Question

Compare and contrast the rise and fall of Germany and Japan during the period of World War II.

Answer 1

Answer:

As is commonly accepted, the German Reich and Imperial Japan were allies in WW2. Maybe not surprisingly ,these two countries had embarked on similar ambitions at the eve of WW2, and their most important goals were to dramatically expand their sphere of influence, extend national borders by aquiring possessions from other countries and to grab hold of important resources (oil, strategic metal ores and land areas). Both countries developed a fierce nationalistic and racial code of hegemony. It followed that their adversaries were labeled as of inferior quality, and in wartime moves ,this usually carried with it contempt and harsh treatment of enemies. The Geneva code of warfare was mainly ignored by both countries. The defining element of cruelty was in the case of Nazi Germany, a monstrous master plan for the annihilation of the Jews. Which was also implemented on a gruesome scale. This appears to have no actual connection to the German war effort. Similarly, actions taken by Imperial Japan against the Chinese, bears the same mark of cruelty, if not in level or planned implementation (or motives) as with the German persecution of the Jews. Nevertheless, ruthlessness on an almost unprecedented scale was used against what was seen as the racially inferior , prisoners of war and occupied nations.