*

*

*Mussolini wants to build an empire

*Invades Ethiopia in East Africa

*The League of Nations imposes sanctions (penalties), but it does not stop the Italians.

*Ethiopia annexed (made a part of another country) in May 1936.

*

*Used conscription (required military

service) to increase the military.

*Moved troops into the Rhineland (area in

Western Germany near France

*Annexed Austria in 1938

*Demanded the Sudetenland in Western

Czechoslovakia in 1938

*Invaded all of Czechoslovakia in 1939.

*

*The U.S. chose to be isolationist (turning

inward and not focusing on problems

outside of one’s own country).

*The U.S. passed a series of Neutrality Acts

prohibiting it from loaning money or selling

weapons to countries at war.

*The U.S. was hoping to keep from being

drawn into another conflict.

*

*The British and French chose appeasement

as the way to deal with the Germans and

Italians.

*Appeasement means to give in to

“reasonable demands.”

*They were hoping that loosening the reigns

a little on Hitler would make him happier.

*“You give someone an inch and they take a

mile!”

*Munich Pact (1938): Hitler agreed to stop

taking additional land in Europe.

*

*Germany, Italy, and Japan joined together

to form the Axis Alliance in 1936.

*While Germany is re-claiming lost territory

in Europe, Japan is continuing to invade

China (1937) and the French Indo-China

(1941). (French Indo-China was French

controlled countries of Vietnam, Laos,

Cambodia.)

* This creates two theaters (areas) of war:

Europe and the Pacific.

*

*Stalin is worried about Hitler. He is afraid of losing the rich farmland in Western Russia. He tries to warn the other European leaders, but they ignore him because they don’t like Communism.

*Stalin decides to become allies with Germany. Hitler and Stalin sign the Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (1939) which promises the countries won’t attack each other. They also create “spheres of influence” in Europe.

**Despite the Munich Pact,

an invasion of Poland was

planned (late 1939).

Germany invaded from

the west, and the Soviet

Union invaded from the

east. They planned to

divide Poland.

*Rapid invasion and

surprise attacks used by

the Germans known as a

“blitzkrieg” or lightning

war.

*Great Britain and France

declare war on Germany.

*

*Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands were swiftly attacked by Hitler in early 1940.

*France and Great Britain sent their best troops to protect Belgium. After hard fighting, a massive evacuation of 300,000 Allied troops occurred at Dunkirk.

*France is in chaos as the Germans race their army to Paris. An armistice is signed on June 14 and Germany controls France.

*In Southern France, Vichy France was a puppet government of the Nazis.

*

*Great Britain is the only unoccupied country in Europe.

*Hitler tries to conquer Britain by:

1. Bombing Southern England (factories)

2. Air war between the German Luftwaffe and the

British Royal Air Force (RAF)

3. Heavy bombing of London. (As a symbol to the British

people, the Royal Family stayed in Buckingham Palace

during the bombings. Winston Churchill, the Prime

Minister) said the British will never surrender.

RAF defeats the Luftwaffe, and Hitler does not invade

Great Britain.

*

*The British send troops to stop the Italian

advance in North Africa. The British push the

Italians back to the coast of Libya.

*The Germans, under the leadership of Rommel,

save the Italians in Libya, but the British kick

the Italians out of Somalia and Ethiopia.

*The Germans work to capture the Suez Canal

and Egypt because this is the gateway to the

oil resources in the Middle East.

*

*Roosevelt realizes that the British need

help.

*In 1939, the U.S. begins “cash and carry

policy.” This allows the U.S. to sell goods to

the British; must pay in cash and carry on

their own ships.

*In 1940, Congress approves the “lend-lease

act.” This allows the U.S. to lend war

equipment to any country whose defense

seemed vital to the security of the U.S.

*

*In response to the Japanese invasion of French Indo-China, the U.S. did the following:

1. Placed a ban on the sale of scrap metal to Japan (used to make weapons)

2. Placed an embargo on oil (no oil trade)

3. Would not allow the Japanese to withdraw money from U.S. banks

*

*U.S. Pacific Naval Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor.

