Transcript WW2 PowerPoint - Virginia Beach City Public Schools

World War II – Important Facts
1939 - 1945
Causes of World War II
• Worldwide economic depression in the
1930’s added frustration and fear with anger.
• Massive unemployment and high inflation
fueled the anger of the people seeking
change.
• Germany was also plagued by high war debt.
• Treaty of Versailles
• Japan, an island nation believed that by
expanding their power in East Asia, they
would solve their need for resources.
The allied leaders of the Munich
Conference (1938) agreed to allow
Germany to occupy the Sudetenland (part
of Czechoslovakia) if Hitler would not
expand his territory any further.
The invasion of Poland in 1939 was the
deciding factor for most nations to enter
WWII. Hitler’s blitzkrieg, or “Lightning
War” in Poland lasted only a few days.
WORLD WAR II
•What is a dictator? •What is fascism?
~ a ruler who rules ~ a political
with total authority, system, headed
often in a cruel and by a dictator, that
brutal manner.
calls for extreme
nationalism and
racism and no
tolerance of
opposition.
World dictators in the 1920’s and 1930’s
• Hideki Tojo ~ Japan
• Benito Mussolini~ Italy
• Adolf Hitler~ Germany
Major Countries Involved in
World War II
Axis Powers
Allied Powers
Germany
United States
Italy
France
Japan
Great Britain
Soviet Union
Canada
Opposition to the entry of the United States
into World War II
• Isolationists are people who believe that there should be a
national policy that avoids involvement in foreign affairs.
• Isolationists who believe that the United States should
keep its nose out of the European theater banded together
to form the America First Committee.
~ members included “Spirit of St.
St. Louis” pilot Charles Lindbergh
and automaker Henry Ford
*Jeanette Rankin was the first woman elected
to the U.S. Congress and the only Congress
person to vote against going to war with
Japan.
American response to WWII between 1939-1941
• A national policy of
avoiding involvement in
world affairs is called
isolationism.
• The position of not
taking sides on an issue
is called
neutrality.
• The Lend-lease act of 1941 allowed the
U.S. to sell, lend, or lease arms or other
war supplies to nations considered “vital
to the defense” of the United States.
• Between 1935-1937 congress agreed to
allow the U.S to sell weapons on a “cash
and carry basis”.
• Japanese aggression in East Asia was a result of
their need for oil and rubber.
• The Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor
inflicted over 2,400 deaths and devastated the U.S
Pacifice Naval fleet. 8 battleships and 3 cruisers
were among the losses.
• December 7, 1941 –”a date which will live in
infamy”.
• Today, the U.S.S. Arizona stands as a memorial.
Key Individuals of WWII
• Franklin D. RooseveltPresident of U.S from 19331945. Polio victim who died
in office. Adored president
whose New Deal programs
gave people jobs.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower- he
was the first 5 star general
to become president.
During WWII, Ike was the
Supreme Allied commander.
• Harry S. Truman- he
was the first president
to take office during war
time and also the first
and only president to
use the atomic bomb on
another country.
Known for his feisty
persona, Truman kept a
sign on his desk that
said, “the Buck Stops
Here.”
• Douglas MacArthurgeneral in command of
American forces in the
Pacific. He was a
controversial figure.
Quoted as saying, “I
shall return” upon
leaving the Philippines
when the Japanese
invaded. He did!
• Neville Chamberlain-Prime
Minister of England before
1940. He supported a policy of
appeasement, allowing Hitler
to take Czechoslovakia, to
avoid war. Died in 1940.
• Winston Churchill- Prime
Minister of England after 1940.
He was a brilliant statesman.
He is considered to be the
architect for victory during
WWII.
•Josef Stalin- communist
dictator of the Soviet
Union. He industrialized
Russia in order to compete
with the rest of the world.
He built gulags where
Russians who did not meet
his goals or who disagreed
with his ideology were
then imprisoned. Millions
died or were executed
during his reign of power.
• Dr. Charles Drew developed the first largescale blood bank early during
World War II, saving
thousands Allied soldiers.
J. Robert Oppenheimer –
physicists and scientific director of
the Manhattan Project, the World
War II effort to develop the first
nuclear weapons.
"The Father of the Atomic Bomb”
The Effects of WWII on Women and Minorities within the U.S.
• The term: Rosie the Riviter was
a catch phrase that influenced
many women to take on factory
jobs.
• For many women this was their
first job outside of the home.
"Richmond Welders"
Courtesy of the Family
of Margaret Fong
Women’s Place in War
• After Pearl Harbor,
many Americans
resented JapaneseAmericans (Nisei).
This was a question
of loyalty. Nisei
were sent to
internment camps
that were very
crowded and harsh.
• Despite discrimination Japanese-Americans did
serve in the military. After almost two years of
fighting, the 100th/442nd, an all Japanese fighting
squadron, emerged from the war the most highly
decorated unit in U.S. military history.
• African-Americans still
faced continued
discrimination.
• Many African-American
civilians began moving
North/West out of the
south to find jobs.
•Nearly 700,000 men served in the armed
forces with segregated units in low-level
jobs.
In 1942 the army allowed white/black
soldiers to train together. An AfricanAmerican fighter group known as the
Tuskegee Airmen shot down more than
200 enemy planes.
