World War II
What was WWII
• Largest war in human history.
• Involved countries, colonies, and
territories around the entire
world.
• By the end, over 70 million were
dead.
• It lasted from 1939 until 1945.
Causes
W WI and the Treaty of Versailles
Appeasement
Rise of Totalitarianism
• Germany lost land to surrounding nations
• War reparations– Allies collect $ to
pay back war debts to US
– Germany pays $57 trillion (modern day equivalent)
– Germans are bankrupt, embarrassed, guilt ridden, and angry.
• Desperate people turn to desperate leaders
WWI and the Treaty of Versailles
Rise of Totalitarianism
• A system in which the state and its
leader have nearly TOTAL control. • Individual rights are not viewed as important
as the needs of the nation.
– No right to vote
– No free speech
– Government controlled economy
– Often a police state
Totalitarianism
USSR:Communist Dictatorship
Germany & Italy:
FascistDictatorship
Japan:Military
Dictatorship
• Japan‟s Expansion
– Need raw materials, foreign goods
– Military leaders take control of
country
– 1931: invade/conquer Manchuria,
Chinese province
– Japan withdraws from the League of
Nations
The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937
• Spanish Civil War
– In 1931, a republic is declared
– In 1936, General Francisco Franco leads rebellion
– Hitler & Mussolini help Franco & his fascists; no formal support from Allies for Republicans
– 1939: Franco wins civil war
– Franco becomes Spain‟s Fascist dictator
– Hitler used Spanish Civil War as a „practice round‟
Pablo Picasso – „Guernica‟
What is Fascism
• Political belief that says the individual is less important than the nation.
• Glorifies violence, believes it is needed to “prove” strength of a people.
• Uses nationalism and racism.
• Dictatorships.
• Italy and then Germany became fascist.
• Italy
– Fascism is new,
militant political
movement
• Emphasizes nationalism
& loyalty
– Benito Mussolini is
put in charge of govt.
– Italy invades Ethiopia
– Mussolini annexes
Ethiopia: 1936
• League of Nations does
nothing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Baby-hitler.jpg
“Youth serves the Fuhrer. All 10 year olds into the
Hitler Youth!”
“Germany is
free!”
“Enough
! Vote
Hitler!”
“Hitler is
building. Help
him. Buy German
goods!
“2 million dead. Did they die in vain?
Never! Front soldiers! Adolf
Hitler is showing you the way!”
What did Hitler Want• Militarism- soon after becoming
chancellor he begins rearming Germany
breaking the Treaty of Versailles
• Rhineland- moves troops into the Rhineland territory, breaking the Treaty
of Versailles
• Lebensraum- “living space”
– Austria - annexed peacefully in 1938 –
„Anschluss‟
– Sudetenland – territory in Czechoslovakia
• Great Britain and France let Germany take it
– Hitler then invades the rest of Czechoslovakia
– On to Poland…
Appeasement• Giving someone something to make them happy and leave you
alone.
• Hitler demanded land that wasn‟t Germany‟s and others just gave it to him.
• Nations were trying to prevent war…it didn‟t work. (Isolationism)
• Appeasement just showed Hitler that he could do whatever he wanted.
• France & Britain meet with Hitler in Munich: The Munich Conference (1938)- Hitler says Sudetenland = last territorial demand- Britain & France agree to let him have it- Policy of Appeasement: granting
concessions to maintain peace
How did WWII start?
Sep 1 1939: Germany invades Poland
- Sep 3: Britain & France declare war on Germany
1939: Non-Aggression Pact: Soviet Union & Germany- Agree not to go to war against each other- Secretly agree to divide Poland between them
• Germany then invades France, Belgium,
etc.
• Germans use “blitzkrieg” to overwhelm other armies.
– Blitzkrieg means “lightening war” in German.
– Surround with tanks and troops
in trucks.
– Planes, tanks, infantry used to
surprise enemy & quickly
conquer
• The Fall of France– In 1940 Hitler
captures Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, etc..
– Soon, Germany army reaches French coast
– June 14 1940: Germans enter Paris & France surrenders
Vichy France: “Free France”
• Led resistance against Axis Powers
• Supported Allies
• The Battle of Britain
– Britain is basically all
alone!
– Winston Churchill = PM, vows no surrender
– Hitler plans air
invasion of Britain
– 2 months: the „Blitz‟(bombing) of London
– Luftwaffe (German Air Force) v. the Royal Air Force (RAF)
• British use RAF, radar,
code-breaking to
resist the Germans
• Hitler calls off
attacks
The London “Tube”:Air Raid Shelters during the Blitz
• Cooperation from
Americans
– FDR = president
– U.S. wants to remain
neutral & avoid war,
but FDR wants to
strengthen the
Allies to resist
Germany
– Lend-Lease Plan: lend war equipment
to any country
fighting Germany
Great Britain.........................$31 billionSoviet Union..........................$11 billionFrance..................................$3 billionChina..................................$1.5 billionOther European......................$500 millionSouth America.......................$400 million
The amount totaled: $48,601,365,000
US Lend - Lease Act
Lend-Lease
• Invasion of the Soviet Union (1941):
Operation Barbarossa
– Hitler invades Balkan countries to
invade Soviet Union
– Russians adopt a scorched-earth policy in response to German invasion toward Moscow
– Russian winter + Soviet counterattack
= German retreat
• Axis forces attack North Africa
– Mussolini attacks British in North
Africa
– Erwin Rommel = German general in N. Africa
„The desert fox‟
Who was on each side
Axis Powers
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
Allied Powers
• Great Britain
• Soviet Union
• United States
(1941)
• France
– Surrendered to
Germany in 1940
after 6 weeks
What about the Pacific War
• The US (mostly) fought the Japanese after 1941
• Japan attacks European colonies, U.S. bases; Roosevelt cuts off oil shipments to Japan
• Japanese plan attack on U.S. fleet in Hawaii
• December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii : the „ Day of Infamy‟– Two hours = most US naval ships
destroyed and 2,000 sailors killed
President Roosevelt Signs the US Declaration of War
2,887 Americans Dead!
