Transcript world war two post1x

World War Two
World War Two
•
•
•
•
The worst war in human history
As many as 100 million people died
It was fought around the world.
For the first time in modern history civilians were
targets.
• Led to tremendous technological improvements.
• Ended European dominance of the world.
World War Two
Causes of World War Two
The Treaty of Versailles
This was the major cause of the Second World War.
• Germany needed to avenge the Versailles Treaty.
• Japan and Italy expected large amounts of land
and did not get it.
• The Soviet Union was robbed of land by the
Treaty,
– hoped to export communism throughout the world.
World War Two
Causes of World War Two
The Depression
• People were suffering and they were desperate.
• Easy for demagogues like Hitler, Stalin and
Mussolini to seize power by promising greatness
and revenge.
• Also made it easier to target scapegoats for
hatred and discrimination.
World War Two
The Interwar Period (1919-1939)
• During the period between the world wars,
Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union and Japan all
took steps to begin building the empires they
felt they deserved.
World War Two
Fascism –
A form of government that puts the good of the nation over the rights of
individuals. There is limited personal freedom, government control of the
economy and dictatorship.
Totalitarianism –
A form of government that controls everything about a nation’s way of life; the
economy, government, society, even entertainment and art. There is little or no
personal freedom.
Militarism –
A form of government dominated by military officers, usually for the purposes of
conquering other nations and building an empire.
Communism –
The belief that all the wealth in a nation belongs equally to all people and should
be shared with all people.
World War Two
Benito Mussolini
• Dictator of Italy 1922-1943
• Created the Fascist party
• Promised to make Italy a powerful nation by
conquering parts of Africa & Europe to turn
the Mediterranean Sea into an Italian lake.
• Took control of Italian industries
• Built up the Italian military.
World War Two
•
•
•
•
•
Josef Stalin
Became leader of the Soviet Union in the 1920s.
The Soviets wanted to be recognized as a world
power but most nations ignored them.
The Soviets wanted the whole world to be
communist.
Modernized the Soviet Union by force.
Millions of Soviet citizens died but the Soviet
Union became a powerful industrial nation.
World War Two
Japan
• Japan’s emperor Hirohito was seen as a God.
• Militarism - Military officers took over the government
in the 1930s
• Believed that they were the Master Race of Asia and
that all the Asian colonies controlled by Europeans and
America should belong to Japan. (Asia for the Asians!)
• Began a massive military build up and planned to
create the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” by
“liberating” Asia from the Europeans and Americans.
• Problem: Japan had few natural resources so they had
to conquer land to get resources.
Adolf Hitler
World War Two
• Elected to lead Germany in 1933
• His political party was the National Socialist Party (NAZI)
• Believed that Germany should ignore the Versailles Treaty, rebuild
its military and become a world power again.
• Blamed Jews and other “non-Germans” for losing World War
One.
• Believed that Germany will be the greatest country on Earth once
all the “sub-humans” are kicked out of Germany.
• Germany pulled itself out of the depression and was building up
its military.
World War Two
Opening Acts
Italy:
• Conquered Ethiopia
• Sent men and weapons to support fascists in Spain’s civil war.
Soviet Union:
• During the Depression, Soviet agents in the US tried to spark revolt and violence.
• Sent help to anti-fascists in Spain during their Civil War.
Japan
• Invaded and conquered northern China and then invaded the rest of China a few years later.
Germany
• Hitler began to threaten war unless the borders of Germany were changed to include all the places in
Europe where German people lived.
• Demanded parts of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and all of Austria.
• Sent men and weapons to support the fascists in Spain.
Axis Powers
• Germany signed treaties of alliance and cooperation with Italy and the Soviets
World War Two
America, Britain and France
were world powers.
What were they doing
during the interwar years?
World War Two
Britain and France
• Focused on disarming their militaries.
• Had a lot of financial troubles during the
depression.
• Too scared to take any action to stop Japan, Italy
and Germany.
World War Two
France built a massive line of forts and concrete
obstacles along its border with Germany –
The Maginot Line.
World War Two
The United States
• Focused on disarmament and isolationism.
• People cared about the Great Depression, not
world affairs.
World War Two
APPEASEMENT
Munich, 1938
• Hitler demanded a piece of Czechoslovakia that had many Germans living
in it.
• War looked likely
• France and Britain agreed to give away that part of Czechoslovakia as long
as Hitler didn’t ask for anything else.
• The Czechoslovaks had no say in this matter.
• What effect would this behavior by France and Britain have on Germany
and Italy?
World War Two
War Begins
• By 1939, the Axis
powers were ready
to expand.
• Where would they
go first?
World War Two
1939
• Germany began World War Two by invading
Poland.
• The Soviet Union also invaded Poland
• Great Britain and France declared war on
Germany.
• The US declared neutrality.
World War Two
Fighting the War
• WWII was a very technological and mobile war.
• Machines and vehicles were necessary for victory
• Blitzkrieg – “Lightning War”
– Germany used fast moving attacks with tanks, trucks,
planes and motorcycles to hit and destroy their
enemies.
World War Two
The effects of Blitzkrieg:
• Poland – 3 weeks
• Denmark – 1 day
• Norway – 12 weeks
• Netherlands – 5 days
• Belgium – 18 days
• France – 17 days
• Yugoslavia – 11 days
• Greece – 15 days
German U-boats sunk British ships and German airplanes constantly bombed British
cities
By April 1941, Hitler Controlled most of Europe
http://www.maps101.com/Application/Catalog/Product.aspx?cid=352&pid=750
World War Two
German invasion of the Soviet Union
• Massive invasion by German, Italian,
Hungarian, Romanian and Finnish soldiers.
• The Soviets were totally surprised.
• Britain and the US offered aid to the Soviets.
World War Two
America’s Position
• We stayed “neutral” for the first two years
– Provided help to Britain and China
– Cut off trade with Japan
• FDR convinced America to have a draft to
build up our military.
World War Two
Pearl Harbor
• Where is Pearl Harbor?
• What is it?
• Why did the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor?
– American Pacific Fleet Headquarters
– Cripple America – Japan’s only competition
– Allow Japan time to conquer the Pacific
– Pearl Harbor.ppt
–
Day of Infamy
World War Two
America at War
• The “Allies” - America joined Britain and the Soviet Union
• Agreed that Germany would be the main focus of the war.
– Why not Japan?
• The war could only be won by “liberating” the territory
conquered by the Axis and then invading and crushing the
Axis nations.
– This would be a slow, bloody process.
• The Allies agreed to only accept ‘unconditional surrender’
from the Axis.
– Why?
World War Two
Women at War
• Women served in all branches of the military
– Nurses
– Secretaries
– Drivers
– Pilots (Women’s Air Service Pilots)
World War Two
War at Sea
• Pacific:
– Most of the war was fought at sea by ships and by
airplanes launched from aircraft carriers.
• Europe:
– The battle was focused on shipping supplies from
the US to Europe and destroying German U-Boats
World War Two
The War in the Air
– Pacific
• Aircraft carriers brought air and sea power went together
• Later, American bombers get close enough to bomb Japanese cities.
– Europe
• American and British planes bombed targets all over Europe.
– Rome
– Gun camera shots
World War Two
Tuskegee Airmen
– Most African Americans in the military were not in
combat.
– Some saw combat in Europe late in the war.
– The Tuskegee Airmen were African American
fighter pilots who served in Europe and became
famous for their skills as pilots.
World War Two
War on Land
• Pacific - Island Hopping
–
–
–
–
What is it?
What’s the advantage of it?
How did it work?
..\The War in the Pacific.ppt
• Europe
– America and Britain had to invade and “liberate” land
controlled by the Axis
• North Africa -1942-1943
• Italy – 1943-1944
– Soviets were pushing the Germans out of Eastern Europe.
World War Two
War in the Pacific
• Japanese Culture made the war even bloodier.
– Why?
• Japanese soldiers had been trained to die before
surrendering.
• They were also trained not to treat surrendering
soldiers well.
• This led to:
– executions and poor treatment of American prisoners
– no mercy for Japanese soldiers
– kamikazes
World War Two
Victory in Europe
• Germany attempted one last attack in late
1944 – Battle of the Bulge.
• By May 1945
– Germany was being invaded by Allied armies
– Hitler committed suicide
• Germany surrendered
• Allied armies had already found Germany’s
concentration camps.
World War Two
Victory in the Pacific
• By 1945, Allied forces had pushed back the
Japanese.
• American planes could now bomb Japan
regularly.
• The last battles were two of the most violent
of the war for the US.
– Iwo Jima – over 6,800 dead
– Okinawa – over 12,500 dead
World War Two
Atomic Bombs
– President Truman made the decision to use the
atomic bombs on Japan.
• Why?
– Japanese culture was against surrender
– He wanted to save the lives of Americans by not invading Japan.
» (Japan was ready for an invasion.)
• Two bombs were used:
– Hiroshima (8/6/45) – 100,000 dead
– Nagasaki (8/9/45) – 70,000 dead
World War Two
August 15, 1945
Japan Surrendered
World War Two Ends
Lasting Legacy
• The US is a superpower.
– New responsibilities
– America’s economy grows even larger
– A full-time, large military
• The end of 500 years of European dominance
– The US is more powerful in all ways
– Europeans lose their colonies
• The United Nations
• The Cold War –The US vs. the Soviet Union
• New technologies
– Nukes, jets, medicine, computers, etc.,.