Unit 13 World War II Mr Websters Class

Unit 13: World War II Mr. Webster’s Class

Vocabulary • appeasement – policy of giving in to an aggressor’s demands in order to keep the peace • blitzkrieg – lightning war • concentration camp – detention center for civilians considered enemies of the state • Holocaust – the systematic genocide of about six million European Jews by the Nazis during WW 2 • island-hopping – during WW 2, the Allied strategy of recapturing some Japanese-held islands while bypassing others • kamikaze – Japanese pilot who undertook a suicide mission

Military Aggression • Throughout the 1930 s, the rulers of Germany, Italy, and Japan began preparing to build new empires. • In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria (in northeastern China), and in 1937, much of eastern China. • In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. • In each instance, their actions were met by only verbal protests from the Western powers.

Hitler Ignores the Treaty of Versailles • Upon achieving power, Hitler too tested the major Western powers. • First, he built up the German military in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. • Then in 1936, he sent troops into the “demilitarized” Rhineland – another treaty violation. • The Western democracies denounced his moves but took no real action.

Appeasement • Throughout the 1930 s, the major Western powers (i. e. Britain and France) adopted a policy of appeasement. • Appeasement involves giving in to the demands of an aggressor in order to keep the peace. • Hitler, Mussolini, and the leaders of Japan viewed this desire for peace as weakness a responded with new acts of aggression.

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis • In the face of the apparent weakness of the Western powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan formed what became known as the Rome-Berlin. Tokyo Axis. • Known as the Axis Powers, the three nations agreed to fight Soviet communism. • They also agreed not to interfere with one another’s plans for territorial expansion.

Spanish Civil War • In 1936, civil war erupted in Spain. • It pitted the Republicans (who wanted democracy) against the Nationalists, who favored fascist and right-wing policies. • The Nationalists, led by Francisco Franco, were backed by Germany and Italy. • In 1939, Franco triumphed and created a dictatorship in Spain.

German Aggression • In the late 1930 s, Hitler began pursuing his goal of bringing all German-speaking peoples into the Third Reich. • He also took steps to create “living space” for Germans in Eastern Europe. • Hitler believed in the superiority of the German people, and thought that Germany had a right to conquer the Slavs to the east.

The Anschluss and Munich Pact • In March 1938, Hitler invaded Austria and brought it into the Third Reich. This is known as the Anschluss. • Hitler next turned his sights on the Sudetenland, a Germanspeaking part of western Czechoslovakia. • Through the Munich Pact, Britain and France agreed to sacrifice the Sudetenland in order to preserve the peace.

Hitler Violates the Munich Pact • In the spring of 1939, Hitler violated the Munich Pact when he absorbed the rest of Czechoslovakia into the Reich. • British and French leaders vowed not to let Hitler take over another country without consequences. • War seemed inevitable. • Hitler, however, was more concerned about war with the Soviet Union than with Britain and France.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact • In August 1939, Hitler stunned the world by making a nonaggression pact with Stalin, the Soviet leader. • Publicly, the two former rivals promised not to attack one another. • Secretly, they agreed to invade and divide Poland. • The public agreement shocked the West and confirmed German ambitions.

World War II Begins • On September 1, 1939, German forces invaded Poland with a massive blitzkrieg, or “lightning war. ” • Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. • World War II had begun. • On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east. • By the end of the month, Poland had fallen in defeat.

Allies vs. Axis Powers • Following the outbreak of war, many nations joined the fight. • The Allies were led by Britain and France, and eventually the United States and the Soviet Union. • The Axis Powers were led by Germany, Italy, and Japan. • Although the Soviet Union initially fought with the Axis Powers, they switched sides and joined the Allies in 1941.

German Advances • Throughout the spring of 1940, Hitler enjoyed enormous success as he captured Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and even France. • During the German invasion of France, a large number of Allied soldiers were cut off and surrounded by German forces. • At Dunkirk, over 300, 000 troops were ferried to safety in Britain.

The Blitz • By the summer of 1940, Great Britain had a new prime minister, Winston Churchill, and was the sole Allied power in Europe. • In September 1940, Hitler unleashed a brutal air campaign on Great Britain, known as “the blitz. ” • Met with fierce British resistance, Hitler postponed and ultimately canceled his plans to invade Britain.

Axis Success • In June 1940, the Soviet Union invaded the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. • Around the same time, both Bulgaria and Hungary joined the Axis alliance. • Axis armies also pushed into North Africa and the Balkans. • By 1941, the Axis powers controlled most of Europe.

Operation Barbarossa • After his failure in Britain, Hitler next turned his sights on the Soviet Union. • On June 22, 1941, German forces launched an invasion of the Soviet Union. • As a result, the Soviet Union joined the Allies. • Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union would prove to be one of his costliest mistakes.

Germany Invades the Soviet Union • The Nazi invasion of the USSR caught Stalin unprepared. • The Soviets lost 2 ½ million soldiers trying to fend off the invaders. • As they were forced back, Soviet troops destroyed factories and farm equipment, and burned crops to keep them out of enemy hands. • By autumn, Nazi forces were poised to take Moscow and Leningrad (present-day St.

The Russian Winter • Despite initial successes, the German offensive stalled on the outskirts of Moscow. • Like Napoleon’s army, Hitler’s forces were not prepared for the fierce Russian winter. • By early December 1941, temperatures had plunged to 40˚F. • Thousands of German soldiers froze to death.

The Siege of Leningrad • The Soviets, meanwhile, suffered appalling hardships. • In September 1941, the Nazis began a 2 ½ year siege of Leningrad. • Food was rationed to two pieces of bread a day. • Although more than a million Leningraders died during the siege, the city did not fall to the Germans.

Concentration Camps • In 1933, the Nazis established Dachau, the first concentration camp. • Initially, the prisoners consisted of Communists and other political opponents of the Nazi regime. • Over time, many gypsies , Jehovah’s witnesses, and homosexuals were also interned. • Prisoners were poorly fed and often worked to death.

German Jews • When Hitler came to power in 1933, Germany was home to over 500, 000 Jews. • Of these, around 300, 000 emigrated between 1933 and 1939. • Following Kristallnacht, many German Jews were sent to concentration camps. • Once the war began, the remaining Jews were deported to lands annexed by the Third Reich (i. e. Poland).

Ghettos and the Einsatzgruppen • Starting in 1939, the Nazis forced Jews in Poland other countries to live in ghettos, or sections of cities where Jews were confined. • Many died from starvation, overwork, and the harsh elements. • Following the Nazi invasion of the USSR in 1941, mobile killings units, known as the Einsatzgruppen, murdered over one million Jews.

The Final Solution • At the Wannsee Conference in 1942, Nazi leaders outlined a plan to exterminate Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe, known as the “Final Solution. ” • One of the chief architects of the Final Solution was Reinhard Heydrich. • To accomplish their goals, the Nazis built six “death camps” in Poland. The largest was Auschwitz.

Death Camps • As prisoners reached the camps, they were stripped of their clothes and valuables. • Their heads were shaved. • Men were separated from women, and children from their parents. • The young, elderly, and sick were targeted for immediate killing. • Within a few days, they were herded into “shower rooms” and gassed.

The Holocaust • The Nazis worked others to death or used them for perverse “medical” experiments. • In the last year of the year, forced “death marches” resulted in the death of over 200, 000. • By 1945, the Nazis had massacred some six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. • Over five million non-Jewish victims were also killed.

Resistance to the Holocaust • In the spring of 1943, Jews took over the Warsaw ghetto in what is known as the Warsaw Uprising. • Weeks later, the Nazis regained control and eliminated the remaining Jews. • In some cases, friends, neighbors, or strangers protected Jews, as in the case of Anne Frank. • Denmark and Bulgaria slaved almost all their Jewish

Holocaust Oral Histories • Samuel Gruber • Leo Scheiderman • Cecilie Klein-Pollack • Martin Speff • Ruth Webber • Madeline Deutsch • David (Dudi) Bergman • Lily Mazur Margules • Alan Zimm • Nesse Galperin Godin

The U. S. Remains Neutral • When the war began in 1939, the United States declared its neutrality and passed the Neutrality Acts. • In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act. • The Lend-Lease Act allowed the president to sell or lend war materials to any country whose defense was vital to the safety of the United States.

Japanese / American Tension • After World War II began, Japan looked to further expand its empire. • In 1940, Japan advanced into French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. • In response, the U. S. banned the sale of war materials to Japan. • Gen. Hideki Tojo felt that the U. S. was interfering with Japanese plans.

Pearl Harbor • In 1941, General Hideki Tojo became the Japanese prime minister. • On December 7, 1941, Tojo ordered his forces to attack Pearl Harbor, site of the United States Navy’s main Pacific base. • The attackers struck with devastating power, taking the American forces completely by surprise. Nearly 2, 500 Americans were killed.

U. S. Declares War • The next day, Pres. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war. • He also gave a speech and declared that December 7 would be “a date which will live in infamy. ” • Three days later, Germany and Italy honored their alliance with Japan and declared war on the United States.

Japanese Victories • In the months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese enjoyed immense success. • They captured the Philippines and other islands held by the U. S. • They also overran the British colonies of Hong Kong, Burma, and Malaya. • By 1942, the Japanese Empire stretched from Southeast Asia to the western Pacific Ocean.

Japanese Internment • To achieve maximum war production, democratic governments in the U. S. and Great Britain increased their political power. • They ordered factories to convert to military production, rationed food that consumers could buy, and raised money by holding war bond drives. • In the U. S. and Canada, many individuals of Japanese descent were interned in camps.

