The Interwar Years and World War II 43in history: Operation Barbarossa— its long- planned yet ill- fated invasion of the Soviet
Union. This surprise attack led the Soviet Union to join sides with Britain and France.
The power of fascism—in German, Italian, and Japa nese versions— led to an uneasy
alliance between the communist Soviet Union and the liberal United States, Great
Britain, and France, among others (the Allies). That alliance sought to check the Axis
powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), by force if necessary. Thus, during World War II,
those fighting against the Axis powers acted in unison, regardless of their ideological
disagreements.
At the end of the war in 1945, the Allies prevailed. Italy had already surrendered in
September 1943, and the Third Reich and imperial Japan lay in ruins. In Eu rope, the
Soviet Union paid the highest price for the Third Reich’s aggression, and, with some
justification, considered itself the victor in Eu rope, with help from the United States
and Britain. In the Pacific, the United States, China, and Korea paid the highest price
for Japan’s aggression. With some justification, the United States considered itself the
victor in the Pacific. Two other features of World War II demand attention as well.
First, the Third Reich’s military invasion of Poland, the Baltic states, and the Soviet
Union was followed by or ga nized killing teams whose sole aim was the mass murder
of human beings, regardless of their support for, or re sis tance to, the German state.
Jews in par tic u lar were singled out, but Nazi policy extended to gypsies (now called
Roma), communists, homosexuals, and even ethnic Germans born with ge ne tic defects
such as a cleft palate or a club foot. In Germany, Poland, the Baltic states, Yugo slavia,
and the Soviet Union, persons on target lists were forced to abandon their homes. Nazi
captors forced these people to work in forced- labor camps under cruel conditions, then
either slowly or rapidly murdered them. In East Asia, Japa nese forces acted with simi-
lar cruelty against Chinese, Viet nam ese, and Korean noncombatants. The Japa nese
often tortured victims or forced them to become subjects in gruesome experiments
before murdering them. In many places, women were forced into brothels, or “com-
fort stations,” as Japa nese rhe toric of the day described them. The nearly unpre ce-
dented brutality of the Axis powers against noncombatants in areas of occupation
during the war led to war crimes tribunals and, ultimately, to a major new feature of
international politics following the war: the Geneva Conventions of 1948 and 1949.
These conventions— which today have the force of international law— formally crimi-
nalized many abuses, including torture, murder, and food deprivation, all perpetrated
against noncombatants in areas of German and Japa nese occupation during World
War II. The conventions are collectively known as international humanitarian law
(IHL); however, b ecause enforcement is largely voluntary, their effectiveness has often
been called into question.
The Germans and Japa nese were not the only forces for whom race was a factor in
World War II. As documented by John Dower in his book War without Mercy, U.S.,
British, and Australian forces fighting in the Pacific tended to view the Japa nese asESSIR7_CH02_020_069_11P.indd 43 6/14/16 10:02 AM