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Focus Study 4: The conduct of WWII and the post-war settlement
The conduct of World War II and the post-war settlement, including the major turning points 1939 to 1945, the Holocaust, the use of the atomic bomb, and the Nuremberg Trials
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Core Study dot point on the conduct of WWII and the post-war settlement. The turning points (Stalingrad, Midway, D-Day), the Holocaust, the atomic bomb debate (Alperovitz vs Frank), the Nuremberg Trials, and the formation of the United Nations.
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What this dot point is asking
NESA examines the conduct of WWII and its conclusion as a sequence of turning points and a set of moral and political problems (the Holocaust, the atomic bomb, the prosecution of war crimes). Section I source materials often draw on photographs, official documents, and historiographical extracts. Strong answers integrate the global scope of the war with specific case studies and historian voices.
The answer
The four phases of the war
Axis ascendancy (1939-1941). Germany overran Poland (Sept 1939), Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, and France by June 1940. The Battle of Britain (July to October 1940) was the first German setback. Operation Barbarossa (22 June 1941) opened the Eastern Front with 3.8 million Axis troops.
Global war (1941-1942). Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941). Germany declared war on the United States (11 December 1941). By mid-1942, Axis forces held continental Europe, North Africa, and much of South-East Asia.
Turning points (1942-1943). Midway (4 to 7 June 1942) destroyed four Japanese carriers. El Alamein (October to November 1942) turned North Africa. Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943) cost Germany the Sixth Army (around 800,000 casualties). Richard Overy (Why the Allies Won, 1995) attributes the turn to Allied industrial superiority.
Allied advance (1943-1945). The invasion of Italy (September 1943) toppled Mussolini. D-Day (6 June 1944) opened the Western Front with 156,000 Allied troops. The Soviet Operation Bagration (June to August 1944) destroyed German Army Group Centre. Berlin fell in late April 1945; Hitler committed suicide on 30 April; Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945.
The Holocaust
The Final Solution was decided in 1941 and systematised at the Wannsee Conference (20 January 1942) under Reinhard Heydrich. The Einsatzgruppen (SS mobile killing squads) shot around 1.3 million Jews and Soviet civilians on the Eastern Front from 1941. The death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, Chelmno, and Majdanek industrialised the killing. By 1945, around 6 million Jews had been murdered, alongside Roma, Soviet POWs, disabled people, gay men, Jehovah's Witnesses, and political prisoners.
Christopher Browning (Ordinary Men, 1992) and Daniel Goldhagen (Hitler's Willing Executioners, 1996) debate the motivations of the perpetrators: Browning stresses situational pressures within Reserve Police Battalion 101; Goldhagen stresses ideological "eliminationist antisemitism." Saul Friedlander provides the integrated history in Nazi Germany and the Jews (1997, 2007).
The atomic bombs and the end of the Pacific war
The Potsdam Declaration (26 July 1945) demanded unconditional Japanese surrender. Hiroshima was bombed on 6 August 1945 (around 80,000 killed immediately, total deaths to year-end around 140,000). The USSR declared war on Japan on 8 August. Nagasaki was bombed on 9 August (around 40,000 killed immediately). Emperor Hirohito announced surrender on 15 August 1945. The Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945.
The historiographical debate is sharp. Gar Alperovitz (Atomic Diplomacy, 1965) argues the bomb was used to coerce the USSR. Richard Frank (Downfall, 1999) argues it was a legitimate military decision given Japanese refusal to surrender unconditionally and the casualty estimates for Operation Downfall. J. Samuel Walker takes the middle position.
The post-war settlement
Yalta (4 to 11 February 1945). Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed on the division of Germany into occupation zones, free elections in liberated Europe (in practice, ignored by the USSR), Soviet entry into the war against Japan, and the establishment of the United Nations.
Potsdam (17 July to 2 August 1945). Truman, Churchill (then Attlee), and Stalin agreed on de-Nazification, demilitarisation, and reparations from Germany. Disagreements over Poland and Eastern Europe foreshadowed the Cold War.
The United Nations. The UN Charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 and entered into force on 24 October 1945. Five permanent Security Council members (US, USSR, UK, France, China) had veto power.
The Nuremberg Trials (20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946). The International Military Tribunal prosecuted 24 senior Nazis on four charges, including the new category of crimes against humanity. 12 were sentenced to death. The principles were codified by the UN in 1946 and informed the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Historiography
Richard Overy (Why the Allies Won, 1995) attributes Allied victory to industrial production and leadership rather than inevitability. Antony Beevor (Stalingrad, 1998; Berlin, 2002) is the standard narrative military history. Tony Judt (Postwar, 2005) is the standard history of the immediate post-war settlement.
Turning points and conferences
| Date | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sept 1939 | Germany invades Poland | War begins |
| 22 June 1941 | Operation Barbarossa | Eastern Front opens |
| 7 Dec 1941 | Pearl Harbor | US enters war |
| 20 Jan 1942 | Wannsee Conference | Final Solution coordinated |
| 4-7 June 1942 | Midway | Japanese expansion halted |
| Oct-Nov 1942 | El Alamein | Turn in North Africa |
| Aug 1942 - Feb 1943 | Stalingrad | Decisive Eastern turn |
| 6 June 1944 | D-Day | Western Front opens |
| 4-11 Feb 1945 | Yalta Conference | Post-war zones agreed |
| 8 May 1945 | German surrender | VE Day |
| 26 June 1945 | UN Charter signed | UN founded |
| 17 July - 2 Aug 1945 | Potsdam Conference | Reparations and Poland |
| 6 Aug 1945 | Hiroshima | First atomic bombing |
| 9 Aug 1945 | Nagasaki and Soviet entry | Japan facing collapse |
| 15 Aug 1945 | Japanese surrender announced | VJ Day |
| 20 Nov 1945 - 1 Oct 1946 | Nuremberg Trials | New international law |
How to read a source on this topic
Section I sources on WWII and the post-war settlement commonly include wartime photographs (Stalingrad, Pearl Harbor, Auschwitz liberation, Yalta), atomic bomb imagery (Hiroshima, mushroom clouds), Nuremberg Trial transcripts, and Allied speeches (Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy," Churchill's "Iron Curtain"). Three reading habits.
First, identify whose war the source represents. The Allied, Axis, Soviet, and colonial perspectives differ sharply. A Stalingrad photograph from a Soviet source celebrates a turning point; a German source records a catastrophe; a British source assesses an ally's contribution.
Second, weigh moral judgement against context. Hiroshima images are often used in extended-response questions. The Alperovitz-Frank historiographical debate (atomic diplomacy vs legitimate military decision) should frame any judgement of the bombing.
Third, treat the Nuremberg Trials as both event and historiography. Trial transcripts are evidence of crimes; they are also evidence of how the post-war powers framed accountability. The selective prosecution (no Allied conduct) is itself part of the source's content.
Common exam traps
Treating Stalingrad as the only turning point. Cite Midway, El Alamein, and Stalingrad together; the global war turned in late 1942.
Misdating the Holocaust. Systematic killing began in 1941 with the Einsatzgruppen; the Wannsee Conference (January 1942) coordinated rather than initiated it.
Forgetting the Soviet entry into the Pacific war. The Soviet declaration of war on Japan (8 August 1945), between Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is examinable.
Skipping the Nuremberg charges. Memorise the four counts: conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity.
In one sentence
The conduct of WWII (1939 to 1945) turned at Midway, El Alamein, and Stalingrad in 1942 to 1943, ended in Europe with German surrender on 8 May 1945 and in the Pacific after the atomic bombs (6 and 9 August 1945) and Soviet entry, and produced a post-war settlement of Yalta, Potsdam, the UN Charter, and the Nuremberg Trials that established (in Overy's reading) the institutional foundations of the modern international order.
Where to next
The 1945 Yalta and Potsdam disagreements over Eastern Europe foreshadowed the Cold War. The Peace and Conflict option in Section III of the HSC Modern History paper most commonly examines the Cold War 1945-1991. For the next phase of the story, see our HSC Modern History Cold War guide, which covers the origins (Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Berlin Blockade), the major crises (Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis), detente, and the end of the Cold War.
Past exam questions, worked
Real questions from past NESA papers on this dot point, with our answer explainer.
2023 HSC (verbatim)10 marksCompare the territorial ambitions of Germany in Europe with those of Japan in the Asia-Pacific. In your answer, integrate evidence from Sources C and D from the Source Booklet.Show worked answer →
A 10-mark "compare" question requires structured comparison, not parallel description.
Thesis. Both Germany and Japan pursued territorial expansion driven by ideology, resource scarcity, and great-power ambition, but their methods and rationales differed. German expansion was racial and continental (Lebensraum); Japanese expansion was imperial and maritime (the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere).
Similarities. Both states framed expansion as escape from the Versailles order (Germany) or the Washington Treaty system (Japan). Both used staged incidents to justify aggression: the Reichstag Fire and the Polish "attack" at Gleiwitz for Germany; the Mukden Incident (September 1931) and the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (July 1937) for Japan. Both pursued autarky through conquest.
Differences in ideology. German expansion was ideological: Lebensraum in the East, the destruction of the USSR, the racial reordering of Europe (Hitler's Hossbach Memorandum, 1937). Japanese expansion was framed as Pan-Asian liberation from European colonialism, though in practice Japanese rule (Manchukuo 1932, Indochina 1940, the Philippines and Malaya 1942) was brutal occupation.
Differences in method. Germany used diplomatic intimidation (Anschluss 1938, Munich 1938) before war. Japan pursued continuous war with China from 1937 and surprise attack at Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941).
