World War Two

Start of the WarOn September 1st 1939 Germany invaded Poland starting the warGermany was able to conquer Poland in weeks using a massive attack of men, tanks and planes known as “Blitzkrieg” or “Lightning War”

WWIIAllies France Great Britain

Later The Soviet Union

(1941) The United States

(1941) China

Axis Powers Germany Japan Italy

WWII-German VictoriesIn April 1940 Germany invades Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and BelgiumIn May 1940 Germany invades France and by June 1940 Germany controls France

WWII-German Victories

During the beginning of the war Germany and the Axis Powers won several quick victoriesHowever by 1941 there were main turning points

German Invasion of the Soviet Union

In June 1941 Germany invades the Soviet UnionDuring the summer and fall months the Germans move deep into RussiaHowever winter comes early and stops the Germans just outside MoscowGerman soldiers are ill-equipped for the Russian winters

StalingradIn 1942 the Germans turn south to try to take the key city of StalingradThe Soviet Army puts up good defenses and the Russian winter causes the Germans to stopIn 1943 the Germans surrenderSoon after the Soviet Army is able to drive the Germans out of Russia

Pearl HarborIn the beginning of WWII the U.S. remain neutralThe U.S. agreed that Great Britain had to be supported against the Nazi’s and the U.S. did supply weapons to the allies-this was known as the Lend-Lease Act

Pearl HarborTo stop Japanese aggression the U.S. banned the sale of goods to Japan-(oil and steel)Japan became enraged and launched a surprise a military attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor

Pearl HarborOn Sunday December 7th 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor2,400 people were killedMany of the American naval ships were destroyedFranklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan –Roosevelt called the attack a Day that will live in InfamyThe U.S. entered on the side of the Allies

El Alamein 1942In 1941, 1942 the Germans took over North AfricaBritain was able to stop the German advance at El AlameinBy 1943 the British with the help of the U.S. drove the Germans out of Africa

Invasion of Italy 1943After driving the Germans out of Africa the Allies moved into ItalyThe Italy Army gave up and Hitler was forced to send troops to fight in Italy-weakening his forces in EuropeMussolini was forced to flee the country

D-day 1944On June 6, 1944 Allies invaded France at a place called NormandyThis opened a second front and Germany was forced to fight a three front war

Great Britain and U.S. in France

Great Britain and U.S. in Italy

The Soviet Union in Poland and the east

The Allies were able to move into Paris by August and into Germany by the winter of 1944

Battle of the BulgeThis was Hitler’s last attempt to drive the Allied forces away from the German boardersThe Germans sent a large amount of men and tanks into battleThe Germans did make some advances however the Allies were able to stop the advancement on the ground while superior air power from the allies finished off the German advance

Victory in Europe VE Day

By May 7th 1945 Hitler had committed suicideThe German or people did not wish to carry on the war and so sued for peaceThe war in Europe was now over

The War in the Pacific

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Japanese were able to take control of most of the PacificHowever by 1942 the U.S. had rebuilt its navy

War in the PacificThe Allies/U.S. used a method to take back the pacific Islands called island hoppingIn 1942 the U.S. caught the Japanese fleets off guard in the PacificU.S. planes were able to destroy two Japanese fleets-including aircraft carriesThis badly hurt the Japanese who never recovered from the losesThis was known as the Battle of Midway

War in the Pacific

By 1944 the Allies/U.S. had moved close enough to Japan to start bombing the Japanese citiesHowever by 1945 Japan refused to surrenderIt looked as if the U.S. might have to invade Japan-This would have cost a large loss of life

Hiroshima and NagasakiFrom 1942 to 1945 the U.S. had been working on creating an atomic bomb under the Manhattan ProjectThe U.S. warned the Japanese in the first week of August that the U.S. had the bomb and if Japan did not surrender the U.S. would use the weapon

Hiroshima and NagasakiJapan refused to surrenderOn August 6, 1945 the U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima

The bomb destroyed 4 square miles and killed 70,000 people

By August 9th the Japanese still refused to surrender and the U.S. dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki killing 40,000 people

Japan

On August 10th 1945 Emperor Hirohito forced his government to surrenderThe war in the Pacific was over

Total War

WWII was a total war meaning that both Allies and Axis Powers targeted civilians The bombing of London by German in 1940

was known as the BlitzCities were bombed by both sidesProducts/factories produced goods were military goods not consumer goods

War Crimes

In 1937 Japan invades Nanjing (China) and mass shooting of Chinese civilians causes 250,000 to dieThe Germans were brutal to Russian soldier the chances of survival were 1 in 10

Human LossWWII killed about 75 million people

In Europe 38 million died

The Soviet Union suffered the most losses with 22 million killedThe brutality of the war was something the world had never seen

Economic LossesMost of Europe had been destroyedVital farmland was destroyedThere was starvation and a large loss of propertyIt would take Europe years to recover

The United NationsWWII resulted in a new international group that would attempt to keep peace in the worldThe United Nations would take the place of the League of Nations which had failedThe United Nations was to give countries a place to discuss world problems before they turned into warsOne advantage the UN had was that it did have an army made up of member nations to stop wars