Transcript Quick Facts (write 2-3)

Introduction to
WWII
Quick Facts (write 2-3)
A. War Costs
1. 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 1776
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Quick Facts (write 2-3)
B. Human Costs
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Quick Facts
B. Human Costs
1. 50 million people died (compared to
15 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)
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When?
•1939-1945
•US involvement 1941-1945
1939
Sept.1 Germany
invades Poland
(official start to
the war)
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1941
1945
Sept. 3 -
Dec. 7 – Japan
May -
Sept. - Atomic
Britain &
France declare
war on
Germany
bombs Pearl
Harbor; US enters
the War
Germans
Surrender
Bombing of
Hiroshima &
Nagasaki,
Japanese
Surrender
Who?
Allies
(major powers)
(major powers)
Great Britain
Germany
Russia
Italy
United States
Japan
France
(note: France surrendered to Germany
in 1940 (after 6 weeks of fighting)
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Axis
Major Leaders
Adolf Hitler
Nazi Germany
Benito Mussolini
Italy
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Major Leaders
Hideki Tojo
Japanese Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
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British Prime Minister
Major Leaders
Joseph Stalin
Russian Leader
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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US President
Why? (underlying causes of WWII)
1. Treaty of Versailles
A. 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 Germans
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Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson
during negotiations for the Treaty
Why? (underlying causes of WWII)
2. World-wide Depression
A. The Depression made
Germany’s debt even worse
B. Desperate people turn to
desperate leaders
1) Hitler seemed to
provide solutions to
Germany’s problems
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1923 - Wallpapering with German Deutchmarks
Why? (underlying causes of WWII)
2. World-wide Depression
2) Hitler provided
scapegoats for
Germany’s problems
(foreigners, Jews,
communists, Roma
(Gypsies), mentally ill,
homosexuals)
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3) Kristallnacht - vandalism &
destruction of Jewish property
& synagogues
Why?
3. Rise of Totalitarian Regimes
A. In a Totalitarian country, individual rights are not
viewed as important as the needs of the nation
Communist Dictatorship
(USSR)
Fascist Dictatorship
(Germany, Italy)
Totalitarianism
Military Dictatorship
(Japan)
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Fascism: military
government with
based on racism &
nationalism with
strong support from
the business
community
Why?
4. Isolationism of Major Powers
A. Why was the U.S. Isolationist?
1. Great Depression (problems at home)
2. Perceptions of WWI
a. WWI did not seem to solve much
b. People began to think that we’d got into WWI for the
wrong reasons (greedy American businessmen!)
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Why?
4. Isolationism of Major Powers
B. This led to policies of “Appeasement”
1. Appeasement: give dictators what they
want and hope that they won’t want
anything else
2. Begins with Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Italian
invasion of Ethiopia, and continues with Hitler . . .
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The Road to World War II
what does the
cartoonist suggest
Hitler is doing?
Who are the other
people in this picture
and what does the
cartoonist think of
them?
January 1933: Hitler became
Chancellor of Germany
Hitler soon ordered a programme of
rearming Germany
•Hitler visits a factory and is enthusiastically greeted. Many
Germans were grateful for jobs after the misery of he
depression years.
March 1936: German troops
marched into the Rhineland
•The Rhineland
was a region of
Germany that was
‘demilitarised’
after the Treaty of
Versailles.
Germany was not
allowed to have
troops in the
region.
March 1938: Nazi Germany
annexed Austria
•Again, this went
against the
terms of the
Treaty of
Versailles which
banned
Germany from
uniting with
Austria.
•However, the
arrival of
March 1939: Germany invaded
Czechoslovakia
•Hitler had ordered the
occupation of a part of
Czechoslovakia known
as the Sudetenland (in
October 1938). Many
hoped that that this
would be the last
conquest of the Nazis.
•However, in March 1939, he
ordered his troops to take over the
remainder of Czechoslovakia. This
was the first aggressive step that
suggested that a war in Europe
would soon begin.
•August 1939: Germany and Russia signed a nonaggression pact
•Hitler and Stalin (the
Russian leader) signed
a ‘non-aggression
pact’.
•They promised that
neither country would
attack the other in the
event of war.
•As part of the deal,
Hitler promised Stalin
part of Poland, which
• he planned to invade
soon.
•Stali
n
•Hitler
The
non-aggression pact was surprising. Hitler and Stalin were seen as natural enemies.
When
Hitler talked of taking over new land for Germany, many thought that he meant Russia.
Hitler
also hated Communism, the form of government in Russia
•September 1939: Germany invaded Poland
But, the pact allowed Germany
to march into Poland without
fear of an attack from Russia.
On 3rd September 1939,
Germany invaded Poland and
started a War with Britain and
France.
•German troops
marching into Warsaw,
the capital of Poland.
May 1940: Germany turned west and
invaded France and the Netherlands
In May 1940, Germany used
Blitzkrieg tactics to attack France
and the Netherlands.
British troops were forced to
retreat from the beaches of Dunkirk
in northern France.
•Captured British
troops, May 1940
By June 1940, France had surrendered to
the Germans
Britain now stood alone as the
last remaining enemy of Hitler’s
Germany in Western Europe.
•Adolf Hitler tours Paris after his
successful invasion.
September 1940-May 1941: the
Blitz
For the following nine months, the German air force
(Luftwaffe) launched repeated bombing raids on British
towns and cities. This was known as the BLITZ and was an
attempt to bomb Britain into submission.
Operation Barbarossa, June 1941
But in May, 1941, Hitler ordered a change of tactics. He decided to halt the bombing of Britain
and launch an attack against Russia. He betrayed Stalin and ignored the promises he had made.
This was a bold move that would prove to be an important turning point in the War.
US Assistance
Roosevelt provided aid to the Allies:
Lend-Lease - 1939
•US “lent” war
materials to cashstrapped Great
Britain
•US secretly meets with
England to commit to
defeating Germany
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London Firefighter Tackles an Air Raid Blaze
Meanwhile … in the Pacific
Pearl Harbor: “a date which will live in infamy” Dec. 7, 1945
What?
•Surprise attack by the Japanese on
American forces in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii
Effect?
•US declares war on Japan & other Axis
powers
USS Arizona Sinking in Pearl Harbor
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