World War II

1
World War II

• 1939 - 1945

2
The Rise of Fascism

• Fascism is a nationalistic political philosophy
  which is anti-democratic, anti- communist, and
  anti-liberal. It puts the importance of the
  nation above the rights of the individual.
• The word Fascism comes from a Latin word meaning
  bundle of sticks. These Fasces were used in
  ancient Rome to beat Senators who did not vote
  the way the emperor wanted.

3
Fascism

• Fascist dictators began to take over in parts of
  Europe in the 1920s and 1930s due to bad
  economic conditions created by WWI and the Great
  Depression.

4
Italy

• Benito Mussolini became the Prime Minister of
  Italy in 1922. He used this position to outlaw
  all non-fascist political parties and soon became
  and dictator.

5
Germany

• Adolph Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in
  January, 1933. Through a variety of manipulative
  actions, Hitler soon dismantled the German
  government and became a dictator.

6
Europe Moves Toward War

• 1936 German troops moved into the Rhineland.
  This was prohibited by the Treaty of
  Versailles.
• 1936 Hitler and Mussolini signed an alliance,
  creating the Axis.

7
The Spanish Civil War

• 1936-39 Spanish Civil War Fascist forces
  aided by Italy and Germany take over Spain. (WWII
  dress rehearsal).

8
More Steps Toward War

• March 1938 Germany annexed Austria.
• Sept. 1938 Munich conference Hitler forced
  the British and French to give him the
  Sudetenland in return for a promise not to invade
  the rest of Czechoslovakia.
• March, 1939 Hitler took over Czechoslovakia.

9
War in Europe Begins

• March 31, 1939 Britain and France agreed to
  protect Poland in case of a German invasion.
• August, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Sept. 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland, starting
  WWII.
• Sept, 3, 1939 Britain and France declared war
  on Germany and Germany and Italy declared war on
  them.

10
The Japanese Empire

• Japan wanted to expand to meet the land needs of
  a growing population and to obtain more raw
  materials and markets for its industries.
• 1931 Japan seized Manchuria
• 1937-40 Japan seized most of E. China
• Sept. 1940 Japan joins the tripartite pact,
  becoming an ally of Italy and Germany.

11
America and WWII

• America initially stayed out of the war, but
  began a naval build up in the Pacific to counter
  the expansion of Japan.
• 1939 FDR moved the Pacific fleet from San Diego
  to Pearl Harbor.
• Disillusionment from WWI and the Great Depression
  contributed to the popularity of isolationism in
  America.

12
American Involvement Grows

• Neutrality Acts of the mid to late 1930s made it
  impossible for the US to give loans to nations at
  war or to allow any combatant to buy on credit.
• FDR had to find other ways to help out the
  British and the French in their fight against
  Fascism.
• March 1941 Lend-lease began.

13
The Atlantic Charter

• August 1941 FDR and Winston Churchill met
  secretly on a ship off the coast of Newfoundland
  to agree on war goals, since both foresaw US
  joining the Allies, soon.
• They agreed to ensure national sovereignty for
  all nations and drew up the outline for the
  United Nations. This was the Atlantic Charter.

14
America gets closer to war

• Mid 1941 Japanese forces seized French
  territories in Indochina.
• In response, the US froze Japanese assets in the
  US and cut off all trade with Japan.
• Americans began to crack the Japanese secret code
  and intercepted messages saying that Japan was
  planning to seize more islands in the Pacific.

15
Problems in the Pacific

• October 1941 General Tojo became Prime Minister
  of Japan and wanted war with the US.
• Nov. 1941 The US intercepted messages showing
  that a Japanese force was moving towards SE Asia
  to take more land.
• FDR demanded that it be recalled and that Japan
  withdraw from conquered territories.

16
Pearl Harbor

• Japanese negotiators agreed to meet with US
  diplomats.
• While they met, the Japanese decided to sent a
  fleet to Pearl Harbor to destroy the US Pacific
  fleet.
• Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese forces attacked Pearl
  Harbor killing 2,400, wounding 1,200, and
  destroying 300 Am. Planes, 18 warships, and 8 of
  the 9 US battleships.

17
WAR

• Dec. 8, 1941 FDR delivered a war message to
  Congress. Within 3 days, the US was at war with
  Japan, Germany, and Italy.

18
A Grim Future for the Allies

• In Jan. 1942, the Axis powers had a big advantage
  in Europe. By then, Britain was almost defeated,
  the Axis controlled almost all of continental
  Europe, and German troops had captured most of
  North Africa.
• German subs were trying to keep food and supplies
  from reaching Britain.

19
The Battle of the Atlantic

• American and British ships fought to maintain
  control of the Atlantic and protect Britain from
  defeat.
• Allied ships used Sonar to locate and attack
  German subs.

20
Capture of U-Boat 505

• Although the subs did a lot of damage, the
  invention of sonar helped to defeat the German
  wolfpacks.

21
The North African Campaign

• Nov. 1942 Br. General Montgomery wins the
  Battle of El Alamein in Egypt. This starts the
  retreat of German General Rommel.
• Nov. 1942 Am. and Br. troops commanded by
  Dwight Eisenhower landed in Morocco.
• Eventually the two allied armies met, forcing a
  German surrender in Africa.

