The Second World War

Questions• Why did another world war break out in

Europe and in the Pacific in the late 1930s

• Why did the Allies win WWII?• What innovations in warfare were

introduced in WWII?• How did WWII differ from WWI on the

front lines and behind the lines?

Outbreak of War in Europe• Aug 23, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-

aggression pact• Sept. 1, 1939, Hitler invaded

Poland– Poland partitioned according to

terms of Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact

– ‘Blitzkrieg’

• Sept. 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany– Through May 1940, Britain and

France mustered troops in France – May 1940, German armies attacked

through Belgium; France fell June, 1940

• Battle of Britain, Summer 1940• Jan 1941 Germans entered war in N.

Africa• June 1941 Hitler invaded Soviet Union

(Operation Barbarossa)– At outskirts of Moscow by winter,

Soviets burn everything as they retreat. Remember?

• Dec. 1941, Germany declared war on U.S.

• Nov. 1942– U.S. landed in Africa– S.U. counterattack at Stalingrad

Hitler’s War

The Second World War in Europe

Fall of Mussolini

Mussolini as Hitler’s Puppet

Mussolini’s Military Weakness

Mussolini’s Demise

The Collapse of Nazi Germany• Germany reaches Moscow and then

Soviets counter attack. It’s winter time and Germany soldiers are in their summer uniforms. Hitler says no retreat. Scorched earth policy worked again. Germany gains nothing, loses 500,000.

• 1943-1945 Italian Campaign, Allies are coming from the south

• June 6, 1944 Normandy Invasion- D-Day (Operation Overlord, Eisenhower)

• Battle of the Bulge Dec. 1944

• 6 Million Soviet-3 Mil Allies head to Berlin

• May 8, 1945 Germany surrendered

The Second World War in Europe

Outbreak of War in Asia• Emperor Hirohito wants to

create empire in the Pacific.• July 1940 U.S. Embargo

– Aviation fuel and scrap metal

• September 1940 - Embargo on oil

• Dec. 7 1941 Japan attacks U.S. Pearl Harbor, “A day that will go down in infamy.” FDR

• Yamamoto vs. Mac Arthur

The War in Asia• June 4-7 1942 Battle of

Midway (Turned the war in the Pacific against the Japanese)

• Aug. 1942-Feb 1943 Guadalcanal

• Oct. 1944 Philippines invaded

• Feb 19-March 16 1945: Iwo Jima– March 10, 1945

Firebombing of Tokyo• Aug. 6 and 9 1945

Hiroshima and Nagasaki• September 2, 1945

Japan surrenders (V-J Day)

Japanese forces Invade China 1931. By 1942 they control Philippines, Guam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Dutch East Indies.

New elements in warfare• Tanks: Presence on

battlefield prevented WWII from turning into into the hopeless stalemate of WWI

• Strategic Bombing: Use of large aircraft to knock out enemy industries and bomb enemy civilians

• Atomic Bomb: Forced Japan to surrender in Sept. 1945. The Ruins of Dresden

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

US

UK

USSR

Ger

Jap

Military Aircraft Production, in thousands of Planes

Consequences of War• Estimated 45-55 million dead• Soviet Union lost 27 million• Poland lost 6 million, incl. 3

million Jews• Germans lost 5 million• Germans killed between 12 and

20 million in their zones of occupation

• Germany and Berlin were divided into 4 occupation zones

• European economy was devastated

• U.S. ended war with 1/2 of the manufacturing capability on Earth

Postwar Berlin

Total War• Warfare in the industrial era meant

that to fight and win, nations had to mobilize their entire population– Soldiers fought on front lines– Workers manned factories to make

weapons– Farmers fed the soldiers and

workers • Industrialization made it possible for

the state to direct the entire economy toward the war effort

• Civilians were regarded as legitimate casualties of war, since civilians manned factories, made weapons, and kept armies supplied

Total War• “Civilians must have the war

brought home to them. Every individual must be made to see the immediacy of the danger to him. . . . He must be made to understand that he is an integral part of the war front, and that if he loses the war, he loses everything.” – Government Information Manual for

the Motion Picture Industry U.S. Office of War Information