Transcript World War II - John Bowne High School

The Origins of World War II
• The rise of Fascist dictators in
Germany, Italy, and elsewhere made
war almost inevitable.
• They glorified war and laid plans for
conquest.
• The war was postponed for several
years while the dictators built up their
armaments.
Adolf Hitler – German Dictator
Benito Mussolini – Italian Dictator
Characteristics of European
Fascism
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Nationalism
Reaction Against Liberalism
Unity of Social Classes
All-Powerful Leaders
Extreme Militarism
The roots of Fascism ~ anti-Semitism,
racism, & Social Darwinism
The Road to World War II
• League of Nations Fails – the
league relied on collective security
to prevent another war. Hitler, in
violation of the Treaty of Versailles,
rebuilt his armed forces. The
League could not do anything
about it because their members
refused to take action against
dictators that might lead to war.
The Road to World War II
• Appeasement – Hitler next claimed
territories where Germans lived. He
annexed Austria in 1938. Later that year,
British Prime Minister Chamberlain met with
Hitler in Munich and tried appeasement
(granting concessions to an aggressor).
Hoping to avoid war, Chamberlain agreed to
Hitler’s demand for the Sudetenland in
western Czechoslovakia
Hitler accepts the ovation of the Reichstag after announcing the `peaceful' acquisition of Austria. It
set the stage to annex the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland, largely inhabited by a German- speaking
population.
The Road to World War II
• Invasion of Poland – In 1939, Hitler
made a new demand for part of Poland.
This time, Britain and France refused to
give in. Hitler made a secret deal with
Stalin to keep the Soviet Union out of the
war. Germany then invaded Poland,
beginning World War II.
German
troops
marching
into
Warsaw,
Poland
World War II – Propaganda Posters
World War II – Propaganda Posters
The Origins of World War II
• The secret protocol held an agreement between
the Nazis and Soviets that greatly affected
Eastern Europe. For the Soviets for agreeing to
not join the possible future war, Germany was
giving the Soviets the Baltic States (Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania). Poland was also to be
divided between the two - along the Narew,
Vistula, and San rivers.
• The new territories gave the Soviet Union the
buffer (in land) that it wanted to feel safe from an
invasion from the West. It would need that buffer
in 1941.
Soviet Foreign
Commissar Vyacheslav
Molotov signs the
German-Soviet
nonaggression pact;
Joachim von Ribbentrop
and Josef Stalin stand
behind him. Moscow,
August 23. 1939.
The Road to World War II
• Impacts of the Pact
• When the Nazis attacked Poland in the morning on
September 1, 1939, the Soviets stood by and
watched. Two days later, the British declared war on
Germany and World War II had begun. On September
17, the Soviets rolled into eastern Poland to occupy
their "sphere of influence" designated in the secret
protocol. Because of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression
Pact, the Soviets did not join the fight against
Germany, thus Germany was successful in its attempt
to safeguard itself from a two-front war.
• The Nazis and the Soviets kept the terms of the pact
and the protocol until Germany's surprise attack and
invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941
Nazi Blitzkrieg
• Improvements in automobile engines and
other technologies made new forms of
warfare possible. The Germans
developed Blitzkrieg (the use of planes,
tanks, and troop carriers to rapidly
advance into enemy territory). The Nazis
quickly overran Poland, Denmark, Holland,
Belgium, France, and much of North
Africa.
A Frenchman weeps as German soldiers march into the French capital, Paris, on
June 14, 1940, after the Allied armies had been driven back across France.
Adolf Hitler in
Paris, June 23,
1940.
The tragedy of this
Sudeten woman,
unable to conceal her
misery as she dutifully
salutes the triumphant
Hitler, is the tragedy of
the silent millions who
have been `won over'
to Hitlerism by the
`everlasting use' of
ruthless force
The German ultimatum ordering the Dutch commander of Rotterdam to cease fire was
delivered to him at 10:30 a.m. on May 14, 1940. At 1:22 p.m., German bombers set the
whole inner city of Rotterdam ablaze, killing 30,000 of its inhabitants."
Battle of Britain
• By the end of 1940, Germany controlled most
of Western Europe; only Britain held out. Hitler
hoped to overcome British resistance by
bombing London and other British cities from
the air. Winston Churchill, the new Prime
Minister, rallied the British people. The use of
radar, the bravery of the British people, and
the island location helped defend against
German air attacks.
Over 500 firemen and members of the London Auxiliary Fire Fighting Services, including
many women, combined in a war exercise over the ground covered by Greenwich
(London) Fire Station."
Standing up gloriously out of the flames and smoke of surrounding buildings, St. Paul's
Cathedral is pictured during the great fire raid of Sunday December 29th, 1940."