• Japanese victories
– Japanese attack Philippine islands defended by U.S.
– Philippine islands fall to Japanese in 1942
– Japan captures Hong Kong & Singapore, Dutch East Indies
– Japanese forces treat conquered peoples, POWS brutally
Bataan Death March: April, 194276,000 prisoners [12,000 Americans] Marched 60 miles in the
blazing heat to POW camps in the Philippines.
• The Allies strike back
– U.S. bombers attack
Tokyo; shows that Japan
is vulnerable
• The Battle of Midway
– U.S. destroys Japan‟s
naval fleet
• MacArthur‟s Plan
– Douglas MacArthur: American army
commander in Pacific
– Plans to “island-hop” past strongholds &
attack weaker Japanese
bases
• The Home Front mobilizes for war
– 17-18 million workers (many women) make weapons, etc..
– People at home ration
– Propaganda aims to inspire civilians to help the war effort
• War limits civil rights
– Japanese Americans forced into internment camps on west coast
Turning Points
• War in the desert
– North Africa
– Hitler‟s Afrika Korps: Erwin Rommel:
“The Desert Fox
– Americans land in 1942 under General
Eisenhower
– By 1943, the Allies defeat the
Germans & control N. Africa
• The Battle of Stalingrad (Winter 1942-1943)
– Germans want to capture the industrial city
– Neither Stalin nor Hitler allow their troops to retreat during the brutal battle
– By 1943, the Russians have broken the Nazi “military machine” & defeated the Germans
German Army Russian Army
1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men
10,290 artillery guns 13,541 artillery guns
675 tanks 894 tanks
1,216 planes 1,115 planes
• Invasion of Italy
– Allies plan to invade the weakest Axis
Power
– Liberation of Italy: June 5 1944
– Mussolini arrested & later hung
– Italians think war is over; Hitler
sends in German troops
– By June 1944: Allies enter Rome;
Germans keep fighting in N. Italy until
the war is over
Mussolini & His Mistress,Claretta Petacci Are Hung in Milan,
1945
• Operation Overlord - Allied invasion of France. Also called D-Day: June 6, 1944– Largest land-air-sea operation in history
– Allied troops cross the English Channel to Normandy, France
– Heavy German resistance, but invasion successful
– Within a month 1 million Allied troops were stationed in Europe.
– Germany is surrounded with the USSR to the east
– Allies quickly liberate Paris: August 25, 1944
• The Battle of the Bulge (winter 1944-1945)
– Hitler‟s final effort
– Germany‟s last counterattack as the
Allies close in on both sides
– Gain early success in breaking Allied
lines, but forced to retreat
• Victory in Europe
– By 1945, Allied armies approach Germany from 2 sides:
Soviets from the East, Americans, etc… from the west
– Soviets surround Berlin in April 1945
– Hitler commits suicide with Eva Braun (Apr 30 1945)
– May 8, 1945, Germany officially surrenders: V-E Day
– Pres. Roosevelt dies: Harry S. Truman becomes
president
The Führer’s Bunker
Mr. & Mrs. Hitler
Eden, Truman, Stalin
Churchill, Roosevelt,
Stalin
• Victory over Japan
– Allies move to retake Philippines in
1944
– Face kamikazes: Japanese pilots who fly suicide missions
– 1945: Americans capture Iwo Jima & Okinawa; Japan suffers huge casualties
US Marines on Mt. Surbachi,Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]
• The Japanese surrender– Advisors warn Truman that invasion of
Japan will cost many lives
– Manhattan Project: secret program to develop the atomic bomb
– Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima: August 6, 1945
– Japan hesitates to surrender
– Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki: August 9, 1945
– Japanese formally surrender on September 2, 1945: V-J Day
© 70,000 killed immediately.
© 48,000 buildings. destroyed.
© 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.
Hiroshima:
© 40,000 killed immediately.
© 60,000 injured.© 100,000s died of
radiation poisoning& cancer later.
Nagasaki:
V-J Day in Times Square, NYC
Aftermath: Europe
• Allies divide Germany up between
them.
– This helps start the Cold War.
• Nuremburg Trials are held in
Germany to try the people
responsible for the war.
– Many are executed and jailed for war
crimes.
The Nuremberg War Trials:
Crimes Against Humanity
Aftermath: Japan
• Occupied Japan
– MacArthur takes charge of U.S. occupation
of Japan
– Japanese people adopt new constitution
– MacArthur puts economic reforms in place
– Emperor stays, but he loses power
– U.S. occupation ends in 1951; the U.S. & Japan
become allies
Quick Facts
• War Costs
–US Debt 1940 - $9 Billion
–US Debt 1945 - $98 Billion
• WWII cost $330 billion – 10 timesthe cost of WWI & equivalent to
all previous federal spending
since 1776
Losses of the Major Wartime Powers in
WWII, 1939-1945
• Germany
– 4.5 million military
– 2 million civilian
• Japan
– 2 million military
– 350,000 civilians
• Italy
– 400,000 military
– 100,000 civilian
• China
– 2.5 million military
– 7.4 million civilians
• USSR
– 10 million military
– 10 million civilians
• Great Britain
– 300,000 military
– 50,000 civilians
• France
– 250,000 military
– 350,000 civilian
• United States
– 274,000 military
The U.S. & the U.S.S.R. Emerged as the Two Superpowers
of the later 20c
The Creation of the U. N.
7 Future American Presidents Served in World War II