World War II

1939 – 1945

Chapter 31 section 4Chapter 32

World War II

CAUSES German Aggression in Europe Unstable Governments Rise of Fascism Failure of League of Nations Appeasement

World War II German Aggression

Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles1935 Hitler announced Germany would not follow the conditions set by the treatyGermany began to rebuild its militaryLeague of Nations issued a mild condemnationLeague could not stop German rearming

Nazi Party Principles

Unification of Greater Germany (Annexed Austria + Germany)

Land + expansion (what fascist dictators do) Anti-Versailles - abrogation of the Treaty. Land and territory - lebensraum. Only a "member of the German/Aryan race" can be a

citizen. Anti-Semitism - No Jew can be a member of the race. Anti-foreigner - only citizens can live in Germany. No immigration - ref. to Jews fleeing pogroms. Everyone must work. Abolition of unearned income - "no rent-slavery". Nationalization of industry (Factories focused on the

development of war technology) Division of profits

Nazi Party Principles

Extension of old age welfare. Land reform Death to all criminals German law, not Roman law (anti- French Rev.)

Dictators take away civil liberties. Education to teach "the German Way" [Hitler Youth,

German League for Girls] Education of gifted children Protection of mother and child by outlawing child

labor. Encouraging gymnastics and swimming Formation a national army. Duty of the state to provide for its volk. (people) Duty of individuals to the state

Appeasement Policy

World War II Forbidden Land

Although forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles Hitler moved troops into the Rhineland

French did not want war British urged appeasement –

giving in to the aggressor to keep peace

France and Britain looked weak in Hitler’s eyes which served to encourage further aggression!

World War II

Axis Powers Mussolini, Italian fascist leader sought

an alliance with Germany. Japan shortly joined Italy and Germany

World War II United States

Adopted a policy of isolationism(political ties with other nations should be

avoided) Neutrality Acts

Passed by CongressBanned loans or selling of arms to nations at war

World War IIThird Reich – German Empire

Hitler planned to annex Austria & Czechoslovakia

Treaty of Versailles forbade an alliance between Germany & Austria-Hungary

1938 – Hitler’s army took control of Austria

World War II Third Reich Czechoslovakia was a democracy

Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) was on the border of Germany

A German speaking area Hitler demanded

control of of the Sudetenland

Many of the region welcomed the Germans.

World War IIMunich Conference

France & Gr. Britain met and decided that Hitler could take Sudetenland for the promise to respect the borders of Czechoslovakia

Six months laterHitler took controlof Czechoslovakia.

World War IIGerman – Russian Non Aggression Pact

Britain & France sought Russia’s help

Negotiations were slow Hitler signed anagreement with Russiabut secretly they agreed to divide Poland.

Germany and Russia will take Poland!

World War II Germany Attacks Poland Sept. 1, 1939

Surprise attack German planes attacked from the air Tanks attacked on land Troops on the ground “BLITZKRIEG” “lighting war”Considered the beginning of WW II

World War IISept. 3, 1939

France declared waron Germany

Britain declared waron Germany

World War II Russia Took Eastern Poland

Soviet troops took E. Poland Also Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia =

Balkans Finland resisted, but were later taken by

the Soviets.

World War II Phony WarFrance & Gr. Britain stationed troops along

the French/ German border in a defensive position, believing Germany would attack. The German soldiers just stared back.

They remained there for months with no military action taken – “sitzkrieg”

Ended when Hitler launched a surprise attack on Denmark & Norway.

World War IIBATTLE FOR FRANCE AND BRITAIN

Germany took Holland, Belgium, & Luxembourg Then to France Allies were backed up to Dunkirka port city on the English Channel Britain to the rescue! Sent 850 ships along with yachts,lifeboats, motorboats, fishingboats to save the Allied troops.

World War IIFall of France

Italy joined Germany in war against France- attacked from the south- Germany took Paris- French leader, Charles de Gualle, exiled to London setting up a government in exile.- Established Free French Forces that fought the Nazi until French liberation in 1944.

World War II

Germany Assaults Great Britain

Great Britain stood ALONE against GermanyWinston Churchill, Prime Minister declared that Britain would NEVER give in to Germany.surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.

