Transcript AKS 47: World War II

World War II
Early Challenges to World Peace
Japan’s War in China
Conquest of Chinese Manchuria 1931-1932
Full-scale invasion in 1937
The Rape of Nanjing
Ariel bombing of urban center
400,000 Chinese used for bayonet practice,
massacred
7,000 women raped
1/3 of all homes destroyed
2
Early Challenges to World Peace
Sept. 1931: Japan Invades Manchuria;
Withdraws from League of Nations
World Reaction?:
W. nations did not want to get involved b/c
they had their own problems to deal with
Result:
Continue aggression
Early Challenges to World Peace
Chinese Resistance
Japanese aggression spurs “United
Front” policy between Chinese
Communists and Nationalists
Guerilla warfare ties down half of the
Japanese army
Yet continued clashes between
Communists and Nationalists
Communists gain popular support, upper
hand by end of the war
5
Early Challenges to World Peace
Oct. 1935: Italy invades Ethiopia
Benito Mussolini invades Ethiopia with overpowering
force
2,000 Italian troops killed, 275,000 Ethiopians killed
Also takes Libya, Albania
World Reaction?:
League of Nations ordered sanctions against Italy
Refused to sell them weapons, continued to sell
them oil
Refused to get involved for fear of another conflict
Early Challenges to World Peace
Germany
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) withdraws
from League of Nations
Remilitarizes Germany
Anschluss (“Union”) with Austria, 1938
Pressure on Sudetenland
(Czechoslovakia)
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Early Challenges to World Peace
July 1936:
Spanish Civil War Begins
March 1936:
German troops occupy
Rhineland
Oct. 1936
Hitler & Mussolini sign
Rome-Berlin Axis
Japan signs Tripartite Pact
with Germany, Italy (1940),
Non-Aggression Pact with
USSR (1941)
Early Challenges to World Peace
Munich Conference (1938)
Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany meet
Allies follow policy of appeasement
Hitler promises to halt expansionist efforts
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
(1869-1940) promises “peace for our time”
Hitler signs secret Russian-German Treaty of
Non-Aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact,
August 1939)
10
Early Challenges to World Peace
Sept. 1938: Munich Conference
Hitler promised British Prime Minister
Chamberlain he would leave Europe alone if
given Sudetenland (appeasement)
Early Challenges to World Peace
Sept. 1938: Munich Conference
Oct. 1938 – Germany
occupies Sudetenland
6 Months Later – Takes
all of Czechoslovakia –
clear at this point
appeasement won’t
work
Early Challenges to World Peace
Aug. 1939: Hitler & Stalin sign Nazi-Soviet Pact
Advantages for Hitler:
Removal of threat of attack from the east
Division of Poland
Advantages for Stalin:
Division of Poland
Takeover of Finland & Baltic countries
Safety from German attack
Early Challenges to World Peace
Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland
Hitler’s Strategy:
Blitzkrieg – “lightning war”
Use fast-moving mechanized
weapons
Planes, Tanks, Artillery, Infantry –
all at ONCE!!!
Air forces soften up target,
armored divisions rush in
German U-boats (submarines)
patrol Atlantic, threaten British
shipping
Poland fell in ONE month!
Early Challenges to World Peace
Sept. 3, 1939: Britain & France Declare
War on Germany
WORLD
WAR
II
OFFICIALLY
BEGINS!!!
Who's Who & Who's on Whose Side??
