WORLD WAR II
May 10, 1933
“When one burns books, one will, in the end,
burn people.”
-German poet Heinrich Heine
One century before Hitler
First they came for the Socialists, and I did
not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist. Then they
came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not
speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not
speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no
one left to speak out for me.
-Martin Niemoller (German Protestant
minister)
Main Ideas
• World War II lasted from September 1, 1939 to
September 2, 1945. It was the most devastating war in
human history - 55 million people killed (military and
civilians). The world would never be the same.
• WWII left a new world order dominated by United States
and Soviet Union = “Cold War”
Key Events
• Adolph Hitler’s philosophy of Aryan superiority led
to World War II in Europe and also was the source
of the Holocaust
• Two separate and opposing alliances, the Allies
and the Axis, waged a worldwide war.
• World War II left lasting impressions on civilian
populations and irrevocably changed human
society.
The Impact Today
• By the end of World War II, the balance of power
had shifted away from Europe.
• Nuclear weapons pose a threat to all nations
• Post-war conditions created the Cold War, which
in many respects is the single factor most
responsible for the state of the world today (US=
only major superpower/rise of radical Islam/troubles
in Eastern Europe & Balkans etc.)
Germany’s Path to War
• Hitler & Nazi Party rise to
power:
– Desire to avenge the Treaty
of Versailles
– Dream of creating a master
race (Aryan) empire (Third
Reich)
– Need to attain more living
space (lebensraum)
– Great Depression
• These factors all but
assured world wide war
Appeasement
• In 1935, Hitler created a new air force (Luftwaffe) and began military draft (conscription), which violated Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler believed European nations would not use force to stop him because of Great Depression (appeasement)
• In 1936, Hitler sent troops into demilitarized zone, the Rhineland, again European nations did nothing to stop him
Hitler’s Allies
• Hitler allied with Italy’s fascist dictator, Benito Mussoliniwho invaded Ethiopia in 1935 with the help of German troops.
• Hitler also signed the Anti-Comintern Pact (1936) with Japan forming an alliance against communism
Hitler’s Invasions
• In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and demanded the Sudetenland be given to Germany – once again Britain & France gave in to Hitler’s demands at the Munich Conference (Soviet Union not invited)
• In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia
“Peace in Our Time” Churchill Warning
"...the settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has
now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger
settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I
had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and
here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine
(waves paper to the crowd - receiving loud cheers and "Hear
Hears"). Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it
contains but I would just like to read it to you ...".
-Neville Chamberlain
Later that day he stood outside Number 10 Downing Street
and again read from the document and concluded: '"My good
friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime
Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with
honour. I believe it is peace for our time.“
Speech
Non-Aggression Pact
• Britain & France prepared to contain Hitler by attempting to ally with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
• Hitler, fearing Soviet intervention, signed a Nonaggression Pact with Stalin
• Hitler now clear to invade Poland on September 1, 1939 – WWII begins
“….Munich turned out to be surrender on an installment plan.
It was like giving a cannibal a finger in the hope of saving an
arm.”
-Historians Thomas Bailey and David Kennedy
“I saw my enemies at Munich, and they are worms.”
- Adolf Hitler
Japan’s Path to War
• In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria,
which League of Nations
condemned so Japan withdrew
from the League
• In 1937, Japan seized Chinese
capital city of Nanjing
• Japan planned to seize Soviet
Siberia for its abundant natural
resources, however, Hitler’s Non-
Aggression Pact with Stalin forced
Japan to seek its raw materials in
Southeast Asia
Japan’s Path to War
• In 1940, Japan demanded right to
attain natural resources in French
Indochina
• United States threatened Japan with
economic sanctions, which could
severely harm Japan’s imperialist war
plans
• Japan, led by its militant leaders,
decided to launch a surprise attack on
the United States to protect its
interests in the South Pacific
Europe at War
• Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland took just four
weeks – the speed & power of Germany’s army
“stunned the world”
• Strategy known as blitzkrieg (lightning warfare)
• On Sept. 18, 1939 Germany & Soviet Union divided
Poland
France Surrenders
• In 1940, Hitler invaded Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France
• Britain narrowly escapes defeat at Dunkirk
• On June 22, France was forced to sign an armistice with Germany who occupied 3/5 of France
• A French regime, under German control, named Vichy Francewas established in the southern part of France
• Germany now controlled nearly all of Europe, only Britain remained undefeated
VICHY
FRANCE
United States Isolationism
• Britain pleaded for U.S. assistance,
however, a series of neutrality acts
passed in the 1930’s prevented U.S.
