Transcript from Beginning to End - Trimble County Schools

Hitler’s War Machine
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Hitler dreamed of
revenge for Germany’s
defeat in WWI and their
harsh treatment in the
Treaty of Versailles.
Launched a massive
buildup of the country’s
military and put people
back to work in the
midst of a worldwide
depression in the early
1930’s.
Kid in a Candy Store…
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Hitler throws a fit and gets
what he wants!
1936 sent troops into the
demilitarized Rhineland
1938 forced Austria to unite
with Germany.
1938 demanded that
Czechoslovakia turn over the
Sudetenland to Germany.
Said that was all he wanted.
1939 seized the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
Then demanded Poland as
well.
Fighting Begins!
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Britain and France
pledged to defend
Poland if Germany
attacked.
Hitler negotiated a
temporary peace with
Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin to keep them
both out of war with the
other (Nazi-Soviet NonAggression Pact).
War Begins…
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WWII began on September
1, 1939 when Germany
invaded Poland.
Attacked in a blitzkrieg, or
lightning war.
Britain and France become
the Allied Powers and
mobilize for war.
France massed their troops
behind the Maginot Line, a
fortified wall between France
and Germany built after
WWI.
Didn’t work!
Miracle at Dunkirk
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April 1940. Germany took
over Denmark and Norway.
May 1940. Germany took
over Belgium, Luxembourg,
and the Netherlands.
At the French port of
Dunkirk, over 300,000 Allied
soldiers were rescued by
boat as the Germans had
moved north of the Maginot
Line and trapped them.
EVERY boat of any size was
used to evacuate the
beaches.
Battle of Britain
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June 22, 1940. France
surrendered to Germany.
Germany looked to Britain
next.
July 1940 the Luftwaffe,
German air force, began to
attack British military
installations.
Two months later, Hitler
ordered civilian targets
attacked.
For 57 nights straight.
The RAF (Royal Air Force)
defended the British skies
with newly developed radar.
German invasion was a
failure.
http://www.youtube.com/wa
Defeated by “General Winter”
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Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union
after nullifying the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
Unleashed the blitzkrieg in June 1941 – 3
million Germans.
2.5 million Soviets died fighting the Nazis
The temperature hit -40F in December,
freezing thousands of German soldiers to
death.
This invasion was also not a success!
U.S. Neutrality
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Isolationism on our part.
Congress passed a series of
laws to support neutrality.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is
president.
1939 FDR asked Congress to
adjust these laws. Approved
the “lend-lease” program for
our allies.
We will lend/lease you
materials for your war effort.
You must come and get
them. We will not provide
men to fight this war.
Battle of the Atlantic
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Germany began using
submarine forces to
stop the transportation
of weapons in the
Atlantic. “U-boats”
Convoys of cargo ships
were used as well as US
Navy ships to safely
carry the weapons to
Britain.
“Detention Centers”
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During the 1930’s, the
Nazis sent thousands to
Concentration Camps“detention centers”.
The “racially inferior”
were used for slave
labor; were poorly fed
and often worked to
death.
The “Final Solution”
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1941, German leaders decided on the extermination
of European Jews.
Six “death camps” were built in Poland.
“Undesirables” were shipped in from all over Europe,
within a few days packed into shower rooms and
gassed.
Some were used in “medical” experiments.
At the height of the Holocaust, 5,000 Jews could be
gassed in a camp/day.
By 1945 – SIX million Jews had died.
Gas Chamber
Conflict with Japan
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Japan had been an
aggressor nation in the
1930’s, conquering
much of China.
Japan allied itself with
Germany and Italy, or
the Axis Powers.
The U.S. stopped
trading valuable goods
with the Japanese.
Pearl Harbor
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December 7, 1941, Japanese
warplanes attacked Pearl
Harbor.
Also, same day, they
attacked US military bases in
the Philippines and Guam,
Midway, and Wake Island.
http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=ZJZLc5_l-_Q
A “date which will live in
infamy (disgrace)” – FDR
December 8, 1941, US
declares war on Japan.
Germany and Italy then
declare war on the US.
Transcend life and death. When you eliminate all thoughts about
life and death, you will be able to totally disregard your earthly life.
This will also enable you to concentrate your attention on
eradicating the enemy with unwavering determination, meanwhile
reinforcing your excellence in flight skills.
- A paragraph from the Kamikaze pilot's manual, located in their
cockpits.
Pearl Harbor
U.S.S. Arizona
Who were the Allies?
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After the U.S. entered the
war the new “Big Three”
began meeting to make
war plans.
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United States – FDR
Britain - Winston Churchill
Soviet Union - Joseph Stalin
FDR and Churchill didn’t trust
Stalin…but needed him!
D-Day
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Building up for an
invasion of France by
Allied forces!
June 6, 1944 on the
coast of Normandy,
France.
Led by Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
60 mile stretch of
coastline
D-Day Deception
D-Day Facts
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136,000 Allied Forces stormed the beaches of
Normandy, France.
They assaulted five beaches, code-named Utah,
Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The bloodiest
fighting occurred at Omaha, where the Americans
suffered more than 2,000 casualties.
Led way for 1 million + Allied forces to enter
Paris, France on Aug. 25, 1944.
D-Day - The History Channel
At the same time…
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The Soviets move in from the East.
Freed Leningrad (800,000 people had
died in an 80 day siege against the
Germans), Ukraine, Poland, Romania,
and Bulgaria.
Battle of the Bulge
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Hitler counterattacked in
Belgium in December
1944.
Allied lines bulged, but did
NOT break.
Last German offensive of
the war.
Battle of the Bulge History Channel
V-E Day
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By March 1945, Allied troops
had worked their way into
western Germany.
Soviet troops closed in from
the east, shook hands with
Americans once they met.
All over Europe, Axis armies
began to surrender.
Hitler committed suicide in his
underground bunker.
May 7, 1945, Germany
surrendered – May 8
proclaimed V-E Day (Victory
in Europe)
War in Asia and the Pacific
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Japanese victories after
Pearl Harbor gave them
control of much of
Southeast Asia and many
Pacific islands
Gen. Douglas MacArthur –
In charge of US troops in
the Pacific
March, 1942- Had to be
evacuated from the
Philippines
Bataan Peninsula
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American and Filipino
soldiers under attack on the
Bataan peninsula by the
Japanese.
65 mile Bataan Death March
in May 1942.
10,000 Filipino soldiers and
several hundred American
soldiers died at the hands of
the Japanese invaders while
marching to a POW camp.
“Heat, dust, starvation, thirst,
flies, filth, stench, murder,
torture, corpses, and
wholesale brutality that
numbs memory.”
Civilians were killed if they
assisted the prisoners.
The Tide Turns in the Pacific
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June 1942 victories in the battles
of the Coral Sea and Midway
Island by the United States.
Summer of 1942 MacArthur lands
the Marines at Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands; beginning the
“island hopping” campaign in
the Pacific.
This allowed the recapture of
Japanese-held islands while
bypassing others; served as
stepping stones to the next
objective.
Primary goal: Japan or bust!
Iwo Jima
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Strategic island in the
Pacific; a Japanese
stronghold with 21,000
soldiers.
Feb. 23, 1945 all out fight
to win Iwo Jima resulted
in 6,821 American dead
and nearly 20,000
Japanese dead.
An American victory; SIX
soldiers raised the US flag
on Mt. Suribachi when the
island was nearly secured.
Iwo Jima - The History
Channel
A New Weapon
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While Allied leaders
planned an invasion of
Japan, scientists worked
on another option.
Manhattan Project – Plan
to split the atom and
create the atomic bomb.
The 1st successful test
happened in New Mexico,
July 1945.
To drop the bomb or not…
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Mid 1945, Japan has no
navy or air force.
Still, their army
numbers close to 2
million men.
FDR dies; VP Harry
Truman becomes
President.
The decision to invade
the island of Japan
could cost an estimated
1 million American lives.
Little Boy & Fat Man
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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Truman gave the
Japanese a final offer to
surrender; they refused.
August 6, 1945 =
Hiroshima; 70k+ dead;
refused to surrender.
August 9, 1945 =
Nagasaki – 40,000 dead
September 2, 1945
Japan (finally)
surrenders.
Hiroshima – Before and After
Energy was powerful enough to
burn through clothing.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi –
Recognized as first citizen to survive
BOTH blasts.
Died in January 2010 – 93 years old.
Aftermath
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Nuremberg Trials – Allies
agreed that Axis leaders should
be tried for “crimes against
humanity.”
Nearly 200 were tried, some
sentenced to death, others
imprisoned.
Several countries were
occupied by Allied military
leaders; democracies were set
up.
The Alliance Breaks Apart!
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The United States and Soviet Union emerge
as the world’s two superpowers.
Stalin wanted to spread communism into
Eastern European countries that the Soviet
Union now controlled.
U.S. and others in the “west” didn’t agree.
Truman Doctrine – 1947, contain communism
to areas that the Soviet’s already controlled.
COLD WAR BEGINS!
Berlin Airlift
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Marshall Plan – Aid package
offered to Europeans after
WWII. Soviets did NOT allow
U.S. aid to countries they
occupied!
Berlin was divided up
between the Allies…Stalin
wanted it to be controlled by
the Soviet Union.
He sealed off railways and
highways into western Berlin.
The U.S., Britain, France
began a year long airlift,
supplying West Berliners with
food, etc.