaya (Shachaofeng) and Zaozernaya
(Changkufeng), west of Lake Khasan and Vladivostok
in a contested region on the northeastern Chinese
border. The Soviets rejected Japanese demands,
citing Japanese violation of the First Convention of
Peking of 1860 by occupying Chinese territory.
  29th July 1938 – Japanese and Russian troops clashed
on the border region between Manchukuo and
Russia, starting the Battle of Lake Khasan.
 31st July 1938 – Japanese 19th Division and
Manchukuo puppet units defeated the Soviet 39th
Rifle Corps during a night battle during the Battle of
Lake Khasan.
 2nd August 1938 – Soviet reinforcements arrived in
the Lake Khasan region where Soviet and Japanese
troops had engaged in battle for the few days.
 9th August 1938 - Soviet troops drove Japanese out
of the Lake Khasan region on the northeastern
Chinese border.
 11th August 1938 - The Battle of Lake Khasan ended
indecisively. During this battle, 717 Soviet troops
were killed, 75 were missing, and 2,752 were
wounded. 526 Japanese and Manchukuo troops
were killed and 916 were wounded.[54]
The next Major Battle was which was even stronger and
fierce than this was the battle of Khalkhin Gol. It wasn’t
one exact battle but a series of battles.
Timeline of Battle:
 11th May 1939 - Small Mongolian and Manchukuo
cavalry units clashed near the village of Nomonhan
in the border region.
 13th May 1939 - Mongolian cavalry forces occupied
the area near Nomonhan, Mongolia Area, China.
 14th May 1939 - Two regiments of Japanese 23rd
Division drove off Mongolian troops in the
Nomonhan area in the Mongolia Area of China.
 28th May 1939 - A combined Soviet and Mongolian
force, having surrounded a two-regiment Japanese
force near Nomonhan in Mongolia Area of China
days earlier, wiped out the Japanese.
 5th June 1939 - Corps commander Lieutenant
General Georgy Zhukov arrived in the Mongolia Area
of China, bringing reinforcement of armored cars,
light tanks, and aircraft.


 27th June 1939 - Aircraft of Japanese Army 2nd Air

Brigade attacked the Soviet airfield at Tamsagbulag,
Mongolia Area, China. Both sides lost several
aircraft.
 2nd July 1939 - The southern prong of the Japanese
offensive in Mongolia Area of China commenced.
 5th July 1939 - Georgy Zhukov's counterattack forced
the northern prong of the Japanese offensive to
retreat across river Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia Area of
China.
 9th July 1939 - A Soviet counterattack defeated the
southern prong of the Japanese offensive in the
Mongolia Area of China.
 23rd July 1939 - Japanese artillery bombarded Soviet
positions at the Kawatama Bridge in Mongolia Area
of China while infantry units launched small scale
attacks.
 24th July 1939 - Japanese artillery bombarded Soviet
positions at the Kawatama Bridge in Mongolia Area
of China while infantry units launched small scale
attacks.
 25th July 1939 - Japanese 64th Infantry Regiment and
72nd Infantry Regiment launched a failed main
attack on Soviet forces defending the Kawatama
Bridge in Mongolia Area of China.
  20th August 1939 - Georgy Zhukov commenced a
large-scale surprise offensive against Japanese forces
in the Mongolia Area of China.
 25th August 1939 - Soviet forces linked up at
Nomonhan, Mongolia Area, China, enveloping
Japanese 23rd Infantry Division.
 26th August 1939 - A Japanese attack failed to break
the Soviet envelopment at Nomonhan, Mongolia
Area, China.
 27th August 1939 - Japanese 23rd Infantry Division
attempted and failed to break out of the encircled
village of Nomonhan, Mongolia Area, China.
 31st August 1939 - Japanese 23rd Infantry Division
was effectively wiped out at Nomonhan, Mongolia
Area, China.
 15th September 1939 - Soviet Union and Japan
signed a ceasefire in Moscow, Russia, ending the
Battle of Khalkhin Gol.[55]
On 13th April 1941 USSR and Japan signed the ‘Soviet-
Japan Neutrality Pact’ making them neutral towards each
other and fought wars against each other’s allies, but
during the last phase of Second World War, the Soviets
scrapped the pact and attacked Japan.

Chapter 4 – Burning Stones of Europe

The Austrian Nazi Party failed to win any seats in
the November 1930 general election, but its popularity
grew in Austria after Hitler came to power in Germany.
The idea of the country joining Germany also grew in
popularity, thanks in part to a Nazi propaganda campaign
which used slogans such as “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein
Führer” ("One People, One Empire, One Leader") to try
to convince Austrians to advocate for an Anschluss
[Merge] to the German Reich.
In 1935 Kurt Schuschnigg used the police to suppress
Nazi supporters. Police actions under Schuschnigg
included gathering Nazis (and Social Democrats) and
holding them in internment camps. The Austrofascism
[Fatherland Front] of Austria between 1934–1938
focused on the history of Austria and opposed the
absorption of Austria into Nazi Germany (according to
the philosophy Austrians were "superior Germans").By
1936 the damage to Austria from the German boycott
was too great. That summer Schuschnigg told Mussolini
that his country had to come to an agreement with
Germany. On 11 July 1936 he signed an agreement with
German ambassador Franz von Papen, in which
Schuschnigg agreed to the release of Nazis imprisoned in
Austria and Germany promised to respect Austrian
sovereignty. Under the terms of the Austro-German
treaty, Austria declared itself a "German state" that
would always follow Germany's lead in foreign policy,
and members of the "National Opposition" were allowed
to enter the cabinet, in exchange for which the Austrian
Nazis promised to cease their terrorist attacks against
the government. This did not satisfy Hitler and the pro-
German Austrian Nazis grew in strength.
In September 1936, Hitler launched the Four-Year
Plan that called for a dramatic increase in military
spending and to make Germany as autarkic as possible
with the aim of having the Reich ready to fight a world
war by 1940. The Four Year Plan required huge
investments in the Reichswerke steel works, a program
for developing synthetic oil that soon went wildly over
budget, and programs for producing more chemicals and
aluminum; the plan called for a policy of substituting
imports and rationalizing industry to achieve its goals
that failed completely. As the Four Year Plan fell further
and further behind its targets, Hermann Göring, the chief
of the Four Year Plan office, began to press for an
Anschluss as a way of securing Austria's iron and other
raw materials as a solution to the problems with the Four
Year Plan. Göring was far more interested in the return
of the former German colonies in Africa than was Hitler,
believed up to 1939 in the possibility of an Anglo-German
alliance (an idea that Hitler had abandoned by late 1937),
and wanted all Eastern Europe in the German
economic sphere of influence. Göring did not share
Hitler's interest in Lebensraum("living space") as for him,
merely having Eastern Europe in the German economic
sphere of influence was sufficient. In this context, having
Austria annexed to Germany was the key towards
bringing Eastern Europe into Göring's
desired Grossraumwirtschaft ("greater economic
space").Faced with problems in the Four Year Plan,
Göring had become the loudest voice in Germany, calling
for an Anschluss, even at the risk of losing an alliance
with Italy. In April 1937, in a secret speech before a
group of German industrialists, Göring stated that the
only solution to the problems with meeting the steel
production targets laid out by the Four Year Plan was to
annex Austria, which Göring noted was rich in iron.
Göring did not give a date for the Anschluss, but given
that Four Year Plan's targets all had to be met by
September 1940, and the current problems with meeting
the steel production targets, suggested that he wanted
an Anschluss in the very near-future. [57]
Hitler told Goebbels in the late summer of 1937 that
eventually Austria would have to be taken "by force". On
5 November 1937, Hitler called a meeting with the
Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, the War
Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the Army
commander General Werner von Fritsch,
the Kriegsmarine commander Admiral Erich Raeder and
the Luftwaffe commander Herman Göring recorded in
the Hossbach Memorandum. At the conference, Hitler
stated that economic problems were causing Germany to
fall behind in the arms race with Britain and France, and
that the only solution was to launch in the near-future a
series of wars to seize Austria and Czechoslovakia, whose
economy shall be used to make Germany more stronger.
On 25 January 1938, the Austrian police raided the
Vienna headquarters of the Austrian Nazi Party,
arresting Gauleiter Leopold Tavs, the deputy to Captain
Josef Leopold, discovered a cache of arms and plans for a
putsch. Following increasing violence and demands from
Hitler that Austria must agree to a union, Schuschnigg
met Hitler at Berchtesgaden on 12 February 1938, in an
attempt to avoid the takeover of Austria. Hitler
presented Schuschnigg with a set of demands that
included appointing Nazi sympathizers to positions of
power in the government. The key appointment was that
of Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Minister of Public Security,
with full, unlimited control of the police. In return Hitler
would publicly reaffirm the treaty of 11 July 1936 and
reaffirm his support for Austria's national sovereignty.
Browbeaten and threatened by Hitler, Schuschnigg
agreed to these demands and put them into effect.
Seyss-Inquart was a long-time supporter of the Nazis
who sought the union of all Germans in one state.
Leopold argues he was a moderate who favoured an
evolutionary approach to union. He opposed the violent
tactics of the Austrian Nazis, cooperated with Catholic
groups, and wanted to preserve a measure of Austrian
identity within Nazi Germany. On 20 February, Hitler
made a speech before the Reichstag which was
broadcast live and which for the first time was relayed
also by the Austrian radio network. A key phrase in the
speech which was aimed at the Germans living in Austria
and Czechoslovakia was: "The German Reich is no longer
willing to tolerate the suppression of ten million
Germans across its borders. [57]
On 9 March 1938, in the face of rioting by the small, but
virulent, Austrian Nazi Party and ever-expanding German
demands on Austria, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg called
a referendum (plebiscite) on the issue, to be held on 13
March. Infuriated, on 11 March, Adolf Hitler threatened
invasion of Austria, and demanded Chancellor von
Schuschnigg's resignation and the appointment of the
Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as his replacement. Hitler's
plan was for Seyss-Inquart to call immediately for
German troops to rush to Austria's aid, restoring order
and giving the invasion an air of legitimacy. In the face of
this threat, Schuschnigg informed Seyss-Inquart that the
plebiscite would be cancelled. To secure a large majority
in the referendum, Schuschnigg dismantled the one-
party state. He agreed to legalize the Social
Democrats and their trade unions in return for their
support in the referendum.=He also set the minimum
voting age at 24 to exclude younger voters because the
Nazi movement was most popular among the young. In
contrast, Hitler had lowered the voting age for German
elections held under Nazi rule. The plan went awry when
it became apparent that Hitler would not stand by while
Austria declared its independence by public vote. Hitler
declared that the referendum would be subject to major
fraud and that Germany would never accept it. In
addition, the German ministry of propaganda issued
press reports that riots had broken out in Austria and
that large parts of the Austrian population were calling
for German troops to restore order. Schuschnigg
immediately responded that reports of riots were false.
[58]

Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March,

demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian
Nazis or face an invasion. The ultimatum was set to
expire at noon, but was extended by two hours. Without
waiting for an answer, Hitler had already signed the
order to send troops into Austria at one o'clock.
Schuschnigg desperately sought support for Austrian
independence in the hours following the ultimatum.
Realizing that neither France nor Britain was willing to
offer assistance, Schuschnigg resigned on the evening of
11 March, but President Wilhelm Miklas refused to
appoint Seyss-Inquart as Chancellor. At 8:45 pm, Hitler,
tired of waiting, ordered the invasion to commence at
dawn on 12 March regardless. Around 10 pm, a forged
telegram was sent in Seyss-Inquart's name asking for
German troops, since he was not yet Chancellor and was
unable to do so himself. Seyss-Inquart was not installed
as Chancellor until after midnight, when Miklas resigned
himself to the inevitable. In the radio broadcast in which
he announced his resignation, he argued that he
accepted the changes and allowed the Nazis to take over
the government 'to avoid the shedding of fraternal blood
[Bruderblut]'. Seyss-Inquart was appointed chancellor
after midnight on 12 March. [58]
On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the
German Wehrmacht [army] crossed the border into
Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians
with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. [59]
That afternoon, Hitler, riding in a car, crossed the border
at his birthplace, Braunau am Inn, with a 4,000 man
bodyguard. In the evening, he arrived at Linz and was
given an enthusiastic welcome. The enthusiasm
displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both
Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people had believed that a
majority of Austrians opposed Anschluss. Many Germans
from both Austria and Germany welcomed
the Anschluss as they saw it as completing the complex
and long overdue German unification of all Germans
united into one state. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart
announced the abrogation of Article 88 of the Treaty of
Saint-Germain, which prohibited the unification of
Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of
the Austrian states with Reichsgaue. Hitler's journey
through Austria became a triumphal tour that climaxed
in Vienna on 15 March 1938, when around 200,000
cheering German Austrians gathered around
the Heldenplatz (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler say that
"The oldest eastern province of the German people shall
be, from this point on, the newest bastion of the German
Reich". [60]
Austria was annexed and allied intervention would have
just embarrassed Britain or France. So on that moment
the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain used the
technique of ‘little response’ means ‘appeasement’.
Appeasement in an international context is a diplomatic
policy of making political or material concessions to an
aggressive power in order to avoid conflict. [61] Sudeten
German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein offered
the Sudeten German Party (SdP) as the agent for Hitler's
campaign. Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March
1938, where he was instructed to raise demands
unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government led by
President Edvard Beneš. On 24 April, the SdP issued
the Karlsbader Programm, demanding autonomy for the
Sudetenland and the freedom to profess National
Socialist ideology. [62]
As the tepid reaction to the German Anschluss with
Austria had shown, the governments of France, the
United Kingdom and Czechoslovakia were set on avoiding
war at any cost. The French government did not wish to
face Germany alone and took its lead from the British
government and its prime minister, Neville Chamberlain.
Chamberlain contended that Sudeten German grievances
were justified and believed that Hitler's intentions were
limited. Britain and France, therefore, advised
Czechoslovakia to concede to the German demands. [61]
Beneš, the then President of Czechoslovakia resisted the
German demands.
On 30 May, Hitler signed a secret directive for war
against Czechoslovakia to begin no later than 1 October.
In the meantime, the British government demanded that
Beneš request a mediator. Not wishing to sever his
government's ties with Western Europe, Beneš
reluctantly accepted. The British appointed Lord
Runciman and instructed him to persuade Beneš to agree
to a plan acceptable to the Sudeten Germans. On 2
September, Beneš submitted the Fourth Plan, granting
nearly all the demands of the Karlsbader Programm.
Intent on obstructing conciliation, however, the SdP held
demonstrations that provoked police action
in Ostrava on 7 September. The Sudeten Germans broke
off negotiations on 13 September, after which violence
and disruption ensued. As Czechoslovak troops
attempted to restore order, Henlein flew to Germany,
and on 15 September issued a proclamation demanding
the takeover of the Sudetenland by Germany. On the
same day, Hitler met with Chamberlain and demanded
the swift takeover of the Sudetenland by the Third
Reich under threat of war. The Czechs, Hitler claimed,
were slaughtering the Sudeten Germans. Chamberlain
referred the demand to the British and French
governments; both accepted. The Czechoslovak
government resisted, arguing that Hitler's proposal
would ruin the nation's economy and lead ultimately to
German control of all of Czechoslovakia. The United
Kingdom and France issued an ultimatum, making a
French commitment to Czechoslovakia contingent upon
acceptance. On 21 September, Czechoslovakia
capitulated. The next day, however, Hitler added new
demands, insisting that the claims of Poland and Hungary
also be satisfied. Romania was also invited to share in the
division of Carpathian Ruthenia, but refused, because of
being an ally of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak
capitulation precipitated an outburst of national
indignation. In demonstrations and rallies, Czechs and
Slovaks called for a strong military government to defend
the integrity of the state. A new cabinet—under
General Jan Syrový—was installed, and on 23 September
1938 a decree of general mobilization was issued. The
Czechoslovak army—modern and possessing an
excellent system of frontier fortifications—was prepared
to fight. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to
come to Czechoslovakia's assistance. Beneš, however,
refused to go to war without the support of the Western
powers. [63]
Hitler gave a speech in Berlin on 26 September 1938 and
declared that the Sudetenland was "the last territorial
demand I have to make in Europe”. He also stated that
he had told Chamberlain, "I have assured him further
that, and this I repeat here before you, once this issue
has been resolved, there will no longer be any further
territorial problems for Germany in Europe!"
On 28 September, Chamberlain appealed to Hitler for a
conference. Hitler met the next day, at Munich, with the
chiefs of governments of France, Italy and Britain. The
Czechoslovak government was neither invited nor
consulted. On 29 September, the Munich Agreement was
signed by Germany, Italy, France, and Britain. The
Czechoslovak government capitulated on 30 September
and agreed to abide by the agreement. The Munich
Agreement stipulated that Czechoslovakia must cede
Sudeten territory to Germany. German occupation of the
Sudetenland would be completed by 10 October. An
international commission representing Germany, Britain,
France, Italy, and Czechoslovakia would supervise a
plebiscite to determine the final frontier. Britain and
France promised to join in an international guarantee of
the new frontiers against unprovoked aggression.
Germany and Italy, however, would not join in the
guarantee until the Polish and Hungarian minority
problems were settled. [64]
In early November 1938, under the First Vienna Award,
which was a result of the Munich agreement,
Czechoslovakia — it had failed to reach a compromise
with Hungary and Poland, had to cede after the
arbitration of Germany and Italy southern Slovakia and
Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary, while Poland invaded
Zaolzie territory shortly after. As a
result, Bohemia, and Silesia lost about 38% of their
combined area to Germany, with some 3.2 million
German and 750,000 Czech inhabitants. Hungary, in turn,
received 11,882 km2 (4,588 sq miles) in southern Slovakia
and southern Carpathian Ruthenia; according to a 1941
census, about 86.5% of the population in this territory
was Hungarian. Meanwhile, Poland annexed the town
of Český Těšín with the surrounding area (some
906 km2 (350 sq mi)), some 250,000 inhabitants, Poles
making up about 36% of population, and two minor
border areas in northern Slovakia, more precisely in the
regions Spiš and Orava. Soon after Munich, 115,000
Czechs and 30,000 Germans fled to the remaining rump
of Czechoslovakia. According to the Institute for Refugee
Assistance, the actual count of refugees on 1 March 1939
stood at almost 150,000. On 4 December 1938, there
were elections in Reichsgau Sudetenland, in which
97.32% of the adult population voted for the National
Socialist Party. About 500,000 Sudeten Germans joined
the National Socialist Party, which was 17.34% of the
German population in Sudetenland (the average National
Socialist Party participation in Nazi Germany was 7.85%).
This means the Sudetenland was the most pro-Nazi
region in the Third Reich. Because of their knowledge of
the Czech language, many Sudeten Germans were
employed in the administration of the Protectorate of
Bohemia and Moravia and in Nazi organizations such as
the Gestapo. The most notable was Karl Hermann Frank,
the SS and police general and Secretary of State in the
Protectorate. [64]

