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Andrew Litto
Mrs. Davenport
English 9 Honors
13 March 2016
Ambition in WWII
World War II was a drastic war, filled with various ambitions. Now, ambition is
everywhere. It is in humans in everyday life, in plays, like Macbeth, when Macbeth murders
Duncan, or in history, which is what well be talking about today. Specifically, we will be talking
about ambition in World War II. There is positive and negative ambition in World War II.
Ambition is the strive to complete a goal. This can be good. Although, some people who
get too ambitious arent content with their results, even if they have reached their original goal.
They will never be content. The Downside of Ambition by Robert Samuelson says, there is a
point at which ambition and the determination to succeed, which generally serve us well, turn
destructive, corrupted and dishonest(Samuelson 2). It is also in Macbeth, where Macbeth talks
about an imaginary dagger in his hand, which symbolizes ambition going wrong. Macbeth has
that same feeling, when someone is about to do something, and he is starting to feel sick. Usually
this is caused by fear, and for Macbeth, he is afraid of ambition.
Okay, back to World War II. When people say World War II, they first think of Germany.
In this time, this guy named Hitler was in power. According to History.com, Hitler had long
planned an invasion of Poland. This country had military support from France and Great Britain,
while Germany had support from the Soviet Union. So, Hitler was just man enough to do it: or
ambitious enough. He invaded Poland from the west, thus starting World War II. This was the
result of ambition.

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The second most famous country, other than the United States, when talking about World
War II is Japan. In Japan, Ultra-nationalism was growing, which lead to industrialization,
military increase, and mass education. Although, after World War I, many Japanese views had
changed, and many assassinations had taken place. In 1939, China had been taken by Japanese
ambitions. These ambitions were to be a world power, which never stopped. Japan was never
content. In a way, Japan was an Idominus Rex killing too many Apatosauruss. The Japanese
took many island countries, such as Guam, the Philippians, and Hong Kong. The online article
Imperial Japan says this ambition lead to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was in this, the attack
on Pearl Harbor, that America got into the war. The American ambitions started, but this wasnt
bad, take over the world ambition, this was good, defend your country ambition. The Japanese
had great success after the attack on Pearl Harbor. An article, World War II in the Pacific,
gives more details. The turning point in the Pacific War came with the American naval victory
in the Battle of Midway in June 1942(3). It was from there that the American forces slowly
regained the territories Japan had conquered. Unfortunately, ambition can always lead to bad
things: such as the atomic bomb. The Atonic Bomb was an interesting part of the war, which
ended with a bang. The story goes that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, so we made a slightly bigger
bomb and blew them to kingdom come. By opinion, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki couldve been required to win the war, or unnecessary, when we couldve just won
without it.
In a way, these Japanese ambitions were a lot like Macbeths ambitions in Macbeth. In
Macbeth, Macbeth had the position of Thane of Cawdor. Japan was a good, developing country.
From there, they were both tempted by ambitions, so Macbeth killed King Duncan, and Japan
took over many Pacific territories and neighboring countries. Like Japan continuously
conquering territories, Macbeth continuously murdered people. Macbeth killed Banquo and

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Macduffs entire family (except Macduff), and he attempted to kill Fleance. Japan captured the
Dutch East Indies, rich in oil and other recourses, including but not limited to Singapore, Guam,
Burma, and Hong Kong. Then, Japan and Macbeth finally fell. Macduff defeated Macbeth, with
part help from the
Witches. With Americas turning-point victory at the Midway Islands, Japan began a slow fall,
leading to the Atomic Bomb.
So, weve talked about ambition in World War II, what ambition is, and how it can turn
bad. In the end, ambition is everywhere: humans, books, plays, history, and even Star Wars VI, in
tons of different ways that dont need to be addressed at the moment. So, what everyone needs to
take away form this: dont bomb a city because you want to win a war, dont murder people
because of religion or ethnicity, and dont take over various countries. Also, remember that
ambition is involved in World War II: good and bad. Thank you and goodbye.

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Works Cited
Samuelson, Robert.The Downside of Ambition.the Washington Post Writers Group.2007.Print
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
World War II History. History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history
Imperial Japan. HISTORY. N.p., 23 Mar. 2014. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
http://history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/imperial-japan
World War II in the Pacific. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States
Holocaust Memorial Council, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.