Chapter 27

The Deepening European Crisis:

World War II

Prelude to War

The “Diplomatic Revolution” (1933-1937)Hitler becomes chancellor, January 30, 1933

Repudiation of disarmament clauses of Versailles Peace Treaty, 1935

Troops into the demilitarized Rhineland, March 7, 1936

New Allies• Rome-Berlin Axis, October 1936

• Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan, November 1936

Adolph Hitler & Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germany ca. June 1940

Changes in Central Europe, 1936-1939

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The Path to War (1938-1939)Annexation of Austria, March 13, 1938Demand the cession of the Sudetenland, September 15, 1938Munich Conference, September 29, 1938Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940)

Appeasement

German dismemberment of CzechoslovakiaNon-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, August 23, 1939Invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939Britain and France declare war on Germany, September 3, 1939

The Path to War in Asia

Japanese EmpireKorea, Formosa, Manchuria, and theMarshall, Caroline, and Mariana islands

1931 Japan seized Manchuria• Chiang Kai-shek 

The Course to World War IIBlitzkrieg (lightening war)Poland divided on September 28, 1939Victory and Stalemate

“Phony War” along the Maginot line, winter 1939-1940Attack on Netherlands, Belgium, and France, May 10, 1940Evacuation of DunkirkSurrender of France, June 22, 1940

Battle of Britain, August-September 1940German Luftwaffe

The War in Asia

Pearl HarborA victory and a defeat

Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Attacks galvanized American opinion in support for war

World War II in Europe & North Africa©

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Explosion of the U.S.S. Shaw during attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

World War II in Asia & the Pacific©

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Turning Point of War, 1942-1943The Grand Alliance

Allies ignore political differencesAgree on unconditional surrenderGerman success in 1942 in Africa and Soviet Union

• Battle of Stalingrad, November 1942-February 1943 Scorched earth policy Not a step back declaration

War in AsiaBattle of Midway, June 4, 1942Leyte Gulf (Philippines) Iwo JimaOkinawa

Last Years of the War

Rome falls June 4, 1944

D-Day invasion of France, June 6, 1944Five assault divisions landed on Normandy beachesWithin three months, two million men landed

Last Years of the War (cont)

Hitler’s suicide, April 30, 1945Surrender of Germany, May 7, 1945 Death of President Franklin Roosevelt, April 12, 1945Difficulty of invading the Japanese homelandNew President Harry Truman makes decision to use the atomic bomb

August 6 drop bomb on Hiroshima and then NagasakiSurrender of Japan, August 14, 1945

D-Day Invasion

The Nazi New OrderThe Nazi Empire

Nazi occupies Europe was organized in two ways

• Some areas annexed and made into German provinces

• Most areas were occupied and administered by Germans

Racial considerationsResettlement plans of the East

• Poles were uprooted and moved• 2 million ethnic Germans settled Poland, 1942

Need for labor

The HolocaustFirst focused on emigrationThe Final Solution

Reinhard Heydrich (1904-1942)Einsatzgrupen

Death campsIn operation by the spring of 1942Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide)Auschwitz

The Other HolocaustDeath of 9 - 10 million people beyond the 5 - 6 million Jews40 percent of European Gypsies

The New Order in Asia

Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere“Asia for the Asians”

Japanese OccupationConquest of Nanjing

“Comfort women”

800,000 Korean forced laborers

The Holocaust

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The Mobilization of Peoples

Great Britain55 percent of the people were in ‘‘war work”By 1944, women held 50 percent of the civil service positionsDig for VictoryEmphasis on a planned economy

The Soviet UnionEnormous losses, 2 of every 5 killed in World War II were RussiansFactories moved to the interior

The Mobilization of Peoples (cont)

The United StatesSlow mobilization until mid-1943Social problems

• African-Americans

Japanese Americans

GermanyContinued production of consumer goods first two years of the warBlitzkrieg and then plunder conquered countriesTotal mobilization of the economy, 1944

JapanHighly mobilized societyBushidoKamikaze

Civilians on the Front Line: The Bombing of Cities

Prior to dropping nukes we firebombed Tokyo, and about 60 other major citiesAtomic bomb

Hiroshima, August 6, 1945Nagasaki, August 9, 1945

Hiroshima after the atomic bomb, August 6, 1945

Aftermath: The Emergence of the Cold War

The Conferences at Teheran, Yalta, and PotsdamConference at Tehran, November 1943

• Future course of the war, invasion of the continent for 1944• Agreement for the partition of postwar Germany

Conference at Yalta, February 1945• “Declaration on Liberated Europe”• Soviet military assistance for the war against Japan • Creation of a United Nations• German unconditional surrender• Free elections in Eastern Europe

Conference at Potsdam, July 1945• Truman replaces Roosevelt• Growing problems between the Allies

Winston Churchill proclaims in March 1946 the existence of “an iron curtain” across the continent of Europe

Territorial Changes after World War II

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Discussion QuestionsWhat steps did Hitler take to conquer England?Why did abandon the fight for England and turn toward Russia?What seemed to have been the causes of Soviet suspicions about Britain and the US throughout the war? Give examples.How were conquered or occupied peoples treated by the Germans during the war? Give examples.How did each country mobilize the home front for the war effort?

Web Links

Neville Chamberlain

Invasion of Manchuria 1931

Chiang Kai-shek

Blitzkrieg

Battle of Leningrad

Battle of Coral Seas

Holocaust

Hiroshima

Potsdam Conference