Transcript World War II Notes - Fort Thomas Independent Schools

World War II
Notes
What was WWII?
• Largest war in human history.
• Involved countries, colonies, and territories
around the entire world.
• By the end, over 70 million were dead.
• It lasted from 1939 until 1945.
Causes
• W WI and the Treaty of Versailles
• Appeasement
• Rise of Totalitarianism
WWI and the Treaty of
Versailles
• Germany lost land to
surrounding nations
• War reparations
– Allies collect $ to pay
back war debts to US
– Germany pays $30
billion (around $50 trillion
modern day equivalent)
– Germans are bankrupt,
embarrassed, guilt
ridden, and angry.
• Desperate people turn
to desperate leaders:
Totalitarian regimes
Appeasement
• Appeasement: Giving someone something to make them happy and
leave you alone. Hitler demanded land that wasn’t Germany’s and
others just gave it to him.
• Isolationism: Nations were trying to prevent war & focus on
domestic issues
• Appeasement just showed Hitler that he could do whatever he
wanted. Isolationism allowed Hitler to punish German jews without
fear of reprisal from the international community
“Peace
in Our
Time!”
Rise of Totalitarianism
• A system in which the state and its leader
have nearly TOTAL control.
• Individual rights are not viewed as important as the
needs of the nation.
– No right to vote
– No free speech
– Government controlled economy
– Often a police state
Totalitarianism
USSR:
Communist
Dictatorship
Germany & Italy:
Fascist
Dictatorship
Japan:
Military
Dictatorship
Adolf HitlerGermany
Hideki Tojo Japan
Benito Mussolini-Italy
Josef StalinUSSR
What is Fascism?
• Political belief that says the individual is
less important than the nation.
• Glorifies violence, believes it is needed to
“prove” strength of a people.
• Uses nationalism and racism.
• Dictatorships.
• Italy and then Germany became fascist.
How did WWII start?
• Germany invaded Poland to get
lebensraum
What did Hitler Want?
• Militarism- soon after becoming chancellor he
begins rearming Germany breaking the Treaty of
Versailles
• Rhineland- moves troops into the Rhineland
territory again breaking the Treaty of Versailles
• Lebensraum- “living space”
– Austria - annexed peacefully in 1938
– Sudetenland – territory in Czechoslovakia
• Given to Germany by Great Britain and France
– Hitler then invades the rest of Czechoslovakia
How did WWII start?
•
•
•
•
•
Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 3rd, 1939.
Allies declare war on Germany.
Germany then invades France, Belgium, etc.
Then Hitler invades Russia.
Germans use “blitzkrieg” to overwhelm other
armies.
– Blitzkrieg means “lightening war” in German.
– Surround with tanks and troops in trucks.
Who was on each side?
Axis Powers
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
•
•
•
•
Allied Powers
Great Britain
Soviet Union
United States
France
– Surrendered to
Germany in 1940 after
6 weeks
Battle for France
• May 10th, 1940: France is invaded by
Hitler’s army through a thick forest –the
Ardennes.
• France believed the forest would protect
them, but it couldn’t protect them from
Hitler’s Panzer Division.
• On June 22nd, 1940: France Surrendered
Germany.
Battle for Britain
• Britain helped to evacuate 300,000 soldiers
from France escaping the German Army.
• Their plan was to weaken the will of the
British. Germany bombed London for over 50
days, slaughtering civilians, destroying
ancient buildings.
• After the use of Radar technology, German
forces are unable to make many successful
attacks on Britain.
• By 1941, Germany could not continue to lose
planes/pilots on London Bombing Raids.
Battle Against the Soviets
• After failing in Britain, Hitler turned toward his
old enemy Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union.
• In June, 1941 Germany invaded the Soviets
with a force of 3 million troops.
• At first the assault is highly effective, but as
winter sets in German machines and people
are unprepared for Soviet Winter.
• After Winter, Stalin’s forces regroup and
millions begin marching against the Germans
What about the Pacific War?
• The US (mostly) fought the Japanese.
• December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii to sink US ships there.
– Two hours = most US navy destroyed and
over 2,000 sailors killed
• Japan surrenders after US drops atomic
bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Pearl Harbor: Why?
• Japan needed a lot of oil for its War Machine
to remain operational. America traded a lot of
oil to Japan.
• America cut-off their oil supplies to Japan in
response to their Militarism/Imperialism in
Asia (i.e., China, Korea, Manchuria).
• Japan responded by planning a secret attack
on the U.S. base in Hawaii: Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor: The Attack
• The attack begins early on the morning of
Dec. 7th, 1941 (Day of Infamy)
• 2 waves of attack from planes/submarines
• Attack takes less than 2 hours.
