pacific theater: europe theater
TRANSCRIPT
Pacific Theater:
-
Europe Theater: -
Compare and contrast the government responses to the economic destitution caused in the wake of WWI and the Great Depression…
– 1. independent origins in Asia and Europe
– 2. dissatisfied states on both continents
– 1. Japan’s imperial ambitions of ‘20s and ‘30s
– 2. Japan more influential in Manchuria post-Russo Japanese War 1904/5• a. Japan withdraws from League of Nations after condemnation over 1931 attacks
• b. Japan leans toward German and Italian alliance by 1936
– 3. attacks on Chinese heartland in 1937
– 4. Japan feels threatened by international opinion• a. racism
• b. reliant on strategic foreign goods (esp. USA)
• c. imperialist powers controlled SE Asia
• d. USSR and communism controlled north Asia
– 5. 1940-41: Japan launches conquest of European colonies • a. Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Indonesia, Philippines)
• b. liberators “Asia for Asians”
• c. highly brutal rule
• d. Dec. 7, 1941 – attack on Pearl Harbor
– 6. Pearl Harbor joined the Asian and European theaters of war into a single global struggle
– 1. Nazis promised revenge for injustices of Versailles
– 2. Britain, France and USSR appeasement
– 3. war was desirable for Nazi leadership
• a. “living space” in E. Europe
• b. rearmament in 1935
• c. 1938: annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia Germans
• d. 1939: invade Poland, begins WWII in Europe
– 4. German strategy of blitzkrieg was initially successful
– 5. Germany quickly gained control of Europe before being turned back
in May ‘45
Basic Chronology
II. Axis Gains [Video 1]
– 1. Japan Invades China (1931 in Manchuria)
• a. The beginning of Japanese expansion
• b. Search for raw materials
II. Axis Gains [Video 2 & 3]
– 2. Invasion of Ethiopia
• a. Lasted from late 1935 to early 1936
• b. Italy invaded Ethiopia – i. Ethiopia losses but NEVER surrenders
• c. Shows ineffectiveness of League of Nations
II. Axis Gains [Video 4 & 5]
– 3. German Expansion
• a. – Germany united with Austria
• b. Hitler Sudetenland (Western
Czechoslovakia)
– i. later, annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia
• c. Europe followed policies
• d. American policy was
– 4. Poland
• a. Hitler’s first physical and military invasion (Sept. 1,
1939)
– splits Poland with USSR
• b. Ill-prepared with outdated technology
– SOVIET-Nazi Nonaggression Pact = HUGE
• Auschwitz
II. Axis Gains [Video 7]
– 5. France
• a. ill-conceived Maginot
Line
– Nazi’s march through
Belgium and occupy France
without any major resistance
II. Axis Gains [Video 9]
– 6. Battle of Britain
• a. July to October in 1940, Hitler waged unrestricted total war against
the island of Great Britain known as the Blitz with his new Luftwaffe.
Leaders Inspire [link to Churchill Speech]
[Video 10 &11]
II. Axis Gains [Video 12]
– 7. Operation Barbarossa
• a. Despite the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, Hitler invaded Stalin’s Soviet
Union in June 22, 1941
• b. Though initially successful, with USSR’s resolve and the help of Mother
Winter, Hitler’s war machine began to bog down outside Moscow and
Leningrad.
» i. Stalingrad
» ii. Kursk
II. Axis Gains [Video 13]
– 8. Pearl Harbor
• a. A surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941
• b. Premeditated to disable US
Pacific fleet to allow Japanese to
begin war in South Pacific
• c. Heavy losses by US, slight losses
for Japan
• d. Germany declares war on US but
did not have to
– i. Isolationist feeling gone
– ii. Ally with Allies
According to the
map below,
what do all the
labeled “dots”
represent?
[Video 14]
III. Allied Gains [Video 15]– Main Idea: During 1942 and 1943, the Allied Powers won several victories that began to turn
the tides of war.
