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{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{multiple image|perrow = 1/2|total_width=330
| image1 = Noentanglements.jpg
| image2 = Matsuoka signs the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact-1.jpg
| image3 = Meeting at Hendaye (en.wiki).jpg
| footer = Clockwise from top: Protest march to prevent American involvement in World War II, [[Meeting at Hendaye]] between Franco and Hitler in October 1940, signing of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact April 1941.
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{{TopicTOC-World War II}}'''Opposition to World War II''' was expressed by the governments and peoples of all combatant nations to various extents. Initial reluctance for conflict in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] democratic nations changed to overwhelming, but not complete, support once [[World War II|the war]] had been joined. Some politicians and military leaders in the [[Axis powers|Axis]] powers opposed starting or expanding the conflict during its course. However, the [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] nature of these countries limited their effect. [[Neutral powers during World War II|Noncombatant]] nations opposed joining the war for a variety of reasons, including self preservation, economic disincentives or a belief in [[Swiss neutrality|neutrality]] in upon itself. After the war the populations of the former Axis powers mostly [[German collective guilt|regretted their nations' involvement]]. In contrast, the people of Allied nations celebrated their involvement and the perceived just nature of the war, particularly in comparison with [[World War I]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-12-09|title=The myth of the good war Geoffrey Wheatcroft|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/09/-sp-myth-of-the-good-war|access-date=2021-09-23|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:BUF_War_for_Czechoslovakia.PNG|thumb|[[British Union of Fascists]]' advertisement in ''Action'' (1938), opposing Britain's entry into the Second World War.]]
{{See also|Appeasement}}
After World War I the [[League of Nations]] was formed in the hope that diplomacy and a united international community of nations could prevent another global war.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=BECK|first=PETER J.|date=1995|title=The League of Nations and the Great Powers, 1936-1940|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20672433|journal=World Affairs|volume=157|issue=4|pages=175–189|jstor=20672433|issn=0043-8200}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The League of Nations|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/league-of-nations|access-date=2021-09-24|website=nzhistory.govt.nz|language=en}}</ref> However, the League and the [[appeasement]] of aggressive nations during the invasions of [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|Manchuria]], [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Ethiopia]] and the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|annexation of Czechoslovakia]] was largely considered ineffective. Opposition to these invasions sometimes also came from politicians within the aggressor nations such as Japanese Minister [[Kijūrō Shidehara]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shidehara Kijūrō {{!}} prime minister of Japan|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shidehara-Kijuro|access-date=2021-09-24|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> A school of historical thought held the appeasement precipitated a wider war by emboldening aggressive nations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Churchill|first=Winston|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3025315|title=The gathering storm|date=1948|isbn=978-0-395-07537-1|location=Boston|oclc=3025315}}</ref>

== Invasion of Poland and Phoney War ==
=== German anti-war sentiment ===
Opposition to what would become World War II reached its height in the German military with the [[Oster conspiracy]] a plot to remove Hitler from power should the pressure placed on Czechoslovakia lead to war.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Parssinen|first=Terry M.|url=|title=The Oster conspiracy of 1938 : the unknown story of the military plot to kill Hitler and avert World War II|date=2003|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-019587-8|edition=|location=New York|oclc=}}</ref> No similar plans are known for the invasion of Poland.

=== Polish anti-war sentiment ===
{{See also|Western betrayal}}

The public sentiment of interwar Poland was dominated by the idea that their nation was formed through war and could only be maintained by a willingness for future wars.<ref>{{Citation|last=Eichenberg|first=Julia|title="Suspicious Pacifists": The Dilemma of Polish Veterans Fighting War during the 1920s and 1930s|date=2015-11-01|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brills-digital-library-of-world-war-i/suspicious-pacifists-the-dilemma-of-polish-veterans-fighting-war-during-the-1920s-and-1930s-B9789004191860_014|work=Brill’s Digital Library of World War I|publisher=Brill|language=en|access-date=2021-09-23}}</ref> Diplomatic negotiations were pursued with Germany, but fear of compromise leading to a slow loss of sovereignty, as with Czechoslovakia, led Polish leaders to put their faith in a British and French military alliance.

