The Second World War

Path to War

Hitler’s War: 1939-1941

American Involvement: 1941-1945

Road to War

• 1931:–Japan invades Manchuria

–League of Nations fail

• 1935: –Hitler announces rearmament

–Mussolini invades Ethiopia

• 1936:–Hitler occupies demilitarized zone

along Rhineland

–Spanish Civil War begins (1936-1939)

–Berlin-Tokyo Anti-Comintern Pact

–Rome-Berlin Axis

• 1937:–Japan invades China

• 1938:–Anschluss: Germany annexes

Austria–Munich Conference (March)

Appeasement–Germany annexes Sudetenland from

Czechoslovakia (per Munich agreement) see map

–Japan announces “A New Order in East Asia”

• 1939:–Germany occupies all of

Czechoslovakia

–Russo-German nonaggression pact

–Italy invades Albania

–France & Britain prepare for war

–September 1st Germany & USSR invade Poland (see map)

–September 3rd Britain & France declare war on Germany

Hitler’s War: 1939-1941

• 1939: Polish Campaign– Use of Blitzkrieg

– USSR takes possession of East Poland (per Russo-German agreement)

• Sitzkrieg, or Phony War– Period of inaction for Germany, Britain,

France

– Main issue over mining Norwegian waters

• Winter War 1939-1940–Soviets demand Finland cede

territory

–Finland denies

–War: USSR took Finland

• April 1940–Germany invaded Denmark &

Norway

• May 1940: Battle of France–Belgium & Netherlands attacked

simultaneously–Luftwaffe fly over Maginot Line– ‘impassable’ Ardennes Forest

(Luxemburg) passed–Allies ‘divided’–Dunkirk Evacuation–Belgium surrendered May 25th –Paris fell mid-June

• New France (Vichy France)– Marshal Petain led Vichy France (new capital

at Vichy)– ‘Free French’ fled to Britain – led by Charles

de Gaulle

• Chamberlain criticized– Moved too slow

• Churchill chosen as new Prime Minister • 1940: Italy attacked British in Egypt & lost

– Rommel sent to deal with Africa (Afrika Korps)

Hitler’s New Order• Mid-summer 1940 Germany & Italy

control most of Western and Central Europe (see map)

• Hitler believed he had won the war

• Set up puppet governments (Quislings)

• Gathered asocials, Jews, Communists, Gypsies, etc into labor camps

• Britain, however, refused to sue for peace

Battle of Britain: Operation Sea Lion

• Luftwaffe versus RAF

• Brits had better planes

• Radar invented by Brits

• Brits held off German invasion

• British invasion abandoned

1941: A pivotal year1941: A pivotal year

• Russian Invasion: Operation Barbarossa– Germany made demands on Eastern

Euro countries

– June 22, 1941 Hitler invaded USSR

– Got within 25 miles of Moscow

– Winter and counter-attack turned Germans back

American Involvement

• Isolationists prior to this year (1941)

• Did have Cash-and-Carry Policy

• Lend-Lease Act passed (1941)

• Economically supporting Allies

• Began 1st peace-time draft

• Looked like isolationism no longer going to work

• Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941

1941-1945

• Germany First (Rainbow Plans)

• Operation Torch 1942: – Montgomery (Brit),

– Patton & Eisenhower (USA)

– Went after Rommel in Africa

• Battle of Stalingrad 1942– Hitler invaded

– Weeks of bitter fighting

– Germans lost January 1943

• Casablanca Jan 1943– Casablanca Conference

– Churchill & Roosevelt talk strategy

– Planned Sicily/Italy invasion

– Discussed possible Normandy invasion

• Teheran Conference Nov 1943– Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt

– Normandy invasion plan decided upon

– Stalin agreed to invade Germany from East

– Eisenhower chosen as leader

• Operation Overlord: D-Day: June 6, 1944 (see map)–European invasion

–Brits, Americans, Canadians, Poles, Free French

–It worked

• By end of 1944, France was liberated

• 1944 USSR took –Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria

• Battle of the Bulge: Dec 1944-Jan 1945

• Yalta Conference Feb 1945• Hitler committed suicide May 7, 1645• V-E Day May 8, 1945• Potsdam Conference July 1945 • Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima

& Nagasaki Aug 1945