Albania had long been of considerable strategic

importance to the Kingdom of Italy. Italian naval
strategists coveted the port of Vlorë and the island
of Sazan at the entrance to the Bay of Vlorë, as they
would give Italy control of the entrance to the Adriatic
Sea, and suitable base for military operations in
the Balkans. In the late Ottoman period, with a de-
emphasis of Islam, the Albanian nationalist
movement gained the strong support of two Adriatic sea
powers Austria-Hungary and Italy who were concerned
about pan-Slavism in the wider Balkans and Anglo-French
hegemony purportedly represented through Greece in
the area. Before World War I Italy and Austria-
Hungary had been supportive to the creation of an
independent Albanian state. At the outbreak of the war,
Italy had seized the chance to occupy the southern half
of Albania, to avoid it being captured by the Austro-
Hungarians. That success did not last long, as Albanian
resistance during the subsequent Vlora Warand post-war
domestic problems forced Italy to pull out in 1920. The
desire to compensate for this failure would be one of
Mussolini's major motives in invading Albania. Albania
was important culturally and historically to the
nationalist aims of the Italian Fascists, as the territory of
Albania had long been part of the Roman Empire, even
prior to the annexation of northern Italy by the Romans.
Later, during the High Middle Ages, some coastal areas
(like Durazzo) had been influenced and owned by Italian
powers, chiefly theKingdom of Naples and the Republic
of Venice for many years (cf. Albania Veneta). The Italian
Fascist regime legitimized its claim to Albania through
studies proclaiming the racial affinity of Albanians and
Italians, especially as opposed to the Slavic
Yugoslavs. Italian Fascists claimed that Albanians were
linked through ethnic heritage to Italians due to links
between the prehistoric italiotes, Roman and Illyrian
populations, and that the major influence exhibited by
the Roman and Venetian empires over Albania justified
Italy's right to possess it. When Mussolini took power in
Italy he turned with renewed interest to Albania. Italy
began penetration of Albania's economy in 1925, when
Albania agreed to allow Italy to exploit its mineral
resources. That was followed by the First Treaty of Tirana
in 1926 and the Second Treaty of Tirana in 1927,
whereby Italy and Albania entered into a defensive
alliance. Among other things the Albanian government
and economy were subsidized by Italian loans and
the Royal Albanian Army was not only trained by Italian
military instructors, but most officers in the army were
Italians; other Italians were highly placed in the Albanian
government. A third of Albanian imports came from Italy.
Despite strong Italian influence, King Zog I refused to give
in completely, to the Italian pressure. In 1931 he stood
up openly to the Italians, refusing to renew the 1926
Treaty of Tirana. After Albania signed trade agreements
with Yugoslavia and Greece in 1934, Mussolini made a
failed attempt to intimidate the Albanians by sending a
fleet of warships to Albania. [65]
After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia (March 15, 1939)
without notifying Mussolini in advance, the Italian
dictator decided to proceed with his own annexation of
Albania. Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III criticized the
plan to take Albania as a great unnecessary risk for an
almost negligible gain. Rome, however, delivered Tirana
an ultimatum on March 25, 1939, demanding that it
consent to Italy's occupation of Albania. Zog refused to
accept money in exchange for allowing a full Italian
takeover and colonization of Albania. The Albanian
government tried to keep secret the news of the Italian
ultimatum. While Radio Tirana persistently broadcast
that nothing was happening, people became suspicious;
and the news of the Italian ultimatum was spread from
unofficial sources. On April 5 the king's son was born and
the news was announced by cannons. People poured out
into the streets alarmed, but the news of the newborn
prince calmed them. People were suspicious that
something else was going on, which led to an anti-Italian
demonstration in Tirana the same day. On 6 April there
were several demonstrations in Albania's main cities.
That same afternoon, 100 Italian aircraft flew over
Tirana, Durrës, and Vlorë, dropping leaflets instructing
the people to submit to Italian occupation. The people
were infuriated by this demonstration of force and called
for the government to resist and to release the Albanians
arrested as "communists". The crowd shouted, "Give us
arms! We are being sold out! We are being betrayed!"
While a mobilization of the reserves was called, many
high-ranking officers left the country. The government
began to dissolve. The Minister of the Interior, Musa
Juka, left the country for Yugoslavia the same day. While
King Zog announced to the nation that he would resist
Italian occupation, people felt that they were being
abandoned by their government. [66]
The original Italian plans for the invasion called for up to
50,000 men supported by 51 naval units and 400
airplanes. Ultimately the invasion force grew to 100,000
men supported by 600 airplanes, but only 22,000 took
part in the invasion. On April 7 Mussolini's troops, led by
General Alfredo Guzzoni, invaded Albania, attacking all
Albanian ports simultaneously. The Italian naval forces
involved in the invasion consisted of the battleships
Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour, three heavy cruisers,
three light cruisers, nine destroyers, fourteen torpedo
boats, one minelayer, ten auxiliary ships and nine
transport ships. The ships were divided into four groups,
that carried out landings in Vlore, Durres, Shengjin and
Sarande, including the concession there given to
Romania in 1934. However, the Romanian Royal Army
was never deployed to the area and it was conquered by
Italy, along with the rest of Albania, during the invasion.
On the other side the regular Albanian army had 15,000
poorly equipped troops who had been trained by Italian
officers. King Zog's plan was to mount a resistance in the
mountains, leaving the ports and main cities
undefended; but Italian agents placed in Albania as
military instructors sabotaged this plan. The Albanians
discovered that artillery pieces had been disabled and
there was no ammunition. As a consequence, the main
resistance was offered by the Royal Albanian
Gendarmerie and small groups of patriots.
In Durrës, a force of 500 Albanians, including gendarmes
and armed volunteers, led by Major Abaz Kupi (the
commander of the gendarmerie in Durrës), and Mujo
Ulqinaku, a naval sergeant, tried to halt the Italian
advance. Equipped with small arms and three machine
guns and supported by a coastal battery, the defenders
resisted for a few hours before being overcome with the
help of naval gunfire. The Royal Albanian Navy stationed
in Durrës consisted of four patrol boats (each armed with
a machine gun) and a coastal battery with four 75 mm
guns, the latter also being involved in the fighting. Mujo
Ulqinaku, the commander of the patrol boat Tiranë, used
his machine gun to kill and wound many Italian troops
until himself being killed by an artillery shell from an
Italian warship. Eventually, a large number of light tanks
were unloaded from the Italian ships. After that,
resistance began to crumble, and within five hours the
Italians had captured the city.
By 1:30 pm on the first day, all Albanian ports were in
Italian hands. That same day King Zog, his wife,
Queen Geraldine Apponyi, and their infant son Leka fled
to Greece, taking with them part of the gold reserves of
the Albanian Central Bank. On hearing the news, an
angry mob attacked the prisons, liberated the prisoners
and sacked the King's residence. At 9:30 am on April 8,
Italian troops entered Tirana and quickly captured all
government buildings. Italian columns of soldiers then
marched to Shkodër, Fier and Elbasan. Shkodër
surrendered in the evening after 12 hours of fighting.
However, two officers garrisoned at Rozafa castle
refused to obey the ceasefire order and continued to
fight until they ran out of ammunition. The Italian troops
later paid homage to the Albanian troops in Shkodër who
had halted their advance for an entire day. During the
Italian advance in Shkodër the mob besieged the prison
and liberated some 200 prisoners.
On April 12, the Albanian parliament voted to depose
Zog and unite the nation with Italy "in personal union" by
offering the Albanian crown to Italy's King Victor
Emmanuel III. The parliament elected Albania's largest
landowner, Shefqet Vërlaci, as Prime Minister. Vërlaci
served as interim head of state for five days until Victor
Emmanuel III formally accepted the Albanian crown in a
ceremony at the Quirinale palace in Rome. Victor
Emmanuel III appointed Francesco Jacomoni di San
Savino, a former ambassador to Albania, to represent
him in Albania as "Lieutenant-General of the King"
(effectively a viceroy). [67]
Although all of Germany's stated demands had been
satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious
that British interference had prevented him from seizing
all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent
speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-
mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major
build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval
supremacy. In March 1939,Germany invaded the
remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it
into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia and a pro-German client state, the Slovak
Republic. Hitler also delivered 20 March 1939 ultimatum
to Lithuania, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda
Region, formerly the German Memelland. [68]
Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands
on the Free City of Danzig, the United Kingdom and
France guaranteed their support for Polish
independence; when Italy conquered Albania in April
1939, the same guarantee was extended to Romania
and Greece.[69] On 22nd May 1939, Germany and Italy
signed the Pact of Steel. The pact was initially drafted as
a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy and
Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be
aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted it
aimed at the British Empire and France. Due to this
disagreement, the pact was signed without Japan and
became an agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi
Germany, signed on 22 May 1939 by foreign
ministers Galeazzo Ciano of Italy and Joachim von
Ribbentrop of Germany. The pact consisted of two parts.
The first section was an open declaration of continuing
trust and co-operation between Germany and Italy. The
second section, the "Secret Supplementary Protocol",
encouraged a union of policies concerning the military
and the economy. [70]
Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying
to "encircle" Germany and renounced the Anglo-German
Naval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-
Aggression Pact. The situation reached a general crisis in
late August as German troops continued to mobilize
against the Polish border. On 23 August, when tripartite
negotiations about a military alliance between France,
the United Kingdom and Soviet Union stalled, the Soviet
Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany. This
pact had a secret protocol that defined German and
Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and
Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland,
Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet
Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish
independence. The pact neutralized the possibility of
Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and
assured that Germany would not have to face the
prospect of a two-front war, as it had in World War I.
Immediately after that, Hitler ordered the attack to
proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United
Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact
with Poland, and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he
decided to delay it. In response to British requests for
direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made
demands on Poland, which only served as a pretext to
worsen relations. On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a
Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to
negotiate the handover of Danzig, and to allow
a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German
minority would vote on secession. The Poles refused to
comply with the German demands, and on the night of
30–31 August in a stormy meeting with the British
ambassador Neville Henderson, Ribbentrop declared that
Germany considered its claims rejected. [71]
On 27th September 1940, the Globe was at a World War
and Axis was expanding, but a show of its unity was
required and so was signed the Tripartite Pact. Germany,
Italy and Japan first signed it followed by signatures of
Hungary, Romania, Slovak Republic, Bulgaria and
Yugoslavia. After Yugoslavia signed it, many protested
started and within 2 days of signature, Yugoslavia was
dissolved and the new nations from which Croatia signed
it. [72] There were more three potential nations who
would have signed the pact and they were USSR, Finland
and Thailand. After signing the Anti-Comintern Pact in
1936, Germany was well determined on not allowing any
communist alignment. So USSR’s request to join the
Tripartite Pact was rejected. Germany had offered
Finland to join Tripartite Pact, but Finland’s Government
felt that its war was separate than World War Two, but
Finland had signed the Anti-Comintern Pact. Lastly Japan
who wanted access to Indian Sub-continent was at war
with Thailand and later Japan informed the Thailand’s
government that Japan wanted access to Indian Sub-
continent and hence Thailand’s government was given
four options:
1] To conclude the war with a Defensive-Offensive
alliance with Japan.
2] To join the Tripartite Pact.
3] To Co-Operate in Japanese Military Operations.
4] To agree to Joint Defense of Thailand.
Thailand’s Government had chosen Third option and
hence didn’t join the Tripartite Pact. [73]
So now we can officially conclude the Chapter here and
move to the next one.
 Part VI: Rise of INA
Indian National Army [INA] was one of the key players in
Indian Independence as well as Axis Powers. Likewise
you read about Netaji’s House arrest in 2nd Chapter’s
Fourth Part, now his life’s true journey starts here. A few
days before his escape, he sought solitude and, on this
pretext, avoided meeting British guards and grew a
beard. Late night 16 January 1941, the night of his
escape, he dressed as a Pathan (brown long coat, a black
fez-type coat and broad pyjamas) to avoid being
identified. Bose escaped from under British surveillance
from his Elgin Road house in Calcutta on the night of 17
January 1941, accompanied by his nephew Sisir Kumar
Bose, later reaching Gomoh Railway Station in the then
state of Bihar, India. [1][2][3][4] From the station via a train,
he traveled to Peshawar where he was met by Akbar
Shah, Mohammed Shah and Bhagat Ram Talwar. Bose
was taken to the home of Abad Khan, a trusted friend of
Akbar Shah's. On 26 January 1941, Bose began his
journey to reach Russia through British India's North
West frontier Province which had Border with
Afghanistan. For this reason, he enlisted the help of Mian
Akbar Shah, then a Forward Bloc leader in the North-
West Frontier Province. Shah had been out of India en
route to the Soviet Union, and suggested a novel disguise
for Bose to assume. Since Bose could not speak one word
of Pashto, it would make him an easy target of Pashto
speakers working for the British. For this reason, Shah
suggested that Bose act deaf and dumb, and let his beard
grow to mimic those of the tribesmen. Bose's guide
Bhagat Ram Talwar, unknown to him, was a spy for at
least four nations namely USSR, Germany, Italy, Japan,
British India. [3][4][5][6] In Afghanistan the Soviet spies were
keeping eye on Netaji. USSR’s embassy in Afghanistan
refused to give asylum to Netaji in USSR as Netaji had
once said that “India won’t accept Communism and
Socialism”. [7]
Seeing the Soviets rejecting to give asylum and threat of
British Spies was not helping Netaji. So then Netaji went
to German embassy in Afghanistan from there to Italian
Embassy and once the axis had given him the asylum
then he was given the fake identity of Count Orlando
Mazzotta. When Netaji reached in Russia the German
ambassador there who was Count von der Schulenburg.
Count von der Schulenburg via a courier plane
transported Netaji to Berlin. In Germany, he was
attached to the Special Bureau for India under Adam von
Trott zu Solz which was responsible for broadcasting on
the German-sponsored Azad Hind Radio. He founded the
Free India Center in Berlin, and created the Indian
Legion (consisting of some 4500 soldiers) out of Indian
prisoners of war who had previously fought for the
British in North Africa prior to their capture by Axis
forces. Netaji wanted an army of just 60,000 Indians and
he was assure that this army once enters India the British
Indian army’s Indians would join INA and India would be
liberated. On 12th May 1942 Netaji met Adolf Hitler and
most of the dialogue happened and with Germany
declaring war on USSR Netaji’s plans were taken down.
Hitler suggested Netaji to go to Japan and Hitler told that
a Submarine would take Netaji to Japan. After talking to
the Japanese Ambassador in Japanese Embassy in Berlin,
Netaji went to Singapore with the German Submarine
which landed Many Kilometers away from Madagascar
and from there with a Japanese Vessel, Netaji landed on
Singapore. From Singapore rerouted to Tokyo and met
there Hideki Tojo, In July, at a meeting in Singapore, Rash
Behari Bose handed over control of the organization to
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose was able to reorganize
the fledgling army and organize massive support among
the expatriate Indian population in south-east Asia, who
lent their support by both enlisting in the Indian National
Army, as well as financially in response to Bose's calls for
sacrifice for the independence cause. INA had a separate
women's unit, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment (named after
Rani Lakshmi Bai) headed by Capt. Lakshmi
Swaminathan, which is seen as a first of its kind in Asia.
Even when faced with military reverses, Bose was able to
maintain support for the Azad Hind movement. Spoken
as a part of a motivational speech for the Indian National
Army at a rally of Indians in Burma on 4 July 1944, Bose's
most famous quote was "Give me blood, and I shall give
you freedom!" In this, he urged the people of India to
join him in his fight against the British Raj. [82][83] And now
started the INA’s Campaigns. INA fought the following
battles:

