Transcript WW II - Van Independent School District

WW II
War Begins
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Dictators seized control of their nations by
force after WW I and during the
Depression.
Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist
Workers Party (Nazi Party) controlled
Germany.
Benito Mussolini controlled Italy with his
Fascist regime.
Military leaders controlled Japan.
Germany, Italy and Japan signed a pact
and became allies called the Axis Powers
in 1940.
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Germany invaded Poland in
September 1939. They took control
of Poland.
Britain and France declared war on
Germany.
Germany invaded France in the
Spring of 1940 and France
surrendered
In June 1941, Germany launched
an attack on the Soviet Union.
United States enters the War
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The United States remained neutral, but
supplied weapons to Britain and the
Soviet Union
Japanese troops seized Indochina, a
French colony. This threatened nearby
British colonies.
The United States applied economic
pressure to stop Japan. The Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec.
7, 1941
3. Congress declared war on Japan in
response. Germany and Italy
declared war on the United States
4. The Allied Powers ( the United
States, Great Britain, France, and
the Soviet Union) fought the Axis
Powers.
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The war changed American life at
home. Those who did not go to war
had to do all the work
Industry expanded, wages
increased, and unemployment fell
Women served in the military and
in the workforce
African Americans served in the
military and worked in war factories
War continues
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The Axis powers were winning until late
1942. British and United States troops
drove Germans out of North Africa.
The Axis powers were defeated again in
Eastern Europe in early 1943
Soviet troops freed Leningrad, a Russian
city. The German army also surrendered
at Stalingrad.
The Allies broke through German lines at
Anzio, Italy, after four months and freed
Rome in June 1944
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The Allies launched an air war against
Germany. Cities were destroyed and
civilians were killed. Germany kept
fighting.
General Eisenhower, commander of the
allied forces, directed an invasion of
France from the West. The Soviets
pushed toward Germany from the east.
Fierce fighting took place on the beaches
of Normandy when thousands of Allied
troops came ashore on June 6, 1944– DDay.
The Allies moved on from Normandy and ,
with the French, freed Paris at the end of
August.
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The Soviets pushed Germany out of
Eastern Europe. The British and
Americans defeated Germany in the
Battle of the Bulge. Serious
German resistance ended.
In 1945 Soviet troops reached
Berlin. British and United States
forces moved across western
Germany. Hitler committed suicide
and Germany surrendered.
Holocaust
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As the Allies liberated parts of Europe they
came across evidence of a major German
atrocity.
They found Germany’s answer for their
Jewish problem, known as the Final
Solution.
Allied forces found several, Death and
Labor, camps where the Germans had
murdered over 6 million Jews.
This Genocide became known as the
Holocaust.
War in Asia
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Japanese troops landed in the Philippines.
Filipino and American troops commanded by
Douglas MacArthur fought the Japanese on the
Bataan Peninsula west of Manila.
Allied forces surrendered and were forced to
march more than 60 miles to a prison camp.
Many sick and starving prisoners died. This was
known as the Bataan Death March.
In May 1942, Japanese and United States ships
fought the Battle of the Coral Sea northeast of
Australia. The Americans destroyed much of the
Japanese fleet and prevented Japan from
reaching Australia.
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In June the United States navy destroyed
hundreds of Japanese aircraft and four
aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway,
northeast of Hawaii.
The United States adopted a plan of
island hopping. It seized control of an
island and used it as a base to attack the
next island. Americans used air and naval
forces to win control of Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands after fierce fighting.
American forces took control if Guam and
launched bombing strikes on Japan in
June 1944.
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American forces seized the island of
Iwo Jima in march 1945 and the
island of Okinawa in June.
President Truman called for
Japan’s surrender. When it refused,
Truman ordered the use of the
atomic bomb. The bombs were
created in secrecy at the suggestion
of Albert Einstein.
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In August 1945, the first atomic bomb
dropped destroyed the city of Hiroshima.
The second destroyed the city of
Nagasaki.
Japan surrendered on August 15 – V-J
Day (Victory over Japan), ending WWII
Approximately 50 million soldiers and
civilians died in WWII. Billions of dollars
worth of property was destroyed. It took
years for some countries to recover.