Turning Points
– 1. The Big Three
• a. Winston Churchill of Britain
• b. Joseph Stalin of the USSR
• c. Franklin D. Roosevelt of the USA– i. they vehemently distrusted one another
• d. collaborated on future war strategy – decide the war in Europe must be won first
III. Allied Gains [Video 16]– 2. The Battle of El Alamein in North Africa
• a. British and American forces begin pushing Axis forces back into Europe
• b. trapped Erwin Rommel’s (the Desert Fox) army
• c. Italians not holding up their end of the bargain
• d. Desert Fox and Axis forces surrender north Africa by May 1943
III. Allied Gains [Video 17]– 3. The Invasion of Italy
• a. Allies chose to invade through Italy after winning north Africa
• b. Stalin had begged for the other Allies to open a second front in Europe
• c. beginning in July 1943, both the British and American forces “race” up the peninsula of Italy
• d. Italian forces are defeated after a month of fighting
• e. the Italians overthrow Il Duce / new gov’t signs an armistice
• f. Hitler forced to send more German troops to defend Italy
• g. fighting intensifies and Allies advance slowly
III. Allied Gains [Video 18]– 4. The Red Army Resists
• a. Hitler launches a second Soviet offensive to the oil-rich south
• b. Battle of Stalingrad– i. one of the costliest battles of the war
– ii. Germans surround city, Russians surround the surrounding-Germans
– iii. German commander surrenders in early 1943
• c. the USSR is now on the offensive with the Nazi’s in retreat
– i. probably the single-biggest turning point of the war
III. Allied Gains [Video 19 & 20]
– 5. D-Day: The Invasion of France
• a. Allied forces spend months bombing Germany
• b. June 6, 1944 Allies invade Nazi-occupied France under American Dwight D. Eisenhower
• c. largest amphibious landing and included land, sea and air elements
• c. France liberated by September
III. Allied Gains [Video 21]– 6. Nazi Germany Defeat
• a. Allies now fighting “Fortress Europe” (the Nazis) on three fronts– i. USSR from east / USA & Brit. from Italy and France
• b. Dec. 1944, Battle of the Bulge in Belgium was
Germany’s last offensive– i. failed
• c. Hitler receives assassination attempts
• d. allies continue to use incendiary bombs on Germany cities– i. 135,000 Germans killed in Dresden during Feb. 1945
• e. in late April, USSR and other Allied troops shake hands on the Elbe River
• f. Hitler commits suicide in a bunker
• g. Germany surrenders on May 7, 1945; May 8th becomes V-E Day– “If the War is to be lost, the nation also will perish” - Hitler
WWII: The Pacific Theater
[Video 22]
WWII: The Pacific Theater• Main Idea: The war in Southeast Asia and the Pacific was very different from
that in Europe; most battles were fought at sea, on tiny islands, or in deep
jungles.
IV. The Pacific Theater [Video 23]• A. Japanese Gains
o 1. Japan plans to conquer “Asia for Asians” (1920s)
o 2. invades Manchuria in 1931 for resources
• a. never completes conquest of China
o 3. attacks Pearl Harbor (USA) on Dec. 7th, 1941
• a. to prevent USA from interfering
with Japanese expansion
o 4. Japan successfully invades Philippians and other American possessions by May ‘42
• a. Bataan Death March
IV. The Pacific Theater [Video 24, 25, 26 & 27] B. Allied Counterattack
1. US and Allies win Battles of , and
○ a. involve , Navy & conflicts and
i. allow Allies to use each newly captured island as a “stepping-stone”
○ b. stops the Japanese advance
2. Allies begin to and use on Japan by 1944
○ a. Japan adamantly refuses to surrender
IV. Pacific Theater [Video 28] B. Allied Counterattack
3. by mid-1945, the Allies had
○ a. but the Japanese Army had not yet been engaged
i. Japan still had an Army of over 2 million men!!!
4. Japan started using pilots
5. soldiers refused to surrender
○ a. Battles of and
○ b. heaviest casualty rate for American forces
6. American President FDR dies on April 12, 1945
○ a. replaced by Harry S. Truman