Transcript Holocaust & Battles - Coach Simpson`s World

WORLD WAR II
Europe Goes To War,
1939
*The Big Three
• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
• *Leaders met and decided Hitler’s Germany must be
defeated 1st (biggest threat) before dealing with
Japan.
• Decided they would accept nothing less than
unconditional surrender from all axis powers.
Hitler Attacks the Soviet Union
June 1941
• Hitler breaks the Non-Aggression Pact & launches a
a huge blitzkrieg attack (3 million troops) on Russia
• Needed the oil resources for his war machine & land
for his growing population
• The Soviet Union retreats using the scorched earth
policy
• *Russia’s vast land resources stretch the German
supply lines thin
• German troops massacre millions of Soviet citizens
believing them to be inferior
*Battle of Stalingrad,USSR
July ’42-’43
• The bitter cold Russian winter stopped Germany’s
advance. (early winter & no winter clothing doomed
the Germans)
• Over 250,000 Germans were killed
or starved to death. 90,000 Germans
forced to surrender.
*This ended Hitler’s plan for dominating Europe &
was the turning point in the European theatre!
*George Marshall (USA)
• *Roosevelt’s Chief of
Staff and the “organizer
of victory.”
• Urged military
preparedness prior to
Pearl Harbor
• *Built up & supplied an
army of 8 million men
• Oversaw the creation of
the first atomic bomb.
*Invasion of W. Europe = D-Day
*Goal = Open a new Western front
forcing Germany to fight a 2 front
war.
• Operation Overlord, was a crucial
invasion that would free France by
landing on Normandy’s beaches.
• *General Dwight D. Eisenhower
(USA) = Supreme Allied Commander
in Europe who supervised D-Day
• Troops & supplies massed in G.
Britain for the invasion on the
beaches of Normandy.
*D-Day
•
•
•
•
*June 6, 1944 Invasion to liberate (free) France
1,000 bombers pounded German defenses.
4,600 invasion crafts left Southern England
23,000 soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines @
4:00am to cut communication lines, capture bridges, &
disrupt the enemy
• Despite heavy casualties,
within 1 week, half a
million men had come
ashore.
The morning before
D-Day:
*General Omar
Bradley (USA)
• *Led U.S. ground
forces during the
European campaign, (
France on D-day)
• Liberated (freed from
German rule) Paris
• Also successful in N.
Africa campaign.
*General George Patton
(USA)
• *Famous & controversial tank
commander of the 3rd army.
• *Patton had successful
campaigns in N. Africa,
Sicily, & then helped liberate
(free) France.
*Soviet Forces Advance to Berlin
• April 1945, Soviet Army
surrounds Berlin
• Patton & Bradley told to
slow down & allow the
Russians to reach Berlin
first (politics)
• Hitler reportedly commits
suicide in an underground
bunker in Berlin
• Germany surrenders & the
Allies celebrate
• *V-E Day, May 8, 1945
(victory in Europe)
Yalta Conference
• Roosevelt, Churchill,
and Stalin met at
Yalta to plan the
surrender of
Germany.
• Agreed to divide
Germany into 4 zones
and divide Berlin.
• Stalin agreed to join
the fight against Japan
in three months.
*ANTI-SEMITISM
• *Discrimination or
hostility directed at Jews
• Originated from Hitler’s
book, Mein Kampf
• Holocaust = Nazi
Germany’s systematic
murder of European Jews
• 6 million Jews died; 6
million other undesirables
(mentally ill,
handicapped, gypseys
NAZI POLICIES
• Gestapo-secret state police
• SS-Schutzstaffel-private army
of the Nazi party; guarded
concentration camps
• Jews lost the following privileges:
– German citizenship
– No marriage between Jews and non-Jews
– Lost their jobs and businesses
– Jewish doctors and lawyers could only serve Jews
– Jews expelled from public schools
KRISTALLNACHT
• “Night of Broken Glass”-broken windows of
Jewish shops
• 1938-Nazis looted and destroyed Jewish stores,
houses, and synagogue
• German Jews sought refuge outside Germany.
