The Gathering Storm

Section 12.2

London being bombed and damaged in 1940

Agenda for Today

• 12.2 Slide Show

• Homework

• Read 12.2

ObjectivesAt the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Describe the invasion of Poland and use of Blitzkrieg• Describe the Maginot Line and its effectiveness• Explain the importance of Dunkirk• Define the Blitz and list ways in which the RAF were

able to overcome it (Blitz)• Define and describe the platforms of the isolationists and

the interventionists• Describe the Lend-Lease program and how it drew the

US closer to war• List America’s responses to Japan’s aggression

Hitler Attacks

Capture from clip on the invasion of Poland

Describe the Invasion of Poland.

• German forces = over 1 million• Blitzkrieg (lightning war)

– Combined armored divisions, supported by Luftwaffe (air force)

• USSR invades from East (9/17)– Took Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland,

Eastern Poland

• Poland fell within 1 month• Then all was quiet• “Phony War”

– Where were the English and the French?

Background: German soldier throws a grenade

What was the Maginot Line? Did it work?• Called the French Wall of China• System of heavily armed steel/concrete

bunkers• Believed to be impenetrable• Flanked in north by Ardennes

– Thick forest believed to be impenetrable to tanks

• Hitler bypassed Maginot Line and marched through Ardennes

• Germany invaded Low Countries (Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium) on May 10, 1940

• Hitler crossed Ardennes through Lux and cut off Allied force in Belgium

• France is at Hitler’s mercy Above: Map of the Maginot Line; Below: a bunker (part of Maginot Line)

What happened at Dunkirk? • British and French forces

(330 thousand) were trapped by German forces

• Hitler had a chance to win the war

• Operation Dynamo– Motley collection of civilian and

military vessels evacuated whole army back to British Isle (6/4/1940)

• This saved the Allies and Great Britain (and possibly the US)

Above: Soldiers await rescue; Below: Allies must abandon all vehicles and artillery

Why did Roger Langeron, chief of the Paris police write in his diary (on Friday, June 14, 1940) that a “terrible thing” had befallen France?

• German soldiers entered Paris

• French generals had agreed night before to surrender Paris without a fight

– Did not want to see “City of Lights” destroyed

• France surrendered 6/14/1940

Above: French man cries over surrender to Hitler; Below: Hitler and top Nazis pose with Eiffel Tower in background

Describe the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.• Hitler planned to invade Great Britain in

summer of 1940• British Advantages

– RAF (Royal Air Force) had better planes– pilots more skilled than Luftwaffe– Radar and the Code Breaking (Enigma)

also helped• Churchill: “never in the field of human

conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”– Referring to RAF saving England

• Blitz –nighttime raids by German bombers over GB

• From Sept. 1940-May 1941• Leveled entire cities (Coventry) and killed

thousands (20 thousand in London alone)

Above: Poster honoring RAF with Churchill’s words; Below: Enigma code breaker

Hitler’s Road to War

1918 1921 1923 1928 1931 1933 1938 1939 1941

Hitler leads unsucessful

Coup

-NAZI party gains seats in

Reichstag-Wall Street

Crashes (1929)

Hitler appointed Chancellor-Becomes

Fuehrer when Hindenburg dies

-Germany signs Non Aggression Pact with USSR-Hitler invades

Poland

-WW I Ends-Treaty of Versailles

German economy in

hyperinflation-Mein Kamf

General Franco seizes power

from Socialists in Spain

-Hitler later sends military

aid

Hitler takes Austria and

SudentenlandMunich Pact

brings “Peace for our time.”

NOT

Hitler invades Russia

Clip on London Blitz: capture shows double-decker bus and traffic in London

Describe the Interventionist and Isolationist programs.

• Interventionists• Wanted to give

support to GB but not declare war of Germany

• William Allen White formed Committee to Defend America

• Promoted US support of GB

• Isolationists• Wanted to stay out of

Europe’s business• Committee to Defend

America First• Supported by

pacifist, socialists, Democrats, and Republicans

• Members included Hoover, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Lindbergh

                                   

                   

Top: Lindbergh addresses America First Committee; Below: AFC emblem

In the 1940 election FDR said, “Your president says this country is not going to war!” What actions

had FDR taken during that same year that contradict this quote?

• Sept. 1940 FDR transferred 50 old destroyers to GB (in return for naval bases)

• Sept. 1940- FDR signed Selective Training and Service Act

• Fist peacetime draft in US history

• FDR claimed that through strength he would keep us out of war

Row upon row of destroyers bound for England

Capture from clip on invasion of France

What was Operation Barbarossa(June 22, 1941)?

• Hitler invaded Russia• Sought

– Oil of Caucasus region– Wheat of Ukraine– Lebensraum for

Germans• 3 million Germans forces

fought• Within 25 miles of Moscow• Laid siege to Leningrad

Top: Map showing Hitler’s spread-out objectives in Russia; Below: Hitler and Stalin prance arm in arm, each with a pistol behind their back

Capture from clip on invasion of Russia, June 1941

Describe the Lend-Lease Act and how it drew the US closer to war.

• Gave president right to sell, lend, lease weapons– ‘If a neighbor’s house were on fire, you

would loan that person your garden hose without worrying about the price.’

• $50 billion to Allies• Controversial when applied to USSR

– Lindberg- preferred alliance with Nazi Germany

• Called USSR “the godlessness and barbaric”

– Churchill- • “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at

least make a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons”

Top and bottom: American weapons being readied for shipment to England

Describe the Atlantic Charter and its goals.

• Agreement between FDR and Churchill

• plan for the post war world• Influenced by Wilson’s

Fourteen Points• Supported national

sovereignty, right to be free from fear and aggression

• Planned to form international organization to protect security of others (UN) FDR and Churchill aboard ship in the North

Atlantic, working out the Atlantic Charter

How did FDR respond to Japan’s aggressiveness in Asia?

• Japan formed alliance with Italy and Germany in Sept. 1940 (Axis Powers)

• FDR applied economic pressure

– Placed an embargo on scrap metal, aviation fuel, chemicals, machine parts (for their military machine)

– Froze Japanese assets in US and ended all trade (July of 1941)

FDR headshot

The late Peter Jennings introduces clip on our troubles with Japan

What did Japan hope to gain by attacking Pearl Harbor?

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

• Developed plan to deliver sudden knockout punch to America’s fleet

• Would force America to resume trade

• Free up Japan’s rear for further expansion into Asia

Above: Yamamoto in admiral’s uniform

Quaint December scene from a small U.S. town, the morning the Pearl Harbor attack destroyed our tranquility and broke our isolation