*December 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor attacked. Roosevelt calls

this “a day that will live in infamy.”

*U.S. had sent all of its aircraft carriers and most of its

planes to sea.

*Japanese disabled 19 ships, destroyed 188 airplanes,

wounded 1,100 and killed 2,400.

*U.S. declares war on Japan on December 8, 1941.

*

*After losing the Battle of

Britain, the Germans turn

and attack the Soviet

Union in June 1941.

*Stalin started the

“scorched earth policy” –

burn everything that

could be helpful to the

Germans.

*Battle of Stalingrad:

Considered the turning

point in the war. 100,000

Germans died; 80,000

captured when the

Germans wait until winter

to attack.

(In the first few days of

war, the Germans destroy

most of the Soviet Air

Force, thousands of tanks,

and captured ½ million

soldiers.)

*

*German troops in N. Africa led by

General Rommel. He was known as

the “Desert Fox” because he used

blitzkrieg strategies to win.

Germans capture most of N. Africa.

*The British fight back to defend

Egypt and push the Germans back to

Tripoli.

*In May 1942, the U.S. landed troops

in Morocco and Algeria. The British

and the Americans squeezed the

Germans from both sides.

*Rommel tells Hitler it is hopeless.

Angry, Hitler removes Rommel from

N.Africa. The Allies win in May 1943.

Now the Allies can focus on Europe.

*

*“Operation Mincemeat”

*After North Africa is

liberated, the Allies focus

on invading Sicily and

then Italy. They thought

the Italians would be a

weak opponent.

*Sicily is conquered in May

1943, and after hard

fighting, Allies enter

Rome in 1944.

*Mussolini is killed by his

own people in 1945.

**Churchill, FDR, and

Eisenhower (the Allied

commander in Europe)

planned a land invasion of

France. Stalin promised to

attack Germany at the same

time from the east.

*“Operation Fortitude”

*The invasion included

150,000 soldiers; 5,000

ships; 11,000 planes and

gliders. D-day was known

as “Operation Overlord”.

*The attack began on June 6,

1944.

*

*The Free France Movement (French Resistance)

organized under General Charles de Gaulle. The

Resistance blew up railroads and bridges to slow

down the German response on D-day. They also

spied on German troop movement, information that

was crucial to the D-day invasion.

*Allies went in on parachutes and on gliders behind

enemy lines the night before the invasion.

*The beach invasion began at dawn.

*By July, more than 1 million Allied troops in France.

On August 24, 1944, de Gaulle enters a freed Paris.

*

*Battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s last attempt to defeat the

Allies in Europe. (December and January 1945). 600,000

Americans fought in the battle; 80,000 killed. Germans

lost 100,000. Germany lost because they ran out of

fuel!!!!!!!!!!

*May 7, 1945: Germany surrendered. Known as V-E day

(Victory in Europe).

*Hitler commits suicide (took a cyanide pill and then shot

himself).

*

*After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese began

capturing all of the small islands in the

Pacific, including Guam, Wake Island, Hong

Kong and the Philippines.

*Battle of Midway (1942): U.S. defeated

the Japanese and destroyed many planes

and aircraft carriers.

*U.S. begins “island-hopping”- skipping

over the islands heavily secured by the

Japanese and taking back control of

smaller islands. (This strategy got the

Americans closer to Japan with fewer

casualties, and cut those island off from

Japanese resources.)

**Battle of Guadalcanal:

the first battle in the

Pacific using allied

forces on land, sea, and

air. (lasted 6 months!)

*Battles of Okinawa and

Iwo Jima were

important because they

had air bases that were

within striking distance

of Japan.

**President Truman decided

to drop the bomb in order

to save American lives

from a land invasion.

*Hiroshima (August 6,

1945): around 70,000

killed instantly; 135,000

final death toll

*Nagasaki (August 9,

1945): 40,000 killed

instantly; 50,000 final

death toll

*Victory in Japan (VJ Day):

August 15, 1945.