• 2402 – Dead
Japanese Losses
1282 – Injured
65 people
4 Battleships Sunk
5 Subs
128 Aircraft destroyed
29 aircraft
The Aftermath
• America was shocked and entered the war
the very next day (Dec. 8th).
• America, upon entering the war, rounded
up Japanese into Internment Camps.
• Germans and Italians also experienced
severe mistreatment.
• Jingoism: patriotism in the form of warlike,
aggressive, ethnocentric behavior
How did WWII end in Europe?
• Operation Overlord- Allied invasion of
France. Also called D-Day.
– Within a month 1 million Allied troops were
stationed in Europe.
– Germany is surrounded with the USSR to the
east
• Germany surrenders in 1945 after Hitler
commits suicide.
How did WWII end in Europe?
• Allies divide Germany up between them.
– This helps start the Cold War.
• Trials are held in Germany (and Japan) to
try the people responsible for the war.
– Many are executed and jailed for war crimes.
How did WWII end in the
Pacific?
• “Island-Hopping” – Invading throughout
the pacific Island by Island
– Costly in lives, resources; bloody battles
– Battle of Midway – US destroys Japanese
fleet [turning point in the pacific]
– Japan continues to fight despite losses
– Truman doesn’t want to invade mainland
Japan (projected too costly in lives)
– Aug. 6 Hiroshima; Aug 9. Nagasaki
What was the Holocaust?
• Nazi plan to kill all Jews.
• Why? Hitler provided a scapegoat to Germany’s
problems
• 6 million Jews murdered in camps in Europe.
• 5-6 million others (gypsies, mentally ill, homosexuals)
• Total of 11-12 million exterminated
• What is genocide?
• Purposely trying to exterminate an entire group
of people (ethnic, religious, racial).
Quick Facts
• War Costs
– US Debt 1940 - $9 Billion
– US Debt 1945 - $98 Billion
• WWII cost $330 billion – 10 times the
cost of WWI & equivalent to all
previous federal spending since 1776
Losses of the Major Wartime Powers in WWII,
1939-1945
• Germany
– 4.5 million military
– 2 million civilian
• Japan
– 2 million military
– 350,000 civilians
• Italy
– 400,000 military
– 100,000 civilian
• China
– 2.5 million military
– 7.4 million civilians
• USSR
– 10 million military
– 10 million civilians
• Great Britain
– 300,000 military
– 50,000 civilians
• France
– 250,000 military
– 350,000 civilian
• United States
– 274,000 military
Postwar Efforts
at Revenge
• The Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46
– After, WWII the Allied powers decided to place on trial
the highest-ranking Nazi officers for “crimes against
humanity”
– Allied forces had attempted to do this after WWI, but
had released them on the grounds that they “were just
following orders”
– Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler were dead; but, 22 Nazi
leaders (including Goring) were tried at an international
military tribunal at Nuremburg, Germany. 12 were
sentenced to death. Similar trials occurred in the east
and throughout the world.
• The Tokyo Trial (1946-48)
Postwar Efforts at Peace
• The United Nations – There was some hope
when, in 1945, the United Nations was created;
an organization to promote international stability
– A General Assembly where representatives from
all countries could debate international issues.
– The Security Council had 5 permanent members
– U.S., Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China
could veto any question of substance. There were
also 6 elected members.
– Key: the U.S. joined [in contrast to League of
Nations]
Wartime
Agreements
• Unlike WWI, there was no Peace of Paris to
reshape Europe.
– Instead, the Yalta agreement of February 1945,
signed by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, turned
the prevailing military balance of power into a
political settlement.
– Potsdam Conference, in suburban Berlin (July
1945)—Truman, Stalin, Churchill – Finalized plans
on Germany. Germany would be demilitarized and
would remain divided.
Postwar Reality:
Soviet Control of Eastern Europe
• Europe was politically cut in half; Soviet
troops had overrun eastern Europe and
penetrated into the heart of Germany.
• During 1944-1945, Stalin starts shaping
the post-war world by occupying SE
Europe with Soviet troops that should
have been on the Polish front pushing
toward Berlin.
• Roosevelt did not have postwar aims
because he still had to fight Japan; Stalin
Postwar Reality
• Consequences of World War II
– Soviet Union with agenda
– Unlike the isolation after WWI, the U.S.
was engaged in world affairs
– The triumph of Communists in China
– Decolonization
• The independence of nations from
European (U.S. & Japan) colonial
powers.