World War II

Mr. Farnworth – Senior Humanities

The Rise of Dictators and Totalitarianism

▪ The aftermath of WWI in Europe set the stage for an aggressive type of leader to emerge– What do we know about Europe after World War I?

▪ Germany – most affected by Treaty of Versailles

▪ Italy – on the winning side, but ignored during negotiations

▪ Leaders who reflected nations’ bitterness and anger emerged– Promised return to greatness

▪ Europeans willing to give up basic freedoms to return to glory

Benito Mussolini - Italy

▪ In power in 1922

▪ “Strong, ordered Italy”

▪ Founded National Fascist Party

▪ Believed modern Italy was the heir to ancient Rome – supported creation of an Italian empire

▪ Fascist Totalitarian Dictatorship– What do these big words

mean?

Joseph Stalin – Soviet Union

▪ Communist

▪ Dominated all aspects of Soviet life– Communism similar to

Fascism

▪ “The Great Purge” – mid-1930s– What do we know

about Russia during and after World War I?

▪ Communist Totalitarian Dictatorship

Adolf Hitler - Germany

▪ WWI veteran – joined Nazi party

▪ Tried to seize power by force (1923) but was thrown in prison

▪ Wrote Mein Kampf in prison

▪ Became chancellor in 1933

▪ Set up totalitarian dictatorship of his own

▪ Secretly began to build up German army– Against the Treaty of

Versailles

Axis Powers – Germany and Italy - 1936

The “Pact of Steel”

August 23rd, 1939 – Non-Aggression Pact

▪ Hitler and Joseph Stalin agree to a “non-aggression” pact

▪ Stalin won’t stop Hitler’s expansion

▪ Hitler won’t attack Russia

▪ Plans to split Poland

▪ Shocked most of Europe

The Rhineland (1936)

- Treaty of Versailles – Germany was forbidden from having troops in the Rhine

- Hitler (1936) sent troops in anyways. - How do you think France and Britain responded?

Appeasement

▪ Neville Chamberlain– British Prime Minister

▪ “Giving into aggressive demands to maintain peace”

▪ The Anshluss (1938)– German union with Austria by

force

▪ The Sudetenland (1938)– Germany control of German-

speaking portion of Czechoslovakia

▪ Czechoslovakia invaded (1939)

Winston Churchill – Great Britain

▪ Rival to Chamberlain -- condemned appeasement and said it would lead to war

▪ “An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

▪ Gallipoli campaign disaster (World War I)

▪ Commander of the 6th battalion

▪ Took over as British Prime Minister in 1940 after Chamberlain’s resignation

Map of Europe - 1939

September 1st, 1939 – Hitler invades Poland

▪ Just 9 days after the non-aggression pact was signed with Stalin

▪ Blitzkrieg – “lighting war” – used by German military– Technological advancements

▪ Poland didn’t stand a chance without help from other countries

▪ Poland belonged to Hitler within the month

▪ September 3rd – Great Britain and France declare war on Germany– Appeasement had failed…miserably– They do not attack and instead waited for Germany to make its

next move…

Germany moves West - 1940

▪ April 1940 – Germany invades Denmark and Norway– Both countries fell with little resistance to the blitzkrieg

▪ May 1940 – Germany attacks France– Attacked the Netherlands and stormed through Belgium– Trapped hundreds of French troops at the port of Dunkirk

▪ June 1940 – France surrenders to Germany and Italy

▪ Winston Churchill and Great Britain were the only remaining opposition to the Axis Powers

“What General Weyland has called Battle of France is over…the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”

Battle of Britain (1940)

▪ Luftwaffe air campaign waged against Great Britain

▪ Objective: Gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force– Great Britain was known for their aerial skills

▪ Attacked coastal shipping ports, aircraft factories, and other areas of political significance

▪ Royal Air Force refused to give up air space– First major defeat of Axis Powers

▪ Forced Hitler to postpone (and eventually cancel) Operation Sea Lion– Full-fledged air and sea invasion of Great Britain

Meanwhile… in Asia…

Hideki Tojo - Japan

▪ Minister of War appointed Prime Minister in 1941

▪ 1937 – Japan invades China

▪ 1940 – Japan enters military alliance with the Axis Powers

▪ Wanted to take over French Indochina – this was against American interest – British colonies

▪ America placed trade embargos on Japan to try and slow aggression

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - USA

▪ Isolationism – US stayed out of European conflict – What is the difference

between isolationism and appeasement? Is there one?

