World War II 19391945

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World War II (1939-1945)

• I. Causes
• A. Totalitarianism- Governments that want total
  control of their citizens lives. These
  governments are usually controlled by a dictator.
• 1. Two prime examples
• a. Adolf Hitler
• Background- Hitler lost his father when he was a
  young child. As a young man he entered art school
  and later became a soldier during WWI. Hitler
  took power in 1933 through his Nazi party.
  Hitler began to take control of Germany by force.

Pro World War I rally in Austria
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• b. Joseph Stalin- Stalin first came to power in
  1925. Stalin took power of Russia after Vladimir
  Lenin died and quickly knocked off his rivals.
  By the time Stalin died, he had killed 10-20
  million Russians.

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• B. Fascism- The belief that the government is
  more important than individual citizens.
• 1. Benito Mussolini- Mussolini came to power in
  1922 and was an ally of Hitler. In 1934,
  Mussolini attacked Ethiopia and by 1936 Ethiopia
  was annexed by Italy.

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Allied propaganda of Mussolini

• C. Imperialism- The desire of one nation to
  control and conquer another nation for their
  natural resources.
• 1. Emperor Hirohito- In 1931, Japan attacks
  Northern China for its natural resources.
• a. Quarantine Speech (Oct. 5th, 1937) Roosevelt
  state that Japan, Italy, and Germany should be
  treated like a disease that other nations need to
  stay away from (I.e. Roosevelt wanted to
  quarantine these nations).

Emperor Hirohito in traditional Japanese clothes
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• II. Events Leading up to the War
• A. Hitler annexes Austria On March, 12, 1938. In
  October, 1938 Hitler moved his troops into
  Czechoslovakia.
• B. Munich Pact Neville Chamberlin, the Prime
  Minister of England, wanted to appease (make
  happy) Hitler. On September 30, 1938 Italy,
  France, England and Germany signed the Munich
  Pact which let Germany invade the Sudetenland a
  province that was part of Czechoslovakia.

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• C. Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• (Aug. 23, 1939) Stalin and Hitler signed a peace
  treaty which divided up Poland between Russia and
  Germany. In addition, Stalin and Hitler promised
  not to attack each other. Hitler betrays Stalin
  in 1941 and launches Operation Barbarosa (The
  invasion of Russia).

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• III. The War Begins
• A. The Invasion of Poland (Sept. 1, 1939)
• After the Nazi Soviet Non-Aggression Pact,
  Hitler marched his armies into Poland. Hitler
  used a new military tactic called the Blitzkrieg
  (lightning war) in which ground troops and the
  air force were united in the attack.

Soviet (Russian) and Nazi troops meet to
discuss how to conquer Poland.
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• B. The Fall of France (June 22, 1940)- After
  Hitler conquered the Netherlands (Holland) and
  Belgium, his Nazi troops were able to conquer
  France in three weeks.

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• C. The Battle of Britain (Summer to Fall 1940)
  This battle was fought in the air and not on
  land. Although Hitlers air force bombed England
  for over two months, England never gave up and
  forced Hitler to postpone his attacks.
• 1. Winston Churchill- Prime Minister of England
  during WWII. Churchill was instrumental in
  encouraging the British people not to give up or
  surrender to Germany.
• 2. Royal Air Force-Although the British air force
  was overmatched they fought on and were able to
  win dogfights over the Luftwaffle.

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• IV. The U.S. Enters the War
• A. Lend-Lease- The U.S. lends or leases military
  arms/equipment to allies fighting Germany, Italy,
  and Japan (Axis Powers).
• B. Germany begins sinking American ships with
  their submarines. The Germans use a wolfpack
  strategy. America remains neutral.
• BBC - History - Battle of the Atlantic game

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• C. Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7th, 1941) Japanese
  bombers attack Americas Pacific Fleet and
  destroy 5 battleships and 170 airplanes. Over
  2,400 men loose their lives
• National Geographic Remembering Pearl
  Harbor-history, maps

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• 1. Effects of Pearl Harbor
• a. The U.S. is united in its desire to defeat
  the Axis Powers (especially Japan).
• b. Japan had awakened a sleeping giant. The
  U.S. mobilized for the war by hiring over 18
  million workers (6 million women).

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• D. Battle of Midway (June 1942) The US is able
  to stop Japan from taking the tiny island of
  Midway. Importance Midway stops the Japanese
  advance.
• E. The Battle of Guadalcanal (Aug. 1942) The US
  captures Guadalcanal and wins a very important
  naval battle in the Pacific.

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• F. Operation Torch Under the leadership of Dwight
  D. Eisenhower and George Patton, the U.S. and
  British attack German troops in Northern Africa.
  The U.S. succeeded in pushing back German troops.

Gen. George Patton
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
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• G. D-Day (Operation Overlord) June 6th, 1944-
  The allies amphibious (land and sea) operation in
  France is the largest in history. Although the
  allies lost thousands of men, they were able to
  overtake German posts. The allies soon took over
  France, Belgium, Luxemburg and parts of the
  Netherlands.

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• H. Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Philippines (Oct.
  1944) The U.S. is able to destroy most of the
  Japanese naval fleet and take the Philippine
  islands.
• I. Kamikaze Airplane Attacks- After the Japanese
  were badly beaten in the Philippines, Japanese
  pilots would use their planes as bombs when
  attacking American naval ships. Question Is
  this heroic or stupid?

American POWs taken by the Japanese in the
Philippines are taken on a death march
Kamikaze attack of aircraft carrier
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• J. Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 1944)- Germany
  launches a massive counterattack on allied
  forces. The Germans were successful at first,
  but the Germans were pushed back once the weather
  cleared for bombing raids.
• K. Russian and American forces meet at the Elbe
  River in Germany. Germans fled desperately to
  the American lines to escape the Russians.
• L. V-E Day (Victory in Europe)-After Hitler
  commits suicide on April 30th, 1945, Germany
  surrenders on May 7th,1945.