 Battle of Ngakyedauk
 Battle of Imphal
 Battle of Pokoku
  Battle of Central Burma

So First we have Battle of Admin Box, also known as

Battle of Ngakyedauk.
During 1941 and early 1942, the Japanese army had
driven Allied troops (British Indian and Chinese) from
Burma. During 1943, the Allies had tried a limited
offensive into Arakan, the coastal province of Burma. The
aim had been to secure Akyab Island at the end of the
Mayu Peninsula. The island possessed an important
airfield, from which the Japanese Army Air Force had
launched raids on Calcutta and other Indian cities, and
which also featured prominently in Allied plans to
recapture Burma. The Battle lasted long for a month with
Japanese and INA’s victory at start, but later in the Battle
the allies used their Indian resources and won the battle.
The Battle of Imphal also didn’t go INA’s way victories at
start and lack of resources making many die and finally
leading to loss.

Battle of Pokoku was a major battle from February till

May 1943 which like other battles was good for Axis at
start, but failed at end due to lack of supplies an
importantly the battle of Central Burma which was the
longest war INA fought also couldn’t help much as
ultimately INA lost. But the positive side was nearly half
of Burma was captured by INA. After Japanese surrender
the situation worsen. [84][85][86][87][88]

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71. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of_Steel [Wikipedia: Pact of Steel]

72. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II#European_occupations_and_agreements [Wikipedia:

World War II - Pre-war Events – European Occupations and agreements]

73. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact#Finland [Wikipedia: Tripartite Pact]

74. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact#Potential_signatories [Wikipedia: Tripartite Pact –

Potential Members]

75. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#cite_note-FOOTNOTELoiwal2017a-95

[Wikipedia: Note 1]

76. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#cite_note-FOOTNOTELoiwal2017b-96

[Wikipedia: Note 2]

77. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#cite_note-FOOTNOTETalwar1976-97

[Wikipedia: Note 3]

78. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMarkandeya1990-98

[Wikipedia: Note 4]

79. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#cite_note-FOOTNOTEJames1997554-99

[Wikipedia: Note 5]

80. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Ram_Talwar [Wikipedia: Bhagat Ram Talwar]

81. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WczVepo7fKw [Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten

Hero]

82. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#1941–1943:_Nazi_Germany [Wikipedia: Netaji

Subhas Chandra Bose – 1941 to 14=943 – Nazi Germany]

83. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhas_Chandra_Bose#1943–1945:_Japanese-occupied_Asia

[Wikipedia: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – 1943 to 1945 – Japanese Occupation of Asia]
84. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azad_Hind#Indian_areas_under_the_administration_of_the_Provision

al_Government [Wikipedia: Azad Hind – Indian areas under the administration of Provincial

government]

85. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Admin_Box [Wikipedia: Battle of Admin Box]

86. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Imphal [Wikipedia: Battle of Imphal]

87. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pokoku_and_Irrawaddy_River_operations [Wikipedia:

Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River Operations]

88. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Meiktila_and_Mandalay [Wikipedia: Battle of Meiktila and