involvement
• U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt
wanted to repeal the neutrality acts &
enter the war, however, U.S. public
opinion was strongly against it
Battle of Britain
• Hitler believed the key to
defeating Britain was to crush its
will to fight
• In 1940, the German air force
(Luftwaffe) began bombing British
military targets, later the attacks
shifted to civilian populated cities
• The bombing raids caused
devastating damage but only
strengthened Britain’s resolve
Battle of Britain
On 15 October 1940, the
BBC is bombed during a
news bulletin. Seven
people died, thousands of
records are destroyed
and studios are badly
damaged. But the
unflappable Bruce
Belfrage - after a short
pause - continues to read
the news as if nothing
has happened.
Hitler Plans to Capture
Soviet Union
• Hitler was convinced Britain
would be forced to surrender
if Soviet Union was defeated
• Hitler planned to invade
Soviet Union in spring of
1941, however, his plans
were delayed (6 weeks) in
Balkans by seizing Greece &
Yugoslavia, which Mussolini
had failed to capture
• The Eastern Front will
become the largest theater of
war in human history.
“We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten
structure will come crashing down”—Adolf Hitler on the
invasion of the Soviet Union
“Russia is never as strong as she looks. Russia is never
as weak as she looks.”-proverb (attributed to many,
including Talleyrand, Metternich, and Churchill)
Hitler Invades Soviet Union• In June (1941), Hitler invaded the Soviet Union
(Operation Barbarossa) and captured 2 million Russian
soldiers by November – troops came within 25 miles of
Moscow
• “Barbarossa” remains the largest military operation in
terms of manpower, area traversed, and casualties in
human history.
Hitler Invades Soviet Union
• Winter came early in 1941:• German troops had inadequate
clothing
• supplies slow to arrive from 1,800
miles away
• Russian troops put up strong
resistance
• This marked first time Hitler’s
army had been stopped and in
December, the Soviet army
counterattacked
Eastern Front estimates:
War went on for 4 years
Soviet military deaths= app. 7
million
Soviet civilian= app. 20 million
German military deaths= app. 4
million
Japan at War
• On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked
the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii
• The attack caught U.S. off guard but
luckily U.S. aircraft carriers were not in
port
• Japan hoped defeat of U.S. naval fleet
would force the U.S. to accept
Japanese domination in the Pacific,
however, it had the opposite effect
• December 8, 1941 – The U.S. declared
war on Japan & entered WWII, 4 days
later, Hitler declared war on the United
States
The Allies Advance
• Grand Alliance (Great Britain,
Soviet Union, and United States)
all agree to fight until Axis
Powers (Germany, Japan, &
Italy) surrender unconditionally
• Decision made at Tehran
Conference (November, 1943) –
The Big Three
European Theater
• By fall, 1942 War turns against Germany• Britain pushes back Germany in North
Africa forcing German troops to retreat • Defeat of General Erwin Rommel (The
Desert Fox)• In May, 1943 – Germans surrender at
Stalingrad after failed attack
Pacific Theater
• Low point was U.S. surrender in the Philippines, April, 1942 (Bataan Death March)
• General Douglas MacArthur's famous line “I shall return.”• By May, 1942 the battles in the Pacific turned in Allies favor:
• Coral Sea• Midway Island• Guadalcanal• Okinawa• Iwo Jima
Pacific Theater
• By fall 1942, Allied forces implement two plans against Japan:• First – led by Douglas
MacArthur, move into South China from Burma through Indonesia
• Second – move across Pacific capturing islands ending with land invasion of Japan (Island Hopping)
Last Years of WWII
• By early 1943, Axis forces
surrendered in Tunisia & later
Allied forces invaded Italy, which
British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill called the “soft
underbelly” of Europe
• After Allies captured Sicily, Benito
Mussolini was removed from office
– Hitler rescued him (Operation
Oak) and set him up as dictator of
a puppet German state in northern
Italy (Italian Social Republic)
D-Day
• Allies planned to invade France
from Great Britain across the
English Channel
• June 6, 1944 (Operation Overlord)
– Allies storm the beaches at
