World War II

The Other War to End All Wars…For now….We hope….

Leading up to the War

• World War I• Great Depression• Rise of Fascism and Totalitarianism• Appeasement• Failure of the League of Nations• Civil War in Spain (warm-up for war)

The U.S. at the Beginning of WWII• Isolationist

– Sick of war– Kellogg-Briand Pact

outlawed war

• Passed laws so that they would not sell weapons to ANY country at war.– Neutrality Act of 1936 to stay out of war.

Key Players in the War

Axis Powers• Adolf Hitler (GER)• Benito Mussolini (ITA)• Hideki Tojo (JAP)

Allied Powers• Neville Chamberlain (GBR)• Winston Churchill (GBR)• Charles De Gaulle (FRA)• Franklin Roosevelt (USA)• Harry Truman (USA)• Joseph Stalin (USSR)

Axis Powers(and Germany)

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The Painful Lesson

• Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany meet in Munich on September 28, 1938.

• Hitler has been aggressive in taking land west of Germany• GB and FR try to appease Hitler by giving him the

Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, in hopes that Hitler would cease.

• “agreement” is a failure.• Hitler invades the “demilitarized” Czechoslovakia and

promptly breaks Munich Pact• By the end of 1939 both Hitler and Mussolini had conquered

more territory in Europe and made plans for further wars. • Becomes famous as the “Lesson of Munich”

Appeasement• “My good friends,

for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.”

Neville Chamberlain

Non-aggression pact

• Germany and Soviet Union sign in 1939.

• Agree not to attack one another.

• This shocked the world:o WHY? Fascists and

communists work together.• Secret provision was

the dividing of Poland.• However, Hitler knew he

would eventually invade Soviet Union.

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September 1st, 1939 Germany invades Poland officially beginning World

War II• On September 1, 1939

Germany and the USSR launched a full-scale invasion of Poland.

• Britain and France declared war on Germany and WWII had begun.

• Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland into two zones.

• One month later Germany invaded France

France

• Germany invaded through Belgium around the Maginot Line (heavily fortified section of the German-French border) in June of 1940.

• Took Paris 9 days later• France was completely occupied within 6 weeks.• Renamed “Vichy France.”• HOWEVER- Denmark was taken in several HOURS

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Who’s Next?Who’s Next?

Britain

Europe 1940

Battle of BritainSummer of 1940

Germany began to bomb Britain’s cities to keep them out of the main fight.

Britain had been a tough opponent in WWI and the Germans knew this.

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OPERATION BARBAROSSAOPERATION BARBAROSSA

Operation Barbarossa was a three pronged invasion of the Soviet Union. The goal was to seize all of the USSR up to the Ural Mountains including the major cities of Odessa, Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad.

1941- Germany broke pact with USSRGerman invasion of USSR

Soviets used a “scorched earth” policy to slow down the Germans, burning as they retreated (Remember Napoleon, anyone?).

Battle of Stalingrad

• July 1942 – February 1943• Bloodiest battle in the history

of warfare o 2 million casualties

• German commander Paulus surrendered in Jan 1943.

• Importance of German loss:

o Turning point of the war in Eastern Europe

o Germany would never go on offensive again against the USSR

Turning Point in Europe

• Battle of Normandy

• Largest marine invasion ever.

The Pacific Theater

• Japanese expansion (1895-1938)• Attempted to take over Asia as the new imperial power

• (1938-1945) During the war, Japanese had to protect oil shipments (no domestic oil resources).

• U.S. was the lead power in the Pacific to fight Japan, U.S. supported China.

• All other allies were finishing up in Europe.

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Embargo Against JapanJapan continued its aggression against China causing relations to erode with the US.Japan joined Germany and Italy in an anti-Soviet treaty.Despite US warnings to stay out of Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) Japan took control of the Asian territory.

• Japan wanted the US to stop sending aid to China, and restore trade with Japan. Diplomatic talks in November 1941 failed, and during the meetings, Japan planned an attack on the United States.

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Pearl Harbor at a Glance• On December 7, 1941 at

7:55 AM, Japanese bombers attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

•The surprise attack

on Dec. 7, 1941 destroyed 18 warships, 188 aircraft and killed 2,403 servicemen

Kamikaze

• Means “Divine Wind”• Suicide attacks by

warplanes from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign.

• First used at Battle of Leyte Gulf (Philippines)

• A total of 57 ships were sunk by the Kamikazes.

The Battle of Coral Sea

• The Battle of the Coral Sea was fought between the Japanese and Allied navies from May 4 through May 8, 1942 in the Coral Sea, about 500 miles northeast of Australia. 

• Occurring only six months after the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, it was one of the first naval battles fought in the Pacific during World War II.

Battle Of Midway

• Decisive US victory –June 1942 at Midway Atoll

• American codebreakers were able to determine the date + location of attack.

• Four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk in exchange for one American.

• The heavy losses in carriers and aircrews permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Maps of the devastation and the weapon that caused it

First Atomic Bomb

Format of the First Atomic Bomb

Perspective on Bombings

• A ground invasion of Japan would have cost between ½ million and 2 million American soldiers’ lives, according to military studies.

• 150-200 thousand Japanese total casualties for both bombings.

• 600,000+ had been killed by conventional bombing in the months prior to the A-bombs.

Meetings at Yalta and Potsdam

• Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met.

• Established a “plan” for the end of the war

• Included how new governments would be set up.

• Stalin assured others that democratically-elected governments would be set up.

Occupation of Japan and Germany

• Both countries rebuilt

• Economies and industries rebuilt

• U.S. made no territorial claims to either country

Results