World War II Operation Sea Lion

- Luftwaffe – (German Air Force) Hitler hoped to knock out the RAF and land 250,000 soldiers in Great Britain. Germany targeted airfields and aircraft factories

- Focused on the bombing of London – Bombs exploded daily in city streets. They killed civilians and set buildings ablaze.

September 7, 1940

Britain resisted until May 10, 1941 and Hitler called off his attacks.

World War IIBritain’s Secret

WeaponsRadar – detected number,

speed & direction of incoming planes

Enigma – German code machine in the hands of Britain became a code breaking machine.

Germany called off attacks on Britain in May 1941.

The Germans were stopped by the Allies!

World War II Eastern Front / Balkans / Mediterranean Area:

Because of the success of Britain, Hitler changed his European strategy.

Mediterranean Area: Sept. 1940- Mussolini orders Italy’s North African army to move Eastfrom Libya. His goal: seize British-controlled Egypt and gain

control of the Suez Canal (key to reaching the oil fields of the Middle East). Italy pushed the British units back. Finally in December, the British struck back. By Feb. 1941, the British swept 500 miles across North Africa and had taken 130,000 Italian prisoners.

Hitler had to step in to save his Axis partner…Italy.

World War II

Feb. 1941: Hitler sent German tank commander Erwin Rommel (“Desert Fox”) was sent to help the Italians defeat the British in Africa.

March 24th: He attacked the British at Agheila. The British retreated 500 miles east to Tobruk.

Mid-January 1942: after fierce fighting for Tobruk, the British drove Rommel back to where he had started.

June 1942: Rommel regrouped and pushed the British back across the desert and seized Tobruk.

This was a shattering loss for the Allies. Rommel later wrote, “To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance, and we were now going to finish with it for good.”

World War II

As early as the summer of 1940: Hitler plans to attack his ally, the USSR. The key to Hitler’s invasion plan was taking the Balkan countries of southeastern Europe.Hitler attacked the Balkans in order to build military bases in the region. Looking at how strong Germany’s resolve was, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary joined the Axis powers in early 1941. Yugoslavia and Greece were pro-British governments. Yugoslavia fell in 11 days and Greece fell in 17.

World War IIGermany Invades the Soviet Union

June 22, 1941: Operation Barbarossa Surprise to Russia - blitzkrieg Germany moved 500 miles inside the Soviet Union. Retreating Russians used scorched earth

World War II

Sept. 8th: Germans surround Leningrad• Hitler starves the city’s 2.5 million inhabitants.• German bombs destroy food warehouses.• Russians resort to eating cattle, horse feed,

cats, dogs, and finally, crows and rats.• More than 1,000,000 people died that winter.• Leningrad refused to surrender. • Oct. 2, 1941: Hitler’s army moves to the

capital – Moscow.

World War II

• Soviet General Georgi Zhukov counterattacked with 100 fresh Siberian divisions + harsh Soviet winter.

• Temperatures fell. Germans in their summer uniforms retreated.

• Fuel and oil froze!• Tanks, trucks, and weapons became useless!• Hitler sent his generals a stunning order, “No

retreat!” • German troops dug in about 125 miles west of the

capital. They held the line until March 1943. • RESULT: Moscow saved / Germans -500,000 lives

World War II U. S. Aids Allies Lend-Lease Act - March 1941

The President could lend or lease arms and other supplies to any nation vital to the United States

By the summer of 1941, the U.S. Navy was escorting British ships carrying U.S. arms.

In response, Hitler orders his submarines to sink any cargo ships they met.

On August 9th, Churchill and Roosevelt met secretly on a battleship to sign the Atlantic Charter upholding free trade and self determination (which gave people the right to choose their own government).

September 4th – a German U-boat fired on a U.S. destroyer in the Atlantic. Roosevelt ordered navy commanders to shoot on site. This drew the U.S. unofficially into the war.

United States Enters WW II

Dec. 7, 1941 Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor

America Declared War On Japan

Dec.8, 1941

Dec. 8, 1941

Pearl Harbor

Memorial over the U.S.S. Arizona

“…we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…”

World War IIJapan becomes a strong industrial nation!

It expands to build up nationalism.