AXIS POWERS
Germany - Hitler
Italy - Mussolini
Japan - Tojo,
Hirohito
Spain - Franco
Axis Military Le aders
Germany:
Gen. Erwin Rommel "The Desert Fox"
Japan:
Admiral Yamamoto Head of Japanese Naval
Fleet
ALLIED POWERS
France - de Gaulle
Britain - Churchill
USSR - Stalin
USA - FD Roosevelt
Allied Military Leaders
USA:
Gen. Dwig ht Eisenhower Supreme Allied Commander
in Europe
Gen. Dou glas MacArth ur Allied Comman der in Pacific
Gen. George S . Patton
British: Gen. B. M ontgomery
The European Campaign
April 1940: Hitler invades Denmark & Norway; Heads for France
Hitler’s Plan:
Pave a way to France & distract Allies by
invading Holland, Belgium, & Luxembourg,
then send massive force through the
Ardennes Forest
The European Campaign
The Fall of France
1940: Germany occupies Denmark, Norway,
Belgium, France
Pave a way to France & distract Allies by
invading Holland, Belgium, & Luxembourg,
then send massive force through the
Ardennes Forest
Hitler forces French to sign armistice
agreement in same railroad car used for the
armistice imposed on Germany in 1918
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The European Campaign
June 1940: France Surrenders
What Happened at
Dunkirk?:
Britain rescued
Allied soldiers
stranded at Dunkirk
& ferried them to
safety across the
English Channel
The European Campaign
July 1940: Battle of Britain
What Happened?:
German Luftwaffe (Air Force)
bombed British cities for 3 months
“The Blitz”
40,000 British civilians killed in urban
bombing raids
Especially London
Goal: Hitler wanted to destroy
British morale before invading
Outcome:
RAF fighters & British resistance
forced Germany to call off the
attack – Hitler could be stopped!
The European Campaign
Sept. 1940
Italy moves to seize
Egypt & Suez Canal
Feb. 1941
Hitler sends Gen.
Rommel to help Italian
troops seize Egypt &
Suez Canal
The European Campaign
June 1941: Operation Barbarossa
Lebensraum (“living space”)
June 22, 1941 Hitler double-crosses
Stalin and invades USSR
Stalin caught off-guard, rapid advance
But severe winter, long supply lines
weakened German efforts
Soviets regroup and attack Spring 1942
Turning point: Battle of Stalingrad
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(ends February 1943)
High tide of Axis expansion in Europe
and North Africa
23
The European Campaign
July 1942: Battle of El Alamein
What Happened?:
Gen. Montgomery vs. Gen. Rommel
Forced Rommel and his forces to retreat
westward from Egypt
Operation Torch: Gen. Eisenhower arrived with
American troops in N. Africa
The European Campaign
July 1942: Battle of El Alamein
Result:
Trapped Rommel’s forces b/w American &
British & finally defeated Rommel’s Afrika
Korps
The European Campaign
July 1942-Feb.1943: Battle of Stalingrad
Outcome:
Hitler attacked, Soviets eventually put
German forces on defensive with Soviets
pushing them westward
The European Campaign
July 1942-Feb.1943: Battle of Stalingrad
Comparison to Napoleon:
In both invasions, Russia’s terrible winter &
its strategy of destroying everything in the
enemy’s path created severe hardships for
the invaders
The European Campaign
Sept. 1943: Invasion of Italy
Outcome:
Resulted in Allied conquest of Sicily &
forced eventual surrender of Italy
The European Campaign
Nov.-Dec. 1943
Tehran Conference
Tehran Conference
When?
November 28-December 1, 1943
Tehran Conference
Members Present?
Franklin Roosevelt (USA)
Winston Churchill (Britain)
Joseph Stalin (USSR)
Tehran Conference
Purpose of Meeting?
Coordinate military strategy against
Germany & Japan
Decide on important issues of postWWII era
Tehran Conference
What was decided?
Coordination of D-Day invasion
Poland’s post-war borders
First discussions about splitting up
Germany into zones of occupation
First discussions of the future United
Nations between Stalin & FDR
*Many issues left for final decisions at
later conferences
The European Campaign
June 6, 1944: D-Day Invasion
Outcome:
800,000 Allies landed at
Normandy Beach
Opened a 2nd front in Europe
Led to liberation of France,
Belgium, Luxembourg, &
much of Netherlands from
Nazi occupation
The European Campaign
Dec. 1944: Battle of the Bulge
Outcome:
German’s final attack in
Ardennes Forest
Patton marched his army
100 miles in 2 days &
attacked w/ 3 division to
save the line
Resulted in heavy losses
for Hitler
The European Campaign
Feb. 1945:
Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
When?
February 4-11, 1945
Yalta Conference
Members Present?
Franklin Roosevelt (USA)
Winston Churchill (Britain)
Joseph Stalin (USSR)
Yalta Conference
Purpose of Meeting?