Strategic alignment. The Tripartite Pact (27 September 1940) joined Germany, Japan, and Italy. The Axis was a loose alliance; Germany and Japan never coordinated against the USSR.
Markers reward structured comparison (similarity-difference paragraphs), specific dates, and source integration. Richard Overy (Why the Allies Won, 1995) treats Axis fragmentation as a key Allied advantage.
2020 HSC (verbatim)3 marksIdentify THREE factors that shaped Japan's ambitions in the Asia-Pacific during the interwar period.Show worked answer →
A 3-mark "identify" requires three distinct factors, each in one or two sentences.
Factor 1: Resource scarcity. Japan was poor in oil, rubber, iron ore, and food. The Great Depression collapsed silk exports (Japan's main earner) and devastated the economy. Conquest of resource-rich territories (Manchuria for coal and iron; South-East Asia for oil and rubber) became economic strategy.
Factor 2: Resentment of the post-WWI order. The Washington Naval Treaty (1922) capped Japanese capital ships at 60 per cent of US and British tonnage. The 1924 US Immigration Act effectively banned Japanese migration. Japanese liberals saw a racial order that contained Japanese ambitions.
Factor 3: Rise of militarist nationalism. Civilian government weakened through the 1920s. The Kwantung Army acted independently in staging the Mukden Incident (September 1931). The assassinations of Prime Minister Hamaguchi (1930) and Inukai (15 May 1932) ended effective civilian control. By 1936 the army dominated cabinet.
Markers reward three distinct factors with at least one specific date or treaty per factor.
Practice (NESA)15 marksEvaluate the significance of the Nuremberg Trials in the establishment of the post-war international order.Show worked answer →
A 15-mark response requires a thesis, developed paragraphs, and sustained historiography.
Thesis. The Nuremberg Trials (1945 to 1946) were a landmark in international law that established individual criminal responsibility for state crimes, but their significance was limited by selective prosecution and the emerging Cold War.
Establishment. The International Military Tribunal was established by the London Charter (8 August 1945), agreed by the US, UK, USSR, and France. It prosecuted 24 senior Nazis on four counts: conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity (a new category). The trial ran from 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946.
Verdicts. 12 defendants were sentenced to death (Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, and others). Goering took cyanide before his execution. Three were acquitted (Papen, Schacht, Fritzsche). Twelve subsequent trials of doctors, judges, industrialists, and Einsatzgruppen commanders ran until 1949.
Legal significance. The Tribunal established that "following orders" was not a defence, that individuals bear criminal responsibility, and that crimes against humanity exist as a distinct category. Principles were codified by the UN (December 1946) and informed the 1948 Genocide Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute, 1998).
Critiques. Trials applied retroactive law, the USSR (which had invaded Poland and Finland) sat as judge, and no Allied conduct was scrutinised. Donald Bloxham (Genocide on Trial, 2001) argues the Holocaust was relatively marginal to a prosecution strategy emphasising aggressive war.
Historiography. Telford Taylor defended the Tribunal as the foundation of modern international criminal law. Richard Overy (Interrogations, 2001) treats it as genuine legal accountability constrained by politics.
Conclusion. Nuremberg's principles outlasted its limitations.
Practice (NESA)8 marksUsing Sources D and E and your own knowledge, assess the reasons for the United States decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan in August 1945.Show worked answer →
An 8-mark "assess" requires a judgement, three to four reasons, and the Alperovitz vs Frank debate.
Thesis. The decision combined military, political, and diplomatic motives. The military case was strongest, but Cold War calculations were not absent.
To end the war quickly. US planners estimated Operation Downfall (the invasion of Kyushu and Honshu, planned November 1945 and March 1946) would cost between 250,000 and 1 million American casualties. Okinawa (April to June 1945) had cost 12,000 American dead against fanatical resistance.
Japanese refusal to surrender unconditionally. The Potsdam Declaration (26 July 1945) demanded unconditional surrender. Premier Suzuki's response of "mokusatsu" (treat with silent contempt) was read in Washington as rejection. Japanese militarists resisted surrender even after Hiroshima (6 August); Emperor Hirohito intervened only after Nagasaki (9 August) and the Soviet declaration of war (8 August).
Atomic diplomacy. Gar Alperovitz (Atomic Diplomacy, 1965) argues the bomb was used primarily to intimidate the USSR. The Trinity Test (16 July 1945) coincided with Potsdam, where Truman told Stalin about a "new weapon."
Bureaucratic momentum. The Manhattan Project had cost around $2 billion. Not using the bomb was politically difficult.
Historiography. Richard Frank (Downfall, 1999) defends the decision as a legitimate military choice given Japanese intransigence. J. Samuel Walker (Prompt and Utter Destruction, 1997) takes a middle position. Markers reward both Alperovitz and Frank and the Soviet declaration of war.
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