=== British and commonwealth anti-war sentiment ===
[[File:Map of participants in World War II.png|{{plainlist|style=padding-left: 0.6em;|
{{Legend|#63B74E|[[Allies of World War II|Allies]]}}
{{Legend|#66FF00|Allies after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]}}
{{Legend|#2AACF6|[[Axis powers]]}}
{{Legend|#E0E0E0|Neutral countries}}}}|thumb|300px]]Throughout the British Empire [[Pacifism|pacifists]] were jailed for expressing antiwar sentiment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Opposition to war|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/second-world-war-overview/opposition|access-date=2021-09-24|website=nzhistory.govt.nz|language=en}}</ref> Also [[Oswald Mosley]] and his [[British Union of Fascists]] were opposed to war, believing that another world war against Germany was not in Britain's national interest and that Britons should "fight for Britain alone".<ref>[[Julie V. Gottlieb|Gottlieb, Julie V.]] and [[Thomas P. Linehan|Linehan, Thomas P.]] (editors); ''The Culture of Fascism: Visions of the Far Right in Britain'' (p. 67). I.B. Tauris, 2004, {{ISBN|978-1-86064-799-4}}</ref> Editorials and cartoons in ''[[Action (newspaper)|Action]]'' often asserted that the British Empire needed to prepare for a defensive war against [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] and that war with Germany would put Britain's interests in Asia in jeopardy. Mosley devoted all of the party's efforts to the "Peace Campaign", calling for a referendum on the continuation of the war and advocating a negotiated peace treaty with Germany. The campaign ended after Mosley and many other senior BUF members were interned under [[Defence Regulation 18B]] in May 1940.<ref>[[Richard C. Thurlow|Thurlow, Richard C.]]; ''Fascism in Britain: From Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts to the National Front'' (pp. 136-7). I.B. Tauris, 1998, {{ISBN|978-1-86064-337-8}}.</ref>

[[Socialist]]s in Britain were divided in the 1930s. There was a strong element of pacifism in the socialist movement, for example in Britain's [[Independent Labour Party]]. The commitment to pacifism, however, was balanced by militant [[anti-fascism]]. During its [[Popular Front]] period, the [[Comintern]] allied with other anti-fascist parties, including [[right-wing]] parties. This policy was terminated by the Comintern when the [[Soviet Union]] signed a [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|non-aggression pact]] with [[Adolf Hitler]] in August 1939.

[[Mohandas K. Gandhi]]'s pacifist movement opposed the war<ref name="GandhionWWII">{{wikiquote inline|Mahatma Gandhi#1940s}}</ref> even to the point of advocating that the British surrender, and that [[Jews]] offer only [[non-violent]] resistance to the [[Nazis]].<ref name="Grenier1983">
[[Richard Grenier (newspaper columnist)|Grenier, Richard]],
[http://history.eserver.org/ghandi-nobody-knows.txt "The Gandhi Nobody Knows"], ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'', March 1983 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323080801/http://history.eserver.org/ghandi-nobody-knows.txt|date=March 23, 2022}}</ref>

=== French anti-war sentiment ===
{{See also|Why Die for Danzig?}}

=== United States of America's isolationism ===
{{Main page|United States non-interventionism|}}

Numerous US anti-Semites and anti-communists during the 1930s, notably within the [[Mothers' movement]] led by [[Elizabeth Dilling]], also opposed World War II on the basis that it would be preferable for Nazism rather than Communism to dominate Europe.<ref>Jeansonne , Glen; ''Women of the Far Right: The Mothers’ Movement and World War II'', pp. 10-28 {{ISBN|9780226395890}}</ref> These women also wished to keep their own sons out of the combat US involvement in the war would necessitate, and believed the war would destroy Christianity and further spread atheistic Communism across Europe.

