Transcript World War II - Greater Victoria School District

World War
II
Causes of WWII
-Hitler and the Nazis gained power in Germany in 1933 during a state of
economic depression.
-Hitler blamed Germany’s problems on the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles signed at the end of WWI.
-Hitler ignored the Treaty of Versailles and began rebuilding the German
armed forces.
-March 1938, the Nazis annex Austria.
-In June the allied countries appease Germany by allowing them to
annex Czechoslovakia
Why did no other country help them?
-But when German armies invaded Poland, England and France declared
war on Germany.
-WWII started in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.
What led to this event?
-Appeasement – the policy of avoiding war by granting an aggressive
country whatever it wants
-The two sides would be:
1) The Allies – Britain, France, the U.S.S.R., the U.S., Canada, and
other commonwealth countries.
2)The Axis – Germany, Italy, Japan.
The Phony War





German armies invade Poland in September of 1939
When German armies invaded Poland, England and France
declared war on Germany
The Nazi armies crushed Poland in less than 1 month
Hitler used German tanks and Stuka dive bombers to
invade like lightning, a strategy he called Blitzkrieg or
“lightning war”
Although England and France declared war on Germany
neither country immediately went to the aid of Poland.
This period of the war became known as the “Phony War”
or “Sitzkrieg”

World Map with the participants in World War II.
The Allies depicted in green (those in light green entered
after the Attack on Pearl Harbor), the Axis Powers in
orange, and neutral countries in grey.
Canada Entering the War






-Statute of Westminster(1931) – gave Canada complete control over
its dealings with foreign nations.
-One week after Britain declared war, King called Parliament and a declaration of
war was passed.
-King told the Canadians that Canada would not practice conscription and would
send few soldiers, but would help the war effort in the form of food and
manufactured goods.
-King did not want to divide Canada as in WWI.
-Only after the defeat of France (1940) did Canada make a full-scale war effort
-By then, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and other smaller countries
had fallen to the Nazis.
-Britain stood alone and was in danger of defeat.
-1941, Japan declared war on Britain and the USA
-Canadian forces in Hong Kong were attacked and the survivors
taken prisoner.
-As a result, Canada declared war on Japan. (see Pg. 157, grey box)
Total War





By 1940 by using “blitzkrieg” tactics Germany had
defeated Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and now
controlled most of continental Europe
When France fell to the Nazi’s in 1940 Britain stood
alone against Germany and was in serious danger of
defeat.
Canada began a full-scale war effort with the fall of
France in 1940, becoming Britain's’ most powerful ally
until 1941
In 1941 Japan declared war on the USA by attacking
Pearl Harbour and thus (somewhat predictably) brought
the US into the war against the Axis powers
Japan also attacks Canadian forces in Hong Kong in
1941 and takes the surviving soldiers as prisoners of
war

Pearl Harbor
Battle of Dunkirk
BBC - History - World War Two
Movies
BBC - History - Animated Map:
The Fall of France (Dunkirk)
Battle of Britain (1940-1941)

-Only Britain remained unconquered

- Hitler ordered his air force to attack military targets, and then civilian
targets in Britain

-The Royal Air Force, along with many Canadian pilots, fought back against
all odds until the German air raids ceased.

-The “Battle of Britain” lasted 8 months and cost the lives of 40 553 men,
woman and children.

-Hitler, after failing to gain air superiority over Britain during the summer
months, decided to turn his army East against the U.S.S.R.

-It was the first German defeat of the war.

BBC - History - World War Two Movies

The Supermarine
Spitfire was the
most notorious of
the RAF’s WWII
arsenal. (But the
Hurricane was way
more important and
did a lot more than
the spitfire!!)
Footage from German Fighter planes during
Battle of Britain.
Battle of the Atlantic





-During WWII, supplies for England and the Allied forces in
Europe were carried by ship across the North Atlantic Ocean.
-Thousands of Canadian merchant sailors served on ships
carrying food, fuel, weapons, ammunition, and other supplies to
English ports.
-These sailors faced the constant threat of attack from German
submarines.
-Thousands more Canadians served on Naval vessels and in
aircrafts that were assigned to protect the merchant ships from
enemy attack.
-In 1940, the German navy launched a campaign of submarine
warfare using U-Boat Wolf-packs to cut off Britain’s oversea
lifelines.
Battle of the Atlantic

From 1940 on these sailors faced the
constant threat of attack from German
submarines (known as U-Boats) that
traveled in groups (known as wolf-packs)
through out the North Atlantic Ocean
(particularly that area that air-planes could
not defend (Known as the Black Pit.)
Lend-Lease Act


