Transcript WH Ch. 17 Sec. 3-5

Ch. 17 Sec. 3-5
Allied Victories
The Pacific
• By 1942 Japan had conquered most of the islands
of the western Pacific and much of SE Asia
• May 1942, Japan suffers first serious setback at
the Battle of Coral Sea
– Lasted 5 days
– Use of aircraft carriers, enemy ships never saw each
other
– Japan prevented from securing several important
islands, and suffered key ship losses
The Pacific
• June 1942, Battle of Midway
– Also fought entirely from the air
– Devastating blow to Japan, last offensive
operation
– After, U.S. began strategy of “island-hopping”
working towards Japan
– Midway and island hopping under the direction
of Admiral Nimitz while Gen. MacArthur led
the Marines into retaking the Philippines
Distrust amongst the “Big Three”
• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
– Periodic strategic meetings
– Agree to focus on Europe before finishing war
in Asia
– Balance between not trusting political
ambitions (Communism) and maintaining a
successful alliance
• Agree to let borders of Nazi-Soviet Pact stand
• Stalin upset over delaying a front in Western Europe
North Africa
• Late 1942, British and U.S. begin their first
campaign together
– General Montgomery (British) vs. Rommel
• Allies stop German advance at the Battle of El
Alamein
• Drive Axis armies back across Libya into Tunisia
• General Eisenhower commands joint British/U.S.
forces from the West and pinch Rommel’s armies
and secure North Africa by Spring 1943
Italy Next
• By July 1943, land in Sicily and then southern
Italy
– Defeat Italian forces in less than a month
– Italians overthrow Mussolini’s government and sign
and armistice, but:
• Hitler sends troops to rescue Mussolini
• Hitler reinforces the will of Italians in the North
• Long 18 months of pushing slowly up the peninsula
– Heavy Allied losses but weakens Hitler on Eastern Front
Russia Again!
• Spring 1942
– Hitler launches a new offensive towards southern
USSR (oil fields)
– Met resistance at Stalingrad
• Battle one of the costliest of WW II
• House to House combat, Germans appear in control until
another Winter sets in
• Soviets encircle Stalingrad and trap German forces, without
access to food or ammunition, surrender in Jan. 1943
– Red Army takes the offensive
• Drive Germans out of Soviet Union
• By 1944, advancing into Eastern Europe
D-Day
• June 6 1944, Allies invade France
– Gen. Eisenhower in charge of planning the
operation
• Pre-invasion bombing
• Tricked the Germans into thinking the invasion
would take place at Calais
• Paratroopers after midnight behind enemy lines
• Landing craft unload over 170,000 troops on
beaches of Normandy
Hitler’s Troops in Retreat
• Both East and West
– Gen. Patton advance on Paris from West other
forces land in France from Italy
– Aug. 1944 Paris freed, Sept. all of France
– Constant bombing raids to destroy factories and
morale of civilians
– Dec. 1944, advance into Belgium
• Hitler launches on last massive counter-attack
Battle of the Bulge
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Lasted over a month
Both sides suffer terrible losses
Germans unable to break Allied lines
Delays advance for six weeks
Allows Soviet Union to advance on Berlin
from the East
Inevitable Defeat
• By fall of 1945 Hitler’s support was declining
– Survived assassination attempts
– Commits suicide on April 30, 1945
• Yalta Conference - Feb. 1945
– Another meeting of distrust
– FDR - physically very weak
• Allows Stalin to gain upper hand in eventually controlling
Eastern European nations
• Temporary division of Germany into four zones
• Soviet agreement to help defeat Japan
V-E Day
• March 1945, Allies cross the Rhine
• April 1945, Shaking hands with Russians at the
Elbe River
– Axis armies surrendering all over Europe
– Mussolini captured and executed by Italians
• May 8, 1945, war officially ends in Europe
– (FDR died on April 12)
• Reasons:
– Multiple fronts
– Poor decisions
– U.S. production - twice as much as all Axis combined
Defeating Japan
• Allies turn to Japan (w/out Soviet Union)
– July of 1945 – Navy and AF destroyed
– Still had an army of 2 million in unfamiliar
environment
– Final victory would take time and be costly
– Proven their will to fight to the death
• Islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• Kamikaze pilots
Manhattan Project
• Research race on the potential of atomic
weapons
– Many European refugees (German)
– July 1945 test first atomic bomb (New Mexico)
• President Truman struggles with burden of
the decision
– Force of destruction (civilian) vs. Saving of
American lives
Atomic Destruction
• Allied warning to surrender or face “utter and
complete destruction”
– Japan ignores
– Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
(killed 70,000 instantly)
– Aug. 8, 1945 Soviet Union declares war on Japan –
invades Manchuria
– Japan fails to respond to surrender warnings
– August 9, 1945 second bomb on Nagasaki(40,000)
– Emperor Hirohito intervenes, force militaristic
government to surrender – official on Sept. 2, ‘45
After WW II
• Casualty numbers – Chart p. 591 (50 million
worldwide)
– Realization of inhumanity in Europe and Asia
• War crime trials in Nuremberg
– 142 German/Austrian found guilty and given sentences
• Similar trials in Japan and Italy
– Discredited totalitarian ideologies and Western
democracies built new governments in occupied
regions of Germany and Japan
• Military forces help Japan create a new constitution giving
power to the people
After WW II
• April 1945, 50 nations send delegates to
San Francisco to create the United Nations
– Greater role and authority than L of N
• General Assembly
• Security Council (US, USSR, GB, France, China)
• Work beyond peacekeeping
– Other world problems: disease outbreaks, education,
economic development, protecting refugees
Super Powers
• Differences in ideologies, mutual distrust leads to
Cold War
– State of tension and hostility between nations aligned
with U.S. vs. USSR
• USSR (Stalin) goals:
– Spread Communism
– Buffer zone of friendly governments between Germany
– Ignored pledge of free elections, Red Army destroyed
rival parties and eliminated democratic leaders
– (’48)Pro-Soviet governments in place in Eastern
Europe
U.S. Involvement
• Truman abandons traditional U.S. policy of
isolationism
– Truman Doctrine (March 1947)
• Americans would resist Soviet expansion in Europe and other
areas of the world
• Immediately sent economic and military aid to Greece and
Turkey
– Marshall Plan
• Food and Economic assistance to Europe to help countries
rebuild
– Billions of dollars helped rapid recovery in western Europe
– USSR forced satellite nations to reject (slow recovery)
Germany
• USSR takes reparations
• Allies unite zones and rebuild to restore political
stability
– West Germany- write their own constitution
– East Germany- socialist dictatorship under Stalin’s
control
– Berlin – divided into 4 zones as well
• ’48 Stalin sealed off every RR and Highway
– West responded with an airlift
– Deepened the tensions of the Cold War
– Formed opposing military alliances
• NATO (9) and Warsaw Pact (7)
Cold War
• Formed opposing military alliances
• NATO (9) support each other democracy
• Warsaw Pact (7) ended up being used more to keep
satellite nations in order
– Communist in name but dictatorship in practice