A class of twin-engine pilots in front in flight caps
and single engine pilots in rear in helmets and goggles, Dec. 1943.
Navajo Code Talkers –
young Navajo men who
created an unbreakable
code based on their
ancient language.
It saved countless lives
and helped to end the
war.
The Code - the Navajo word for tortoise, "chay-da-gahi,"
meant tank, and a dive-bomber, "gini," was a "chicken hawk,"
(a bird which dives on its prey). The selection of a given term
was based on the first letter of the English meaning of the
Navajo word. For instance, "Wo-La-Chee" means "ant," and
would represent the letter "A".
Efforts to Support the War Effort at Home
• Many Americans at home did their
part by conserving resources and
goods needed for the war effort.
• Americans rationed items such as
shoes, gasoline, tires, sugar and
meat, and for the most part
accepted these inconveniences as
part of the war effort.
Americans were allowed 16 points per month
to spend on rationed foods.
• Due to the short supply of
vegetables, many planted
“victory gardens”
• American coastal cities
enforced blackouts so enemy
pilots could not use lights as
beacons.
• The conversion of American
industries to the production of
war goods such as trucks,
tanks, and airplanes, led to the
end of America’s Great
Depression.
• A concentration camp is a
prison camp for civilians
where prisoners were
forced to do hard labor.
• The deliberate
destruction of a racial,
political or cultural group
is known as genocide.
• death camps were
established in 1941 in
Poland and designed for
mass murder.
The Holocaust
• Germany blamed the Jewish people for
the destruction of Europe after WWI and
this immense hatred led to the Nazi
development known as “the final
solution”.
• The Nazis exterminated almost 2 million
Jews in Auschwitz- a concentration camp
in Poland.
•As many as 6 million Jews lost their lives
during the holocaust and another 4 million
gypsies, soviet prisoners, and the disabled
fell victim to these horrible atrocities.
•2 out of 3 European Jews were killed.
• Hitler’s final solution began with a
boycott of Jewish stores followed by their
segregation from the rest of the German
people.
• Jews were forced to wear armbands,
known as the “Star of David”, that
alienated them from others.
• The allied forces
saw firsthand the
horrors that the
Jewish people felt
as they liberated
the concentration
camps while they
advanced
through
Germany.
Key Dates of World War II
• September 1, 1939~
• June 6, 1944~ The Allied
Hitler’s blitzkrieg invades invasion of Europe begins.
Poland. Great
Allies storm the beaches of
Britain/France declare
Normandy, France in a
war on Germany. This is
surprise attack. “Operation
the beginning of WWII.
Overlord” is a dashing
success!
• December 7, 1941~
Japanese sneak attack
on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
“A date which will live in
infamy”. A sleeping giant
is awakened.
1945 ~ End of WWII is achieved after V-E Day
(Victory in Europe – May 8) when Germany and
Italy surrender.
Japan will surrender on August 15 after the
dropping of two atomic bombs over Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. V-J Day (victory in Japan).
Major reasons for victory in World War II
• American industrial production ~The U.S. went
from having one of the world’s smaller armies to
one of the largest.
• The atomic bomb (Manhattan Project) caused
unimaginable damage to Japan that forced them to
realize they were defeated.
• The surprise attack on D-Day in Normandy paved
the way for the Allies to liberate Europe.
Significance of the Atomic Bomb
• The Japanese are a very proud
people that did not know
when they were defeated. In
fact the word “surrender”
does not have a Japanese
translation.
• August 6, 1945 the American
bomber Enola Gay dropped
the first atomic bomb over
Hiroshima, Japan. Three days
later, another bomb was
dropped on Nagasaki.
• The two atomic bombs
collectively killed over
100,000 Japanese citizens.
Many more died after the
blast due to radiation
poisoning.
• The atomic bomb proved to
be too much for the
Japanese who agreed to
surrender.
• Japan signed the formal
unconditional surrender on
September 2, 1945, on the
battleship U.S.S Missouri.
International Effects of World War II
• In the years following the war, Nazi and Japanese
leaders were put on trial. These “war criminals”
were to be tried for crimes against humanity in
Nuremberg, Germany.
• The Nuremberg trials eventually convicted and
executed 24 Nazi and 7 Japanese for their crimes
and hundreds more were imprisoned.
Defendant Julius Streicher, Editor-in-Chief of the
venomous antisemitic paper, Der Stürmer, on the stand
during the Nuremberg Trials. Streicher was sentenced
to death by hanging.
•After WWII, many states broke free
of colonial rule and tried to establish
their independence. In the Middle
East, Jews and Arabs both lay claim
to the region of Palestine.
•In 1947 the United Nations divided
Palestine into independent Jewish
and Arab states. This led to the
formation of Israel. The displaced
Jews accepted the plan, but the
Arabs did not. Six wars have since
followed.
• With the end of World War II, the Soviet Union
promised to allow free elections in Soviet
controlled Eastern Europe.
• Instead of these “free elections”, Stalin set up
Communist governments and Soviet forces stayed
in the region creating Soviet “satellites” influencing
Eastern Europe for more than 40 years.
• The Soviet Union and Western nations never had a
very good relationship due to ideological
differences.