[[Henry Ford]] also opposed US participation in the war until [[attack on Pearl Harbor|the attack on Pearl Harbor]] and refused to manufacture airplanes and other war equipment for the British.<ref>Jeansonne; ''Women of the Far Right'', p. 32</ref> [[Father Charles Coughlin]] urged the US to keep out of the war and permit Germany to conquer Great Britain and the Soviet Union.<ref>Sheldon, Marcus; ''Father Coughlin: The Tumultuous Life of the Priest of the Little Flower'', pp. 169, 186-96, 202 {{ISBN|0316545961}}</ref> Asked Coughlin, "Must the entire world go to war for 600,000 Jews in Germany?"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Coughlin |title = Charles Coughlin - Wikiquote}}</ref> The most radical of isolationists would say that all of the current problems in the US were because of World War I. US Senator [[Gerald Nye]] from North Dakota would even blame the Great Depression on America's economic expansion during World War I.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Dicksoon |first=Paul |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Rise_of_the_G_I_Army_1940_1941/jSGVDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor |year=2020 |isbn=9780802147684 |chapter=A "Phoney" War Abroad and a Mock War at Home |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

[[Isolationism]] was strongest in the [[United States]], where oceans separated it on both sides from the war fronts. The [[German-American Bund]] even marched down the avenues of New York City demanding isolationism. The isolationists, led by the [[America First Committee]], were a large, vocal, and powerful challenge to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt's]] efforts to enter the war. [[Charles Lindbergh]] was perhaps the most famous isolationist. Isolationism was strongest in the [[US Midwest|Midwest]] with its strong [[German-American]] population.

In the US, organizations like the [[American Peace Mobilization]] and veterans of the [[Abraham Lincoln Brigade]] protested in opposition to the war, [[conscription]], and the [[Lend-Lease Act]]. They said of Lend-Lease, "Roosevelt needs its dictatorial powers to further his aim of carving out of a warring world, the [[American imperialism|American Empire]] so long desired by the Wall Street money lords."<ref name="ALBA-vol_1941_02b">[http://www.alba-valb.org/volpdf/vol_1941_02b.pdf Volunteer for Liberty] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206011824/http://www.alba-valb.org/volpdf/vol_1941_02b.pdf|date=2006-12-06}}, newsletter of the ''[[Abraham Lincoln Brigade]]'', February 1941, Volume III, No. 2</ref> Students at UC Berkeley in 1940 led a large protest in opposition to the war.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Theatre|first=Book-It Repertory|date=2017-05-15|title=Liberalism and Protest at UC Berkeley – A History|url=https://book-it.org/2017/05/history-of-liberalism-and-protest/|access-date=2021-05-29|website=Book-It Repertory Theatre|language=en-US}}</ref>

The Communist Party opposed the United States involvement in the early stages of World War II (until June 22, 1941, the date of the German invasion of the Soviet Union).

With the American entry into the war many of those who had noninterventionist views would end up leaving them quickly.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Steele |first=Richard |date=December 1978 |title=American Popular Opinion and the War Against Germany: The Issue of Negotiated Peace, 1942 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1901419 |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=714–715 |access-date=August 15, 2022 |via=JSTOR}}</ref>

==== Polling ====
In a Gallup poll conducted between September 1-6, 1939 American respondents were asked if the US should "declare war on Germany in support of England, France and Poland and should deploy forces to assist those countries." with 90% of respondents saying no and 8% saying yes. In a separate question from the poll, respondents were asked what level of assistance should be given to the British, Polish and French. When asked about selling food, 74% agreed while 27% disagreed; for sending airplanes "and other war materials" to the United Kingdom and France 58% would agree with 42% disagreeing; when asked if army and naval forces should be deployed "abroad" to fight Germany 16% said yes with 84% saying no.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reinhart |first=RJ |date=August 29, 2019 |title=Gallup Vault: U.S. Opinion and the Start of World War II |url=https://news.gallup.com/vault/265865/gallup-vault-opinion-start-world-war.aspx |access-date=August 15, 2022 |website=Gallup}}</ref>

