Standard 8

• The 1930s were marked by campaigns of aggression• Japan invaded Manchuria & China • Italy invaded Ethiopia (East Africa)• Germany repeatedly violated the Treaty of Versailles

• Rebuilt Army, Navy, & Air force• Annexed Austria • Planned to occupy the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia

• The League of Nations was too weak to fight the aggression; western nations practiced appeasement• 1938 Munich Conference Hitler promised to stop

invading if given the Sudetenland. • He invaded & took all of Czechoslovakia

• Hitler signed nonaggression pact with Russia in August 1939• After Hitler invaded Poland, war was declared in

September 1939

"Peace in our time"

• Axis Powers• Germany, Italy,

Japan

• Allies• Great Britain, France, USSR • (United States is neutral in the

beginning)

• The Blitzkrieg• Hitler’s attack strategy was called the Blitzkrieg (“lightning

war”) • Involved aerial bombing, fast-moving tanks & infantry.

• Once the war began, Hitler conquered all of Poland & France by summer of 1940

• In Africa, General Erwin Rommel conquered much of North Africa in 1941-1942

• Great Britain was all that stood between Hitler & full control of Europe

• The German Luftwaffe began to bomb military targets & cities like London

• The British stood strong • The Royal Air Force fought hard to stop the bombings &

Hitler was forced to call off the invasion in May 1941

Battle of Britain

• Eastern Front – Germany vs USSR• Hitler invaded the USSR,

breaking the non-aggression pact, in June 1941.

• Quick German victories mounted until the winter set in.

• Bloody loss at the Battle of Stalingrad, is Hitler’s 1st defeat. Begins long costly war in the east.

• Japan hoped to eliminate the US Navy from the Pacific, in order to continue their expansion• December 7, 1941- Japanese forces launched attack on

the Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. • Many battleships were destroyed, but US Aircraft

carriers survived to carry on the war• The next day, FDR asked Congress to declare war.

"A day which will live in infamy"

• American war power helps turn the tide of the war• Dwight Eisenhower trapped Rommel’s army in Africa & forces

their surrender in May 1943• In the Pacific, the Japanese suffer huge losses at the Battle of

the Coral Sea & the Battle of Midway• Japanese Kamikaze pilots target aircraft carriers to crash

into

• D-Day • June 6, 1944 - Combined Allied army (Britain, US, Canada,

Australia) invaded occupied France at the beaches of Normandy.

• Harsh fighting with high casualties• Allied victory opened western front of war & liberated Paris on

August 25

• In March 1945, Russia and the Allies were closing in to Germany. At this point, Axis powers began to fold• Mussolini was caught & executed• Hitler committed suicide on May 6

• The Germans surrendered on May 7th (V-E or Victory in Europe Day)

• The Pacific War• Japan continued to fight after the European War ended• General Douglas MacArthur began “island-hopping”

campaign, taking back the Pacific island by island

Atomic Weapons• Facing the cost of an invasion of Japan, the US dropped

atomic bombs on Japan • First was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 at

Hiroshima. More than 70,000 were killed• After a second bomb fell in Nagasaki on August 9th, and

the Japanese surrendered

• Allies uncovered atrocities of the Holocaust on their march through Europe.

• Germans and Austrian involved in the Holocaust were tried in late 1940s at Nuremberg. Several top officials received death sentences.

• The United Nations was formed to mediate conflicts in the future.

• Alliances broke apart & the foundation is set for the Cold War