Transcript World War II

World War II
(1939-1945)
World War II
What were the issues?
 How can we compare/contrast WWII with
WWI?
 How did it change the world?

Prelude to War
• Italy after World War I
– Dissatisfied
– Rise of FASCISM
• Totalitarian, nationalistic
• Violent!
– Led by BENITO
MUSSOLINI
(1883-1945)
Mussolini addressing a crowd
Prelude to War
• Japanese Aggression
– Due to overpopulation,
Nationalist China
– “Mukden Incident” (1931)
 invasion of Manchuria
– Full-scale invasion,
blockade (1937)
– Chinese resistance 
Japanese fury!
Prelude to War
• Adolf Hitler
(1889-1945)
– German nationalist
– Hated German
republic, Western
powers
– Dominated Nazi party
– Chancellor of
Germany (1933)
Prelude to War
• Nazi Worldview
– Nationalistic,
totalitarian
– Germany must
expand!
– Aryans vs. Jews
– Goal: pure racial
community, sense of
belonging
Prelude to War
Nazi Party rally, Nuremberg (1934)
Prelude to War
Prelude to War
• The Axis Strike
– AXIS: Germany, Italy,
Japan
– Italy seized Ethiopia
(1935-36), Albania
(1939)
– Germany (1936-39)
• Remilitarized Rhineland
• Annexed Austria,
Czechoslovakia
Prelude to War
• Response to Axis
Advances
– Protestations
– Sanctions by League
of Nations
– Appeasement
• Neville Chamberlain
• Munich Conference
(September 1938)
Chamberlain after the Munich Conference
Prelude to War
• Invasion of Poland
– NONAGGRESSION
PACT (Aug. 23, 1939)
– Germany invaded
(Sept. 1)
• Strategy: BLITZKRIEG
– Britain and France
declared war (Sept. 3)
Prelude to War
• Questions?
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• The Battle of Britain
(July-October 1940)
– German goal: invasion
– Air battles
– Blitz of London
(Sept. to Nov.)
– British resistance 
Hitler’s first check
Planes of Royal Air Force
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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Devastation in Balham, London
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• Churchill’s “We Shall Never Surrender” Speech
(June 4, 1940)
– “When Napoleon lay at Boulogne for a year with his flatbottomed boats and his Grand Army, he was told by someone,
‘There are bitter weeds in England.’ There are certainly a great
many more of them since the British Expeditionary Force
returned…I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if
nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as
they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able
to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to
outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if
necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to
do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government – every man
of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.”
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• “We Shall Never Surrender” Speech Continued
– “The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in
their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native
soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their
strength…We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we
shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing
confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our
Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields
and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never
surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island
or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our
Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British
Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the
New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue
and the liberation of the old.”
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• Operation Barbarossa
– Successful first
offensive (June 1941)
– Stalin caught off
guard!
– Second offensive
(November)
unsuccessful
• Early winter
• Russian nationalism!!
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• Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1933-1945)
– Led USA through
Great Depression
– Pursued by Churchill
– Opposed to foreign
despotism
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• Japanese Attack on
Pearl Harbor
– Impasse in China 
southeast Asia
– Attacked Pearl Harbor
(December 7, 1941)
– USA declared war
(December 8)
– Axis declared war on
USA
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• Questions?
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• Battle of Stalingrad
– July 1942 to Feb. 1943
– Germans claimed
victory
– Soviets resisted!
– German defeat  now
on defensive
Soviet soldiers, Stalingrad
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• The Invasion of Italy
– Invaded from North
Africa (July 1943)
– Mussolini overthrown
– Italy declared war
(October)
– Advance blocked by
Germans
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• D-Day (June 6, 1944)
– Amphibious invasion
– English Channel 
Normandy
– Germans in retreat
Landing at Normandy
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• The Axis Defeat in
Europe (1945)
– Allies advanced
– Unconditional
surrender of Germany
(May 7)
– Axis leaders’ fates
• Mussolini: shot
(April 28)
• Hitler: suicide (April 30)
Soviet soldiers raising their flag
over the Reichstag, Berlin
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• The Holocaust
– Restrictions, attacks
began in 1930s
– “The Final Solution”
(1942)
• Ghettos
• Extermination camps
– Approx. 6 million
perished
Jews on board cattle cars
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• The Pacific Theater
– Japanese expansion
checked (summer
1942)
– BATTLE OF LEYTE
GULF (October 1944)
 Japanese fleet
crippled
– American advance 
fierce resistance!
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• Defeat of Japan
(1945)
– American ultimatum to
Japan ignored
– Atomic bombs
• Hiroshima (August 6)
• Nagasaki (August 9)
Cloud above Nagasaki
– Emperor Hirohito
surrendered
(August 15)
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Hiroshima (March 1946)
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• Questions?
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What were the issues?
 How can we compare/contrast WWII with
WWI?
 How did it change the world?