The USA passed the Lend-Lease Act, allowing
President Roosevelt the power to spend $7
billion to lend or lease military aid to Britain and
its allies
By 1942 Canadian and American shipyards were
able to build merchant ships at faster rate that Uboats were sinking Allied Vessels. Until that
point the U-boats were sinking allied vessels
faster than the Allies could produce them
Merchant Sailors







After the war Canadian merchant sailors were
treated as civilian participants and were not
given the same benefits as veterans of the army,
navy or air force.
Examples, they were not eligible for:
Pension able benefits
Free university education
Housing or land-grant benefits
No small business financial aid
Veteran’s health care benefits
Hong Kong

•
December 1941, 2000
Canadian Soldiers are sent
to hold Hong Kong
they are unable to hold
Hong Kong in the face of
overwhelming odds
U.S. Enters the War




U.S. boycotts Japan
Japanese attack naval base
at Pearl Harbor, HI, Dec.
7, 1941.
U.S. declares war on
Japan, Germany & Italy
declare war on U.S.
U.S. and other allies
decided to defeat
Germany first, then defeat
Japan
Dieppe, France










-By 1942, the Allies were making plans to retake Europe
-To accomplish this, the Allies launched a series of raids
across the English Channel
-One of these raids was against the French town of Dieppe
which was in enemy hands
-Canadian troops were given the job of capturing the town
The Plan: During the cover of night, Canadian troops were to
surprise the enemy from the beach while bombers destroyed the
German guns from the air.
Problems: -Delays caused the ships to land on the beach
during daylight
-Delays caused the bombers to be late on the attack.
-Soldiers were picked off as they scrambled for cover.
-Commanders in the boats could not see what was happening
and continued to send reinforcements onto the beach.
-Of 4963 Canadians who landed, 2853 were killed or captured
-More Canadian soldiers died in those few hours at Dieppe than
in any other day of the war.

Several minutes of Combat from World
War Two
Battle Of Ortona
1943 part of the Italian Campaign

BBC - History Animated Map: The
Italian Campaign

(see Pg. 156)
July 11,1943: General Bernard
Montgomery standing on a
"duck" speaking to Canadian
troops, Pachino peninsula,
Sicily.
A Canadian tank commander surveys the
terrain below him.
D-Day










-In June 1944- D-Day – the long awaited allied invasion
on Europe across the English channel began.
-It was code named Operation Overlord, and involved
almost 1 million soldiers.
-British, American, and Canadian troops stormed
ashore along the entire coast of the French province of
Normandy.
Juno Beach was the Canadian objective
-Canadian troops struck at first light, pouring out of
their landing craft and advancing across the sand up
into the town of Caen.
-The allies were back on French soil
-D-day marked the beginning of the end for Germany.
-Canadians continued to fight for months in order to
take back all of the French ports along the English
Channel.
-They then helped to liberate Belgium and the
Netherlands from German control.
BBC - History - Animated Map: The D-Day Landings

D-Day, The Beginning of the End of World
War Two
The End of the War




In March of 1945, the Allied armies advanced into
Germany
On May 8, 1945, the German forces surrendered
and the war in Europe was officially over.
The Allies agreed that the US, the Soviet Union,
Britain and France should occupy Germany
They would oversee a program of political and
economic reform that would restore peace to
Europe.
Canada at the end of the War
in Europe



Canadian soldiers were give the difficult task of
liberating Holland whose people had suffered
severely under German control.
6300 Canadians were killed and wounded in the
operation, but by mid-April, most German units
had surrendered and the Canadians turned their
attention to helping the Dutch
Canada was also crucial in the success of the
Italian Campaign in Europe
The End of the War in Japan






While peace came to Europe on May 8th 1945 war with
Japan continued
In the US, American, British, and Canadian scientists had
spent years developing a powerful new weapon: the atomic
bomb
President Truman of the US decided to bomb two Japanese
cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Close to 500 000 died
The Japanese realized they could not continue a war in
which the enemy was willing to use atomic weapons on
civilian populations
On August 15th 1945, they surrendered
The Home Front



How did the war affect
Canada’s economy?
How did wartime shortages
affect Canadians?
What role did the government
play in the wartime economy?
Civilians and the War Effort



-Wartime shortages led to Canada’s first
organized recycling programs.
– Community groups collected aluminum,
steel, and copper items to be turned into
aircrafts, tanks, and guns.
-Families planted victory gardens to grow food
for their tables.
-Canadians lent the government money
through Victory Bonds.
Wartime Restrictions

-The war helped Canada’s economy
– Q) How?
– A) It ended the Great Depression
– Unemployment vanished
-people joined the armed forces and worked in
weapon and munitions factories.
Problems






-Canadians remembered the WWI
shortages and therefore rushed to the
stores to stock up on items they feared
might soon vanish from the shelves
-The result of this panic was inflation
-Faced with shortages and rising prices,
the Canadian government began to take
control of the country’s economy.
Q) How?
A.1) 1940 – laws regulated wages and
limited price increases on goods and
services. Eg. Rent, iron and steel,
lumber, sugar, and milk.
A.2) 1941 – laws froze most prices and
wages, and rationing was introduced.
Conscription Crisis