Mandalay]
 Chapter 4: The Flaps in Allies
So now finally we are at the ‘climax’ of the book. There
was a sudden crackdown on Axis Powers which started in
1945. Allied power’s major enemies during the Second
World War included: Japan’s various leaders including its
Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
and Indian National Army, Adolf Hitler, Francisco Franz
and Benito Mussolini. If one studies a sequence a clear
cut conspiracy can be clearly seen. The Assassination of
Benito Mussolini and the relations of many organizations
can’t be ruled out. Many books and Historians have
stated their own theories to bring few conclusions, but
few acts tell the new theories and indeed this book
doesn’t has the theory of Mussolini’s death, but the
entire web which was encircling it.
Soviet Union or USSR has been known for eliminating
‘enemies of its state’. [1][2][3] The Soviets used
assassinations as a major tool of success, but is still
questionable why Italian People would suddenly opposed
war when they only supported it. It’s basically done by
some spies or agents which is a high possibility. It a
global accepted fact that Benito Mussolini was Fascist
while Stalin was Communist so a possible working
together is mostly impossible. It is also accepted that
during the Italian resistance movement had many forms
of communism and communism itself and Italy had
signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1937. [4][5] In that time
USSR had KGB which was its Intelligence agency. In 1943
USSR renamed its intelligence agency known as NKVD to
NKGB. It happened on 15th March 1943. Just in the same
year when Italian rebels rebelled against Mussolini. [6][7]
NKGB was working in mid 1941 and was suddenly closed
and reopened in 1943 till 1946. Which indeed leads to
many conclusions and NKGB’s hand in Italian Movement
can’ be ruled out. Even Mussolini was assassinated by a
‘communist’ partisan who also can’t be ruled out. [8] Even
the hand of Fourth International can be subject to be
suspected. [9]
Following Mussolini’s assassination in two days Adolf
Hitler suicides and on same day his Minister of
Propaganda Joseph Goebbels whom he chose as the next
chancellor or Germany also suicides. [10][11]
Another Prominent leader on whom many assassination
attempts happened was Francisco Franco. He had sent
many Spanish Volunteers to help Germany on Eastern
Front. [12] Nearly 20 attempts happened to assassinate
Francisco Franco, but all failed and Franco died in 1975
while the last attempt was done to assassinate the
Franco regime’s Prime Minister which was successful in
1973. So we can say that allies tried to kill Franco till he
died himself in 1975. [13][14]
Now the condition in Japan was the interesting one.
Japanese Global hypocrisy was seen and to surprise all
nations stood silent.
In the Pearl Habour attack 2,402 people were killed who
belonged to US. [15] US had and has a hypocrisy and
always tends to interfere in every single conflict. US’s
intervention in the Second Sino-Japanese war was
unwarranted. China that time had approached League of
Nations and not US. [16] US was not even a member of
League of Nations, so its sanctions on Japan also
contributed to the Second World War. [17] This
interference in conflict of two nations led to the Attack
on Pearl Harbour. Also the US fleets movement to Hawaii
to create pressure on Japan was completely unnecessary.
[18]
The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was also
unwarranted. Not double, not triple but many times than
one would expect. After the bombing nearly 4 lakh
people died and about 2,000 to 6,500 children became
orphans. [19][20]
These harrowing exhibits are among the few physical
reminders of the devastation that greeted survivors after
the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay released Little Boy, a 16-
kilotonne atomic bomb, over Hiroshima at 8.15am on 6
August 1945. Less than a minute later, the bomb
exploded 600 metres above Shima Hospital, creating a
wave of heat that momentarily reached 3,000-4,000
degrees centigrade on the ground. Winds of up to 440
metres per second roared through the entire city. Within
half an hour, almost every building within a two-
kilometer radius of the hypocenter was in flames. About
90% of the city’s 76,000 buildings were partially or totally
incinerated, or reduced to rubble. Of the 33m square
metres of land considered usable before the attack, 40%
was reduced to ashes. The bombed city was barely
recognizable. What a day earlier had been a sprawling
military city and transportation hub, wedged between
mountain ranges to the north and the Seto inland sea to
the south, was now a nuclear wasteland. Wooden homes
had been burnt to the ground by firestorms; the city’s
rivers were filled with the corpses of people desperately
seeking water before they died. With the exception of a
handful of concrete buildings, Hiroshima had ceased to
exist. By the end of the year, the death toll would rise to
141,000 as survivors succumbed to injuries or illnesses
connected to their exposure to radiation. Yet even as
they struggled to comprehend the horror visited on their
homes, businesses, public buildings and fellow citizens,
evidence emerged of remarkable acts of courage and
resourcefulness. Incredible though it may seem, looking
at the handful of black-and-white photos taken in the
immediate aftermath of the attack, Hiroshima’s
resurrection began just hours after it was effectively
wiped from the map. The lights came back on in the
Ujina area on 7 August and around Hiroshima railway
station a day later. Power was restored in 30% of
homes that had escaped fire damage, and to all
households by the end of November 1945, according to
records kept by the Hiroshima Peace Institute. Water
pumps were repaired and started working again four
days after the bombing, although damaged pipes created
vast puddles among the ashes of wooden homes. The
central telephone exchange bureau was destroyed and
all of its employees killed, yet essential equipment was
retrieved and repaired, and by the middle of August 14
experimental lines were back in operation. Eighteen
workers and a dozen finance bureau employees at the
Hiroshima branch of the Bank of Japan, one of the city’s
few concrete buildings, died instantly, yet the bank
reopened two days later, offering floor space to 11 other
banks whose premises had been destroyed. Tellers
worked under open skies in clear weather, and beneath
umbrellas when it rained. A limited streetcar service
resumed on 9 August, the same day Nagasaki was
destroyed by a plutonium bomb, killing more than
70,000 people. With the need to move people and
supplies into the city growing more urgent by the hour,
the Ujina railway line started moving again on 7 August; a
day later, trains on the Sanyo Line started running the
short distance between Hiroshima and Yokogawa
stations. Higashi Police Station, despite being inside the
two-kilometer radius, was commandeered by the
prefectural government and turned into the nerve centre
for search and rescue and relief operations. Historians
say the quick resumption of services was a civic effort,
helped by the arrival of large numbers of volunteers. “I
do not think the restoration of basic services was simply
due to coercion from the authorities,” says Yuki Tanaka,
a historian and former professor at Hiroshima City
University. “Hiroshima received a lot of help from people
in neighbouring towns and cities such as Fuchu, Kure,
and even Yamaguchi. In this sense, the response was
similar to that seen after the2011 Tohoku earthquake,
when many people throughout Japan went to the
devastated areas and helped the victims.”Weeks after
Hiroshima felt the unforgiving force of nuclear fission;
nature compounded the city’s misery. Makurazaki, an
unusually powerful typhoon, swept through the city on
17 September, flooding large areas and ruining many of
the temporary hospitals set up on the outskirts. “The
only good thing that came of it was that it washed a lot
of the residual radiation into the sea,” says Tanaka.
“After the typhoon, radiation levels fell considerably.” It
was inevitable, given the scale of destruction, that early
attempts to re-establish a semblance of civic life on the
scorched earth of ground zero were marked by chaos
and confusion. The mayor, Senkichi Awaya, was among
the dead, leaving the city without a leader; thousands of
public servants, teachers and health professionals were
also among the victims. On 6 August the municipal
government office employed about 1,000 people; the
following day just 80 reported for duty. “They alone had
to deal with emergency medical treatment, establish a
food supply and retrieve and cremate corpses,” says
Tanaka. “They were incredibly difficult times.” Attempts
to care for the dying and seriously wounded verged on
the futile: 14 of Hiroshima’s 16 major hospitals no longer
existed; 270 of 298 hospital doctors were dead, along
with 1,654 of 1,780 registered nurses. Demand for
housing turned the area near the hypocenter into a
shantytown of 10,000 homes that were little more than
wooden shacks, with sanitary facilities shared among
several households. [21]
Now we come back to the conspiracy theory.
After Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, U.S.
general Douglas MacArthur ordered the arrest of forty
alleged war criminals, including Tojo. Five American GIs
were sent to serve the arrest warrant. As American
soldiers surrounded Tojo's house on September 11, he
shot himself in the chest with a pistol, but missed his
heart. As a result of this experience, the Army had
medical personnel present during the later arrests of
other accused Japanese war criminals, such as Shigetarō
Shimada. [22] After recovering from his injuries, Tojo was
moved to Sugamo Prison. On January 19, 1946,
MacArthur issued a special proclamation ordering the
establishment of an International Military Tribunal for
the Far East (IMTFE). On the same day, he also approved
the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the
Far East (CIMTFE), which prescribed how it was to be
formed, the crimes that it was to consider, and how the
tribunal was to function. The charter generally followed
the model set by the Nuremberg trials. On April 25, in
accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the
CIMTFE, the original Rules of Procedure of the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East with
amendments were promulgated. [23]
Following months of preparation, the IMTFE convened
on April 29, 1946. The trials were held in the War
Ministry office in Tokyo. On May 3 the prosecution
opened its case, charging the defendants with crimes
against peace, conventional war crimes, and crimes
against humanity. The trial continued for more than two
and a half years, hearing testimony from 419 witnesses
and admitting 4,336 exhibits of evidence, including
depositions and affidavits from 779 other individuals. [24]
Following the model used at the Nuremberg trials in
Germany, the Allies established three broad categories.
"Class A" charges, alleging crimes against peace, were to
be brought against Japan's top leaders who had planned
and directed the war. Class B and C charges, which could
be leveled at Japanese of any rank, covered conventional
war crimes and crimes against humanity, respectively.
Unlike the Nuremberg trials, the charge of crimes against
peace was a prerequisite to prosecution—only those
individuals whose crimes included crimes against peace
could be prosecuted by the Tribunal. In the event, no
Class C charges were heard in Tokyo.
In the trial there were 11 judges:
 William Webb – Australia
 Edward Stuart McDougall – British Canada
 Mei Ju-ao – China
 Henri Bernard – France
 Radhabinod Pal – British India
 Bert Röling – Netherlands
 Erima Harvey Northcroft – New Zealand
 Colonel Delfin Jaranilla – Philippines
 Patrick – UK
 John P. Higgins – US
 Myron C. Cramer – US
 I. M. Zaryanov – USSR[25]
The United States had provided the funds and staff
necessary for running the Tribunal and also held the
functions of Chief Prosecutor. The argument was made
that it was difficult, if not impossible, to uphold the
requirement of impartiality with which such an organ
should be invested. This apparent conflict gave the
impression that the tribunal was no more than a means
for the dispensation of victors' justice. Solis Horowitz
argues that IMTFE had an American bias: unlike
the Nuremberg trials, there was only a single prosecution
team, led by an American, although the members of the
tribunal represented eleven different Allied countries.
The IMTFE had less official support than the Nuremberg
trials. Keenan, a former U.S. assistant attorney general,
had a much lower position than Nuremberg's Robert H.
Jackson, a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice
Jaranilla had been captured by the Japanese and walked
the Bataan Death March. The defense sought to remove
him from the bench claiming he would be unable to
maintain objectivity. The request was rejected but
Jaranilla did excuse himself from presentation of
evidence for atrocities in his native country of the
Philippines. Justice Radhabinod Pal argued that the
exclusion of Western colonialism and the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the list of
crimes and the lack of judges from the vanquished
nations on the bench signified the "failure of the Tribunal
to provide anything other than the opportunity for the
victors to retaliate". In this he was not alone among
Indian jurists, with one prominent Calcutta barrister
writing that the Tribunal was little more than "a sword in
a [judge's] wig."Justice Röling stated, "[o]f course, in
Japan we were all aware of the bombings and the
burnings of Tokyo and Yokohama and other big cities. It
was horrible that we went there for the purpose of
vindicating the laws of war, and yet saw every day how
the Allies had violated them dreadfully."However, in
respect to Pal and Röling's statement about the conduct
of air attacks, there was no positive or
specific customary international humanitarian law with
respect to aerial warfare before and during World War
II. Ben Bruce Blakeney, an American defense counsel for
Japanese defendants, argued that "[if] the killing
of Admiral Kidd by the bombing of Pearl Harbor is
murder, we know the name of the very man who[se]
hands loosed the atomic bomb on Hiroshima," although
Pearl Harbor was classified as a war crime under the1907
Hague Convention, as it happened without a declaration
of war and without a just cause for self-defense.
Prosecutors for Japanese war crimes once discussed
prosecuting Japanese pilots involved in the bombing of
Pearl Harbor for murder. However, they quickly dropped
the idea after realizing there was no international law
that protected neutral areas and nationals specifically
from attack by aircraft. Similarly, the indiscriminate
bombing of Chinese cities by Japanese Imperial forces
was never raised in the Tokyo Trials in fear of America
being accused of the same thing for its air attacks on
Japanese cities. As a result, Japanese pilots and officers
were not prosecuted for their aerial raids on Pearl
Harbor and cities in China and other Asian countries. [26]
Now we come to Indian National Army [INA]. The
number of INA troops captured by Commonwealth forces
by the end of the Burma Campaign made it necessary to
take a selective policy to charge those accused of the
worst allegations. The first of these was the joint trial
of Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgaland Gurubaksh Singh
Dhillon, followed by the trials of Abdul Rashid, Shinghara
Singh, Fateh Khan and Captain Malik Munawar Khan
Awan. The decision was made to hold a public trial, as
opposed to the earlier trials, and given the political
importance and significance of the trials; the decision
was made to hold these at the Red Fort. Also, due to the
complexity of the case, the provision was made under
the Indian Army Act rule 82(a) for counsels to appear for
defense and prosecution. The then Advocate General of
India, Sir Naushirwan P Engineer was appointed the
counsel for Prosecution. [27] The first trial, that of Shah
Nawaz Khan, Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon and Prem Sahgal
was held between November and December 1945
against the backdrop of general elections in India with
the Attorney General of India, Noshirwan P. Engineer as
the chief prosecutor and two dozen counsel for the
defense, led by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. All three of the
accused were charged with "waging war against the king
contrary to section 121 of the Indian Penal Code". In
addition, charges of murder were leveled against Dhillon
and of abetment to murder against Khan and Sahgal. [28]
The Second trial was against Abdul Rashid, Shinghara
Singh, Fateh Khan and Captain Munawar Khan. In light of
unrest over the charges of treason and glorification in
the first trial, the charges of treason were dropped. [29]
One of the fascinating facts is a copy of Nehru’s letter to
Atlee:

