The Second World War

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The Second World War
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Questions

• Why did another world war break out in Europe and
  in the Pacific in the late 1930s
• Why did the Allies win WWII?
• What innovations in warfare were introduced in
  WWII?
• How did WWII differ from WWI on the front lines
  and behind the lines?

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Outbreak of War in Europe

• Aug 23, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact
• Sept. 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland
• Poland partitioned according to terms of
  Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact
• Blitzkrieg
• Sept. 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on
  Germany
• Through May 1940, Britain and France mustered
  troops in France
• May 1940, German armies attacked through Belgium
  France fell June, 1940

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Hitlers War

• Battle of Britain, Summer 1940
• Jan 1941 Germans entered war in N. Africa
• June 1941 Hitler invaded Soviet Union (Operation
  Barbarossa)
• At outskirts of Moscow by winter, Soviets burn
  everything as they retreat. Remember?
• Dec. 1941, Germany declared war on U.S.
• Nov. 1942
• U.S. landed in Africa
• S.U. counterattack at Stalingrad

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The Second World War in Europe
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Fall of Mussolini
Mussolini as Hitlers Puppet
Mussolinis Military Weakness
Mussolinis Demise
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The Collapse of Nazi Germany

• Germany reaches Moscow and then Soviets counter
  attack. Its winter time and Germany soldiers
  are in their summer uniforms. Hitler says no
  retreat. Scorched earth policy worked again.
  Germany gains nothing, loses 500,000.
• 1943-1945 Italian Campaign, Allies are coming
  from the south
• June 6, 1944 Normandy Invasion- D-Day (Operation
  Overlord, Eisenhower)
• Battle of the Bulge Dec. 1944
• 6 Million Soviet-3 Mil Allies head to Berlin
• May 8, 1945 Germany surrendered

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The Second World War in Europe
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Outbreak of War in Asia

• Emperor Hirohito wants to create empire in the
  Pacific.
• July 1940 U.S. Embargo
• Aviation fuel and scrap metal
• September 1940 - Embargo on oil
• Dec. 7 1941 Japan attacks U.S. Pearl Harbor, A
  day that will go down in infamy. FDR
• Yamamoto vs. Mac Arthur

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The War in Asia

• June 4-7 1942 Battle of Midway (Turned the war in
  the Pacific against the Japanese)
• Aug. 1942-Feb 1943 Guadalcanal
• Oct. 1944 Philippines invaded
• Feb 19-March 16 1945 Iwo Jima
• March 10, 1945 Firebombing of Tokyo
• Aug. 6 and 9 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• September 2, 1945 Japan surrenders
  (V-J Day)

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• Japanese forces Invade China 1931. By 1942 they
  control Philippines, Guam, Cambodia, Thailand,
  and Dutch East Indies.

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New elements in warfare

• Tanks Presence on battlefield prevented WWII
  from turning into into the hopeless stalemate of
  WWI
• Strategic Bombing Use of large aircraft to knock
  out enemy industries and bomb enemy civilians
• Atomic Bomb Forced Japan to surrender in Sept.
  1945.

The Ruins of Dresden
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Military Aircraft Production, in thousands of
Planes
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Consequences of War

• Estimated 45-55 million dead
• Soviet Union lost 27 million
• Poland lost 6 million, incl. 3 million Jews
• Germans lost 5 million
• Germans killed between 12 and 20 million in their
  zones of occupation
• Germany and Berlin were divided into 4 occupation
  zones
• European economy was devastated
• U.S. ended war with 1/2 of the manufacturing
  capability on Earth

Postwar Berlin
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Total War

• Warfare in the industrial era meant that to fight
  and win, nations had to mobilize their entire
  population
• Soldiers fought on front lines
• Workers manned factories to make weapons
• Farmers fed the soldiers and workers
• Industrialization made it possible for the state
  to direct the entire economy toward the war
  effort
• Civilians were regarded as legitimate casualties
  of war, since civilians manned factories, made
  weapons, and kept armies supplied

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Total War

• Civilians must have the war brought home to
  them. Every individual must be made to see the
  immediacy of the danger to him. . . . He must be
  made to understand that he is an integral part of
  the war front, and that if he loses the war, he
  loses everything.
• Government Information Manual for the Motion
  Picture Industry
  U.S. Office of War Information