Many nations would not accept Jews (antisemitism was a world wide problem
*From Murder to Genocide,
the FINAL SOLUTION
• Jews forced into ghettos
• *Genocide-deliberate
destruction of an ethnic or
cultural group
• Concentration camp-prison
forced labor camp
• *Hitler’s Final Solution =
to eliminate (kill) the Jews
DEATH CAMPS
• Existed for mass murder
• Transported by cattle cars
• Elderly, disabled, or those
who couldn’t work were
killed
• Crematoria-huge ovens
where the bodies were
burned
• Belongings confiscated &
given to German families
or recycled
Auschwitz-largest camp
Medical Experiments
*Liberation & Punishment*
• The American army was the first to liberate a Nazi
concentration camp
• Nuremberg Trials, Nov. 1945 = put NAZI leaders on
trial & judged them for their crimes against
humanity!
War in the Pacific
*Bataan Death March
• *The 76,000 soldiers and nurses were forced by the
Japanese to march 60 brutal miles.
• Starving & malnourished the prisoners were shot,
be-headed, & run over if they couldn’t keep up
• *Many were not allowed food or H20, 10,000
prisoners died.
*Battle of Midway, June 1942
• Only 6 months after Pearl Harbor, the Americans score
a decisive victory against the Japanese halting their
advance in the Pacific
• Admiral Yamamoto tried to lure (attract) the US Navy
into a trap but Adm. Nimitz traps them!
• 4 Japanese carriers sunk, 250 planes, 3,000 killed; US
lost 1 carrier, 150 planes, 300 killed
• Severely damaged the Japanese fleet because they
couldn’t replace them. U.S. winning the battle of
production!
• *Turning point in the Pacific Theatre & U.S. starts
advancing!
*Admiral Chester Nimitz, USA*
• Commander of the U.S.
Pacific forces.
• Commander of U.S.
forces at the Battle of
Midway
• Scored a decisive victory
stopping Japan’s
advance in the Pacific &
beginning our advance.
*Island-Hopping
• *General MacArthur’s
military strategy of
attacking specific
strategic islands while
avoiding others.
*Manhattan Project
• Next = invasion of Japan
• Albert Einstein informed FDR that Germany was
building a bomb.
• *FDR quickly developed the top secret Manhattan
Project to invent the first atomic bomb. Project was
led by Robert Oppenheimer.
• July 16, 1945, America tested the first atomic bomb
in New Mexico
• Only had 2 bombs built & weren’t exactly sure what
it could
*President Truman’s Decision
How to get Japan’s unconditional surrender:
1. massive invasion of Japan, thought to cost a
minimum of 1 million casualties.
2. naval blockade to starve Japan, time?
3. demonstrate power of the nuclear bomb (only
had 2 made & what if it was a dud?)
4. allow an easy surrender
*Wanting to limit casualties, end the war quickly,
& not wanting to get Russia involved, Truman
decides to drop the bomb!
The Enola Gay dropped the bomb…
•August 6, 1945
America dropped the
atomic bomb ‘little boy’
on Hiroshima
•Japan refuses to
surrender
•August 9, 1945
dropped ‘fat man’ bomb
on Nagasaki
•240,000 were killed by
the blast and radiation
*Little Boy & Fat Man =
resulted in Japanese
surrender!
*JAPAN
SURRENDERS!
August 14, 1945 =
V-J DAY
Diversity in American Forces
• 300,000 Mexicans
served
• 20,000 Japanese
American served.
Famed 442 army
regiment was the
most decorated unit
in Europe. “Live with
honor, die with
dignity”.
*Navajo (Indian) Code Talkers*
• 44,000 Native Americans:
*Navajos “code talkers” –
used their rare language
transmit important military
information.
• Their language was never
deciphered (decoded) because
their language had no alphabet.
• Transmitted messages
throughout the Pacific winning
the war in the Pacific theatre.
*African Americans
• *Fought with distinction during WWII, but came
home & faced the same the prejudices they had left
• More freedoms overseas than at home
• *Vernon Baker-awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR,
killed 26 enemy soldiers &
destroyed 6 machine gun
nests, 2 observer posts &
four dugouts.
• 900,000 African Americans
served in segregated units.
• *Tuskegee Airmen, 332
Fighter Wing-first black army
air fighter squadron
*Results of WWII*
1. Europe was divided into 2 parts: West
= Democratic; East = Communist
2. The Atomic Age begins
3. The U.S. & U.S.S.R. emerge as the 2
world super powers.
4. The United Nations was formed