Transcript World War II 1939-1945

World War II
1939-1945
How did these guys come to power?
Remember that Germany had to pay war reparations for losing WWI. The
United States was a major lender of loans to rebuild Europe. However,
our stock market crashed in 1929 and when we recalled the money for
the loans no one could pay. German money was inflated because they
were printing money like crazy. So these countries were hurting
financially. People became desperate for someone to fix the problem.
Out of this desperation came individual who same up through the
political process and communicated that if elected they would fix the
countries problems: Hitler and Mussolini.
Benito Mussolini and Adolf
Hitler in Munich, June 1940.
World War II – Causes and Effects
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German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939,
leads to Great Britain and France’s declarations of
war on Germany; the invasion is also the first use of
the German blitzkrieg (“lightning war”) that
incorporates fast-moving airplanes and tanks.
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Once Germany invades
Poland, the European
powers begin to
mobilize for war.
The United States
decides to stays out of
this war and remains
neutral. We do
however, begin to sell
war supplies which is
helpful to us since our
citizens need jobs as we
are at the end of the
Great Depression.
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The United States does a good job at staying out of this war even
though the Allies really want us to join in. Until the Japanese
attack our naval base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii.
Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) by Japan leads
the United States to declare war on Japan. This results in a
declaration of war on the United States by Germany and Italy.
Japan also wanted to attack the Panama Canal because the canal
was a center of world trade and traffic for Allied forces.
What is going on in the relationship
between Japan and the U.S.?
The Japanese
invaded China’s
Manchuria. At the
time we had a “Big
Brother” relationship
with China so we
put economic
sanctions on Japan
and refused to trade
with them if they did
not leave China.
Japanese imperialism: Plans for a Pacific empire that
included China that would allow Japan to solve its
economic problems through the provision of raw
materials and markets for its goods as well as providing
more room for its growing population.
U.S. Mobilization
Once the U.S. is attack we join World War II and send
half of our military forces to fight the Nazi’s in Europe
and the other half to fight the Japanese in the Pacific.
World War II is a “Two Front War” for the U.S.
Pacific
Europe
Two different locations, two different enemies, two every different experiences.
German invasion of the Soviet Union (1941-1943) also known as
Operation Barbarossa, results in the unsuccessful German sieges
of Leningrad and Moscow. The harsh Russian winter halts further
invasion in Russia. Germans besiege Stalingrad in 1942 and are
forced to surrender the following year. The Soviet army then
begins to push westward into Europe.
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Normandy landings (June 6, 1944 – “D-Day”) by Allied forces on the
coast of France lead to a German retreat. As a result, France and the
Low Countries are liberated and able to re-establish Democracy. Allied
troops push eastward into Germany that leads to German surrender in
1945.
Hitler and the Holocaust
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Hitler was part of the Nazi party that rose to power just
before WWII. Poor German economy helped sell the
idea of Nazism with the promise to fix and restore a
once proud nation.
In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler outlines his plans and
his blame on the Jewish people for their problems.
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The Holocaust – Genocide of over 6 million Jews and other groups
throughout Europe considered by Germany to be inferior. Known
as “The Final Solution” and resulted in the extermination of these
people in death camps. (Genocide is extermination of entire race…
Most of these camps took place in Germany and Poland.)
War in the
Pacific
The U.S. military advancement through the
Pacific Islands – known as “Island Hopping,”
the goal was to attain a position close enough
to mainland Japan to conduct an attack. This
war strategy was time consuming and we
were losing a lot of men.
Injured Allied
soldiers survived
only because of
the antibiotics
used that were
created years
before WWII.
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The war continued until 1945, when in an effort to wrap the war
up quickly, the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan.
Dropping of atomic bombs (August 6 and 9, 1945) by U.S. on
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki leads to Japan’s
surrender. (Truman feared the number of American lives it would
take to invade Japan.) – this is back up in causes and effects
of WWII section in notes
HOW THE END OF WORLD WAR II LED TO THE COLD WAR
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Yalta Conference (1945)
• Main Purpose: F.D. Roosevelt, W. Churchill, and J. Stalin
address dealing with interim governments and borders of
Europe at the end of the war in Europe
• Stalin’s aims differ from the other Allied powers in that he
wanted a buffer in Eastern Europe against invasion from the
West
• Eastern European nations would have communist-friendly
governments
• Soviet satellite nations with communist governments
installed in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Bulgaria,
Hungary, and Romania
• Germany divided into two sections with East Germany under
communist control
• Churchill – “….an iron curtain has descended across the
Continent.” (Europe)
• Stalin – communism (east) and capitalism (west) cannot
exist in the same world - Creating a political divide