Post on 01-Jan-2016
description
transcript
THE ROAD TO WAR
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
• The treaty to end WWI demanded:
1. The surrender of all German colonies as instructed by the League of Nations.
2. The return of all land taken by Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire.
3. German reparations - compensation for an insult or injury - of £6,600 million ($ 442 billion in 2011).
4. A ban on the union of Germany and Austria.
5. An acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war (War Guilt Clause).
6. Limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships.
Peace at Last?
Germany signed the Versailles Treaty under protest.
The USA Congress refused to ratify and sign the treaty because its ideas (14 Point Plan to rebuild Germany) weren’t considered.
Many people in France and Britain were angry that there was no trial of the Kaiser or the other war leaders.
No one was happy...and what do unhappy countries tend to do?
There was a fragile peace after the Versailles Treaty:
The Map of Europe was re-drawn
Imperialism, militarism, and nationalism were still very much alive.
Over 50 million people died.
Dictators and Fascism were on the rise.
The Rise of Dictators
Ideological forces were once again awakened in Europe under the banner of fascism – a form of dictatorship that blended totalitarianism with militant nationalism.
Fascists Leaders Hitler (Germany)
Mussolini (Italy)
Franco (Spain)
Joseph Stalin ( Russia)
Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
Economic conditions during the Depression gave way to the rise of dictators.
It was believed democracy had caused the economic conditions and a new way was sought.
Not fascists . . . but still ruthless
Policy of Appeasement
The League of Nations was set up in the aftermath of the First World War in the hope that international cooperation and collective resistance to aggression might prevent another war.
Members of the League were entitled to the assistance of other members if they came under attack.
European nations were so afraid to go to war they never got involved in any conflicts to help their allies.
The US , the largest economic, industrial and military power, did not join the L of N and European nations had become crippled by WWI.
Without military power or the will to use it the League of nations had become a toothless tiger.
What does the cartoonist suggests Hitler is doing?
Who are the other people in this picture and what does the cartoonist think of them?
January 1933: Hitler became Chancellor of Germany
Hitler soon ordered a programme of rearming Germany
Hitler visits a factory and is enthusiastically greeted. Many Germans were grateful for jobs after the misery of he depression years.
March 1936: German troops marched into the Rhineland
• The Rhineland was a region of Germany that was ‘demilitarised’ after the Treaty of Versailles.
• Germany was not allowed to have troops in the region. Hitler’s actions showed how he was willing to directly challenge the treaty.
March 1938: Nazi Germany annexed Austria
• Again, this went against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from uniting with Austria.
• However, the arrival of German troops was met with great enthusiasm by many Austrian people.
March 1939: Germany invaded Czechoslovakia
• Hitler had ordered the occupation of a part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland).
• Many hoped that that this would be the last conquest of the Nazis.
• However, in March 1939, he ordered his troops to take over the remainder of Czechoslovakia.
• This was the first aggressive step that suggested that a war in Europe would soon begin.
Hitler and Stalin (the Russian leader) signed a ‘non-aggression pact’.
They promised that neither country would attack the other in the event of war.
As part of the deal, Hitler promised Stalin part of Poland, which he planned to invade soon.
August 1939: Germany and Russia signed a non-aggression pact
This photo shows the Russian foreign minister signing the pact, whilst Stalin stands smiling in the background
The non-aggression pact was surprising. Hitler and Stalin were seen as natural enemies.
When Hitler talked of taking over new land for Germany, many thought that he meant Russia.
Hitler also hated Communism, the form of government in Russia
HitlerStalin
But, the pact allowed Germany to march into Poland without fear of an attack from Russia.
September 1939: Germany invaded Poland
German troops marching into Warsaw, the capital of Poland.
Blitzkrieg
• This new “lightning war” was developed by Germany to take advantage of their very modern and mobile army.
• Within 2 days German ground forces had overwhelmed the initial lines of Polish defense.
War Again?
On 3rd September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and started a war with Britain and France.
Canada declared war on Germany one week later, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King expressed Canada’s perspective:
“We take this stand on our own, not in
any colonial attitude of mind.”
Canada’s Role?• Canada declares war one
week later on Sept. 10th, 1939. Why?
• King pledged to not introduce conscription for overseas service.
• “Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription."
The Axis and the Allies
The Allies• Great Britain
• France
• Canada
• Russia British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,American President Franklin D. Roosevelt,and Russian President Joseph Stalin
The Axis and the Allies
The Axis Powers:• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
Italian Leader Mussolini withGerman leader Adolf Hitler
The War in Europe
• Nothing happened for seven months this is called The Phoney War.
• Germany then attacks Denmark and Norway. They offer little resistance.
Germany invades France and the Netherlands
In May 1940, Germany used Blitzkrieg tactics to attack France and the Netherlands.
British troops were forced to retreat from the beaches of Dunkirk in northern France.
Captured British troops, May 1940
Disaster at Dunkirk
The 330,000 soldiers of the B.E.F. (British Expeditionary Force) were
surrounded by the German
army at Dunkirk and had to escape by boat back
home.
Prime minister Winston Churchill took to the air waves to raise the British morale.
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender”
By June 1940, France had surrendered to the Germans
Britain now stood alone as the last remaining enemy of Hitler’s Germany in Western Europe.
Adolf Hitler tours Paris after his successful invasion.
Hitler’s Europe………
How could Britain alone
mount a full scale invasion
to liberate Europe
from Nazi rule ?
Hitler plans to invade Britain next
‘Operation Sealion’ (the invasion of
Britain) was scheduled to take place on
September 15th 1940.