Crowds celebrating the end of WWII
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• M. Japanese Internment Camps- During World War
  II, the U.S. was afraid that Japanese in the U.S.
  would plan acts of sabotage. The Japanese were
  sent to camps in which they lost their businesses
  and freedom.

Dust storms at the Manzanar Relocation Camp in
California
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• N. The Manhattan Project This project was headed
  by J. Robert Oppenheimer under top-security and
  carried out mostly at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
• 1. Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Aug. 6th,1945) The
  first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, an important
  military center killing over 71,000 people and
  then on Nagasaki killing 36,000 people. Japan
  surrenders on August 14th,1945. Question
  Should the U.S. have dropped the bomb?

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• V. The Holocaust
• A. A Brief History of Anti-Semitism
• Definition Anti-Semitism- Prejudice against the
  Jewish race.
• 1. Treatment of the Jews in Europe during the
  1800s and 1900s.
• a. Europeans, especially in Germany, began to
  feel that they were superior to the Jews.
• Eugenics Movement- People began to believe that
• Some races were superior to others.
• 2. Certain traits are passed down from one
  generation to the next.
• Sex between superior and inferior races
  should be avoided.
• 4. Science can help determine who is superior
  and who is inferior.

Nazi propaganda of a Jew
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• 2. Jews were persecuted throughout Europe,
  especially in Russia where Jews feared Pogroms
  (armed attacks by angry mobs in Russia.)
• 3. The Nuremburg Laws (Germany)
• 1. Jews must be able to serve the German people.
• 2. Jews were restricted to where they could live
  and work.
• 3. Germans could take away (confiscate) Jewish
  property.

Angry mobs attacking Jews in Russia
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• 4. Kristallnacht- Translated into English it
  means Night of the broken glass. In Nov. 1938
  Jewish stores, synagogues, and homes were
  vandalized and destroyed.
• 5. Gypsies, homosexuals, and the elderly began
  to be targeted as well as the Jews.
• Euthanasia This term means peaceful death, but it
  is often referred to when the elderly are put to
  death.

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• B. Hitlers Final Solution
• Key TermGenocide-The systematic destruction of
  an entire race.
• 1. Hitlers first step in annihilating the Jews
  was to force them into Ghettos (separate sections
  of various cities).
• 2. Hitler and his leadership then met to decide
  a better way of killing Jews, especially after
  his mobile killing units (The Eistatzguppen)
  began complaining of the psychological toil on
  them. Jews are then transported on an extensive
  railroad network organized by Adolf Eichman.

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• 3. Once the Jews arrived at the concentration
  camps, they would be separated into two lines.
  Most Jews were then gassed and then thrown into
  ovens. Auschwitz is the largest and most
  notorious death camp.

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• 4. Nazi soldiers would torture the inmates.
  Example Dr. Mengele, known as the Angel of
  Death, would conduct medical experiments at the
  death camps. Mengele escaped to Brazil.
• 5. Many Jews felt it was better to die than live
  through the torture. They would commit suicide
  by running into an electric fence, strangling
  themselves, and even drowning themselves in human
  excrement.

This man tried to escape but was torched by
the Nazis and left as a reminder to other
inmates.
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• C. Resistance to the Holocaust
• 1. Most people refused to rebel because of the
  Nazi policy of Collective Responsibility.
  Collective Responsibility was when the Nazis held
  the entire community responsible for the acts of
  an individual.
• 2. Warsaw Ghetto Uprising- When the Nazis began
  to deport Jews from Warsaw in the summer of 1942,
  many Jews there called for open resistance. The
  Jews held out until May 1943 before they were
  either killed or sent to concentration camps.
• 3. Sobibor- The Jews at this camp decided to
  rebel, very few escaped.

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• D. People who saved the Jews
• 1. Anne Frank- Her family hid Jews. Anne Frank
  was sent to a concentration camp and later died.
• 2. Corrie Ten Boom-She was a Christian who hid
  Jews in her home. She was sent to a
  concentration camp where she died.
• 3. Oscar Schindler- Creatively saved Jews by
  giving them jobs in his factory and by
  transporting them to his native town in
  Czechoslovakia.
• 4. Raoul Wallenburg- This Swedish diplomat was
  able to save over 100,000 Hungarian Jews. He
  later disappeared and was said to have been shot
  by the Russians.

Rauol Wallenburg
Corrie Ten Booms house where her family hid the
Jews in a secret room.
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• V. The Aftermath of WWII
• A. Yalta Conference (Feb.1945)- Stalin,
  Churchill, and Roosevelt (The Big Three) met to
  decide the outcome of the war. The three agreed
  that German and Japanese leaders should be tried
  (Nuremburg Trials). Stalin promised that Poland
  would have free elections.
• B. Roosevelt Dies/Truman becomes President After
  Roosevelt dies, Harry Truman becomes president
  and goes to Potsdam, Germany to meet Stalin.
  Stalin refuses to let any of the Eastern European
  countries have free elections.

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• C. Nuremburg Trials- German and Japanese leaders
  are put under trial. The charges include 1)
  Waging aggressive war 2) Violating the human
  rights of people.
• D) United Nations- (June 1945) Designed to
  prevent future wars and bring about a better
  world, the U.N. is founded and built in New York.
  The U.N. is made up of a general assembly and
  the Security Council- Five permanent nations hold
  the most power. These nations include France,
  England, Russia, The U.S. and China.

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