World War II

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World War II
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I. Buildup To War

• WWII officially began in 1939 after a decade of
  aggression
• Japan gradually became more militaristic
  andimperialistic
• Claim Manchuria in China (1932)
• Germany gave rise to totalitarian state Hitler
  and the Nazis
• Ignore Treaty of Versailles (post-WWI) military
  buildup, began reclaiming lands lost during war
• Mussolini (Italy) invades Ethiopia (1935)
• England, France failed to unite a front against
  aggression
• Nations could not agree on how to respond some
  felt guilty over Treaty of Versailles

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I. Continued

• US, Britain, France first favored appeasement
  (make concessions)
• Willing to sacrifice small nations to protect
  themselves
• Fear of another world war
• Japan invades China (1937)
• Very successful at first, met resistance later
  led to horrific violence against Chinese
  population
• Rape of Nanjing (December 1937)
  murdered/tortured POWs and innocent civilians,
  raped thousands of women
• Germany invades Poland (Sept. 1, 1939)
• Jumping-off point for attacking Soviet Union
• France and Britain declare war, set up for
  defense, not ready for offense

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III. War

• German strategy centered on blitzkrieg,
  lighting war
• Quick, highly organized invasion of territories
  combining tanks, troops, aircraft
• Severe punishment for populations that did not
  surrender
• Persecution of lower races Jews, Gypsies
  (Roma), homosexuals (Holocaust)
• Within months, France defeated, British retreat
• 1942 Germany controlled most of W. Europe,
  Scandinavia, Mediterranean, N. Africa
• Soviets able to outlast Germans Russian winter
  was brutal
• Momentum shifts Germany on the run by early
  1944
• 1943 Soviets push west, 1944 on doorstep of
  Berlin
• American involvement (1941) helped turn the tide
• Battle of the Bulge (winter 1944-1945) Hitlers
  last ditch effort to repel Allied forces

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II. Continued

• After Pearl Harbor (1941), Japan takes over much
  of Asia
• Hong Kong, Philippines, Siam (Thailand)
• Allied forces won decisive victory at Midway
  Island, turned tide of war in Pacific
• 1944 U.S. begins firebombing Japanese cities,
  hundreds of thousands civilians killed
• Atomic bombs used (August 1945) to ensure
  unconditional surrender
• Cities of Hiroshima, Nagasaki

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III. Aftermath

• Allied nations wanted to avoid failed peace after
  WWI
• Established United Nations U.S., Britain,
  France, China (Taiwan), U.S.S.R.
• Way to negotiate international disputes
• Yalta Potsdam Conferences (1945)
• Territorial gains for Soviets
• Divided Germany into four Allied controlled
  territories
• Britain, France, and U.S. controlled territories
  merge into Western Germany Soviet controlled
  territory became Eastern Germany
• Beginning of Soviet/Western tensions
• Communist vs. non-communist race for political,
  economic, technological superiority (Cold War)

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IV. Decolonization

• Harsh total war decreased European desire/ability
  to maintain empires
• Atlantic Charter of 1941
• Recognized "right of all people to choose the
  form of government under which they live
• India
• Quit India movement - civil disobedience
  campaigns of 1942, led by Gandhi
• Post-WWII Britain ready to deal
• Wanted to avoid civil war East and West
  Pakistan created for Muslims, India becomes
  independent (1947)
• Summer of violence Hindu vs. Muslim and Muslim
  vs. Sikh
• Massive refugee movement to avoid violence

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IV. Continued

• Africa
• Non-settler colonies
• Slow process that ended in mid-1960s
• Nationalist leaders appealed to masses (land
  reform, jobs, etc.)
• Relatively peaceful transfer of power from
  Europeans to African nationalists in many
  societies (with exceptions, ex Algeria)
• Settler colonies
• Not peaceful, resistance from European settlers
  (many had been there for generations)
• South Africa apartheid laws severely oppressed
  black Africans
• Afrikaners (white South Africans) eventually
  establish independence from Britain (1961)
• Black Africans experience decades of
  discrimination and oppression

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EXIT TICKET!

• Answer the following questions using complete
  sentences
• Describe two events that led up to World War II.
• How did Britain and its allies respond to the
  aggression of Germany?
• Explain two reasons for the decolonization of the
  world after WWII.