WORLD WAR II1939-1945

Axis vs. Allies (pre-war)• AXIS POWERS (1937)

▫ Italy▫ Germany▫ Japan

• ALLIED POWERS▫ GB (1939)▫ France (1939)▫ USSR (1941)

Failure of League of Nations•League of Nations used policy of

APPEASEMENT▫What is appeasement?▫Giving in in hopes that the aggressor will stop

•Examples:▫Allowing Japan’s invasion of China to go

unpunished▫Allowing Italy’s colonization of Ethiopia to go

unpunished… and…

Annexation of Austria

Japanese Expansionism

In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria for raw materials; breaking Treaty of Versailles and treaty with the US

The same year, Japan began to attack China, with full-scale war breaking out in 1937 in the Sino-Japanese War.

Munich Conference• Hitler wants Sudetenland

but takes all of Czechoslovakia.

• He was given permission to take Sudetenland through the Munich Agreement orchestrated by GB Prime Minister Chamberlain…known as the APPEASEMENT POLICY

Stalin not invited…not trusted by westerners…he was annoyed

Munich Agreement “To the East!”

Appeasement• Who is sitting in a circle?

• Who seems to be left out?

• How do you think the one left out feels?

Hitler wants Poland• Hitler wants to unite all

German people displaced by Treaty of Versailles▫ Therefore wants to take

the Polish Corridor

• GB and France pledge to defend Poland…so Hitler seeks an ally…Stalin

Non-Aggression Pact• Hitler seeks friendly

agreement with Stalin1. Not to fight one another2. Split Poland

• Stalin agrees…due to USSR slighted by the Munich Conference

Non-Aggression Pact

Germany Invades Poland-Sept 1939• Germans use BLITZKRIEG

▫ “Lightening Attack”1. Air Raids2. Tank Invasions3. Ground Troops

▫ Initial targets are: Military bases Industrial sites;

factories Communication centers

Influenced by Napoleon’s strategies of bomb first…

Hitler in Scandinavia

Hitler Invades France• Through BELGIUM…sound

familiar

• Pushes through the Maginot Line with not problem…it was a trench system

• French pushed to the Atlantic coast … many saved by British naval aid; Battle of Dunkirk, but not enough

• France eventually falls to Germany

France Surrenders

VICHY FRANCE

Battle of Britain-July 1940-Jan 1941

• Hitler needs to take GB to win the war

• GOAL: air raids to eventual amphibious invasion

• Air raids never weaken GB enough…Hitler’s plan ruined▫ Ultra▫ Radar

• Winston Churchill states, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”

Battle of Britain

“V for Victory”

Hitler Invades Soviet Union• Hitler breaks Non-

aggression Pact in June, 1941 and invades USSR

• Invades and controls Balkan States and most of Eastern Europe before invading USSR

• Hitler wants USSR to create more living space or “lebensraum” for his Aryan race…and wanted to eradicate more Jews

US and Japan• President Roosevelt’s embargo

on Japan put tremendous stress on the Japanese war machine

• Japan decides to seek revenge on US…thus the bombing of Pearl Harbor

• Early Sunday, Dec 7, 1941 Japanese successfully attack the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

• US declares war on Japan and its Axis Allies ▫ “…a date which will live in

infamy”

Allies vs. Axis Powers-Dec 1941

•Great Britain•Soviet Union•United States•France

•Germany•Italy•Japan

Axis Lose in North Africa• The German tank

commander Erwin Rommel, “Desert Fox” meets his match in El Alamein in North Africa.

• Allies win North Africa gaining control of important oil supplies

• Allies also have easier access into Italy

Battle of Stalingrad – August 1942• Germans losing in USSR

and try to take industrial city of Stalingrad

• Germans lured into city and then surrounded by Soviet army…Germans forced to surrender due to lack of supplies and the RUSSIAN WINTER

• Soviet begin to push the Germans out of USSR

Italy Falls to Allies• Mussolini slowing losing

control of Italy▫ People question his role

in WWII▫ Economy weakening▫ People losing faith in

fascist ruler• Allies invade through

Sicily, Mussolini flees to the hills, and people quickly surrender to Allies-Sept 1943 & join Allies

• Mussolini will be later be executed by his own people

Execution of MussoliniCaught by Italians he was shot and then hung in the Piazza in Milan

D-Day –June 6, 1944• Operation Overlord• GOAL: Liberate France

▫ August 25, 1944• US, GB, Canadian troops• Landed on the beaches of

Normandy, France-fooled Germans…expected them to land in Calais.

• Included:▫ 3000 landing crafts▫ 2500 other ships▫ 500 naval vessels▫ 13,000 air craft

• 2500 Allies lost• 20,000 Germans lost by

August

Germany Falls• With the Allies moving in

on Germany from East and West…Germany in another 2 front war.

• Russia invades Berlin in April 20, 1945

Hitler commits suicide April 30

Germany surrenders May 7, 1945

V-E Day!!

Hitler’s Suicide

Victory in Europe – May 8, 1945

Pacific Theater• Kicked off by bombing of

Pearl Harbor

• By end of 1942▫ Japan conquered 1+

million sq miles of Pacific▫ controlled 150+ million

people

Battle of Midway – June 1942• Turning point in Pacific• US destroys most of

Japanese Fleet• Japanese begin to retreat

Island Hopping• US begins strategy called

“island hopping”▫ take Japanese controlled

islands one at a time pushing them toward Japan

• US pushed Japanese back to Japan but they would not surrender…

Hiroshima-August 6, 1945• After a warning to

…“surrender or face prompt and utter destruction” the Japanese do not heed the warning.

• United States drops “little boy” on the city of Hiroshima

Nagasaki- August 9, 1945• After Hiroshima, Japan

still did not surrender…

• So US dropped “fat man” on the city of Nagasaki

Before

After

V-J Day- September 2, 1945• Japan finally surrenders to

the United States August 15, 1845

• Signs treaty September 2, 1945

• World War II – officially over

Surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri