World War II, 1939-1945

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World War II, 1939-1945

• Paths to War
• 1930s, totalitarian regimes in Europe Asia
  began aggressive
• territorial expansion nothing stopped the
  acts of aggression
• that finally led to war
• 1) Japan
• a) 1931, invaded Manchuria
• b) 1937, invaded remainder
• of China
• 2) Italy
• a) 1935, Mussolini ordered invasion of
  Ethiopia
• b) 1939, took over Albania

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3) Germany a) 1936, Hitler ordered
occupation of the Rhineland b) 1938,
Germany annexed Austria (the Anschluss)
Hitler claimed the Sudetenland
Munich Conference gave the Sudetenland to
Germany c) 1939, Hitler took remainder of
Czechoslovakia, threatened Danzig the Polish
Corridor, signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with
Stalin d) Sept. 1, 1939 Germany
invaded Poland World War II began
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The Course of World War II

• Sept. 1939 to June 1940, Hitlers forces used
  blitzkrieg to
• expand German control from Poland to France
• 1) April 1940 German forces took control of
  Denmark Norway
• 2) May 1940 Germany invaded the Low
  Countries Churchill
• became P.M. of Britain Miracle at Dunkirk
  occurred
• 3) June 1940 German forces invaded
  conquered France
• Italy entered the war Charles de Gaulle
  organized the
• Free French govt in Britain French Resistance
  est.

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• The Battle of Britain (Aug. 1940 May 1941)
• Aug. 1940 Battle of Britain began as Germanys
  Luftwaffe
• attempted to eliminate the RAF
• Sept. 1940 Luftwaffe changed tactics began
  blitz of major
• population centers London blitzed for 57
  consecutive nights
• May 1941 battle ended when Hitler
• called off the attacks

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• Anglo-American Cooperation
• After Dunkirk, Churchill appealed to U.S. for
  help
• Sept. 1940 FDR got Congress to enact the
  cash-and-carry
• policy
• Mar. 1941 Congress approved FDR
• signed the Lend-Lease Act
• Aug. 1941 Churchill FDR issued the
• Atlantic Charter

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Eastern Europe Africa

• Dec. 1940 Britain defeated Italians in N.
  Africa Hitler issued
• directives for invasions of Greece USSR
• Mar. 1941 Erwin Rommel Afrika Korps sent to
  N. Africa
• April 1941 German forces invaded Yugoslavia
  Greece

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Invasion of the USSR

• Feb. 1941 Hitler met with military leaders to
  discuss plans for
• Germanys invasion of the Soviet Union
• June 1941 Operation Barbarossa began as German
  forces
• invaded USSR
• Sept. 1941 German forces laid siege to city of
  Leningrad
• Nov. 1941 German forces reached outskirts of
  Moscow when
• the Russian winter hit
• Dec. 1941 German assault on Moscow began
  Russian
• forces counter-attacked

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Japanese Expansion Pearl Harbor

• July 1940 Japanese government moved to
  establish the
• Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
• Jan. 1941 Japan warned the U.S. not to
  interfere in East Asia
• Oct. 1941 Hideki Tojo became prime minister of
  Japan
• Nov. 1941 Hirohito gave go-ahead for war with
  U.S.
• Yamamotos plan went into effect Japanese
  fleet
• sailed for Hawaii
• Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attacked
• Pearl Harbor, effectively drawing
• the U.S. into WWII
• Dec. 1941 thru Feb. 1942 Japanese
• forces overran European
• American possessions in the
• Pacific Southeast Asia

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Pearl Harbor
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Hitlers New Order the Holocaust

• As Germany conquered most of Europe, Hitler set
  out to build a
• New Order in occupied lands
• 1) Nazis rule Europe exploit resources
• 2) Nazis enslave conquered peoples
• 3) Nazis exterminate undesirable elements
• a) the Holocaust (mass genocide of 6
  million European Jews)
• b) murder of 6 million gypsies, Poles,
  Slavs

