World War II1939 - 1945

Totalitarianism in Europe: Pre-1939

Hitler Mussolini StalinRise to power

Methods to keep powerPre-WWII conquest for land

Europe moves towards war

Hitler calls for lebensraum “living space” for German people Take over lands of inferior peoples (Slavs & Poles) & occupy

German speaking lands of Europe European leaders try appeasement to avoid war with

Germany Germany begins building a large army & producing weapons

in 1933 –violating the Treaty of Versailles Anschluss of 1938, Germany enters Austria

“Peace for our time” –English Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain gets Hitler to agree to stop “annexing” parts of Europe on September 30, 1938

Next day, Germany occupies the Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)

War Begins: Blitzkrieg 9-1-1939 with the invasion of Poland Days before Hitler signs nonaggression pact with

USSR USSR will not stop German attacks in Europe

France & GB declare war on Germany Spring of 1940 –Norway, Denmark, the

Netherlands, Belgium & France invaded

August –October ,1940 Battle of Britain “the Blitz” (blitzkrieg=lightning

war) bombing Germany uses U-boats to

prevent supplies from reaching Britain

British hold out with radar & US supplied food & weapons thru the Lend-Lease Act

US enters the war December 7th, 1941

“A date that will live in infamy” Japan attacks US naval base at

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Punish U.S. for banning the sale of

oil to Japan Gen. Hideki Tojo also attacks the

Philippines and several islands in the Pacific held by US

Isolationism: refusal to be involved in political events abroad -ends for US

Germany Attacks the USSR June 1941, Hitler sends 3 million

men into Russia Blitzkrieg effective at first

By autumn still had not conquered Moscow, Stalingrad, Leningrad (St. Petersburg)

USSR cuts off all supplies to Stalingrad

Stalin “sieges a siege” -winter 1942 -1943▪ 1 million Soviets die▪ Out of 250,000 Germans: 90,000

captured, nearly 100,000 died

Battle of the Atlantic German navy is small Largest warship of it’s time “The

Bismarck” destroyed by British in less than 2 weeks

Germany relies on U-boats to disrupt supply lines and enigma code to send secret communications

By 1943, the U.S. can out-produce destroyed airplanes and ships

War in North Africa & Italy

German-Italian Afrika Korps has many early wins, but has vulnerable supply lines

Allies want control of Suez Canal to get Middle East oil supplies

Battle of El Alamein (1942), German General Erwin Rommel loses to British due to lack of supplies

By May 1943, American, French & British troops control all of Africa

Battle of the Pacific Japanese control much of the Pacific

b/c they’re well supplied & near home

US Navy severely weakened by Pearl Harbor attack

Capture more than 70,000 Allies –Bataan Death March

Battle of Midway -1st Allied Victory due to code breaking

Allies begin “island hopping” –Battle of Guadalcanal

Japan retaliates with Kamikazes

The End of the War -Europe

Soviets push west from Stalingrad; US, British, French push east from the Atlantic

D-day: Allied attack of Normandy, France June 6, 1944 150,000 men landed on the

same day by sea & air Germayn continues to fight for

11 more months V-E Day, May 7, 1945 war in

Europe ends

The Holocaust –”Great Raging Fire”

Long tradition of anti-Semitism in Europe Nuremburg Laws passed in 1937 to

exclude Jews from mainstream German life

Kristallnacht “night of broken glass”: November 1938 in Germany & Austria Jewish homes & businesses vandalized Synagogues destroyed 25% of Jewish men in Germany arrested

“The Final Solution” Ghettos –walled off sections of cities

where all Jews had to live Concentration camps

From France, Poland & other German held territory –Jews put on trains to work in slave labor camps in Eastern Europe

Used to produce necessities for the army

Those who were not “essential” –the old, sick and young children were gassed & cremated

Death marches Hitler’s ultimate goal was to

exterminate “the Jewish race”

The End of the War -Asia

US bombing raids of Tokyo begin in summer 0f 1944

Battle of Iwo Jima & Battle of Okinawa Japanese fight to the death and heavy

American losses July, 1945 US asks for Japanese surrender Atomic Bomb

Aug. 6, 1945 bombing of Hiroshima Aug. 9, 1945 bombing of Nagasaki

V-J Day Japan surrenders, August 15, 1945