Throughout history, wars have been waged in the name of religion, personal beliefs and flat out greed.  Adolf Hitler is a man who's story can be found in numerous books, articles and biographies.  The tyrannical nature of Adolf Hitler, acceptance of social Darwinism in Europe and nations' hunger for power served as catalysts for World War II.   All of these traits combined within on man lead to a path of destruction, ultimately leading to the commencement of World War II and one of the biggest violation of civil right this world has ever seen.

Hitler's reign of terror began after becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933.  Not being content with his current title he sought out more power, Hitler then anointed himself the Fuhrer or supreme ruler of Germany.  Hitler is known as one of if not the most famous eugenicists who sought to create a superior race by eliminating what he call inferior genes or races. Hitler

adopted the social Darwinist take on survival of the fittest.  He believed the German master race had grown weak due to the influence of non-Aryans in Germany.  To Hitler, Survival of the German "Aryan" race depended on its ability to maintain the purity of its gene pool. [1]  Hitler's open aggression went uncheck as he began his terror across Europe, he swept through counties with his blitzkrieg or lightning war tactics in pursuit of purification. During which time Germany and the Soviet Union formed alliances with Italy and Japan, Hitler than began his long planned invasion of Poland. On September 1sr, 1939, after Hitler invaded Poland from the west, France and Britain declared war on Germany, beginning World War IL [2]

During Hitler 's time as Fuhrer,  him and his Nazi regime targeted certain groups or races they considered biologically inferior for extermination. These included Jews, Roma "gypsies", Polish, Soviets, people with disabilities and homosexuals. [3] The most famous violation of

1 History.com editors. "Social Darwinism."  See endnotes for full citation.

2  History.com editors. "Social Darwinism."   See endnotes for full citation.

3 History.com editors. "Social Darwinism." See endnotes for full citation.

civil rights in the world came at the hands of Adolf Hitler in what is known as the Holocaust.  To Hitler, the Jewish people were nothing more than an inferior race that posed a threat against Germany 's conquest in pursuit of a racial purity and rise of the Aryan race. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitlers "final solution',

known as the Holocaust came to fruition under the cover of World War IL  With mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camp of occupied Poland.  Approximately six million Jews and some five million others, targeted for racial, political, ideological and behavioral reasons, died in the Holocaust. More than one million of the who perished were children.  I consider the points that I identified in this paragraph as crucial and I will use this to show that WWII started based off of civil right violations.

During World War II, the United States sat on the sidelines watching everything unfold and had no intention of entering this war.  It wasn't until the United States hand was Forced by Hitlers ally, Japan, that it made its door kicking entrance into World War II.  Tensions between Japan and the United States were rooted prior to World War IL  After Japan signed the non- aggression pact with Germany in 1941, President Roosevelt ordered the freezing of all Japanese assets in the United States and the placing of all petroleum exports to Japan under embargo subject to license. The British and Dutch governments quickly followed suit. [4] After these events is when Japan began to plan its strategic attack on the United States.  On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, HI, America's principal naval base in the Pacific. On December 8, US Congress declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war in the USA. At that point, a number of Latin American countries joined the allies making it truly a global war. [5]

4  "Pearl Harbor  The First Energy War." See endnotes for full citation.

5  Blackboard section 25. See endnotes for full citation.

Japans attack on Naval base Pearl Harbor, Hawaii killed over 3,000 American soldiers, sailors and airmen, and destroyed or disabled six battleships and most of the military aircraft on the ground, lives in American legend as the country's greatest wartime disaster. But for Japan, the attack turned out to be a military and political disaster of much greater magnitude. [6] The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan is what force the United States to no longer sit on the sideline, but

cause the U.S to make it door kicking entrance into World War II.  After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans became fearful that the Japanese American's loyalty's may lie with their ancestral land and not with the United States.  Anti-Japanese paranoia increased across America, especially the along the West Coast where there was a large Japanese presence.  Due to the paranoia and popular opinion, in February of 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 9066.  Executive Order 9066 ordered the relocation all Americans of Japanese ancestry to internment camps in the interior of the United States.  Many Japanese American were forced to sell their homes, land and business at a fraction of their true value due to not knowing if their homes and livelihood would be there upon their return. [7]  During the Supreme Court case of Korematsu vs. the United States, the original ruling was that the Executive Order was justified as a wartime necessity, but was later repealed in Endo vs. the United States.  In an attempt to apologize for committing the biggest violation of civil rights of the 20tl1 century, congress

awarded each survivor $20,000 in reparations.   [8]

In conclusion, the tyrannical nature of Adolf Hitler, acceptance of social Darwinism in Europe and nations' hunger for power served as catalysts for World War II.  The largest civil rights violations in history by Adolf Hitler,  his Nazi regime to Jewish people, along with

6  "Pearl Harbor  The First Energy War." See endnotes for full citation.

7  History.corn editors. "Japanese Internment Camps."  See endnotes for full citation.

8 History.corn editors. "Japanese Internment Camps." See endnotes for full citation.

the United States to Japanese Americans, were committed out of fear, lust for power and racism, not war time necessity.  For we were all created in God image, and no one man nor woman is better than the other.