-Prime Minister King had promised that there would be no
conscription, But as the fighting grew heavier, there were demands
to send more soldiers overseas.
-In 1942, King held a referendum.
Referendum - submitting an issue to the direct vote of the
people.
-80% of Québec said no, 80% of the rest of Canada voted yes.
-King then decided not to send conscripts unless he was forced to.
-By 1944, Losses were so high, King reluctantly sent the conscripts
overseas to fight
-The issue of conscription divided the country as it did in WWI,
however, the situation was not as severe as it had been in 1917.
Japanese Canadians


When Canada and Japan went to war (Dec/1941); British Columbians
feared a Japanese invasion.
-They felt that Japanese Canadians (enemy aliens) might assist in such an
invasion.
Results: 1) 38 Japanese Canadians were arrested
2) 1200 fishing boats were seized by the government
3) All Canadians of Japanese origin were required to
register with the government
4) All Japanese Canadians were refused when they tried
to join the Canadian army
5) All persons of Japanese ancestry were moved to camps
in the interior of B.C.
6) The government confiscated their property and sold it
7) After the war, approx. 4000 Japanese Canadians were
deported to Japan.
Wartime Propaganda


-Radio announcements,
magazine and newspaper adds,
and wall posters urged
Canadians to spend wisely,
participate in salvage drives,
grow victory gardens, or buy
Victory Bonds.
-The National Film Board (NFB)
created documentaries and short
informational films showing the
importance of Canadian civilians
as part of the war effort.
An example of Nazi propaganda. The
picture reads “'One People, One Nation,
One Leader”.
Women in the War

-Before WWII started, few women in Canada worked outside
the home.

-In 1940, 876 000 women over 18 years of age were employed
outside the home.

-By 1943, 1 000 000 women were in the paid workforce and
another 800,000 doing farm work.

-Women built ships, airplanes, and weapons, knitted socks and
sweaters.

-The government provided incentives for women such as tax
exemptions and childcare facilities.
– These incentives would end after the war.

-Women were accepted into the armed services for the first time.
Eg. Radio operators, nurses, and ambulance drivers.

-At the end of the war, many women gave up their jobs to
returning soldiers.
The Holocaust – The mass murder of
Jews in concentration camps




-Before Hitler seized power in Germany, he wrote a book called “Mein
Kampf” (My Struggle), in which he outlined his beliefs and plans
-He believed that lies, warfare, and terror tactics were
acceptable means to obtain his goals.
-He believed that the Aryan people were the “master race”
superior to all other people, especially Jewish people.
-Hitler blamed the Jews and used them as a “scapegoat” (became
known as the “Big Lie”) for Germany’s WWI loss and for the
economic depression that followed.
-Mein Kampf contained a plan to eliminate all Jewish people, to take
over the Soviet Union, and to invade France. –Hitler's followers, the
Nazis, adopted these beliefs.
-When Hitler took power he put these plans into action.
The Holocaust – The mass murder of
Jews in concentration camps cont.






-Hitler, -Organized a propaganda campaign against the Jews.
-took away the citizenship rights of the Jews
-took away their right to vote
-expelled them from most jobs
-encouraged violence against them
Q.) What did Canada do to help?
A.) Nothing, Canada refused to accept Jewish refugees.
-As Germany conquered more of Europe, more Jews fell under
German control.
-1941 – “Final Solution”
-a systematic plan to kill all the Jews in Europe. (genocide)
-Jews were shipped to concentration camps where they were killed
immediately or used as slave labour.
Emaciation at the hands of the
Germans.
World Peace: Canada and the
United Nations, the creation of
the U.N
As
WWII drew to a close, delegates
from countries around the world gathered
in San Francisco to create an organization
that would ensure that such a global
conflict would never happen again
The U.N. was a compromise between
the US, Britain, France, China and the
Soviet Union, and other smaller countries.
The Purpose of the UN





1. To keep peace among nations
2. To increase co-operation between nations
3. To defend Human rights
4. to improve the living conditions of people
everywhere in the world
The U.N. sponsors a wide variety of agencies that
carry out legal, economic and humanitarian work
around the world
Organizations sponsored by the UN





The World Health Organization (W.H.O) battles
global health problems
United Nations International Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF) Originally, responsible for
assisting child welfare in countries devastated by
the Second World War
Expanded its scope to developing countries after
1951
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) works to improve
education standards and promote cultural activities
Canada has always seen the UN as the best means
of contributing to world peace to solving problems
of global health, poverty, pollution and
discrimination

Fat man and Little Boy