The image is from the National Archives of India in the

letter Nehru says Netaji was a ‘War Criminal’ and this
was not even officially declared by any UN, but Nehru
either felt or knew the conspiracy the allies had
executed. [30]
Netaji was not a ‘war criminal’ or ‘Prisoner of War’ is also
confirmed by another confidential document which was
declassified. [31]
In Second World War, the axis powers had four major
leaders which were Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Hideki
Tojo and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The Allies had a
sort of conspiracy to take everyone down. So now we can
focus on the chronology of Events:
On 15th March 1943 USSR makes NKGB. [Proved in earlier context
and recognized by Wikipedia]

On 28th April 1945 Benito Mussolini was assassinated by

Communist Partisans. [Proved in earlier context]
On 30th April 1945 Adolf Hitler suicides. [Proved in earlier context
and recognized by Wikipedia]

On 7th May 1945 Germany surrenders. [Recognized by Wikipedia]

On 6th August 1945 Hiroshima is bombed by an Atomic
Bomb. [Proved in earlier context and recognized by Wikipedia]
On 9th August 1945 Nagasaki is bombed by an Atomic
Bomb. [Proved in earlier context and recognized by Wikipedia]
On 15th August 1945 Japan Surrenders. [Proved in earlier context
and recognized by Wikipedia]

On 18th August 1945 Netaji’s Plane crashes in Taiwan.

Debate arises on his death. [Recognized by Wikipedia]
On 2nd September 1945, Japan officially signs surrender
papers and surrenders. [Recognized by Wikipedia]
In November 1945 Red Fort trials begin, few big names of
INA are executed. [Recognized by Wikipedia]
On 20th November 1945 Nuremberg Trials begin against
Nazi leaders. [Recognized by Wikipedia, somewhat mentioned in book]
On 29th April 1946 Tokyo trials begin. [Recognized by Wikipedia and
Proved in earlier context]

Nehru writes to Clement Atlee regarding Netaji as

‘Criminal of War’. Predicted from 1947 to 1951. [Proved in
earlier context and recognized by the National Archives of India]

1967 its confirmed Netaji isn’t ‘Criminal of War’. [Proved in

earlier context and recognized by the National Archives of India]

