Transcript Key Events of World War II

Key Events of World War II
Invasion of Poland: WW II Begins
• Nonaggression Pact
between USSR and
Germany shocks the
world (1939)
• September 1, 1939:
Germany invades
Poland
• Blitzkrieg
Invasion of France
• After a short break, in
May 1940 Hitler
begins further
invasions of Western
Europe
• Germany quickly
captures Paris in June
• French government
surrenders, but
resistance movement
tries to fight
What caption might the British
use with this image in a
propaganda poster?
How about the Germans?
The Battle of Britain
• August 1940
• Britain is the only
unconquered country in
Western Europe
• Intensive bombings and air
raids were supposed to pave
the way for a German
invasion
• But, the new Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill, inspires
the country to stay strong
• “Never…has so much been
owed by so many to so few”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/lo
w/dates/stories/june/4/newsid_350
0000/3500865.stm
Invasion of the Soviet Union
• Operation Barbarossa:
Summer 1941
• Hitler attacks the
USSR, breaking his
pact with Stalin
• Germany has many
early victories, but the
Soviet winter will
eventually be too
brutal… (obviously Hitler
didn’t study his history)
December 7, 1941
• http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/day-ofinfamy/index.html#documents
December 7, 1941
• Japan bombs naval
Base at Pearl Harbor
• Why?
• Japan had hoped to
– Destroy the US fleet
– Force the US to accept their domination in the
Pacific
– Exploit the assumed “softness” of the American
people
But instead…
• The US enters
the war and joins
the Allied forces:
___, ___, ___
against the Axis
Powers: ___,
___, ___
Pacific Theater
• The Allied Commander is Douglas MacArthur
• The Allied strategy is Island Hopping
• Fleets moved from island to island rather
than attack any mainland sites
The Battle of Midway
• Turning point in
the Pacific
– June 1942
– US defeats
Japanese navy
badly
– Establishes US
naval superiority
– Kamikaze pilots
Stalingrad
• A major turning point in
Europe
• The Germans and the
Soviets fought a brutal
battle throughout the
winter of 1942-3
• The German army had
to surrender and retreat;
their defeat was a
disaster
• Hitler said after this
battle that, “The Gods of
War have gone over to
the other side”
D-Day (The Battle of Normandy)
• Began on June 6,
1944
• HUGE Allied assault
on the coast of
France
• Gave the Allies a
foothold in Western
Europe; began to
move inland on the
final offense against
the Nazis
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• These two Japanese cities were the targets of the only two
atomic bombs ever used in war on August 6 and 9, 1945
• Their destruction led Japan to surrender to the Allies
• Each single bomb destroyed the target city and killed 1000s
of people immediately
• The effects of radiation caused 100,000s more to die later
or suffer horrific injuries