*

*Hitler wants a pure race of

people (Aryans).

*Targeted Jews, Slavs,

Soviets, Poles, homosexuals,

and the handicapped for

extermination.

*Hitler took several steps to

exterminate the Jews:

1. Passed the Nuremberg

Laws (1935)

2. Kristallnacht -“Night of

Broken Glass”

(November 9, 1938) -

Nazi troops attacked

Jewish synagogues,

homes, and businesses,

killing 100 Jews.

** Forced the Jews into

ghettos (closed

neighborhoods)

* Liquidated the

neighborhoods by sending

Jews on cattle cars to

concentration camps (work

camp) or to a death camp –

“THE FINAL SOLUTION”

* Most concentration camps

were in Germany and

Poland.

* At the camps, Jews were

examined by SS doctors.

The strong (mostly men) or

skilled laborers (ex.

seamstress, cobbler) were

allowed to live.

Picture is of a round-up of Jews in the Warsaw

Ghetto. By October 1940, 400,000 people were

living in an area that could house 160,000. They

were given enough food to have 1 bowl of soup

daily. 300-400 died daily from starvation and

disease. By July 1942, 80,000 had died. At this

time, 6,000 Jews daily were rounded up and sent

to the death camp. After two months, 310,322

had been sent to the death camps. 60,000 tried

to resist and rebelled against the Germans. After

28 days, 56,065 were rounded up.

*

*Holocaust is the mass

killing of people.

*Over 11,000,000 people

in all died. 6,000,000

Jews died, including over

a million kids. 3,000,000

Jews survived.

*Those who were not sent

to an immediate death

were used as slave labor

or for medical

experiments.

*Auschwitz was the largest

death camp: (around

2,000,000 died there).

**In 1945-1946, twenty-two

Nazis were charged with

“crimes against

humanity.”

*Trial was conducted by an

International Military

Tribunal made of 23

countries.

*Ten Nazis were hanged

and they were cremated

at a concentration camp.

*Support for a Jewish

state/homeland (Zionism)

increased after the war.

Israel is founded in 1948.

**Developed in 1948 by the

United Nations in response

to the atrocities in WW2.

*Sets human rights standards

for all nations, including

rights that all people should

have.

*Difficult to enforce because

of the debate over how

much outside countries

should be involved in the

affairs of a sovereign

nation.

*

*Palestine is divided into a Jewish state and

Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as an

international city.

*Angered, Palestinians attack Israel. Israel

wins and claims ½ of the Palestinian land.

(Fight wars in 1956, 1967, 1973).

*

*

*Egyptian President Nassar wants to kick out foreign countries in

the region.

*He took control of the Suez Canal from the British by force in

1956.

*The British, French, and Israelis attack.

*The U.S. and the Soviet Union pressure the British, French, and

Israeli’s to withdraw troops. Egypt keeps the canal.

*Builds Pan-Arabism (Arab Unity).

*In 1964, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed,

Yassir Arafat is leader.

*In 1967, the PLO wants to take back land from Israel using

military force with help from other Arab nations.

*Israel attacks Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iran first, wiping out the

majority of Israel’s air force, and capturing the Sinai Peninsula,

the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Golan Heights, and

Jerusalem.

*In 1973, the Arabs surprise attacked Israel. The U.S. joins on

Israel’s side angering the Arabs. The United Nations arranged a

cease-fire.

**Camp David Accords (1979) – Egypt

finally recognizes Israel as a country,

receives the Sinai Peninsula from Israel.

(Egyptian President is assassinated by

an Islamic extremists upset by the

peace agreement.)

*Palestinians launched the intifada

(uprising) in 1987 – a series of terrorist

attacks against Israel.

*Oslo Peace Accords (1993) – Israel gives

Palestinians self-rule in the West Bank

and Gaza Strip. (Israeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a

Jewish extremist).