With the Phoney War, one of its results was that public opinion in the US would be strongly opposed to entering the war in the spring of 1940. A poll taken in March of that year found that 96.4 percent of Americans would be against going to war with Germany.<ref name=":0" />

=== Soviet and Communist anti-war sentiment ===
The [[Communist front]] organizations opposed the war during the period of the Nazi-Soviet pact. Most dutifully followed orders from Moscow. In 1940, Britain's ''[[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Daily Worker]]'' referred to the Allied war effort as ''"the Anglo-French imperialist war machine."''<ref>{{cite web|date=May 13, 1940|title=Reds, Labor and the War|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884032,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930064131/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884032,00.html|archive-date=September 30, 2007|publisher=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]}}</ref> At the same time, [[Joseph Stalin]] ordered a series of military attacks on [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Poland]], [[Winter War|Finland]], [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania]], and [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|Romania]]. He used communist parties and front groups to oppose the war and military preparations to prepare for the war in other countries so the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] (Britain and France) were less able to resist aggression and to keep the US out of the war.

== The fall of France ==
France's [[Battle of France|quick defeat]] by Germany led to an increase in war opposition among the Allies. It also galvanized war support and confidence in the Axis powers. Many French politicians encouraged Britain to negotiate an end to the war. After defeat [[Vichy France|France]] opposed the continuation of the war, but would later join it as part of the Axis.

[[Rudolf Hess]], a high ranking [[Nazi Party|Nazi]] politician, traveled to England in May 1941 in an attempt to start peace negotiations. The attempt was not taken seriously by the British. His full motives are unclear, however, he had no intention of opposing the upcoming [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of Russia]] by Germany, however his success would have brought a temporary end to the war.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Magazine|first1=Smithsonian|last2=Handwerk|first2=Brian|title=Will We Ever Know Why Nazi Leader Rudolf Hess Flew to Scotland in the Middle of World War II?|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/will-we-ever-know-why-nazi-leader-rudolf-hess-flew-scotland-middle-world-war-ii-180959040/|access-date=2021-09-25|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-13|title=Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland – archive, 13 May 1941|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/13/hitler-deputy-rudolf-hess-parachutes-into-scotland-1941|access-date=2021-09-25|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

== Invasion of the Soviet Union ==
Communist parties around the world reversed course when [[Operation Barbarossa|Germany invaded the Soviet Union]] on June 22, 1941, and then advocated that material support be extended to the Soviets.

A small number of socialists (but very few Comintern members, who obeyed Moscow) continued to oppose the war. [[Leon Trotsky]] had drawn up the [[Proletarian Military Policy]], calling for opposition to the war and support for industrial action during it.

Some [[communist]]-led organizations with links to the [[Comintern]] opposed the war during the period of the [[Hitler-Stalin pact]] but then backed it after [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}. However, the most popular communist organization in the US at the time, the [[Communist Party of the USA]], firmly maintained an anti-fascist outlook on intervention throughout WWII, basing their policies on the need for a [[Popular Front]] against fascism.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-11-12|title=Excerpts from the Classics: Fascism and the Fight Against It|url=https://www.cpusa.org/party_info/excerpts-from-the-classics-fascism-and-the-fight-against-it/|access-date=2021-12-16|website=Communist Party USA|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Popular Front: Rethinking CPUSA History {{!}} Solidarity|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/2363.html|access-date=2021-12-16|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref>

== Japanese Pacific attacks ==

=== Japanese reluctance for a wider war ===
The secrecy of the Japanese attacks on British and American colonies in the Pacific region and the lack of a free media has reduced the ability to determine the nature of their war opposition. [[Isoroku Yamamoto|Admiral Yamamoto]] was part of a military faction that argued against attacking America in particular, however, once war was decided upon he was a key contributor.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Spitzer|first=Kirk|date=2013-04-22|title=Legacy Still Unsettled for Reluctant Architect of Attack on Pearl Harbor|language=en-US|work=Time|url=https://nation.time.com/2013/04/22/legacy-still-unsettled-for-reluctant-architect-of-pearl-harbor/|access-date=2021-09-25|issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