Make final decisions about the end of
the war
Yalta Conference
What was decided?
Divide Germany into 4 zones controlled
by Allied military forces
Germany must pay the USSR
Stalin agreed to join war against Japan
90 days after end of war in Europe
Stalin promised free elections in Eastern
Europe
The European Campaign
April 1945: Leaders Fall
Italy:
Mussolini captured & killed by Italians
USA:
April 12: President Roosevelt dies & VicePresident Harry Truman becomes President
Germany:
April 30: Hitler & other top Nazis commit
suicide
The European Campaign
May 8, 1945:
V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
Germany surrenders
July-Aug. 1945
Potsdam Conference
Allied Victory in Europe
Red Army (USSR) gains offensive after Stalingrad
(February 1943)
British, US forces attack in North Africa, Italy
D-Day: June 6, 1944, British and US forces land
in France
US, Britain bomb German cities
Dresden, February 1945: 135,000 Germans killed in
shelters
30 April 1945 Hitler commits suicide, 8 May
Germany surrenders
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US Involvement in WWII before Pearl
Harbor
US initiates “cash and carry” policy to supply
Allies with arms
“lend-lease” program: US lends war goods to
Allies, leases naval bases in return
US freezes Japanese assets in US
US places embargo on oil shipments to Japan
Japanese Defense Minister Tojo Hideki (18841948) plans for war with US
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Pacific Campaign
Dec. 7, 1941: Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
What Happened?
Japanese launched surprise attack sinking
or damaging almost the entire U.S. Pacific
fleet – used kamikazes (suicide pilots)
Pacific Campaign
Dec. 7, 1941: Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
Outcome of the Attack?
U.S. declares war on Japan
Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
FDR: “A date which will live in infamy”
Destroyed US Navy in the Pacific
Hitler, Mussolini declare war on the US
on December 11
US joins Great Britain and the USSR
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Wreckage from Pearl Harbor
49
Japanese Victories
Japan dominates south-east Asia,
Pacific islands
Establishes “Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere”
50
Pacific Campaign
Dec. 1941-May 1942: Battle of the Philippines
What Happened?
Japan invaded
Philippine Islands
Filipinos & U.S. under
Gen. Douglas
MacArthur defended
the islands
General Douglas MacArthur
Pacific Campaign
Dec. 1941-May 1942: Battle of the Philippines
Outcome/Significance of the Battle?
Japan wins
Perseverance of U.S. & Filipino defense
delayed Japanese attacks on other areas
Pacific Campaign
Fall of Southeast Asian Colonies
What Happened?
Through a planned series of attacks, Japan
seized control of rich European colonies
Ex: French Indochina, British Hong Kong
Significance of the Attack?
Helped Japan replenish depleted resources
Pacific Campaign
April 1942: Doolittle’s Raid on Japan
What Happened?
As revenge for Pearl Harbor, U.S. sent 16
B-25 bombers to bomb Japanese cities,
mainly Tokyo
Pacific Campaign
April 1942: Doolittle’s Raid on Japan
Significance of the Attack?
Showed that Japan could be attacked
Raised American morale
Pacific Campaign
May 1942: Battle of the Coral Sea
What Happened?
Following interception of Japanese attack
on Port Moresby, Japanese & American
naval fleets fought to a draw (nobody won)
Pacific Campaign
May 1942: Battle of the Coral Sea
Significance of the Battle?
Introduced a new kind of naval warfare
using only airplanes
Stopped Japan’s expansion southward
Pacific Campaign
June 1942: Battle of Midway
What Happened?
American carrier
planes defeated
Japanese fleet poised
to attack Midway
Island, a key
American airfield
Pacific Campaign
June 1942: Battle of Midway
Significance of the Battle?
Reversed the tide of the war in the Pacific
Pacific Campaign
Aug. 1942-Feb. 1943: Battle of Guadalcanal
What Happened?
U.S. Marines, with Australian support,
seized Japanese airfield & fought on land &
sea for control of island
Pacific Campaign
Aug. 1942-Feb. 1943: Battle of Guadalcanal
Significance of the Battle?