▪ Worried about domestic issues – Great Depression – “New

Deal”

▪ “All aid short of war”– Traded 50 war ships to Britain

▪ Met secretly with Churchill in 1941 to discuss interests and mutual opposition to Axis Powers

Lend-Lease

December 7th, 1941

▪ Japanese aircraft carriers approached island of Oahu, Hawaii

▪ Destroyed fleets of American warships and planes at Pearl Harbor– US military base – relatively unguarded

▪ Attack lasted two hours

▪ 8 battleships damaged; 4 were completely sunk

▪ Nearly 200 aircrafts destroyed

▪ 2,400 American lives lost

Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Oahu

“a date which will live in infamy”

Causes

▪ Conflict over French Indochina

▪ Trade embargos

▪ Japan’s alliance with Germany and Italy

▪ Hideki Tojo was hostile towards the United States

Effects

▪ Americans are angry and fearful

▪ California fears a domestic invasion from Japan– Claimed to see submarines off

the coast

▪ US declares war on Japan

▪ Italy and Germany declare war on the US

- If you were an American citizen at this time, how would you feel?

Japanese-American Internment Camps

▪ Forced relocation and incarceration of 110,000 – 12,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the Pacific coast of the United States

▪ Nearly 80,000 were second or third generation immigrants

▪ Accused of being spies for the Japanese

▪ 1988 – Civil Liberties Act – Ronald Reagan

▪ Apologized for internment and dispersed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to 82,000 camp survivors and their heirs.

Don’t forget about Hitler!!!!

Germany invades Russia – June 1941

▪ Hitler had long wanted to invade Russia for “living space”

▪ Elimination of Communist threat to Europe

▪ Hitler considered the non-aggression pact as a “temporary tactical maneuver”

▪ Expected a quick seizure of Russia and didn’t prepare soldiers for winter warfare

▪ Massive Soviet counterattack pushed Germany backwards in chaos

The Allied Powers - 1941

Three Allied Fronts

▪ Mediterranean Front– American, British, and

Refugee Forces– North African Campaign– Italian Campaign

▪ Western Front– American and British forces– D-Day– Liberation of Paris

▪ Eastern Front– Russian and Polish forces– Battle of Berlin

Italian Campaign (1943-1945)

▪ Massive amounts of Allied forces in the Mediterranean

▪ Moved North into Italy

▪ Mussolini surrenders to Dwight D. Eisenhower - Commander– September 8th, 1943

▪ Hitler sends German troops – They continue to fight for Italy

▪ April 27th, 1945 – Mussolini is killed by Italian partisans who opposed his dictatorship

D-Day – June 6th, 1944

▪ Allied invasion - Normandy, FR

▪ Largest seaborne invasion in history

▪ 160,000 troops

▪ 5,000 ships

▪ 13,000 aircrafts

▪ Allowed Allies to enter Western Europe and march towards Germany through France

Liberation of Paris – August 25th, 1944

Battle of Berlin - 1945

▪ Eastern Front (Russian and Polish Forces) move into German capital

▪ Western and Mediterranean Fronts squeeze out Germany

▪ German forces in Italy surrender – April 29th

▪ Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker - April 30th

– 3 days after Mussolini’s death – Wished to avoid the same treatment

▪ German forces in Berlin surrender – May 2nd

V-E Day – May 8th, 1945

Why is this known as V-E Day?

Island Hopping in the Pacific

Manhattan Project

▪ War in Japan is costing countless American lives

▪ Led by the US with support from Britain and Canada

▪ No more than a few dozen men in the country knew about the Manhattan Project

▪ Developed the atomic bomb

“Little Boy” – August 6th, 1945

▪ Name for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

▪ Authorized by President Harry Truman

▪ Called for a Japanese unconditional surrender or “prompt and utter destruction” – This was rejected

▪ 66,000 people were killed (20,000 soldiers) – not mentioning radiation damage

August 7-9

▪ Truman announces the dropping of the atomic bomb, claims to have “taken the greatest scientific gamble in history – and won” in a race against the Germans

▪ Soviet Union declares war on Japan

▪ No reaction from the Japanese government

▪ No indication of surrender

▪ “I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb … It is an awful responsibility which has come to us … We thank God that it has come to us instead of our enemies.” – Harry Truman, August 9th

“Fat Man” – August 9th, 1945

▪ Second bomb falls – this time on Nagasaki

▪ Scheduled for August 11th, but pushed up because of weather

▪ Soviet invasion of Japanese puppet states

▪ Allied invasion imminent

▪ Japanese surrenders on September 2nd, 1945

Aftermath

▪ Two global superpowers emerge

▪ Soviet Union – annexes “satellite states” – independent states heavily under control of another– Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania,

Albania, East Germany

▪ United States – United Nations forms (1945) – intergovernmental organization– 51 original members including the Soviet Union

▪ Germany is divided into East and West Germany– East is under Soviet government, West to Allied Nations

The Lost Generation

▪ 50 million people were killed

▪ 40% civilians – had never happened before

▪ Almost two million people died in Battle of Stalingrad alone

▪ The Holocaust