WORLD WAR II 1939-1945

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WORLD WAR II1939-1945
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ORIGINS OF THE WAR

• Adolf Hitler (Chancellor of Germany and leader of
  Nazi Party) defies Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler rebuilds the German armed forces and
  becomes leader of the Third Reich
• The outbreak of WWII proved the ineffectiveness
  of the League of Nations Munich Conference
  (September 1938) British Prime Minister,
  Neville Chamberlain, appeased Hitlers demand and
  allowed him to annex the Sudetenland in
  Czechoslovakia
• Appeasement granting concessions to an
  aggressor allowed Nazi aggression to go
  unchecked and make more demands

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HITLER RISES TO POWER

• NazismGerman brand of fascism
• Anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews) was a key part of
  Nazi ideology they were scapegoats for Germanys
  problems
• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and Nazi
  leader in 1933
• Mein KampfHitlers book detailing beliefs,
  goals
• Hitler believed that Germany needs lebensraum,
  or living space
• Germans turned to him when economy collapsed
  during the Great Depression
• March 1938 - Hitler annexed territories that he
  felt belonged to Germany
• Hitler wanted to achieve lebensraum (living
  space) by conquering other countries

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NAZI-SOVIET NON-AGGRESSION PACT

• Non-aggression pactGermans and Soviets agreed
  not to fight each other
• Agreement included a secret deal to split Poland

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MUSSOLINI TAKES CONTROL OF ITALY

• Fascism was a new, militant political movement
• Emphasized nationalism and loyalty to
  authoritarian leader
• Italians wanted a leader who would take action
• Fascist Party leader, Benito Mussolini, promised
  to rescue Italy
• Italian king put Mussolini in charge of
  government

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TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENTS

• Similarity between Fascism and Communism both
  suppressed the views of the opposition
• Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union used
  censorship, secret police, and repression to
  control their populations

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JAPAN SEEKS AN EMPIRE

• Military leaders took control of country
• Japan wanted the iron ore and coal deposits in
  Manchuria, Chinese province
• In 1931, Japanese army invaded and seized
  Manchuria
• League of Nations protested this action Japan
  withdrew from League
• In 1937, Japan launched war on China

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JAPAN SEEKS AN EMPIRE (MAP)
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CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN

• In 1931, a republic is declared in Spain
• In 1936, General Francisco Franco leads Spanish
  rebel troops
• Hitler and Mussolini help Franco and his Fascists
• In 1939, Franco wins Spanish Civil War
• Franco becomes Spains Fascist dictator

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FRANCO AND HITLER
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ALLIANCES

• ALLIES United States, Great Britain, France,
  Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, China
• AXIS POWERS Germany, Japan, Italy, Austria,
  Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria
• BIG THREE Franklin Delano Roosevelt (US),
  Winston Churchill (UK), Joseph Stalin (USSR)

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BIG THREE
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WORLD WAR II FLAGS

• ALLIES

• AXIS

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WORLD WAR II BEGINS

• Invasion of Poland - Germany invaded Poland on
  September 1st, 1939 to take Danzig and the Polish
  Corridor
• Blitzkrieg use of aerial fighters, bombers,
  artillery, tanks, troop divisions and carriers in
  order to advance into a territory and overrun it
  quickly tactic used surprise and overwhelming
  force
• Two days later, Great Britain and France declare
  war on Germany
• World War II begins in the European Theater

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THE FALL OF FRANCE

• May 1940Germany conquers Netherlands, Belgium,
  Luxembourg
• Soon after, German army reached French coast
• German forces trapped British and French troops
  on coast at Dunkirk, France
• British Navy and civilians took ships across the
  English Channel to rescue soldiers
• Total of 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by the
  hastily assembled fleet of 850 boats miracle
  at Dunkirk
• June 1940France surrenders to Germany
• Charles de Gaulle, French general, organized the
  Free French resistance movement to oppose Germany
  

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EVACUATION AT DUNKIRK
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NAZIS CONQUER FRANCE
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THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

• August 1940 The Battle of Britain
• Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston
  Churchill, rallied the British people
• He said the Germans would not take Britain
  regardless of the Luftwaffes constant bombing
  campaign and superior numbers of aircraft
• The bravery and skill of the RAF (Royal Air
  Force) and radar pushed back the Nazi invasion
  (Operation Sea Lion) Hitlers forces could be
  blocked

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WINSTON CHURCHILL
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BATTLE OF BRITAIN
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LEND-LEASE ACT AND ATLANTIC CHARTER

• Lend-Lease Act (March 1941)
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and
  Congress gave billions of dollars worth of aid in
  the form of weapons, tanks, airplanes, and food
  to the Allies
• Justified because U.S. believed Allies were vital
  to our defense we did not send troops
• Atlantic Charter (August 1941)
• Roosevelt and Churchill secretly met on a warship
  in the Atlantic Ocean to discuss wartime goals
• Supported free trade and right to
  self-determination
• First discussion of setting up a system of
  general security (United Nations)

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INVASION OF PEARL HARBOR

• U.S. responded to Japanese aggression in
  Southeast Asia by cutting off oil supplies to
  Japan and freezing their assets angers Japan
• December 7, 1941 - The Japanese Empire attacked
  the U.S. naval base in Hawaii so they could
  secure control of East Asia
• Our Pacific fleet was the largest threat to
  Japans empire-building (they tried to take over
  U.S., British, and French territories)
• A day that will live in infamy, as proclaimed
  by FDR
• U.S. declares war on Japan and Germany declared
  war on us
• 2,400 Americans were killed

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INVASION OF PEARL HARBOR
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FDR
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CAPTAIN AMERICA ISSUE 1 (MARCH 1941)
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BATAAN DEATH MARCH

• Japanese army forced 76,000 American and Filipino
  prisoners of war (POWs) after the three month
  Battle of Baatan in the Philippines
• Resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners
• The 80 mile march was characterized by physical
  abuse and murder
• Resulted in very high fatalities inflicted upon
  prisoners and civilian
• Judged by an Allied military commission to be a
  Japanese war crime

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THE HOLOCAUST

• Final Solution the codename for the Nazi plan
  to exterminate the entire Jewish population of
  Europe in the name of Aryan supremacy
• When Hitler and the Nazis conquered huge sections
  of Europe and the Soviet Union, captured Jews
  were sent to ghettos, concentration camps to be
  used as slave labor, and eventually to death
  camps
• Genocide the extermination of an entire group
  of people
• Largest death camps were Auschwitz and Treblinka
• Over 6 million Jews (2/3 of Europes Jewish
  population) had been killed during the Holocaust
• Allied forces liberated death camps after we
  gained victories after D-Day

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THE HOLOCAUST
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WAR IN NORTH AFRICA AND ITALY (EUROPEAN THEATER)

• The Battle of El Alamein (1942 and 1943)
• In Egypt, British forces under General Bernard
  Montgomery, defeated General Irwin Rommel (The
  Desert Fox) and his Afrika Korps
• The Italian Campaign (July 1943) U.S. and
  British forces invade Sicily and take it within a
  month
• U.S. forces led by General George S. Patton
• Italians overthrew and executed Mussolini
  armistice signed
• Germans eventually lost control over the Italian
  peninsula

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BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN
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INVASION OF THE SOVIET UNION

• Operation Barbarossa (June 1941)
• Germans invaded the Soviet Union to get more
  living space, or Lebensraum for the German
  people
• Germans took vast amounts of resources throughout
  the region like wheat in the Ukraine  
• Battle of Stalingrad (1941 to 1943)
• German forces could not advance
• Red Army successfully pushed Germans back due to
  lack of reinforcements, provisions and rations
• Germans were also defeated by the harsh Russian
  winter
• Soviet Union lost the largest amount of lives
  during the war

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JOSEPH STALIN
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BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
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BATTLE OF STALINGRAD
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WAR IN ASIA (PACIFIC THEATER)

