Transcript Lecture Notes--Military Action

World War II
Military Action & Diplomacy
AXIS POWERS & LEADERS
Adolf Hitler
Germany
Benito
Mussolini
Italy
Japan
Emperor
General
Hirohito
Tojo
ALLIED POWERS &
LEADERS
FDR
Joseph Stalin
United States
Soviet Union
Winston Churchill
Great Britain
Charles DeGaulle
Chiang Kai Shek
Free French Movement
China
June 1944, D Day
Operation
Overlord
Allies invade
France
Start pushing
Germany Back
WAR IN EUROPE
Dec. 1944 = Battle of the Bulge
Last Push by Hitler
April 1945 =
Soviets Capture
Berlin
1943-944 = Allies
Invade Italy
1942 = El Alamein (Operation Torch)
Montgomery (Brit.) & Eisenhower (US)
Defeat
Rommel “Desert Fox”
1942 = Stalingrad
Turning point in
Eastern Front
1945=A-Bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Ends WWII
Between 200,000-300,000 Japanes killed w/ two bombs
1945=Battle of Okinawa
Opens for Invasion of Japan
50,000 US Casualties
1942=Philippines &
Corregidor Fall
Bataan Death March
1944=Battle of Leyte
Gulf
MacArthur Returns
1942=Battle of Midway
Turning Point in Pacific,
Japan on defensive
1945=Battle of Iwo Jima
One of Bloodiest Battles,
25,000 US Casualties
1941=Pearl Harbor
Japan attacks US
1942-43=Battle of Guadalcanal
Jungle Warfare
Start Island Hopping Strategy
WAR IN PACIFIC
END OF WAR
• May 8, 1945 = V-E Day
– Soviets advance on Berlin
– Hitler commits suicide
• August 14, 1945 = V-J Day
– Bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
• Manhattan Project: J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Alamogordo, NM first test
DIPLOMACY
• 1943 = Casablanca Conference (FDR & Churchill)
– Declare policy of unconditional surrender
– Agree Italy invaded first, before open 2nd Front
• 1943 = Tehran Conference (“Big Three”)
– Agree to invade W. Europe in 1944
– Stalin commits to enter war w/ Japan
• 1945 = Yalta Conference (“Big Three”)
– Decide to Divide Germany & Capital city of Berlin into 4 Zones &
Soviets will enter war w/ Japan when Germany defeated
– Call for world organization to meet in US in 1945
– Soviet refuse to hold elections after war, and take over East Germany =
beginnings of Cold War
• 1945 = Potsdam Conference
– Disagreement; War alliance breaking down
– Truman’s finds A-Bomb successful; orders dropping of bomb on Japan