Transcript The Gathering Storm Section 12.2

The Gathering Storm
London being bombed
and damaged in 1940
Section 12.2
Agenda for Today
• 12.2 Slide Show
• Homework
• Read 12.2
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
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Describe the invasion of Poland and use of Blitzkrieg
Describe the Maginot Line and its effectiveness
Explain the importance of Dunkirk
Define the Blitz and list ways in which the RAF were
able to overcome it (Blitz)
• Define and describe the platforms of the isolationists and
the interventionists
• Describe the Lend-Lease program and how it drew the
US closer to war
• List America’s responses to Japan’s aggression
Hitler Attacks
Capture from clip on the
invasion of Poland
Describe the Invasion of Poland.
• German forces = over 1 million
• Blitzkrieg (lightning war)
– Combined armored divisions,
supported by Luftwaffe (air force)
• USSR invades from East (9/17)
– Took Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland,
Eastern Poland
• Poland fell within 1 month
• Then all was quiet
• “Phony War”
– Where were the English and the French?
Background:
German soldier
throws a
grenade
What was the Maginot Line? Did it work?
• Called the French Wall of China
• System of heavily armed steel/concrete
bunkers
• Believed to be impenetrable
• Flanked in north by Ardennes
– Thick forest believed to be
impenetrable to tanks
• Hitler bypassed Maginot Line and
marched through Ardennes
• Germany invaded Low Countries
(Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium) on
May 10, 1940
• Hitler crossed Ardennes through Lux
and cut off Allied force in Belgium
Above: Map of the Maginot
• France is at Hitler’s mercy
Line; Below: a bunker (part of
Maginot Line)
What happened at Dunkirk?
• British and French forces
(330 thousand) were trapped
by German forces
• Hitler had a chance to win the
war
• Operation Dynamo
– Motley collection of civilian and
military vessels evacuated
whole army back to British Isle
(6/4/1940)
• This saved the Allies and
Great Britain (and possibly
the US)
Above: Soldiers await rescue; Below:
Allies must abandon all vehicles and
artillery
Why did Roger Langeron, chief of the Paris police
write in his diary (on Friday, June 14, 1940)
that a “terrible thing” had befallen France?
• German soldiers entered
Paris
• French generals had agreed
night before to surrender
Paris without a fight
– Did not want to see “City
of Lights” destroyed
• France surrendered
6/14/1940
Above: French man cries over surrender
to Hitler; Below: Hitler and top Nazis
pose with Eiffel Tower in background
Describe the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.
• Hitler planned to invade Great Britain in
summer of 1940
• British Advantages
– RAF (Royal Air Force) had better planes
– pilots more skilled than Luftwaffe
– Radar and the Code Breaking (Enigma)
also helped
• Churchill: “never in the field of human
conflict was so much owed by so many to so
few.”
– Referring to RAF saving England
• Blitz –nighttime raids by German bombers
over GB
• From Sept. 1940-May 1941
• Leveled entire cities (Coventry) and killed
thousands (20 thousand in London alone)
Above: Poster honoring
RAF with Churchill’s
words; Below: Enigma
code breaker
Hitler’s Road to War
-WW I
Ends
-Treaty of
Versailles
1918
1921
Hitler leads
unsucessful
Coup
German
economy in
hyperinflation
-Mein Kamf
1923
1928
General Franco
seizes power
from Socialists
in Spain
-Hitler later
sends military
aid
Hitler takes
Austria and
Sudentenland
Munich Pact
brings “Peace
for our time.”
NOT
1931 1933
-NAZI party
gains seats in
Reichstag
-Wall Street
Crashes (1929)
Hitler appointed
Chancellor
-Becomes
Fuehrer when
Hindenburg dies
1938
1939
Hitler
invades
Russia
1941
-Germany signs
Non Aggression
Pact with USSR
-Hitler invades
Poland
Clip on London Blitz: capture shows doubledecker bus and traffic in London
Describe the Interventionist and Isolationist programs.
• Interventionists •
• Wanted to give •
support to GB
but not declare •
war of
Germany
•
• William Allen
White formed
Committee to
•
Defend
America
• Promoted US
support of GB
Isolationists
Wanted to stay out of
Europe’s business
Committee to Defend
America First
Supported by
pacifist, socialists,
Democrats, and
Republicans
Members included
Hoover, Frank Lloyd
Wright, Charles
Lindbergh
Top: Lindbergh
addresses America
First Committee;
Below: AFC emblem
In the 1940 election FDR said, “Your president says
this country is not going to war!” What actions
had FDR taken during that same year that
contradict this quote?
• Sept. 1940 FDR transferred 50
old destroyers to GB (in return
for naval bases)
• Sept. 1940- FDR signed Selective
Training and Service Act
• Fist peacetime draft in US
history
• FDR claimed that through
strength he would keep us out of
war
Row upon row of
destroyers bound for
England
Capture from clip on invasion
of France
What was Operation Barbarossa
(June 22, 1941)?
• Hitler invaded Russia
• Sought
– Oil of Caucasus region
– Wheat of Ukraine
– Lebensraum for
Germans
• 3 million Germans forces
fought
• Within 25 miles of Moscow
• Laid siege to Leningrad
Top: Map showing Hitler’s spread-out
objectives in Russia; Below: Hitler and Stalin
prance arm in arm, each with a pistol behind
their back
Capture from clip on invasion of
Russia, June 1941
Describe the Lend-Lease Act and how it drew the
US closer to war.
• Gave president right to sell, lend, lease
weapons
– ‘If a neighbor’s house were on fire, you
would loan that person your garden
hose without worrying about the price.’
• $50 billion to Allies
• Controversial when applied to USSR
– Lindberg- preferred alliance with Nazi
Germany
• Called USSR “the godlessness and
barbaric”
– Churchill• “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at
least make a favorable reference to
the Devil in the House of Commons”
Top and bottom: American
weapons being readied for
shipment to England
Describe the Atlantic Charter and its goals.
• Agreement between FDR and
Churchill
• plan for the post war world
• Influenced by Wilson’s
Fourteen Points
• Supported national
sovereignty, right to be free
from fear and aggression
• Planned to form international
organization to protect
FDR and Churchill aboard ship in the North
security of others (UN)
Atlantic, working out the Atlantic Charter
How did FDR respond to Japan’s
aggressiveness in Asia?
• Japan formed alliance with Italy
and Germany in Sept. 1940 (Axis
Powers)
• FDR applied economic pressure
– Placed an embargo on scrap
metal, aviation fuel, chemicals,
machine parts (for their military
machine)
– Froze Japanese assets in US and
ended all trade (July of 1941)
FDR headshot
The late Peter Jennings
introduces clip on our troubles
with Japan
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What did Japan hope to gain by attacking
Pearl Harbor?
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Developed plan to deliver
sudden knockout punch to
America’s fleet
Would force America to
Above: Yamamoto in
admiral’s uniform
resume trade
Free up Japan’s rear for
further expansion into Asia
Quaint December scene from a small U.S. town,
the morning the Pearl Harbor attack destroyed our
tranquility and broke our isolation