Forced Japan to abandon island
Began MacArthur’s island-hopping
counterattack
• Hop past Japanese Strongholds- seize islands
that were not well defended but close to Japan
Pacific Campaign
Oct. 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf
Wiped out Japanese Navy
Turning the Tide in the Pacific
US code breaking operation Magic
discovers Japanese plans
Battle of Midway (4 June 1942)
US takes the offensive, engages in
island-hopping strategy
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Japanese kamikaze suicide bombers
Savage two-month battle for Okinawa
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Pacific Campaign
Feb.-March 1945: Battle of Iwo Jima
 U.S. Marines raise the
Stars and Stripes after their
victory at Iwo Jima
Pacific Campaign
March-June 1945: Battle of Okinawa
Resulted in heavy losses for Japanese
Moved Allies closer to an invasion of
Japanese homeland
Pacific Campaign
Aug. 1945: Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Aug. 6: Truman decides to drop bomb on
Hiroshima (attempt to save lives)
Pacific Campaign
Aug. 1945: Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Aug. 9: Second
bomb dropped on
Nagasaki
Aug. 10: VJ-Day
(Victory in Japan)
– Japan
surrenders!!
Nazi Genocide and the Jews
Jews primary target of Nazi genocidal efforts
Other groups also slated for destruction:
Roma (Gypsies), Homosexuals, Jehovah’s
Witnesses
Nazis initially encouraged Jewish emigration
Few countries willing to accept Jewish
refugees
Aborted plans to deport Jews to Madagascar,
reservation in Poland
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The Final Solution
Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads) follow
German army into USSR with Operation
Barbarossa
Round up of Jews and others, machine-gun
executions of 1.4 million
Later in 1941 decided on “Final Solution:”
deportation of all European Jews to Death
Camps
Plans solidified at Wannsee Conference,
January 1942
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The Holocaust
Jews deported from ghettos all over Europe
in cattle cars, spring 1942
Destination: six specially designed Death
Camps in Eastern Europe
Technologically advanced, assembly-line style
of murder through poison gas (Zyklon B)
Corpses destroyed in crematoria
Estimated number of Jews killed: 5.7 million
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The Holocaust in Europe, 19331945
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Jewish Resistance
German policy of collective punishment,
generations of life as a minority hamper
Jewish resistance efforts
Yet ghetto uprisings, armed conflict
nevertheless
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, spring 1943
Jews in partisan guerilla units
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The Holocaust
Who…?
…were the victims of the Holocaust?
Non-Aryan peoples, primarily Jews, but
also Gypsies, Slavs, etc.
The Holocaust
Who…?
…were members of the “master race”?
Aryans
The signs read:
“Germans! Defend
Yourselves! Do not buy
from Jews!”
The Holocaust
What…?
…were the Nuremberg Laws?
German laws depriving Jews of rights to
citizenship & jobs
The Holocaust
What…?
…happened on the
night of November 9,
1938?
On Kristallnacht, the
Nazis launched a
violent attack on
Jewish communities all
over Germany
The Holocaust
What…?
…was Hitler’s “Final
Solution”?
Systematic killing
of entire groups of
people, particularly
Jews, whom the
Nazis saw as
inferior
The Holocaust
Where…?
…did German Jews try to migrate to
find safety from Nazi terror?
France, Britain, USA, & other countries
The Holocaust
Where…?
…were Jews forced to live in Germancontrolled cities?
In ghettos – segregated Jewish areas
The Holocaust
Where…?
…were the concentration camps?
Mainly in Germany & Poland
The Holocaust
Why…?
…did Hitler believe that Jews & other
“subhumans” had to be exterminated?
To protect the purity of the Aryan race
The Holocaust
Why…?
…did the Germans
build
extermination
camps?
To carry out mass
murders in huge
gas chambers
The Holocaust
When…?
…did the final stage of the Final
Solution begin?
Early 1942
The Holocaust
How…?
…did non-Jewish people try to save
Jews from the horrors of Nazism?
By hiding Jews in their homes or helping
them escape to neutral countries
 Anne Frank
The Holocaust
How…?
…many Jews died in the Holocaust?
