Transcript WWII
World War II 1939 - 1945 The Alliances The Axis Powers •Germany •Japan •Italy •Spain The “Bad Guys” The Alliances The Allied Forces •U.S. •Great Britain •Russia The “Good Guys” First Steps towards War •1935 - Hitler creates new air force & reinstates the military draft •1936 - German forces occupy the Rhineland •1938 - Hitler annexes Austria to Germany •1939 - Germany acquires the Sudetenland & Western Czechoslovakia •1939 - Germany & USSR sign the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact •September 1, 1939 Hitler invades Poland •Causes World War II Japan’s Path to War •1931 - Japan invades Manchuria •1936 - China @ War with Japan •1930’s - Japan allies with Nazis •1940 - U.S. applies sanctions against Japan •December 7, 1941 Japan attacks the U.S. fleet @ Pearl Harbor in Hawaii •U.S. enters the war •2403 killed •5 battleships destroyed The European Theater •Blitzkrieg - “Lightning War” •338,000 British Troops evacuated •Germans occupy France •The U.S remains isolationist until Pearl Harbor •June 1941- Germany invades The Soviet Union •Nazis on the Offensive until 1942 Battle of Britain •1940- Luftwaffe attack Britain •Radar used to detect attacks •Hitler ordered civilian targets •British Air Force fights back •Hitler must postpone invasion of Britain •Now focuses on U.S.S.R. The Eastern Front •1941- after the Battle of Britain •Germany planned spring invasion •Harsh winter devastated Germans •1942 War turns against Germany •Battle of Stalingrad- Nov 1942 until Feb 1943 •Best German Troops lost •1943 Eastern front lost for Germany The Asian Theater •Battle of Midway- Allied Victory •U.S. naval superiority •Douglas MacArthur - gifted U.S. military strategist and General •Island Hopping Strategy •Kamikaze - “divine wind” •Japan Suicide pilots The Last Years •D-Day success helps Allies •Allies recapture Paris •Soviets defeat Germany @ Stalingrad •Allies move in on Berlin •Hitler moves into underground bunker •April 30, 1945 commits suicide D-Day Invasion •June 6,. 1944 •Allied Invasion of Normandy, France •“Operation Overlord” •Fierce fighting by both •Allowed 2 million Allied soldiers to land The Atomic Bombs •The Manhattan Project •1944 Bombing of Japan •Firebombing of Tokyo •Aug 6, 1945 Hiroshima •Aug 9, 1945 Nagasaki The Holocaust •Hiter’s Racial hatred towards Jews •6 Million Jewish killed •2/3 of European Jews •1942- “Final Solution” - Reinhard Heydrich •Death Camps - Auschwitz War Meetings •1943-The Tehran Conference- “The Big Three” •Plan D-Day Invasion of 1944 & divided Germany •1945- The Yalta Conference- “The Big Three” •Russia Vs. Japan, Creation of UN, Free elections, divided Germany again •1945- Potsdam Conference-”The Big Three” • concern for Eastern European Countries Cost of War •17 million soldiers killed •20 million civilians killed •90% of Baltic Jew killed •40% of Roma pop. Killed •6 million Jews •4 million Eastern Europeans •4 million Soviet POWs killed