22
Casablanca Conference

• January 1943 FDR and Churchill met in
  Casablanca, Morocco.
• They agreed to win the war in Europe before
  concentrating on the Pacific.
• They agreed to demand only an unconditional
  surrender from all of the Axis powers.

23
The Invasion of Italy

• July, 1943 Am. Troops commanded by General
  George Patton attacked Sicily.
• 38 days later, Sicily fell and Mussolini was
  overthrown by a disillusioned Italian population.
• Hitler captured Mussolini and set up a fascist
  state in N. Italy, and Italian and German troops
  continued to fight the Allies in Italy.

24
War in Italy

• Sept. 1943 Italy surrendered to the allies, and
  many Italians began to fight against Mussolini
  and Hitler.
• Sept. 1943 - Jan. 1944 US forces are stalled by
  Hitlers troops .
• Finally in January, the US landed forces behind
  the German lines at Anzio, just South of Rome.

25
The Battle of Anzio

• This battle took 4 months and 72,000 German
  deaths to win.
• Soon after the battle, Rome fell to the Allies.
• N. Italy finally surrendered to the Allies in
  April, 1945, after 190,000 Americans and 483,000
  Germans died there.

26
War in the Soviet Union

• June, 1941 Germany attacked the Soviet Union
  with 3.6 million German soldiers.
• The USSR asked the US for lend-lease help, but
  FDR refused, afraid to be caught helping a
  communist nation.
• Eventually, the USSR repelled the German attack,
  but this was only a temporary victory.

27
The Battle of Stalingrad

• 1942 Germany again attacked the USSR, this time
  concentrating its attacks in the Southern part of
  the country.
• Sept. 1942 the Germans attacked Stalingrad, a
  major oil and railroad center.

28
Map of the 1942 German Invasion of the USSR
29
The Battle of Stalingrad

• From September to November, 1942, the Germans
  shelled and attacked the city of Stalingrad.
• The USSR refused to surrender the city and house
  - to - house fighting saved the city from defeat.
• By late November, the USSR launched a
  counteroffensive and began to win the battle.

30
A Turning Point

• Jan. 31, 1943 90,000 surviving German soldiers
  surrendered to the Soviet army in Stalingrad.
• This was the turning point of the war in the
  east after this the USSR never lost another
  battle, and the Germans did not launch any more
  offensives in the east.

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32
War in W. Europe

• The US began to bomb Germany in 1942 using carpet
  bombing tactics.
• In 1943, the amount of bombs dropped in Germany
  doubled.
• By 1944, the US was bombing Germany 24 hours a
  day.
• The bombing of Dresden was one of the most famous
  campaigns of the air war.

33
D-Day

• June 6, 1944 Allied troops commanded by
  Eisenhower landed on the beaches of Normandy and
  began the invasion of W. Europe and the
  liberation of France.
• Despite brutal German resistance, 2 million
  allied soldiers occupied France by July.

34
The US Frees W. Europe

• American forces continued to defeat the Germans
  and freed Paris by August, 1944. In Sept.,
  Belgium and Holland were freed from Nazi control.

35
The Battle of the Bulge

• Dec. 1944 Germany launched its last offensive
  in the war attacking Americans in Belgium and
  Luxembourg.
• Patton arrived a few days later with 250,000 men.
• This was the largest battle ever fought by the US
  army and the largest battle of WWII.

36
The Battle of the Bulge

• The US won the battle. Over 800,000 Americans
  fought here and 80,000 Americans died.
• Germany fought with over 2 million soldiers, and
  lost about 200,000 men.
• After this battle, the Germans realized the war
  was lost.

37
German Surrender

• The Americans continued to bomb Germany and
  attack from the Western front, while the Soviets
  continued their attacks on Germany from the East.
• May 8, 1945 V-E Day Germany surrendered.

38
May 8, 1945 V-E Day
39
The Yalta Conference

• Feb. 1945 The Big Three met at Yalta in the
  USSR to plan the post-war world.

40
Yalta Conference

• All agreed to split Germany into 4 zones of
  occupation and to also split the capital city,
  Berlin.
• Stalin promised to allow free elections in the
  nations his army liberated from Germany.
• Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan soon
  after the German surrender.

41
War in the Pacific

• On Dec. 7, 1941, about one-half of General
  MacArthurs air force was destroyed on the ground
  at Clark Air Field in the Philippines.
• Within days, a large Japanese force landed in the
  Philippines and MacArthur withdrew to the Bataan
  Peninsula on Manila Bay. There he set up
  defenses, hoping the US Navy could evacuate his
  men to safety.

42
The Philippines

• By March, 1942, FDR ordered General MacArthur to
  escape to Australia. He left with the words I
  shall return.
• On May 6, 1942, 11,000 Americans and Filipinos
  surrendered. When the Bataan Peninsula fell,
  approx. 76,000 Filipinos and Americans became
  prisoners of war.