Children of an eastern suburb of London, who have been made homeless by the
random bombs of the Nazi night raiders, waiting outside the wreckage of what was
their home." September 1940.
Two bewildered old ladies stand amid the leveled ruins of the almshouse which was
Home; until Jerry dropped his bombs. Total war knows no bounds. Almshouse
bombed Feb. 10, Newbury, Berks., England.
Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's Cathedral is in
the background
Germany Invades the Soviet
Union
• In 1941, Hitler betrayed Stalin and
attacked the Soviet Union. The bitterly
cold winter froze German trucks and tanks
before they could reach Moscow. Soviet
forces then gradually pushed the Germans
back over the next several years, in heavy
fighting.
German troops in Russia, 1941.
Turning Points of the War
• The Axis powers won quick victories in the
first several years of the war. Several
events after 1940, however, are seen as
turning points for the Allies.
The United States Enters the
War
• In December of 1941, Japan attacked
American ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Hitler declared war on the United States.
Now Germany, Italy, and Japan called the
Axis Powers, faced Great Britain, France,
the Soviet Union, and the U.S., called the
Allied Powers. The Allies decided to
concentrate on defeating Germany in
Europe before turning to Japan.
December 7, 1941…
Pearl
Harbor Over 2,000
Americans
perished
and much our
Naval fleet
destroyed.
FDR
Asks
Congress
to
declare
war the
next day.
Captured Japanese photograph taken aboard a Japanese carrier before the attack on
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941.
USS SHAW exploding during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor." December 7, 1941
The USS ARIZONA burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." December 7,
1941
Pearl Harbor, T.H. taken by surprise, during the Japanese aerial attack.
USS WEST VIRGINIA aflame."
Captured Japanese photograph taken during the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl
Harbor. In the distance, the smoke rises from Hickam Field.
Pearl Harbor Video from Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor…
and the aftermath
… we here highly
resolve that these
dead shall not
have died in vain .
. . Remember Dec.
7th
Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943)
• The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in
1941. After steadily advancing, they
became stalled outside Moscow and
Leningrad. Hitler turned south in 1942 to
try to take Stalingrad. Russian troops and
a freezing winter caused the Germans to
surrender in 1943. The Red Army drove
the Germans out of the Soviet Union.
Soon the Soviet troops were advancing
toward Germany.
El Alamein (1942)
• Germany and General Erwin Rommel
gained many victories in North Africa in
1941 & 1942. British forces in Egypt
finally stopped Rommel’s advance during
the battle of El Alamein in 1942. The
American forces helped the advancement
from the west, the Allies trapped
Rommel’s army in 1943, and he
surrendered.
Gen. Erwin Rommel with the 15th Panzer Division between Tobruk and Sidi
Omar. Sdf. Zwilling, Libya, January or November 24, 1941
Invasion of Italy (1943)
• The victory in North Africa allowed the
British and Americans to land in Italy in
1943. Hitler was forced to send troops to
Italy, weakening his forces in Western
Europe.
Front view of 240mm howitzer of
Battery `B', 697th Field Artillery
Battalion, just before firing into
German held territory. Mignano
area, Italy."
Invasion of Normandy (1944)
• The Allies invaded France on June 6,
1944. Allied troops were ferried across
the English Channel, landing on the
beaches of Normandy. They broke
through German defenses to advance
toward Paris and freed France from
German control. The Allies then moved
from France into Germany.
The War Ends
• The war in Europe ended on May 7, 1945,
with the Germans’ surrender.
• Fighting in the Pacific would continue until
the Japanese surrended in August 1945.
Yalta Conference
• February 1945, with the war coming to an
end. The three allied leaders decided at
the wars end, they would divide Germany
temporarily.
• British, American, French, and Soviet
forces would each control a zone of
Germany.
• They agreed that Stalin would oversee the
creation of new governments in Eastern
Europe.
Victory in the Pacific
• Japan was greatly weakened, and the US
took the offensive after two Japanese
fleets were severely damaged by
Americans in 1942.
• Gradually, American forces recaptured
Japanese-held islands south of Japan and
advanced north.
• By 1944, the Americans had begun to
bomb Japanese cities. The Japanese,
however, refused to surrender.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• By mid-1945 most of the Japanese airforce
and navy had been destroyed.
• On August 6, 1945, an American plane
dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese
city of Hiroshima. The bomb flattened 4
square miles of the city and killed 70,000
people.
• The U.S. dropped another bomb on
Nagasaki, killing 40,000 people.
• On August 10th, Japanese emperor Hirohito
forced his government to surrender.