Transcript Why the Axis Powers Lost WWII……

WWII Comes to an End…
Axis Powers Fail…
• Mussolini was assassinated on April 28,
1945
• Hitler committed suicide as the Allies
moved into Berlin in May, 1945
– *Germany was fighting a two front war just like
in WWI, short on supplies, men, etc.
– *Hitler underestimated the ability of Russia to
mobilize and fight
V-E Day
• V-E Day, Victory in Europe Day
• May 8, 1945
Japan
• President Truman believed a land invasion of Japan
would be costly both in terms of money and lives lost.
Therefore,
• Hiroshima (Little Boy)
• Following the use of the second atomic bomb on
Nagasaki (Fat Man), Japan surrendered
• V-J Day, Victory in Japan, August 15, 1945
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0eHCytkcHg
• http://app.discoveryeducation.com/search?Ntt=attack+on
+hiroshima
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF4LQaWJRDg
Nuremberg Trials
• Nazi officials were put on trial for:
• Crimes Against Peace- planning/waging war
• War Crimes- murder/deportation of slave labor,
poor treatment of POW’s, destruction of towns, etc.
• Crimes Against Humanity- murder, enslavement or
extermination of a group of people due to race,
religion or political beliefs
Nuremberg Trials
• Only 177 Nazi Officials were tried:
• 35 acquitted
• 20 were given a life sentence
• 98 were given varying terms in prison
• Only 24 were executed
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Jmv
SD22MM
So, what happened to leading Nazi
officials……
•
•
•
•
Hitler committed suicide
Josef Goebbels committed suicide
Joseph Mengele drowned in 1977
Henrich Muller, head of the Gestapo,
missing
Effects of WWII
• The United Nations, UN, replaces the
League of Nations, as a peace keeping
entity. Permanent members include Great
Britain, France, United States Russia and
China.
• Today, the UN serves to keep peace, fight
disease, and provide education in lesser
developed areas of the world
Yalta Conference 1945
• The Big Three
• Winston Churchill,
FDR and Joseph
Stalin met and agreed
to divide Germany
into four occupation
zones to be controlled
by the British, French,
U.S. and Soviets
• Also agreed that Soviets would
control certain areas such as
Korea and hold free elections
in Eastern Europe
Effects of WWII
• Germany was divided into East and West
Germany
• The “Cold War”
• The “iron curtain” descends on Europe
• Creation of Israel in 1948