Was World War 2 a 'just' war?

Answer 1

No, as it involved the USA.

Here's why (1) The U.S. Constitution authorizes the temporary federal government administration in Washington, DC, to "provide for the common defense." Germany never attacked the USA, never threatened the USA (nor had much capability to do so), and its popularly-elected leader, Reich Chancellor Hitler, specifically stated over and over that he did not want war even with Britain, much less a broader war!

(2) In the case of Japan, the historical record shows plainly that FDR intentionally goaded the Japanese leadership into war -- leading directly to a Pearl Harbor or similar incident -- which he wanted! Had FDR followed both the U.S. Constitution and the brilliant founding father Thomas Jefferson's prescription to "avoid foreign entanglements" (i.e., favoritism in treatment or trade with any one foreign country in relation to others), the war with Japan would have never happened.

There was, and is, absolutely no justification for this horrendous loss of American lives and treasury, which accomplished so little for the average American family, at an unforgivable price.

One might ask is ANY war just. That is a difficult question because we are talking about the deaths of many people, and in modern times those are often innocent civilians.

Perhaps we might reverse the question. Would it be "just" to NOT go to war at times? Are some people so bad, or some philosophies so bad that they should be stopped, even if it means war.

Look at Hitler and the Nazis. The millions of people they put into consentration camps. The millions of people they killed in those camps, not just the Jews, but others as well. Should the world have ignored what Hitler was doing to people? Should we have stopped him even sooner than we did?

Have you ever know a bully? Is it best to stand by and allow a bully to pick on younger children? Or should you, if you could, get involved in order to help the little children that are helpless to help themselves? What if you cannot stop the bully without a fight? Should you say fighting is bad, it is better to let him continue hurting the little children?

In the end each individual must decide, but from my personal thinking it is best to stop wrong doing. It would be wrong to do nothing.

One person's opinion, John

Answer 2

Yes, but it was only a war, but a true global conflict. WW2 was a true World War. If the Axis had won, then it would have continued into each and every corner. Hitler would have only contented himself with conquering the entire world. If you think a wordwide conflict that resulted in 60 million deaths and the destruction of the infrastructure of more than one country, then yep it was just a war. The worse one the world has ever seen.

Answer 3

Short Answer, No. German Allies were incompetent, (Fascist Italy) or of no potential need of an alliance (Imperial Japan) Germany was ultimately beaten by numbers and that only, German battle theory, Tanks, Planes and Battleship were far ahead of its time, but this caused their downfall because their Technology was so good that, Ironicaly was too hard to build and couldn't be effectively produced, the T-34 or M4 Sherman, for example, were very simple designs and so could be mass produced, 50,000 T-34's and 48,000 M4 Sherman so the Germans were just overwhelmed by the Numbers