Approximately 6,000,000
Nuremberg Trials
Nazis put on trial for crimes against
humanity (events of Holocaust)
Goal was to punish Nazi officials using a
democratic system
Japanese Internment Camps in the
United States
Japanese-Americans placed in camps
Why? – feared they were enemies or
spies after bombing at Pearl Harbor
Potsdam Conference
When?
July 17-August 2, 1945
Potsdam Conference
THE BIG THREE
Members Present?
Harry Truman (USA)
Joseph Stalin (USSR)
Winston Churchill & later Clement Attlee
(Britain)
Potsdam Conference
Purpose of Meeting?
Clarify agreements from Yalta
Potsdam Conference
What was decided?
Potsdam Declaration
Unconditional surrender of Japan
Japanese disarmament, establishment of
democratic government
Postwar European borders (especially
Poland)
Deaths During World War II
(millions)
0.3
0.4
6
6
20
2
4
15
USSR
China
Germany
Japan
Poles
Britain
US
Jews
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Formation of the United Nations
The Beginning
Stalin & FDR secretly discussed ideas
for U.N. at Tehran Conference
1944: Britain, China, USSR, & U.S. met
in D.C. & drafted the 1st charter
Formation of the United Nations
First Meeting
April 1945 in San Francisco
Delegates from 50 nations worked for 2
months to develop the official charter
Formation of the United Nations
Details & Purpose
Purpose: peacekeeping organization
designed to protect its members against
aggression
Permanent Members of Security Council:
USA, Britain, USSR, France, China
Origins of the Cold War
US, USSR, Great Britain unnatural allies during
World War II
Tensions submerged until close of war
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences (1945)
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
Decided on USSR declaration of war vs. Japan, setting
up of International Military Tribunal
Free elections for Eastern Europe
Stalin arranges pro-communist governments in
Eastern European countries
1946: “Iron Curtain” descends
97
The Truman Doctrine (1947)
World divided into free and enslaved
states
US to support all movements for
democracy
“containment” of Communism
NATO and the Warsaw Pact established
Militarization of Cold War
98
Marshall Plan for Europe
Who…?
…proposed the plan?
U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall
Marshall Plan for Europe
When…?
…did he propose the plan?
1947
Marshall Plan for Europe
What…?
…did he propose the U.S. needed to do?
Give aid to needy European countries
Provide food, machinery, & other materials
to rebuild Western Europe & stop Soviet
expansion
Truman signs Marshall Plan 
The Marshall Plan
Named for George C. Marshall (18801989), US Secretary of State
Proposed in 1947, $13 billion to
reconstruct western Europe
USSR establishes Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance (COMECON), 1949
The United Nations formed (1945) to
resolve international disputes
102
MacArthur’s Plan for Japan
Demilitarization
Disbanded Japanese armed forces
Left Japanese with small police force
MacArthur’s Plan for Japan
Democratization
Created a gov’t elected by the people
Set up a constitutional monarchy b/c
Japanese wanted to keep emperor
MacArthur’s Plan for Japan
Other Reforms
Land ownership was expanded
Independent labor unions had the right
to form
Increase participation of workers &
farmers in new democracy
Varieties of Wartime Occupation
Independent States with enforced
alliances
Thailand, Denmark
Puppet States
Manchukuo, Vichy France
Military Administration
Indochina, Poland
106
Collaboration
For some, opportunity for social
mobility under conquerors
Sometimes considered a lesser evil than
military administration
107
Resistance
Military forms of resistance
Intelligence gathering
Protecting refugees
Symbolic gestures
German, Japanese policies of collective
punishment
108
Women and the War
WAVES (Women Appointed for
Volunteer Emergency Service)
US, Great Britain bar women from
serving in combat units
Soviet, Chinese forces include women
fighters
Women very active in resistance
movements
109
Women’s Roles
Women occupy jobs of men away at
war
Also take on “head of household” duties
Temporary: men returning from war
displace women
Yet lasting impact on women’s movement
110
“Comfort Women”
Asian women forced into prostitution by
Japanese forces
20/30 men per day, in war zones
“Comfort Houses,” “Consolation
Centers”
Killed when infected with venereal disease
Large-scale massacres at end of war to
hide crimes
Social ostracism for survivors
111