Introduction to
WWII
2
Quick FactsWWII – The Most Devastating
War in History
A. War Costs• US Debt 1940 - $9 billion
US Debt 1945 - $98 billion• The war cost $330 billion -- 10
times the cost of WWI & as much as all previous federal spending since 1776B. Human
Costs• 50 million people died (compared to15 million in WWI)
• 21.3 million Russians (7.7 million civilians)
• 11 million died as a result of the HOLOCAUST(6 million Jews + 5 million others)
3
When?
1939
Sept.1 - Germany invades Poland (official start to the war)
Sept. 3 -Britain &
France declare war on
Germany
Dec. 7 – Japan
bombs Pearl Harbor; US enters the
War
1941
May - Germans Surrende
r
Sept. - Atomic
Bombing of
Hiroshima &
Nagasaki,
Japanese Surrende
r
1945
•1939-1945
•US involvement 1941-1945
4
Who?
Allies Axis
Great Britain
France(note: France surrendered to
Germany in 1940 (after 6 weeks of fighting)
United States
Russia
GermanyItaly
Japan
(major powers)
(major powers)
5
Major Leaders
Adolf HitlerNazi Germany
Benito MussoliniItaly
6
Major Leaders
Hideki TojoJapanese Prime Minister
Winston ChurchillBritish Prime Minister
7
Major Leaders
Franklin Delano RooseveltUS President
Joseph StalinRussian Leader
8
Causes
1. Treaty of VersaillesA. Germany lost land to
surrounding nations
B. War Reparations
1) Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to U.S.
2) Germany must pay $57 trillion (modern equivalent)
3) Bankrupted the German economy & embarrassed GermansLloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson
during negotiations for the Treaty
9
Causes
2. World-wide Depression
A. The Depression made Germany’s debt
even worse.
B. Desperate people turn to desperate
leaders.
• Hitler seemed to provide solutions to Germany’s problems.
• Hitler provided scapegoats for Germany’s problems (foreigners, Jews, communists, Roma (Gypsies), mentally ill, & others)
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Hitler Gets Busy
•Gestapo Created -- April, 1933
•Jewish Boycott – April, 1933
•Jewish Books Banned & Burned – May, 1933
•27,000 People in Camps – July, 1933
•60,000 People in Camps – 1938
•Illegal to Leave Germany – October, 1941
11
German Territorial Gains
German Troops Parade in Streets of Czechoslovakian Town, ca. 1939
•Austria – March, 1938
•Border of Czechoslovakia – Sept., 1938
•All of Czechoslovakia – March, 1939
•Poland – Sept., 1939
•By Summer of 1940, Germany Controlled Most of Europe
World shocked as France falls to Germans
12
Results of Alliance to Hitler•Stalin and the Soviet Union, 1939
Betrayed by 1941
•Mussolini and Italy, 1939
Off and on betrayed until Italian defeat in 1943
13
US Assistance
Roosevelt provided aid to the Allies:
Lend-Lease - 1939
•US “lent” war materials to cash-strapped Great Britain
London Firefighter Tackles an Air Raid Blaze
Atlantic Charter
•US secretly meets with England to commit to defeating Germany
14
Meanwhile … in the Pacific
Pearl Harbor: “a date which will live in infamy”
USS Arizona Sinking in Pearl Harbor
What?
•Surprise attack by the Japanese on American forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Effect? •US declares war on
Japan & other Axis powers
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Resources
http://www.nebo.edu/misc/learning_resources/ppt/6-12/ww2.ppt#15
http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/whs/images/stories/academics/social_studies/emcintyre/Intro%20WWII%20Forum%20Lecture.ppt