43
Bataan Death March

• Japanese soldiers split the prisoners into groups
  of 500-1000 and marched them 60 miles to a
  railroad.
• About 10,000 prisoners died during the 6 -12 day
  march and some were shot by the guards.
• Those who survived were shipped to prison camps
  where they were held captive for the rest of the
  war.

44
Bataan

• The Japanese general responsible for organizing
  the march was one of 6 Japanese executed for war
  crimes after the war.

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46
Japanese Expansion

• Japanese forces continued to expand and were not
  stopped by allied forces until the Battle of the
  Coral Sea in May, 1942.
• This battle fought entirely with planes from
  aircraft carriers. Enemy ships never came within
  sight of one another.

47
Battle of the Coral Sea

• Although both the US and the Japanese navy lost
  about 1/2 of their forces, this battle stopped
  the Japanese from establishing the bases they
  needed to invade Australia.

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49
The Battle of Midway

• June 4, 1942 This battle was also fought
  entirely from the air.
• The US destroyed 3 of the 4 Japanese aircraft
  carriers while they were still loading bombs in
  their planes. This carried with it the loss of
  250 Japanese planes.
• This was the last Japanese offensive.

50
Battle of Guadalcanal

• 1st US offensive of the Pacific war.
• August 1942 11,000 US Marines landed at
  Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and about
  2,200 Japanese fled into the jungle. They fought
  there for 3 months.
• Feb. 1943 Japan abandoned Guadalcanal.

51
Island-Hopping

• From February 1943 on, the US forces began to
  selectively attack enemy-held islands in the
  Pacific.
• The Japanese fiercely defended their positions
  and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

52
American Offensives

• The US first captured the rest of the Solomon
  islands and then the Gilbert islands.
• After seizing the island of Tarawa in the Gilbert
  islands, it was used by US Admiral Nimitz to
  launch bombing raids on Japanese bases in the
  Marshall islands.

53
More US Offensives

• By Feb. 1944, the US had crippled Japanese air
  power and seized the Marshall islands.
• By June, 1944, the US captured parts of the
  Mariana Islands.
• The Mariana Islands were important because they
  enabled US planes to bomb Japanese cities.

54
The Philippines

• Mid-October 1944 US forces invaded the
  Philippine island of Leyte. Although the US
  quickly captured the island, a huge naval battle
  ensued.
• The Japanese used kamikaze pilots for the 1st
  time in this battle.
• The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest in Naval
  history, engaging more than 280 warships. As a
  result of the battle, the Japanese navy was
  virtually destroyed.

55
Japanese Kamikazes

• Japanese kamikazes were suicide pilots who
  crashed their planes which were heavily loaded
  with bombs into allied ships.
• During the war, the US experienced about 4,900
  kamikaze attacks which destroyed 57 American
  ships and damaged about 650 others.

56
A Kamikaze Pilot
57
The Philippines

• After securing Leyte, the US invaded Luzon in an
  attempt to capture Manila, the capital city of
  the Philippines.
• In one months time, 100,000 Filipinos died,
  80,000 Japanese died, and 27,000 Americans also
  perished.
• The US did not fully secure the Philippines until
  June, 1945.

58
The Battle of Iwo Jima

• The battle for this 14 square mile island was one
  of the bloodiest battles of the war.
• 25,000 Japanese protected the small rocky island
  and it took over 110,000 Americans to defeat
  them. Only 216 Japanese surrendered--the rest
  died.
• More US medals of honor were given for this
  battle than any other single battle of the war.

59
Marines Raising the US Flag at Iwo Jima
60
American Offensives

• Iwo Jima was located about 700 miles from Japan.
  Its capture was another step toward an eventual
  invasion of the Japanese home islands.
• The next island to fall to the Americans was
  Okinawa, which was located about 350 miles from
  Japan.

61
Battle of Okinawa

• April-June 1945 In another bloody battle,
  nearly 100,000 Japanese defended the island from
  an allied force of 180,000 soldiers and 1,300
  warships.
• Japanese kamikazes launched nearly 2,000 attacks
  against the British and American fleets.
• This was the single bloodiest battle of the
  Pacific war with nearly 50,000 allied deaths and
  93,000 Japanese deaths.

62
Okinawa
63
The Bombing of Hiroshima

• August 6, 1945 On President Trumans orders,
  the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city
  of Hiroshima.
• It destroyed about 90 of the city and killed
  about 140,000 people.

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65
Nagasaki

• When the bombing of Hiroshima did not elicit a
  surrender from the Japanese government, a 2nd
  atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9,
  1945.
• The bomb on Nagasaki was equally destructive and
  led to a Japanese surrender.

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67
V-J Day

• August 14, 1945 Japan agreed to an
  unconditional surrender.
• The formal surrender was signed on September 2,
  1945 on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, officially
  ending WWII.

68
The Results of the War

• After the defeat of the Axis powers, all
  territories that had been taken over by Japan
  were returned to their pre-war status.
• All of the German-occupied territories were
  supposed to be given free elections, but only the
  W. European nations became democratic. Stalin
  refused to honor the Yalta agreements and made E.
  Europe into a series of Communist dictatorships.

69
World War II Allied Deaths
70
World War II Axis Deaths