WWII

1
WWII
The rise and fall of the Axis powers
2
Spanish Civil War

• July 1936
• Francisco Franco staged an uprising against the
  republican government
  
• Nationalist followers
• Mussolini and Hitler supplied arms to
  Nationalists
  
• Stalin supported republicans
• United States remained neutral isolationists
• Ended with victory for the Nationalists

3
Anschluss

• Before the Spanish Civil War Hitler had begun
  expansion
  
• Sent troops into Rhineland
• Union between Austria and Germany
• March 1938 Austria becomes part of Germany
• No one responds

4
Appeasement

• Making concessions to an agressor in order to
  preserve peace
  
• Britain and France reluctant to go to war with
  Hitler after WWI
  
• Pacifism strong among citizens of countries
• Rhineland and Austria unimportant
• Some believed a strong Germany was a check on
  Soviet power
  
• Some still felt Germany treated to harshly after
  Versailles Treaty

5
Munich Conference

• Hitler announced he had no more territorial
  claims on Europe
  
• Chamberlain Peace for our time
• 6 months later German troops occupied
  Czechoslovakia
  
• Hitler could not be trusted
• Could appeasement work?

6
Poland

• Britain would aid Poland if attacked
• Nazi-Soviet Pact
• In secret clauses agreed to divide Poland and
  other parts of Eastern Europe
  
• Soviet Union had temporary assurance they would
  not be attacked
  
• September 1, 1939 Germany enters Poland
• 2 days later, Britain and France declared war on
  Germany

7
Blitzkrieg

• lightning war
• Planes, tanks, artillery and mechanized infantry
  pierced Polish defenses
  
• Soviet troops seized half of Poland
• Poland surrenders 9/27/39
• Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and
  Belgium fell to Germany

8
Domination

• France surrenders
• Britain rallies
• Churchill new Prime Minister
• blood, toil, tears and sweat
• Britain able to defend itself in the Battle of
  Britain
  
• Germany control
• All of Western Europe, except Portugal, Sweden,
  Switzerland
  
• Spain allowed use of ports to Germans

9
Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to
death like cattle interests me only insofar as we
need them as slaves to our civilization - Hitler
10
Pearl Harbor

• US had condemned Japanese actions in Asia
• Cancelled commercial treaty with Japan
• Stopped exporting oil and scrap metal to Japan
• US mobilized troops to Hawaii to show readiness
• December 7, 1941

11
(No Transcript)
12
D-Day

• Allied forces invade the northern French coast at
  Normandy
  
• Begin to take back Europe from the Axis powers
• Same begins to happen in the pacific

13
D-Day
14
The Aftermath

• The Holocaust is revealed
• Hitler and Goebbels had committed suicide
• Top Nazis tried at Nuremberg
• Western Allies alarmed at Stalins plans
• Goal of denazification
• Truman Doctrine US would support free peoples
  resisting domination by armed inorities or
  outside pressures

15
Cont.

• Marshall Plan fund a program of European
  recovery
  
• Channeled almost 1.4 in aid to Germany
• United Nations
• San Francisco 1945
• Solve world problems of disease, hunger and
  illiteracy
  
• Peace settlements