Nadzieja( Polish for Hope)

Chapter 20: War and Diplomacy Time

On the 1st of September 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland from 2 sides. This caused Britain and France to declare war on Germany this marked the beginning of the Second World War, something that Charles dreaded would eventually happen since the signing of the treaty of Versailles. The Americans just like Switzerland decided to be neutral.

Meanwhile, for Charles, everything was going well for him in his new job in New York as he was enjoying publishing stories about New York and the World War 2 conflict happening in Europe. He also occasionally gave a bit of money secretly to victims of racism. He lived in a nice flat that had a decent kitchen and bathroom, his Kinko was stored inside his closet behind his trench coats which often wore to work along with a fedora and black gloves.

In April and May of 1940, things were heating up. As Germany conquered and annexed Denmark, Norway, the Netherland, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Luckily by the end of May

On the 25th of June 1940. As Germany conquers and annexed France this was a tragic day for Britain as they lost an ally to help win the war.

On the 7th of September 1940, Germany began bombing Britain. During the time of the bombing, Britain started evacuating many children in many of its major cities like Coventry, Portsmouth, London, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester to countrysides so that they could be safe, even when the bombing wasn't a major issue many months later in the UK, Children still had to remain in the countrysides just to be safe.

On the 27th of September 1940. Germany, Italy, and Japan made an alliance with each which became known as the Axis.

On the 7th of March 1941. The first issue of a comic called World's Finest was published in the US. It was 96 thrilling pages long comic in colour. The cover had Batman, Superman, and Robin on the cover. However, Batman and Superman were only shown together on the cover of the comic while in the comic they were given separate stories. The comic became Charles' instant favourite as it had great stories to tell and it only costed 15 cents to buy. The comic had other stories not just Batman and Superman but also a story for "Zatara" and "Red, White, and Blue" respectively. The next issues of the comic would come out once every 3 months so it became an exciting time for Charles every time a new issue would come out plus other characters like Sandman and Green Arrow were going to their stories and it was always fun seeing Superman, Batman and Robin doing sports activities like baseball, cycling, and skiing. On the 14th March 1941, Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria joined the Axis.

On the 22nd of June 1941, the German invades the Soviet Union, breaking the agreement they made almost 2 years ago not to invade each other was broken. Of course, the Soviet Union some time later joined the Allies.

On the 7th of December 1941, the event of battle of Pearl Harbor happen forcing the US to join the war. The year 1941 was also the year in which the Holocaust began, it was an event that saw many people like Jews, homosexuals, and the disabled being sent to death camps where they would work to death or be gassed to death in places occupied by the Nazis.

In the year 1942, the rocket launcher aka the bazooka is invented and daylight saving time aka summertime is reintroduced into the world to help with the war effort except for the UK since it has been using DST since 1916. Meanwhile, Charles is still a journalist in New York who is secretly donating money to victims of racism in New York and reading World's Finest Comic. It was also the year in which Bob Ross, Muhammad Ali, and Stephen Hawking were born.

On the 8th of September 1943, Italy surrenders and joins the Allies. 2 days later World's Finest comic issue 11 was released but it was short from its usual 96 pages to 92 pages due to price inflations of paper and to make sure the comic still cost 15 cents this disappointed Charles and some fans but they understood why it happened. The comic s' cover featured Batman, Superman, and Robin doing gardening.

On the 6th of June 1944, the events of D-Day were happening where the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, this would mark a slow victory for the Allies, as they slowly began freeing French towns from Nazi occupation because on the 25th of August 1944, the city of Paris and the rest of was finally liberated from Nazi occupation after so long. On the 17th of June 1944, Iceland gained its independence from Denmark.

In December of 1944, World's Finest, issue 16 was released. But it was shortened again as it was no longer 92 pages but now 84 pages due to paper issues.

1945 finally came and during its early months, the Allies slowly began to liberate more of Europe, coming closer and closer to Berlin. Until finally on the 7th of May 1945, Germany sundered and Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker, the day before the surrender as he felt all hope was lost. Japan, on the other hand, was still fighting for few months but even they eventually surrendered on the 15th of August, 1945 as the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs in early August. On the 17th of August 1945, Indonesia gained independence from the Netherlands The war officially came to an end on the 2nd of September, 1945.

With the end of the war, the Americans would occupy Japan for 8 years. The emperor of Japan was allowed to keep his position but not before he had pictures with General Douglas MacArthur which was given to the Japanese press, to show everyone in Japan that their emperor was not a God, MacArthur also wanted to humiliate the emperor as he more than 20cm taller than him. Meanwhile, Germany was divided between the UK, France, The US, and The Soviet Union. As this was happening everyone was celebrating the end of the war with the exception of the countries which were freed from Nazi occupation by the Soviets as these countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia became puppet states of the Soviet Union. Also, Daylight Saving Time was brought to an end except in Britain as they have been doing it since 1916 and of course Winston Churchill made a speech in Paris about the future of Europe, "if Europe wants to unite, The French and The Germans need to come to term with their differences."

In the year 1946 Alan Rickman, Elizabeth Sladen, and David Bowie were born.

On 15th August 1947, the partition of India happened. This led to Indian becoming independent from Britain and the country of Pakistan was formed.14th of October 1947, the first flight faster than sound happened. 1947 was also the year in which the Cold War began, the cold war was a political war between the 2 current major superpowers which were the Soviet Union and The US who had very different political views.

On the 30th of January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was murdered. On the 14th of May 1948, the country of Israel was founded. On the 24th of June 1948, the Berlin blockade began, the sectors controlled by the British, French, and Americans were merged, Germany was now officially split into 2 countries West Germany controlled by the Allies and East Germany controlled by the Soviet Union.

On the 10th December 1948, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights were adopted. The 30 human rights were based on the principles of the Magna Carta. Meanwhile, Charles was watching the event unfold on his television in his flat in New York. As he was writing an article about the events for tomorrow's news report. As this was happening, Charles was wondering about what might the future hold for him and everyone now that World War 2 is over and the many diplomatic events currently happening right now.