Women in World War II • During WW 2, many women found jobs in heavy industry, which fell outside the traditional realm of women’s work. • In the United States, Rosie the Riveter became the enduring image of women in wartime production. • Many women also served in many auxiliary roles, and in the USSR, women served in combat

Battle of Midway • The years 1942 -1943 marked the turning point of the war. • In 1942, the U. S. intercepted Japanese code which revealed a planned attack on the American naval base at Midway. • At Midway, the U. S. dealt Japan a decisive defeat, and the battle is often seen as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

Victories in North Africa and Sicily • In 1943, the Allies achieved another major victory when they successfully forced Germany and Italy out of North Africa. • The Allies next invaded Sicily and southern Italy. • In July 1943, Mussolini was removed from power and arrested, yet later rescued by German forces. • Hitler then installed him as the leader of the Italian Social

Battle of Stalingrad • In the Soviet Union, Hitler’s forces were stalled outside Moscow and Leningrad. • In 1942, Hitler narrowed his sights on Stalingrad, in southern Russia. • The struggle for Stalingrad was especially ferocious, but ultimately the Soviets were victorious. • The Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point of the war in

Operation Overlord • Throughout 1943, the Allied leaders squabbled over when they would start a second front. • Up to that point, Soviet troops had done most of the fighting in Europe. • In November 1943, the three Allied leaders agreed to plan a massive invasion of France, called Operation Overlord.

D-Day • The plan dictated striking five beaches in Normandy, but it also involved an elaborate deception that the attack would come at Calais. • On June 6, 1944, known as DDay, the Allies began their invasion of Normandy. • D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history, and it began the liberation of German -occupied northwestern Europe.

Yalta Conference • In February 1945, the Big Three (U. S. , U. K. , and U. S. S. R) met at Yalta. • At the Yalta Conference, the Big Three agreed that after the war, Germany and Berlin would be split temporarily into four occupied zones, controlled by the U. S. , U. K. , U. S. S. R. , and France. • Stalin also agreed to hold free elections in Eastern Europe.

The Allies Push to Victory • By January 1945, the Soviet Army had reached the outskirts of Berlin. • The Allies also advanced northward in Italy, and in April 1945, guerrillas captured and executed Mussolini. • That same month, Allied troops entered Germany from the west. • Berlin was facing an all-out Allied assault.

Victory in Europe • Hitler was by now a physical wreck. • He was shaken by tremors, paranoid from drugs, and kept alive by mad dreams of a final victory. • On April 30, 1945, as Soviet troops entered Berlin, Hitler and a few of his closest associates committed suicide. • On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.

Why the Allies Won • The Allies were victories for a number of reasons. • Because of Germany’s location, its forces were forced to fight on several fronts simultaneously. • Hitler also made many poor decisions, such as underestimating the Soviet Union. • The enormous productive capacity of the U. S. also played a key role in bringing about an

A New President • FDR did not live to see V-E (Victory in Europe) Day as he had died a few weeks earlier. • It would be up to the new president, Harry S. Truman, to see the nation through to final victory. • In Asia, the U. S. followed an island-hopping strategy, capturing some Japanese-held islands and ignoring others in a steady path toward Japan.

Iwo Jima • One of the fiercest battles in the island-hopping campaign took place at Iwo Jima in early 1945. • In 36 days of fighting, almost 7, 000 Americans died, but they took the island. • At Iwo Jima, a famous photograph was taken of six U. S. marines hoisting the American flag. • Three marines depicted in the picture died later on in the battle.

Fierce Japanese Resistance • At the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945, the Japanese showed that they would fight to the death rather than surrender. • Some young Japanese men chose to become kamikaze pilots who undertook suicide missions. • While Allied military leaders planned for an invasion of Japan, scientists offered another way to end the war.

The Manhattan Project • In 1942, FDR approved the Manhattan Project, which was a research and development project that produced the world’s first atomic bomb. • In July 1945, in a barren area outside of Alamogordo, NM, the first atomic bomb was tested. • After determining the bomb would save American lives, Pres. Truman decided to use it.

The Atom Bomb • On July 26, 1945, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration, warning Japan to surrender or face “prompt and utter destruction. ” • On August 6, 1945, U. S. pilots dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 70, 000 people instantly. • On August 9, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 40, 000. • On August 15, 1945 (V-J Day), Japan surrendered.

World War II Death Toll • World War II resulted in the deaths of approximately 60 million people. • The totals below include both civilian and military deaths: • • United States – 400, 000 United Kingdom – 400, 000 Soviet Union – 24, 000 Poland – 5, 600, 000 Germany – 4, 200, 000 Italy – 400, 000 Japan – 2, 400, 000

Nuremberg Trials • During the war, the Allies were aware of the existence of Nazi concentration camps and death camps. • But only at war’s end did they learn the full extent of the inhumanity of the Holocaust. • At the Nuremberg Trials, the Allies tried Axis leaders for “crimes against humanity. ” • Most were found guilty.

United Nations • In April 1945, delegates from 50 countries formed the United Nations (UN) in an effort to promote international cooperation and prevent another world war. • Within the UN, the five permanent members of the Security Council – the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China - were given the right to veto any council decision.