The aftermath of the Second World War(1939-1950)
After the collapse of the USSR in the wake of Nazi Germany's Operation: Barbarossa, the world looked at Europe in fear. The Russian Bear was leashed and turned into a German puppet, and the German forces gradually advancing deeper into Eurasia would eventually be able to corner Stalin, where he would be assassinated by Germany's special forces. Without their leader, the USSR was easily kept under tight control of the Germans, despite the best efforts of many partisans. By the end of the war, the USSR would have lost tens of millions as a result of Germany's cruel policies as well as the brutality of it's military forces.
With the war on the Eastern front ended, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew he did not have much time. Not only because of his old age, but he knew that while the RAF and Royal Navy could hold their own for quite some time, eventually, Germany's sheer weight of numbers would allow them to cross the Channel and all hope would be lost.
The Europe First policy was thus implemented with extreme ease after the fall of Moscow, as all strategists knew that once Germany took out the United Kingdom, all hope would be lost and America would stand virtually alone, being forced to fight a massive war of attrition across all of Europe.
American forces then practiced a policy of fortification across the board, protecting the British Isles from Germany just as other forces protected the Pacific from Japan.
It was in 1945 when the United States' "ultimate weapon" was completed, and preparations were made to deploy it to the mainland of Europe. President Truman - having replaced FDR after his death - knew that America would have serious moral dilemmas she would have to overcome if victory was to be attained.
In 1946, the United States launched it's D-Day invasion, working together with British forces and whatever the Allies could muster. Penetrating Normandy, a slow, painful advance reminding some of trench warfare began, as territory was steadily gained.
Adolf Hitler was not afraid to send his men into the meat grinder, and so wave after wave of men would be sent against the Allies to gradually wither them down. He would deploy his airforce to tackle the Allied positions as well, knowing that while the Allies could control their precious Channel, Fascism was the overlord of the entire continent.
Truman believed that Germany was too well-defended to risk deployment of the American weapon, which were few in number and extremely expensive to produce. So a change in tactics was needed.
As men were harassed every day in Normandy yet managed to hold their ground, Truman negotiated with Franco's Spain. While Franco was a fascist, he had chosen to backstab his former Italian and German allies by not entering the war. Accordingly, the Allies sought Franco's assistance, or at least his "ignorance" of Allied troops moving through his territory...
A new front was soon opened in the South of France, with Franco continuing to profess ignorance and shock at the Allies violation of Spain's sovereignty, with threats of joining the Axis made. While publicly he was hostile towards the Allies, he was secretly assisting them with intelligence, all in exchange for being re-integrated into the European system postwar, rather than being isolated because of his Fascist policies.
While unsportsmanlike, the Spanish fleet then participated in a sneak attack against the Italian peninsula, with the Allies soon overrunning Sicily. Three fronts had been opened against the Axis, with Sicily being a raiding station that would also assist the Allies in helping to crush the Axis in Africa.
By 1946, much of the American military was present in Europe, with airforces conducting "bombing runs" into Germany, but in reality, bombing wasn't the goal; destruction of Germany's fighter squadrons was. Hence why the Allied bombing runs were composed almost entirely of fighters. While the Allies had established a few citadels, Hitler and his administration continued to talk about how it was a stalemate that would eventually be broken.
...Hitler was correct. It would be broken, but in the Allies' favor. A massive airforce descended upon Germany, with as much force as the Allies could muster for a single strike. Germany watched in shock as one of her northwestern cities was greatly damaged by a powerful bomb, a mushroom rising above the ruins.
But Hitler replied the Allies would pay dearly for such an atrocity, continuing to try and rally public support.
Accordingly, the war continued as if nothing had happened, though the Allies were quick to press their advantage and level two more German cities with atomic bombs. The public demand for peace continued to grow, and numerous ripples through the chains of soldiers' sentiments allowed the Allies to make more and more gains in Europe. The destruction of Reggio di Calabria set off a chain of events that plunged Italy into anarchy, with Mussolini being removed from power by both popular and inner forces. Italy surrendered to the Allies, and soon was fighting alongside them or at the very least providing support.
As Spain, Italy and Britain hit Germany with the full brunt of their own forces and that of the Americans, Germany continued to suffer instability as major railways connecting their vast empire of blood and death were destroyed by resistance members. Uprisings in the Soviet Union ran unchecked for months in some cases as Germany began to suffer from mutinies and desertions.
Hitler was killed by his own officers in 1947, after Americans dropped another wave of atomic bombs, due to the dictator's persistence on leading his country to ruin. While some of these officers would later be taken out by pro-Nazi elements, Hitler's demise cascaded into confusion throughout the armed forces. Berlin itself became a bloodbath as the Nazi regime tried to maintain control against a coup of pro-peace officers.
The pro-peace faction would eventually be crushed by German might, but the military of Germany and her allies/puppets was vastly destabilised. As months passed, the Allies made rapid gains.
By mid-1948, nearly all of Germany's former empire had been occupied by Allied troops or had fallen under the effective control of pro-Allied regimes. Germany signed peace, with most Nazi officials allowed to resign and flee overseas for amnesty, except for those who had committed the most heinous crimes, such as Adolf Eichmann.
With Germany crushed and Europe under a coalition of anti-Fascist regimes, Japan was next. The Americans and British donated their full efforts to rolling back the Japanese, with the island of Iwo Jima being the main goal. America intended to drop another wave of atomic bombs upon the Japanese Empire, and the Japanese knew this. But having a culture of suicide and honor running as deep as Hitler's personal insanity, they still refused to give up.
...But such efforts were futile. Island after island was steadily re-occupied by the Allies. A single bomb dropped upon Hiroshima - with the Americans promising more presents if a surrender was not signed - was all it took to prompt the Japanese people to give up. Threatened with total annihilation, World War II de facto ended in early 1950. Having lasted nearly 11 years, the war had claimed the lives of over 100 million people. It was therefore declared the most destructive conflict in history.
Especially when all the Great Powers besides one are crushed or damaged.
(TOTALLY not biased because of my New Yorker status)
I do however, support their gradual efforts to suppress the backwardness of social conservatism.