*Invaded China in 1931After Pearl Harbor Japan took and orattacked: Guam Java

Wake Island Sumatra Philippines Borneo Island of Corregidor Hong Kong Celebes Malaya Burma Singapore Burma Road Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)

World War IIAllies Strikes Back

Allied forces led by led by Lt. Col. Doolittle. - bombed major Japanese cities- not much physical damage but the Japanese understood they were subject to attack-raised American morale

World War IIPacific Battles

Coral Sea – Japan & the Allies used aircraft carriers for the first time. The Allies lost more ships but stopped the Japanese southward expansion.

Battle of Midway – Japanese target because of American military bases located there. Pacific Allied commander Chester Nimitz was outnumbered by Japanese naval forced 4 to 1. Japanese ships were attacked destroying 322 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers, and one support ship.

One Japanese official commented: “The Americans had avenged Pearl Harbor.”

World War II Additional Allied Victories

Gen. Douglas MacArthur Commander of Allied forces in the

Pacific Proposed “island hopping” past

Japanese strong points Seize islands not well defended Cut supply lines Starve the enemy troops

The Holocaust

Blamed the Jews for their WWI defeat Germany Targeted Jews, homosexuals,

gypsies and others Idea of the Master Race of Aryans Gov’t Policy of Persecution: Jews are

forbidden to hold public office; No Jew can be a German citizen; deprived of jobs and property

Wear the star of David Kristallnacht “Night of Broken Glass” Emigration (forced removal to other

countries) The Final Solution = genocide, the

systematic killing of an entire people

For generations, many Germans, along with other Europeans, had targeted the Jews as the cause of their failures.

World War II

World War II

DEATHS Jews Killed % Survived Poland 3,300,000 10 Soviet Union 2,850,000 56 Hungary 650,000 30 Romania 600,000 50 Germany/Austria 240,000 10

Allied Victories Force A Two Front War Allied Victory in North Africa

Fighting in N. Africa since 1941 Germans dug in near Alexandra All out British assault defeated the

Germans Allies launched Operation Torch in Algeria

and Morocco – defeated Germans in 1943

World War II

Allies Defeated Germany at Stalingrad Luftwaffe bombed the city nightly Stalin ordered the defense of the city Germans controlled 90% of the city Russians trapped the Germans inside the city. where they cut off supplies. Germans wanted to surrender.Hitler said, “No!” German soldiersSurrendered.

World War II Allies Invaded and

Defeated Italy 1943 Allies invaded Sicily Mussolini fell Resistance fighters found

Mussolini in a truck disguised as a German soldier.

Next day Mussolini was shot Mussolini’s body was displayed in

the Milan town square

Factories: converted their operations to wartime production; made machine guns to boots

Automobile Factories produced tanks U.S. Typewriter company made armor-piercing

shells. By 1944 – almost 18million U.S. workers, (most

of them were women)were in the war industry American govt. rationed scarce items Propaganda campaigns Scrap metal drives (especially in the Soviet

Union) Buying of war bonds and stamps to provide $

for the U.S. government

Total War!

World War IID-Day Invasion of France* Largest military invasion in history* 3.5 Million Allied troops – Operation Overlord*Dummy army set up at Calais*Germans protected by concrete walls*Thousands of casualties*Allies held the beach*A million additional troops

World War IIBattle of the Bulge

Soviets from the eastAllies from the westGermans broke through western defenses creating a bulge in the defensive lineAllies pushed back the Germans and defeated themSoon afterward Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered.

World War IIThe Manhattan Project:Bombing of Nagasaki & Hiroshima

After the loss of many Allied livesin battle with Japan, the decision was made to bomb Japan rather than suffer the loss of perhaps another ½ to a million soldiers8/6/45 - The first Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima with the lossof 73,000 lives – Japan did not surrender8/9/1945 – The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

World War II The Japanese surrender on September 2,

1945 on board the U.S.S. Missouri.

Post War Europe Huge Loss of Life and Property Agriculture and Infrastructure Destroyed Unstable Post War Governments Nuremberg Trials

International Military Tribunal to try German war crimes

Occupation and Demilitarization of Japan Japan was ordered to take down military forces, leaving only

enough to defend the nation A constitution was written U. S. helped with the rebuilding of the Japanese economy