Transcript World War II - White Plains Public Schools

World War II
History and Legacy
Global History II
Spiconardi
The Belligerents
Axis Powers
Germany
Italy
Japan




Allies
Great Britain
France
USA
USSR





Causes

German Aggression






Rebuilding of military
Extreme nationalism
Invasion of Poland in
September 1, 1939
Britain and France declare
war on Germany
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Japanese Expansion



Manchuria 1931
“Rape of Nanjing”
Policy of Appeasement





Europe did not want another
world war
Politicians feared being voted
out of office in they supported
war
Had domestic problems
(depression) to deal with
Weak League of Nations
Rise of Totalitarianism
The Phony War
Other than Germany’s invasion of Poland there is no
fighting between Germany & its allies and Great
Britain and France
 War really begins in April of 1940 as Nazi forces
invade Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and
Belgium

Occupation of France




German invades France on May
16, 1940
Within two weeks Nazi forces
are marching in the streets of
Paris
Charles de Gaulle flees to
England and sets up exile
government
Hitler establishes a puppet
government in southern France
called the “Vichy Government”
under Henri Pétain

How did Germany defeat
France so easily?

Blitzkrieg (“Lightening War”)


Massive bombings via
planes, trucks, tanks all at
high speed
Hitler only invades half-way,
which allows for evacuation of
troops and resistance to Vichy
government in southern France
Dunkirk Evacuation




England needs to evacuate
338,000 soldiers
Sends 860 boats to rescue
British troops in German
occupied France
Miraculously the British
evacuate all troops without
a single loss of life despite
being attacked, but all
supplies left behind
Moral boost to British
Bombings of London and Berlin




Hitler contemplated
invading England
Decides to bomb London
instead
Britain had most advanced
radar system, which limits
losses
Angry over bombing of
London, Churchill orders
bombing of Berlin, which is
big blow to Hitler
Turning Point: U.S. Enters War

U.S. enters war after bombing of Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941

U.S. declares war on Japan




Italy and Germany declare war on U.S.
Tripartite Pact – Germany, Italy, & Japan agreed to declare war on
U.S., if one of them was attacked by U.S.
Britain had wanted U.S. to enter war
Britain desperately needed U.S. aid
Turning Point: Crypto-Analysis
Britain able to break Germany’s Enigma Code
 Britain also breaks Japan’s Purple Code
 U.S. uses Navajo Indian language as their code


Unbreakable because there is no written Navajo language
Turning Point: Stalingrad (1942)



Hitler goes back on NonAggression Pact and invades the
Soviet Union in 1941
“Get rid of Russia and you get rid
of Jewery.”
Invasion of Russia harder than
expected


No roads  hurts supply routes
Scorched Earth Policy


Russians blow up everything in
retreat
Harsh Russian Winter

Germans ill-prepared

Battle of Stalingrad







Germans outnumber Soviets 3:1
Urban Warfare
Stalin orders no retreat
Germany supplies must travel 100
miles
Soviet supplies come across the river
Germans surrender Stalingrad
Germany has 3 days of national
morning
Battle of El-Alamein

Gen. Erwin Rommel




The Desert Fox
Germany’s top general
Led troops in Northern Africa
Front
Hitler accuses Rommel of
partaking in plot to kill him
in 1944

Two options
 Suicide with hero’s funeral
 Treason Trial

Battle of El-Alamein (1942)



See-Saw battle in Africa
British eventually win with
U.S. aid
Rommel wanted to surrender
earlier, but Hitler made him
stay until “last man standing”
Invasion of Italy


Allies invade Italy in 1943
Hitler forced to send troops
into Italy


Takes troops away from other
areas in Europe
Mussolini surrounded

Hitler sends helicopters in
and rescues Mussolini

End of Mussolini and
Fascism in Italy




Mussolini hides in German
convoy with girlfriend
He is discovered and arrested
Taken to be shot, but
girlfriend “jumps” in front of
bullet
Bodies hung in a Milanese
market
D-Day: Liberation of France




U.S. leads invasion of
Normandy beaches in
France (June 6, 1944)
Allies break through
German defenses
Advance to Paris
From Paris the Allies invade
Germany
Yalta Conference


Stalin, Churchill, & Roosevelt meet
Plan for a post-World War II World



Germany would be divided into zones (temporarily)
Stalin would oversee creation of new government in Eastern Europe
Agreed to create United Nations
The War Ends: Europe

Germany Surrenders


Soviets reach Berlin first
End of Hitler






Hitler is surrounded by Allied
Forces
Hitler hears small gun fire
Marries mistress
Writes out will, which bashes
Jews
Wife takes cyanide pill
Hitler shoots himself

V-E Day

May 8, 1945
The War Ends: The Pacific

Warfare in the Pacific
theater was brutal and slow


Hot, humid, rough terrain,
island hopping
Mainly USA vs. Japan with
some British help

USSR declares war on Japan
day after atomic bomb is
dropped
V-J Day: September 2, 1945

The Atomic Bomb

Hiroshima bombed 8/6/1945


70,000 killed
Nagasaki bombed 8/9/1945

40,000 killed
Impact of World War II

Human Losses




75 million dead
38 million Europeans
22 million Soviets
Economic Losses



England, Germany, and Japan
hardest hit
Marshall Plan

US gives aid to rebuild
Europe
Nuremberg Trials



22 Nazi leaders put on trial
for “war crimes against
humanity”
Many fled to South America
Occupied Nations


Western nations occupied
West Germany and Japan to
promote democracy
USSR occupied East
Germany and eastern Europe
to promote Communism
Impact of World War II

Beginnings of Cold War

Europe divided into





The United Nations

West Democracies
East Communist

Arms Race

Questioning of Humanity


New international body that
provides:
Writers and Movies explore
evils of humanity
Brutality that had
not been witnessed
before

Place to discuss world
problems
Develop solutions to world
problems
General Assembly


All nations members and get
one vote
Security Council
 15 members (5 permanent:
US, Russia, France, Great
Britain, China)