• Japanese Victories
• Europeans and Americans present in the Pacific
  (Hong Kong, Malaya, the Philippines, and Burma)
  were quickly overrun by the Japanese in 1941
• American Victories
• Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942) - Americans
  crippled a huge portion of the Japanese fleet
• Battle of Midway (June 1942) - the excellent
  communications intelligence and skill of American
  sailors and pilots destroyed four Japanese
  carriers Midway was the turning point the U.S.
  was now on the offensive in the Pacific
• Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944) largest
  naval battle in history Allies crushed the
  Japanese
• Island hopping Allies took only the most
  strategically important islands and used each one
  as a base these islands were the least heavily
  defended by Japan
• Kamikaze Japanese pilots who purposely crashed
  planes into our ships during the Battle of
  Okinawa

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BATTLES OF IWO JIMA AND OKINAWA

• Iwo Jima (February 1945)
• U.S. Marines invaded this island and after a
  month of fighting, we lost 6,800 men and the
  Japanese lost almost 20,000
• Okinawa (April 1945)
• After 3 months of fighting, the Allies lost
  12,000 men with 36,000 wounded and the Japanese
  lost 110,000 troops and 80,000 civilians
• 2,500 kamikaze missions killed over 4,000 Allied
  sailors
• These were 2 of the bloodiest battles in the
  Pacific

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IWO JIMA
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IWO JIMA
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OKINAWA
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BATTLE OF MIDWAY
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THE INVASION OF FRANCE(D-DAY)

• D-Day Invasion (June 6th, 1944)
• Operation Overlord largest amphibious invasion
  in history
• 176, 000 Allied troops as well as thousands of
  destroyers, naval vessels and aircraft invaded
  France
• Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D.
  Eisenhower
• U.S., British, and Canadian (Allied forces)
  troops landed on the beaches of northern France
  (Normandy) in order to push back the German
  forces and end their occupation
• Bombers and fighters helped to soften up German
  defensive fortifications
• D-Day invasion forced Germans to fight a
  two-front war
• August 1944 the Allies free Paris

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D-DAY
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D-DAY
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GENERALS EISENHOWER AND MONTGOMERY
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CAPTAIN AMERICA AT D-DAY
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ALLIED VICTORY IN EUROPE

• Battle of the Bulge final German
  counter-offensive against Allies in Belgium
  (Ardennes Forest)
• Created a bulge through Allied lines and
  stopped our advance
• Allies eventually crushed German forces in
  January 1945 Allies suffered almost 80,000
  casualties
• Allied forces continued to advance and the Soviet
  Union attacked the Germans from the east
• Germans surrendered and Berlin was taken on May
  7th, 1945 (V-E Day)
• Allies were victorious in Europe

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BATTLE OF THE BULGE
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BATTLE OF THE BULGE
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FUTURE OF THE POSTWAR WORLD

• YALTA CONFERENCE

• POTSDAM CONFERENCE

• February 1945 Ukraine
• FDR, Churchill, Stalin
• Goal free elections for countries liberated
  from Germany
• Goal support for creating an international
  peacekeeping organization (United Nations)

• July 1945 Germany
• Truman (U.S.), Attlee (U.K.), Stalin
• Goal Germany would be divided into four
  occupation zones (U.S., Britain, France, and the
  Soviet Union)

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DEFEAT OF JAPAN

• The Atomic Bomb
• Manhattan Project Allied scientists worked on a
  secret program to develop an atomic bomb
• Atomic bomb weapon that produces tremendous
  power by splitting atoms
• It was estimated that over a million American
  soldiers would be killed or wounded invading the
  Japanese mainland
• President Harry Truman gave the order to use the
  atomic bomb
• August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was
  dropped on Hiroshima 80, 000 Japanese civilians
  were killed instantly  
• August 9, 1945 the second atomic bomb was
  dropped on Nagasaki 40, 000 people were killed
  instantly
• August 15, 1945 Japan surrenders and World War
  II ends
• September 2nd, 1945 Japan surrenders to the
  U.S. aboard the USS Missouri peace treaty
  signed

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ATOMIC BOMB EXPLODES
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NUREMBERG TRIALS

• Trials of 22 Nazi leaders for war crimes
• Some Nazi leaders were executed for their actions
  
• Took place in Nuremberg, Germany