Normandy, France – led by U.S.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Germans offered stiff resistance,
however, Allies broke through
German lines
• Paris liberated in August, 1944
Germany’s Surrender
• July 1943, Soviets advanced westward, defeated troops at Battle of Kursk, occupied Ukraine, Baltic states, and Warsaw, Poland
• July 20, 1944 Assassinationattempt on Hitler fails
• January, 1945 – Hitler moved to underground bunker to continue commanding war
• April 30, 1945 – Hitler commits suicide, two days earlier Mussolini was assassinated
• May 7, 1945 – (VE Day) Germany surrenders
Japan’s Surrender
• By 1945, Allies moved across Pacific and neared Japan, however, both Allied and Japanese troops suffered heavy casualties
• U.S. President Harry S. Truman feared invasion of Japan would result in thousands of needless deaths
• Manhattan Project –• August 6, 1945 – U.S. dropped
Atomic bomb on Hiroshima• August 9, 1945 – U.S. dropped
second bomb on Nagasaki• Destruction
• Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 (VJ-Day)
Holocaust
• By 1942, the Nazi’s controlled Europe from
English Channel in west to near Moscow in
east
• Heinrich Himmler, SS leader, put in charge
of German resettlement (lebensraum)
• By 1944, 7 million Europeans enslaved in
Germany, another 7 million enslaved in
their own countries
• Hitler believed Jews were greatest threat to
his Aryan Empire, Himmler in charge of
Final Solution (genocide)
..the first and only industrialized genocide. It stands
without parallel as the most wicked act in all history:
“Other regimes had perpetrated mass murder. ... Yet
there was something qualitatively different about the
Nazis’ war against the Jews and the other
unfortunate minorities they considered to be
‘unworthy of life.’ It was the fact that it was carried out
by such well-educated people ... perpetrated under
the leadership of a man who had come to power by
primarily democratic means. The Nazi death machine
worked economically, scientifically and
euphemistically. ... It was very, very modern.”
-British historian Niall Ferguson
Concentration Camps
• Special unit of the SS called
Einsatzgruppen carried out
Final Solution
• Death camps established to
exterminate Jews, 6 in
Poland, largest was
Auschwitz
• Nazi’s killed 5-6 million Jews
and 9-10 million non-Jews
Mobilization of Peoples
• WWII was total war = mobilization resulting in economic & social change
• Soviet Union – over 1 million died due to food shortages, in 1943 55% of national income went to war materials
• United States – industrial might provided Allies with military equipment to defeat Axis powers, women entered workforce, African-Americans moved North & West to fill jobs, Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps
Mobilization of Peoples
• Germany –Hitler did not cut production
of consumer goods trying to keep public
morale high, later policy changed &
Germany tripled military production after
1942 under leadership of Albert Speer
• Japan – citizens encouraged to sacrifice
everything for nationalistic cause,
kamikaze (divine wind) pilots
Yalta Conference
February, 1945:• Big Three met at Yalta (Russia)
• Roosevelt & Churchill realized Soviet army
controlled much of Eastern & Central Europe,
therefore, they advocated policy of self-
determination for postwar Europe
• Stalin did not trust the West & wanted buffer zone
between Europe & Soviet Union
• Allies agreed to establish a United Nations – first
met in 1945 (San Francisco) – later established a
Jewish state (Israel)
• Allies agreed Germany would be divided into 4
zones occupied & governed by Allied Powers
Potsdam Conference
July, 1945:• Roosevelt died on April 12 & was replaced
by Vice President Harry Truman
• Truman wanted free elections in Eastern
Europe (self-determination), Stalin refused
demanding military security for Soviet
Union
• Allies agreed leaders who committed
“crimes against humanity” would be put on
trial – Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946)
Beginning of Cold War
• Western leaders believed Stalin & Soviets
wanted to spread communism around the
world, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe
• In March, 1946 – Winston Churchill declared
an “iron curtain” had “descended across the
continent” to which Stalin replied was a “call
to war with the Soviet Union”
• Cold War ensued & would dominate world
politics for next 45 years
WWII Propaganda