20 Assassination attempts on Francisco Franco until he

died naturally. [Proved in earlier context]
So with these events preceding it can be clearly said that
the Sudden Crackdown on Axis had something to do with
Allies and especially US and UK and Soviet Union. India’s
first Prime Minister Nehru’s role in the scenario also
remains to be crucial. If Netaji would have returned to
India then undoubtfully he would have been handed over
to UK and Allies by Nehru or his daughter Indira. These
files were classified and confidential till 2015. There will
be some files in regards to this in the White House, Prime
Minister’s Office in London and indeed something in
Moscow. These events can give a clear cut picture that
the Allies were desperate to finish axis’s every single link
and the reason of why still remains uncertain. Hideki Tojo
didn’t played a prominent role in the so called ‘atrocities’
but still he was given death sentence. Even the bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was given a war crime for
which no trial was conducted. Newspapers like Times,
Independent tired to cover up the issue by giving
inappropriate Justifications.
First Justification of the Independent on the 65 th
Anniversary of the bombing event written by ‘Robert
Fisk’ says:
“On the surface, it’s all very simple. Most of us seem to
believe the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a
war crime. I certainly do. The Japanese were already
talking of surrender. That Caesar of British historians, A J
P Taylor, quoted a senior US official. “The bomb simply
had to be used — so much money had been expended on
it. Had it failed, how would we have explained the huge
expenditure? Think of the public outcry there would have
been . . . The relief to everyone concerned when the
bomb was finished and dropped was enormous.” [32]
This is indeed a cover-up and inappropriate justification.
Now we come to Times, Times says:
“The bombings of Hiroshima and, three days later,
Nagasaki were a terrible act of war. But they were no
crime . . . It seems incredible, but even the destruction of
Hiroshima was not enough to force the Japanese cabinet
to accept that the war was lost. The xenophobic
fanaticism of a powerful constituency within it believed
that Japan should resist till the literal extinction of its
people. Recent research by Sadao Asada, a historian at
Doshisha University, demonstrates beyond reasonable
dispute that only the use of the A-bomb — at Nagasaki as
well as Hiroshima — enabled the “peace party” within
the cabinet to prevail . . . President Truman, who ordered
the bombings, insisted that his decision had shortened a
war and prevented huge casualties. The historical
evidence strongly suggests that he was right.” [33]
This piece is also a cover-up and one-sided view which is
pro-allies. A trial was required on the bombing, but US’s
hypocrisy was high like it’s always making sure trial
doesn’t happen.
The Crackdown on the axis powers is the suspicious part.
And many questions pop-up when such events precede,
but neither any answer is presented nor any question.
Many questions like:
Why were the Allies desperate to do the crackdown?
Why wasn’t a trial made on Colonialism and Bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Why were every link to axis disposed?
Why the 1967 Indian government didn’t make the
declaration that Netaji was neither a war criminal nor
Prisoner of war Public?
If the United Nations War Crimes Commission didn’t had
Netaji’s name then why Nehru wrote to Atlee saying
’your War Criminal’
The reports say that DWIGHT EISENHOWER, a US general
in WW2, in few books and interviews says
“...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with
that awful thing.” And he has used the word unnecessary for

the bombing. [34]

Admiral William .D. Leahy, the chief of staff of President
Truman and Roosevelt, has said “It is my opinion that the use of this
barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our
war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender
because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional
[34]
weapons.”

Herbert Hoover said to MacArthur in May 1946 when

they met “I told MacArthur of my memorandum of mid-May 1945 to Truman,
that peace could be had with Japan by which our major objectives would be
accomplished. MacArthur said that was correct and that we would have avoided all
[34] [Page
of the losses, the Atomic bomb, and the entry of Russia into Manchuria. ”
350 – 351 of the decision to use the Atomic Bomb]

Norman Cousins was a consultant to General MacArthur

during the American occupation of Japan. Cousins, writes
of his conversations with MacArthur, “MacArthur's views about the
decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were starkly different from what
the general public supposed." He continues, "When I asked General MacArthur about the
decision to drop the bomb, I was surprised to learn he had not even been consulted. What, I
asked, would his advice have been? He replied that he saw no military justification for the
dropping of the bomb. The war might have ended weeks earlier, he said, if the United States
had agreed, as it later did anyway, to the retention of the institution of the emperor. ”[34]
[Page 65, 70 – 71 of the Pathology of Power]

Many People like Ralph Bard (under secretary of the

navy), John McCloy (assistant secretary of war), Paul
Nitze (vice-chairman US strategic Bombing Survey) and
such big names have also stated that the bombing was
superfluous and the settlement could have been done
without it by making some compromises in the
ultimatum which was sent to Japan for surrender.
So now more questions arise why wasn’t MacArthur
consulted?
Was the trial of Tokyo a formality to kill the axis leaders
by Allies?
So was this a Victor’s justice?
Ultimately why the trials were made by US judges and
not UN’s judges?
For now we remain in uncertainty with a junk of
questions jumping here and there, but these events tell
something was happening in shadows which is yet to be
known by the Public domain even after 75 years since
WW2 Ended.
Reference for this Chapter:-
1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/03/13/russia-has-a-long-history-of-

eliminating-enemies-of-the-state/ [The Washington Post – Russia has a long history of eliminating

enemies of the state]

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky#Assassination [Wikipedia: Leon Trotsky – Assassination]

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Soviet_and_Russian_assassinations [Wikipedia: List of Soviet

and Russian Assassinations]

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_resistance_movement [Wikipedia: Italian Resistance

Movement]

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Comintern_Pact [Wikipedia: Anti-Comintern Pact]

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NKVD [Wikipedia: NKVD]

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Commissariat_for_State_Security [Wikipedia: NKGB]

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini#Death [Wikipedia: Benito Mussolini – Death]

9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_International [Wikipedia: Fourth International]

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler#Defeat_and_death [Wikipedia: Adolf Hitler]

11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels#Defeat_and_death [Wikipedia: Joseph Goebbels]

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Division [Wikipedia: Blue Division]

13. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahU

KEwimr7C6867rAhXywTgGHV3BBksQFjACegQIERAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newdocs.de%2Fass

assinating-franco-resistance-against-a-dictator%2F&usg=AOvVaw2ivvCRGUdTDS_HXEeN4mXS

[History TV: attempts to assassinate Francisco Franco]

14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Luis_Carrero_Blanco [Wikipedia: Assassination of

Luis Carrero Blanco]

15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor [Wikipedia: Attack on Pearl Harbour]

16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations [Wikipedia: League of Nations]

17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_leading_to_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor [Wikipedia: Events

leading to attack on Pearl Harbour]

18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_leading_to_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor#Background_to_conf

lict [Wikipedia: Events leading to the attack on pearl harbour – background]

19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki [Wikipedia: Atomic

bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]

20. http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kids/KPSH_E/hiroshima_e/sadako_e/subcontents_e/12kidssengo_

1_e.html [Children in Post war Hiroshima]

21. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/18/story-of-cities-hiroshima-japan-nuclear-

destruction [The Guardian: Hoe Hiroshima rose from ashes of nuclear destruction]
22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideki_Tojo#Arrest,_trial,_and_execution [Wikipedia: Hideki Tojo –

Arrest, trial, execution]

23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East#Creation_of_the_c

ourt [Wikipedia: International Military Tribunal for the Far East – Creation of the Court]

24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East#Tokyo_War_Crimes

_Trial [Wikipedia: International Military Tribunal for the Far East – Tokyo War Crimes]

25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East#Judges [Wikipedia:

International Military Tribunal for the Far East – Judges]

26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East#Judgment

[Wikipedia: International Military Tribunal for the Far East – Judgment]

27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Army_trials#Public_trials [Wikipedia: Indian National

Army trials – Public Trials]

28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Army_trials#The_first_trial [Wikipedia: Indian

National Army – The first trial]

29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Army_trials#Second_trial [Wikipedia: Indian National

Army – Second trial]

30. http://www.netajipapers.gov.in/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?filename=content/prime-ministers-office-

pmo91511c696-pol&part=1 [File on Nehru’s letter to Attlee released by the PMO in 2015]

31. http://netajipapers.gov.in/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?filename=content/ministry-external-affairs-

meauii1512767&part=1 [File on Netaji declaring he is neither ‘POW’ nor ‘COW’]

32. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/an-apology-fatally-devalued-by-the-passage-of-

65-years-2045890.html [Independent: An Apology fatally devalued by the passage of 65 years]

33. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/aug/06/comment.secondworldwar [Times:

Terrible, but not crime]

34. http://www.doug-long.com/quotes.htm [Important details]

 The End
Written by Harsh.V.Thakur
Completed on: 22nd August 2020