=== Public opinion in the United States of America ===
In the United States, over 125 African-Americans were imprisoned for resisting the draft or sedition, including [[Elijah Muhammad]]. Many of them were associated with the [[Pacific Movement of the Eastern World]] or the [[Nation of Islam]] and viewed the Japanese as the champions of the non-white people of the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291327339_Satokata_Takahashi_and_the_Flowering_of_Black_Messianic_Nationalism |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130053620/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291327339_Satokata_Takahashi_and_the_Flowering_of_Black_Messianic_Nationalism |archive-date=January 30, 2019 |title=(PDF) Satokata Takahashi and the Flowering of Black Messianic Nationalism}}</ref>

=== Public opinion in British Colonies and Empire ===
A few nationalist movements in [[Colonialism|colonial]] countries would take no part in the conflict, which they saw as one of the colonialists' making. This was perhaps strongest in India, where some nationalists went beyond opposition to the war to form the [[Indian National Army]] and fight alongside Japanese forces. Opposition was also seen among the [[Demographics of Sri Lanka|Ceylonese]] garrison on the [[Cocos Islands]] which mutinied, in part due to the influence of the [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]].

=== Late war sentiments ===
At the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945 the Allies agreed that only [[unconditional surrender]] would be accepted from the Axis powers. This reduced the options open to those who opposed a continuation of the war. This was particularly true for the Japanese who sought to [[Surrender of Japan|negotiate a conditional surrender]] with the Allies in 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manhattan Project: Japan Surrenders, August 10-15, 1945|url=https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/surrender.htm|access-date=2021-09-25|website=www.osti.gov}}</ref>

== Post war attitudes ==

The post war view in Allied nations was that it was necessary and noble, with it being referred to informally as the 'good war' or [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-12-09|title=The myth of the good war {{!}} Geoffrey Wheatcroft|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/09/-sp-myth-of-the-good-war|access-date=2021-09-23|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> Within the defeated former Axis powers the war has been represented as a [[German collective guilt|national shame]] leading to [[Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution|Japanese pacifism]] and German [[German nationalism|subdued nationalism]]. In the less significant Axis counties of Italy, France and [[Hungary in World War II|Hungary]] the war is viewed negatively and the extent to which they were victims or perpetrators of the war is debated.

== Notable pacifist organizations of World War II ==

* [[American Peace Mobilization]]
*[[Abraham Lincoln Brigade]]
*[[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]]
* [[Catholic Worker Movement]]
* [[Peace Pledge Union]]

== Notable pacifists of World War II ==

* [[Aldous Huxley]] - British author
*[[Ammon Hennacy]] - American activist
*[[André and Magda Trocmé]] - French pastor
*[[Archibald Baxter]] - New Zealand farmer
*[[Carl von Ossietzky]] - German journalist
*[[Dorothy Day]] - American journalist
*[[Franz Jägerstätter]] - Austrian miner
* [[Olaf Kullmann]] - Norwegian naval officer
*[[Ormond Burton]] - New Zealand soldier
*[[Sybil Thorndike]] - British Actress
*[[Vera Brittain]] - British Nurse

==See also==
*[[List of peace activists]]
*[[List of anti-war organizations]]
*[[Opposition to World War I]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/us/ww2us-iso.html Isolationist America]
* [http://histclo.com/essay/war/pac/pac-iw.html Inter-war Pacifism]

{{Clear}}
{{Anti-war}}
{{World War II}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Opposition To World War Ii}}
[[Category:Opposition to World War II| ]]
[[Category:Anti-war movement]]
[[Category:Politics of World War II]]
[[Category:Gandhism]]
[[Category:Protests in India]]
[[Category:Quit India Movement]]
[[Category:India in World War II]]

Opposition to World War II - Revision history

70.23.44.127: robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.