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• The Holocaust started in the late 1930s as
  Germany conquered
• land in Eastern Europe
• 1) 1939 Hitler the Nazis began to speed up
  the final solution
• to the Jewish problem
• 2) 1940 Germans began building Auschwitz
• 3) 1941 extermination facilities constructed
  at Auschwitz
• other camps Germans began using poison gas

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Allied Advances

• Four major turning points in 1942 shifted the
  war in favor
• of the Allies
• 1) June American carrier fleet defeated
• Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway,
• ending Japanese naval superiority in
• the Pacific
• 2) Oct. Montgomerys British 8th Army
• defeated Rommels Afrika Korps at the
• Battle of El Alamein

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3) Nov. major Allied invasion (Operation Torch)
captured Morocco Algeria in North
Africa 4) Nov. Soviet forces encircled
wiped out the entire German 6th Army at the
Battle of Stalingrad
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Allied Advances

• Throughout 1943, Allied forces won victories in
  N. Africa Italy
• as the decision for an invasion of France was
  put off until 1944
• 1) May German Italian forces surrendered
  in N. Africa
• 2) July Allied forces invaded Sicily
  Mussolini fired arrested
• 3) Sept. Allied forces landed in southern
  Italy Italy signed
• secret act of surrender
• 4) Nov. FDR, Churchill, Stalin met at
  Tehran Conference
• decided to invade France in 1944

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Allied Advances

• Early 1944, Allies continued to gain ground in
  Italy as
• preparations for invasion of France were
  underway
• 1) June Allied forces liberated Rome D-Day
  arrived
• Operation Overlord (Normandy Invasion) began
• 2) July Allied troops broke out of Normandy
  began
• advancing toward Paris
• 3) Aug. Allied forces liberated Paris

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Toward Victory

• After Midway, the U.S. took the offensive in the
  Pacific
• 1) Aug. 1942 U.S. Marines, under command of
  Gen.
• Douglas MacArthur, landed at Guadalcanal, from
  which
• the U.S. would begin an island hopping
  campaign
• 2) July-Dec. 1943 U.S. attacks throughout
  Pacific began to
• roll back the Japanese by Nov., Japanese began
• kamikaze missions
• 3) Oct. 1944 MacArthur began invasion of the
  Philippines

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Toward Victory

• After the liberation of Paris, Allied forces
  prepared for the
• invasion of Germany
• 1) Oct. 1944 Soviets were advancing toward
  Germany from
• the east, while U.S. Britain were
  driving toward Germany
• from the west
• 2) Dec. 1944 Germans launched last,
• desperate offensive that started the
• Battle of the Bulge
• 3) Feb. 1945 Big Three met at Yalta
• Conference to discuss post-war plans
• 4) April 1945 Soviets entered Berlin
• FDR died Mussolini captured
• executed Hitler committed suicide
• 5) May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered
• unconditionally

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Toward Victory

• As Allies were finishing off Germany in Europe,
  U.S. forces
• continued march toward Japan in 1945
• 1) Mar. U.S. forces secured Iwo Jima
• Philippines
• 2) June U.S. forces secured Okinawa
• 3) July Potsdam Conference held where
• ultimatum was issued to Japan
• 4) Aug. 6 atomic bomb dropped on
  Hiroshima
• 5) Aug. 9 atomic bomb dropped on
  Nagasaki
• 6) Aug. 14 Japan surrendered
  unconditionally
• 7) Sept. 2 Japan formally surrendered aboard
  USS Missouri
• in Tokyo Bay

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From World War to Cold War

• Series of events beginning in 1945 quickly led
  to the Cold War
• between the U.S. USSR
• 1) Different goals of Big Three at Yalta
• Potsdam opened cracks in the wartime
• alliance
• 2) Soviet Western interests came into
  conflict
• when Stalin created satellite communist
• governments in Eastern Europe
• April 1945 delegates from 50 nations met in
• San Francisco to draft a charter for the
• United Nations, an international
• organization created to help maintain
• peace promote development
• throughout the world