Transcript World War II

World War II
1939 - 1945
What was WWII
• Largest war in human history
• Involved countries, colonies and territories around
the entire world
• By the end over 70 million were dead
• It lasted from 1939-1945
How it started
• Fascist dictators began to take
over in parts of Europe in the
1920’s and 1930’s due to bad
economic conditions created
by WWI and the Great
Depression.
• This included: Hitler in
Germany, Mussolini in Italy
and Stalin the Soviet Union
Europe Moves Toward War
• Hitler began rearming
Germany and sent German
troops into the Rhineland.
• This was prohibited by the
Treaty of Versailles.
More Steps Toward War
• March 1938: Germany annexed Austria.
• Sept. 1938: Munich conference: Hitler forced the British and
French to give him the Sudetenland in return for a promise
not to invade the rest of Czechoslovakia.
• March, 1939: Hitler took over Czechoslovakia
War in Europe Begins
• March 31, 1939: Britain and France agreed to protect Poland
in case of a German invasion.
• August, 1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Sept. 1, 1939: Hitler invaded Poland, starting WWII.
• Sept, 3, 1939: Britain and France declared war on Germany
and Germany and Italy declared war on them.
Alliances
• Axis
• Germany, Italy, Japan
• Allied
• France, Britain, Soviet Union, United
States
What came next…
• After Germany invaded Poland, they invaded France
and used a method of war called “blitzkrieg” =
lighting war
• They used this tactic on Britain but never broke
under the blitz
• Eventually Hitler would break the non-aggression
pact and invaded the Soviet Union
The Japanese Empire
• Japan wanted to expand to meet the land needs of a growing
population and to obtain more raw materials and markets for
its industries.
• 1931: Japan seized Manchuria
• 1937-40: Japan seized most of E. China
• Sept. 1940: Japan joins the tripartite pact, becoming an ally
of Italy and Germany.
America and WWII
• America initially stayed out of the war, but began a
naval build up in the Pacific to counter the expansion
of Japan.
• 1939: FDR moved the Pacific fleet from San Diego
to Pearl Harbor.
• The Great Depression contributed to the popularity
of isolationism in America.
The Atlantic Charter
• August 1941: FDR and Winston Churchill met secretly on a
ship off the coast of Newfoundland to agree on war goals,
since both foresaw US joining the Allies, soon.
• They agreed to ensure national sovereignty for all nations and
drew up the outline for the United Nations. This was the
Atlantic Charter.
America gets closer to war
• Mid 1941: Japanese forces seized French territories in
Indochina.
• Americans began to crack the Japanese secret code and
intercepted messages saying that Japan was planning to seize
more islands in the Pacific.
• In response, the US froze Japanese assets in the US and cut
off all trade with Japan.
Pearl Harbor
• Japanese negotiators agreed to meet with US diplomats.
• While they met, the Japanese decided to sent a fleet to Pearl
Harbor to destroy the US Pacific fleet.
• Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor killing
2,400, wounding 1,200, and destroying 300 Am. Planes, 18
warships, and 8 of the 9 US battleships.
WAR
• Dec. 8, 1941: FDR delivered a war message to Congress.
Within 3 days, the US was at war with Japan, Germany, and
Italy.
Japanese Victories
• Months after Pearl Harbor Japan captured the
Philippines and seized other American islands across
the pacific
• By the beginning of 1942 the Japanese empire
stretched from Southeast Asia to Western Pacific
Ocean
• It wasn’t until America would drop the atomic bomb
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that Japan would realize
they made a serious mistake
Turning Points
• Invasion of Italy 1943: Allied invaded Italy, and
Italians overthrew Mussolini
• Soviet Union drove out Germany at Stalingrad
• D-Day: Invasion of France (1944)
The Battle of the Bulge
• Dec. 1944: Germany launched its last offensive in
the war attacking Americans in Belgium and
Luxembourg.
• Patton arrived a few days later with 250,000 men.
• This was the largest battle ever fought by the US
army and the largest battle of WWII.
The Battle of the Bulge
• The US won the battle. Over 800,000 Americans
fought here and 80,000 Americans died.
• Germany fought with over 2 million soldiers, and lost
about 200,000 men.
• After this battle, the Germans realized the war was
lost.
German Surrender
• The Americans continued to bomb Germany and
attack from the Western front, while the Soviets
continued their attacks on Germany from the East.
• May 8, 1945: V-E Day: Germany surrendered.
The Yalta Conference
• Feb. 1945: The “Big Three” met at Yalta in the USSR to plan
the post-war world.
Yalta Conference
• All agreed to split Germany into 4 zones of
occupation and to also split the capital city, Berlin.
• Stalin promised to allow free elections in the nations
his army liberated from Germany.
• Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan soon
after the German surrender.
Japanese Expansion
• Japanese forces continued to expand and were not stopped
by allied forces until the Battle of the Coral Sea in May, 1942.
• This battle fought entirely with planes from aircraft carriers.
Enemy ships never came within sight of one another.
Island-Hopping
• From February 1943 on, the US forces began to
selectively attack enemy-held islands in the Pacific.
• The Japanese fiercely defended their positions and
both sides suffered heavy casualties.
Japanese Kamikazes
• Japanese kamikazes were suicide pilots who crashed
their planes which were heavily loaded with bombs
into allied ships.
• During the war, the US experienced about 4,900
kamikaze attacks which destroyed 57 American ships
and damaged about 650 others.
The Battle of Iwo Jima
• The battle for this 14 square mile island was one of the
bloodiest battles of the war.
• 25,000 Japanese protected the small rocky island and it took
over 110,000 Americans to defeat them. Only 216 Japanese
surrendered--the rest died.
• More US medals of honor were given for this battle than any
other single battle of the war.
Marines Raising the US Flag at Iwo Jima
The Bombing of Hiroshima
• August 6, 1945: On
President Truman’s
orders, the Enola Gay
dropped an atomic
bomb on the city of
Hiroshima.
• It destroyed about 90%
of the city and killed
about 140,000 people.
Nagasaki
• When the bombing of Hiroshima did not elicit a
surrender from the Japanese government, a 2nd
atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9,
1945.
• The bomb on Nagasaki was equally destructive and
led to a Japanese surrender.
V-J Day
• August 14, 1945: Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender.
• The formal surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 on
the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, officially ending WWII.
World War II Allied Deaths
Nation
Military
Civilian
Total
France
122,000
470,000
592,000
Britain
305,800
60,600
366,400
US
405,400
0
405,400
USSR
11,000,000 6,700,000
17,700,000
World War II Axis Deaths
Nation
Military
Civilian
Total
2,350,000
5,600,000
226,900
60,000
286,900
1,740,000
393,400
2,133,400
Germany 3,250,000
Italy
Japan