Australia at war (1914 – 1945): World War II: Overview

With over sixty million casualties, World War II was the bloodiest conflict in history. In this incisive introduction, esteemed academic Christopher Catherwood covers all the key battles and campaigns, while also giving the larger story behind them, putting familiar events into the perspective of the war at large. He explores the huge impact of the preceding Sino-Japanese War on World War II itself; the relative unimportance of the British conflict in Africa; the near moral-equivalence of the Red Army and the Nazis; and the impact of the Hiroshima bombing. Full of text-boxes revealing key details about British intelligence, weaponry, and the social milieu to the conflict, there is no better brief introduction to this landmark event.

Lingering resentments from the First World War, economic unease, and the sweeping racist agenda of Germany's Nazi Party are just some of the many factors that shaped the trajectory of the Second World War. This far-reaching volume examines the major battles, events, and agreements of World War II, the Final Solution, and the legacy of the war from political and diplomatic angles. Readers will learn how European imperialism, American isolationism, the German policy of Anschluss, and much more impacted global approaches to the war and how the boundaries determined by postwar agreements have influenced the geopolitical landscape of today.

This book explores the causes of and events leading to World War II. Easy-to-read, engaging text discusses major battles and key figures of the war and the technology and weapons used during the war. Through primary source quotes, readers will discover the experiences of soldiers and people on the home front. Readers will learn what impact World War II had on US history and the country's development. Oversized photographs and informative sidebars enhance and support the text. Features include a timeline, facts page, glossary bibliography, source notes, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

Glamorous American singer Claire Phillips opened a nightclub in manila, using the earnings to secretly feed starving American POWs. She also began working as a spy, chatting up Japanese military men and passing their secrets along to local guerrilla resistance fighters. Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, stationed in Singapore, then shipwrecked in the the Dutch East Indies, became the sole survivor of a horrible massacre by Japanese soliders. She hid for days, tending to a seriously wounded British soldier while wounded herself. Humanitarian Elizabeth Choy lived the rest of her life hating war, though not her tormentors, after enduring six months of starvation and torture by the Japanese military police. In these pages, readers will meet these and other courageous women and girls who risked their lives through their involvement in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Fifteen suspense-filled stories unfold across China, Japan, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines, providing an inspiring reminder of womens' and girls' refusal to sit on the sidelines around the world and throughout history. These women--whose stories span 1932 to 1945, the last year of the war--served in dangerous roles as spies, medics, journalists, resisters, and saboteurs. Seven of them were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese, enduring brutal conditions. Author Kathryn J. Atwood provides appropriate context and framing for teens 14 and up to grapple with these harsh realities of war. Discussion questions and a guide for further study assist readers and educators in learning about this important and often neglected period of history.