Although we mostly focus on the role of Germany, Britain, America Japan and the Soviet Union in World War II, this war really was a world war as other countries had significant contributions to the success of the Allies.
Australia was one of the most involved countries in World War II. Part of the British commonwealth, they started forming their army right after Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3 1939. Australia sent 3 divisions over to Britain where they were a part of campaigns in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Europe. However, Australia's biggest contribution was in the Pacific. Australia helped the Americans to fight the Japanese. The Australian's strategy was to maintain control of key islands above them such as Singapore. These islands allowed them to launch attacks against the Japanese, communicate better with their allies, and protect Australia from Japanese aggression. Northern Australia, cities such as Darwin and Broome, were bombed many times by Japanese air raids over the course of the war. Australia was a huge contributor as they supplied nearly 1 million troops and suffered nearly 60,000 causalities: 27,073 dead, and 23,477 wounded. Australians also suffered a lot in Japanese prisoner of war camps where 30,560 were taken prisoner of war, 8296 of which died in captivity. Australians importance in the war can be seen by how eager America was to keep them in the War at the Battle of Guadalcanal where they defeated the Japanese in a pivotal battle.
Canada was another British colony that played a key role in World War II. Like Australia, they also joined when Britain declared war. Canada was one of the biggest contributors as 1.1 million Canadians joined the Canadian military. Economically they were very important as the spent 21.8 billion dollars on the war. Furthermore, Canada had the 4th largest air force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the 5th largest navy. Probably Canada's most significant contribution was their role in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. During the D-Day invasion, 50,000 Canadians who made up the 3rd Canadian Division landed on Juno Beach. Although they had arguably the next strongest German resistance after the German resistance at Omaha Beach, the Canadians advanced further into France and were more successful than both the Americans and the British. They suffered heavy losses but kept fighting through Caen than met up with the Americans at Falaise surrounding the area and sealing the fate of the Germans. D-Day would not have been as successful with out the support of the Canadian army, 3 of which were awarded a purple heart for their service. In total, 44,000 Canadians gave their lives to win the war.
In conclusion, although we mostly think of the Allies and Axis Powers as just including a few countries, many others played an important part and arguably were essential to the success of the Allies. The Allies got support from many other countries like Canada and Australia, however Germany did not have any other countries support them. It was really Germany against the whole world, and that is why they lost. World War II can be considered a World War because many countries like Australia and Canada had significant contributions.
Great post, Owen. This is such a great topic to focus on. So much of the time we when talk about World War II we focus on the great powers; America, Britain, Germany, Japan, Russia, and we forget that in fact there so many other nations fighting this war. I remember reading some where that this was the first true World War since countries as far away as South America or Southern Africa were supplying grain, metals, and clothes for the war effort. This post reminds us that this was a war where the whole world sacrificed.
ReplyDeleteOwen, I really liked how you thoroughly discussed some of smaller roles of the countries that were a part of the Allies during World War II. I had never really payed much attention to Australia's and Canada's contributions towards the war, but now that you have mentioned it, they actually made significant efforts towards winning the war. While you said that World War II was really just Germany against the whole world, I think that there were other Axis Powers supporting them such as Italy and Japan. Another smaller country that also supported Germany was Thailand. Before the war, Thailand was actually called Siam and was led by a leader named Phibunsongkhram (Phibun). When war broke out, Phibun saw it as an opportunity to expand territory, and he launched an invasion on Laos and Cambodia. Phibun was largely supported by Japan, and he was able to take control over parts of Laos and Cambodia. However, Phibun and his country were eventually defeated by the British and the Americans. While Germany may have been a major power trying to gain territory and control power, there were also other countries who joined along, pursuing the same goals and ideas. I noticed that most of the countries part of the Axis Powers had a government system based off of monarchy or had one powerful figure. I think it was rather that numerous other countries did not want the Axis Powers to gain power, and thus, they were able to defeat them by joining together as the Allies.
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I really enjoyed your description of the roles of the smaller countries during WW2, and I would like to thank you for giving us information on these countries, when usually they are just skimmed over. Although these countries did have a very pivotal role in WW2, perhaps an even greater contributor that you left out was China. Throughout WW2, China made numerous contributions in the fight against Japan. In fact, China had the third most military casualties during WW2: a staggering figure of over 3,000,000. Including civilian casualties, China lost over 14 million lives, meaning that it paid dearly for an allied victory.
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