RAF Fighter Command was Britain’s main line of defence. A few hundred planes stood between Britain and a German invasion.
September 1940-May 1941: the Blitz
For the following nine months, the German air force (Luftwaffe) launched repeated bombing raids on British towns and cities. This was known as the BLITZ and was an attempt to bomb Britain into submission.
Hitler’s Big Mistake Operation Barbaross
a, June 1941
Hitler ordered a change of tactics. He decided to halt the bombing of Britain and launch an attack against Russia. He betrayed Stalin and ignored the promises he had made.
This was a bold move that would prove to be an important turning point in the War.
Oops, Brr! - The Tide Turns
• The Nazis needed supplies and resources to continue the war so victory in the Soviet Union was essential
• From Sept. 14th, 1942 – Feb. 2nd, 1943 – the Germans and Russians fought for the strategic city of Stalingrad.
• Hitler and the Nazis lost the battle – 500 000 German and other troops were killed or taken prisoner.
December 7th 1941 – Pearl HarbourJapanese attack on US navy at Pearl Harbour
brings the USA into the war against Japan and
Germany.
WHY? The Americans had banned the sale of oil to Japan after they attacked China.
This threatened Japan’s plans to take over Southeast Asia
AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR
• The US forces are first sent to Africa to help the British General Bernard Montgomery battle what is considered to be Germany’s best, General Erwin Rommel.
What happened in Italy?
• The Allies forces invaded Italy in 1943.
• The Italian people forced Mussolini from power, but Hitler rushed into Italy to stop the Allies.
Italian Campaign
• The Allies including the Canadians fought and took Sicily from the German Army – Codenamed “Operation Husky”
• The Canadians were forced to fight for every metre of the mountainous terrain as the Germans refused to give it up
Ortona• This was Canada’s most
important victory in Italy.
The Liberation of Rome
• Rome was declared an open city by the German army and the Allies took possession on June 4th.
Battle of the Atlantic
• After entering World War II, the United States focused first on the war in Europe.
• Defeating the Axis Powers depended on control of the seas.
• The Atlantic needed to be kept safe for shipping so that soldiers and goods could be transported from North America to Europe.
• Halifax was the major launching point for supplies and personnel.
D-Day: The Invasion of France• To end the war as
quickly as possible, the Allies planned Operation Overlord —a large invasion of mainland France.
• The Allies landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944—called D-Day—and began to march on France.
• The Allies landed almost 1 million soldiers and 180,000 vehicles.
• Canadian troops were assigned to take Juno Beach.
The Canadians on D-Day
Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or parachuted into the invasion area, 14,000 were Canadians
The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors in support of the landings while the R.C.A.F. had helped prepare the invasion by bombing targets inland
Canadians suffered 1074 casualties, including 359 killed.
• After D-Day the Allies quickly advance through Europe as the Germany retreated.
• Canadian troops were given the task of liberating the Netherlands.
• In April of 1945 Hitler realized that the war was lost and committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.
The War in the Pacific
• After early defeats in the Pacific, the United States gained the upper hand and began to fight its way island by island to Japan.
• Canadian troops were forced to surrender the defence of Hong Kong.
• It was estimated that 1 million Allied lives would be lost in the attack on Japan.
The Atomic Bomb
• Harry S Truman became president when Roosevelt died. He had to decide whether the United States should use the Manhattan Project’s atomic bomb.
• After consulting with his advisors, Truman decided to drop the bomb on a Japanese city. There would be no warning.
• On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima.
• On August 9, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
• Finally, on August 15 – known from then on as V-J Day (Victory in Jaspan) the Japanese emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war.
Total War Again!
• The use of aviation extended the battlefield
• New weapons of mass destruction required skilled workers to manufacture them and highly trained military personnel to operate them.
• Total war placed a heavy burden on the human and physical resources of the combatants.
• It would be the civilian population that would experience the greatest devastation, as the millions of ordinary citizens killed and wounded would far exceed the losses of military personnel.
Canada’s Role Expands
• QUESTION: How would Hitler’s successes in Europe change Canada’s role in war?
• Canada’s role in WWII evolved to the centre stage:
-convoys became a vital lifeline to the survival of Britain
-more Canadian troops sent to Britain
-Canadian increased wartime industries such as food, guns, munitions, supplies and armed forces
The Holocaust
Concentration Camps, Ghettos, and the Final Solution
• Camps• Prisons for Jews, prisoners-of-war, and enemies of the
Nazi regime• Inmates received little food and were forced to labor.• The combination of overwork and starvation was intended
to kill.• Punishment for minor offenses was swift, sure, and deadly.
• The Nuremberg trials• Many Nazis faced trial for their roles in the Holocaust.• The court was located at Nuremberg, Germany.• The court was called the International Military
Tribunal.• Twenty two Nazis were tried for war crimes, including
Hermann Göering.• Since Nuremberg, several Nazis have been captured
and tried in different courts, including Israel.
• Ghettos• Walls or fences kept the Jews inside and those trying to
leave were shot.• Food was scarce; starvation was rampant.• Diseases spread rapidly.• The worst ghetto was in Warsaw, Poland.• Some Jews in the Warsaw ghetto—the Jewish Fighting
Organization—fought back.
• The Final Solution • Genocide – the killing of an entire
people• Involved building 6 new extermination
camps for Jews• Inmates were exposed to poison gas in
specially built chambers.• 3 million Jews died in extermination
camps.• 3 million Jews and 5 million others were
killed by the Nazi using other means.