Transcript Slide 1

Causes of WWII
include:
•Dissatisfaction with the terms of
the Versailles Treaty
•Fascist aggression
•German expansion in Europe
•Japanese expansion in the pacific
•Nationalism and racism
The Two Sides:
•The main Axis Powers were
Germany, Italy, and Japan.
•The Allies included Britain, Russia,
China, United States (in 1941), and
about 40 other countries.
Resistance forces in areas occupied
by Hitler also aided the Allies (For
example, the “Free French,” or the
French government in exile during
the Nazi occupation of France.)
FDR
Gen. Eisenhower
Winston
Churchill
Hitler
Erwin Rommel
Gen. MacArthur
Stalin
Charles
De Gaulle
Hirohito
Mussolini and Hitler
Timeline of WWII (1939-1945)
1931 – Japan invades Manchuria (by 1937, Japan had control
of much of east and south China)
1935 – Mussolini invades Ethiopia
1936 – Hitler and Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
1938 – Hitler invades Czechoslovakia
August 1939 – Hitler and Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet NonAggression Pact
Sept. 1, 1939 – Hitler invades Poland; the European policy of
appeasement ends; Britain and
France declare war on Germany two days
after the invasion
May 1940 – Miracle of Dunkirk
June 1940 – France falls to the Nazis
September 1940 – Japan joins the Rome-Berlin Axis; the
Triple Axis is formed
October 1940 – Italian forces invade Greece
June 1941- Germany invades the Soviet Union
The Nanking (Nanjing) Massacre
The Japanese were infuriated by the strength of
Chinese resistance to their invasion, and when
China's Nationalist capital Nanking fell in
December 1937, Japanese troops summarily
executed thousands of Chinese soldiers who had
surrendered to them. Japanese troops were then
encouraged by their officers to loot the city and
slaughter Chinese civilians.
Independent foreign observers of the Nanking
(Nanjing) Massacre, including a German
businessman and Nazi Party member named John
Rabe, were appalled to see Chinese civilians, both
men and women, elderly and children, put to death
by Japanese troops with horrifying brutality. As if
to make a point, foreigners were invited by
Japanese troops to witness mass executions of
Chinese prisoners of war.
On May 10, 1940, Germany attacked Belgium,
Holland, Luxembourg and France. Twelve fighter
squadrons of Royal Air Force were based in
France, the only truly modern fighter forces
available to the Allies. The RAF bomber
Squadrons were halted by German anti-aircraft
and fighter units in their attempts to slow the
German advance. When it became clear that the
Allies could not stop the Germans, all but three
of the Squadrons were called back across the
English Channel.
The German advance pushed the Allied
armies to the sea to a French port called
Dunkirk. During what some people called
a miracle, 800 small boats managed to lift
most of the men off the beaches and back
to England. The RAF were successful in
keeping the majority of German bombers
and fighters away, shooting down 150
aircraft. However, they lost 100 planes and
80 irreplaceable pilots.
Timeline of WWII (continued)
July 1941 – The U.S. stops selling oil to Japan, reducing their oil
supply by 90%
December 7, 1941 – Japan attacks the U.S. military base at
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; the U.S. enters the
war
May 1942 – Japan takes control of the Philippines; thousands of
prisoners of war die in the Bataan Death March
June 1942 – The Battle of Midway; Japanese naval superiority in
the Pacific ends
August 1942 to Feb. 1943 - The Battle of Stalingrad
November 1942 – Allied landings in North Africa
June 6, 1944 – D-Day; a new front is opened in France
Dec. 16, 1944 – The Battle of the Bulge begins
February 1945 – The “Big Three” discuss the post-war world at
the historic Yalta Conference
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
General Hideki Tojo
The huge Japanese battleship Yamato at
71,659 tons dwarfed all other warships
of its time.
The Bataan Death March began on April 9, 1942
when 70,000 Filipino and American troops
surrendered to Japanese troops on the Bataan
Peninsula in the Philippines. General MacArthur
and his troops were overrun so they retreated;
however, tens of thousand of troops were left
behind.
General Homma, the leader of the Japanese
forces, commanded the U.S. and Filipino troops
to march to a P.O.W. camp 100 km north. Those
who fell behind during the march were killed.
About 54,000 reached Camp O'Donnell. Some
were able to escape, but 10,000 died at the camp.
On June 6, 1942 the Filipino prisoners were
granted amnesty and were allowed to leave. The
American prisoners were then moved to another
camp.
After WWII was over General Homma was tried
and convicted in Los Angeles, California. His
appeal was denied and he was moved to Manila
where he was executed by firing squad.
D-Day Photos
Battle of Iwo Jima
In February 1945
Casualties:
American dead 6,821
20,000 Japanese defenders died
Mt. Suribachi
April 1945 – FDR dies and Harry
Truman becomes president
May 8-9, 1945 – V-E day celebrated in
Allied countries
August 6, 1945 – “Little Boy” is
dropped on Hiroshima; between 80-100
thousand people are killed
August 9, 1945 – “Fat Man” is dropped
on Nagasaki; between 60-75 thousand
people are killed
August 14, 1945 – Japan surrenders
September 2, 1945 – V-J Day
America Celebrates the
Japanese surrender
Begins…
Cuban Missile Crisis
ICBMs
Gorbachev and Reagan
Tiananmen
Square Protest
Vietnam
Germany Divided
Germany was partitioned soon after World
War II ended into two separate parts: West
Germany and East Germany.
After the war, the western part of Germany
was occupied and controlled by U.S., British,
and French forces. Eventually, West Germany
was set up as an independent, democratic
nation with its own government.
The eastern part of Germany was occupied
by the Soviet Union at the end of the war. It
remained under their control when Germany
was officially divided. The Soviet Union never
allowed East Germany to form an independent
or democratic government.
Berlin, the capital of Germany, was divided
into West Berlin (part of the West German
government) and East Berlin (part of the East
German government.)
In 1961 East Germany built a solid fence across the city of
Berlin. Communist leaders of East Germany wanted to stop people from
East Berlin (the communist side) who wanted to escape to West Berlin
(the free side). This fence became known as the Berlin Wall.
The photo
shows
people in
West
Berlin,
looking
across
the
barrier
into East
Berlin.
East German soldiers were ordered to shoot anyone attempting to cross
the wall. The wall was rebuilt over time with tall sections of concrete,
shown below. The Berlin Wall became a very visible symbol of the
tension and divisions of the Cold War era.
Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader of
the U.S.S.R. who began the reforms
and changes of glasnost and
perestroika in the 1980’s.
As glasnost and perestroika began to change the U.S.S.R., people were
emboldened to defy the old system. The wall came down in 1989, and
Germany was reunited in 1990.