Transcript The Axis Power Advance

Chapter 26, Section 2
 Germany’s
invasion of Poland triggered
WWII
 Axis Powers: in time Germany, Italy, Japan
and six other nations
 Allies: by the end of the war, Britain,
France, Soviet Union, United States, China
and 45 other countries
 Armies
fought in cities, villages, and
oceans around the world
 The most destructive war in human
history
 German
forces launched a swift and
massive attack against Poland
 Blitzkrieg: lightning war
 Polish soon surrendered
 While
Germany swarmed in from the
west, the Soviet Union seized Eastern
Europe
 Soviet union also invaded Finland,
Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia
 Stalin took steps to strength the Soviet
Union because he feared Hitler would
attack the Soviet Union despite the NaziSoviet Pact
 In
1940 Hitler’s armies marched through
Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and
pushed into France
 Hitler’s ally, Italy attacked France from
the South
 Britain sent troops to help France but hey
quickly overpowered
 Trapped
in Dunkirk, a French port on the
English channel, Britain sent every
available merchant ship, fishing boat, and
craft to rescue the trapped soldiers
 They carried 338,000 soldiers to safety in
England
 German armies marched into Paris
 June 22, 1940 France surrendered
 The
new Prime Minister Winston
Churchill prepared his country and
citizens for war
 Battle of Britain: German planes pounded
London and other British cities
 British used radar to gun down nearly 2
thousand German planes
• After months of fighting Hitler gave up his
plan to invade Britain
• Still Germany occupied most of Europe
 FDR
announce the U.S. would remain
neutral after Germany invaded Poland
 After
war broke out FDR tried to have
Congress repeal the Neutrality Acts
 Isolationist blocked the move
 Cash and carry compromise: the U.S.
could sell arms to the allies but they had
to pay for them in cash and carry them
away on their ships
 By
1940 German submarines were
sinking British ships along with supplies
 Churchill asked the U.S. for ships
 FDR agreed to give Britain 50 old
American destroyers
 In exchange Britain gave the U.S. a 99
year lease on military bases in
Newfoundland and the Caribbean
 Congress
approved greater spending for
the army and navy
 September 1940 it set up the first
peacetime draft in American history
 The
threat of war convinced FDR to run
for a third term
• Broke the precedent of 2 terms set by
George Washington
• FDR defended running for a third using a
quote from Abraham Lincoln
 “Don’t
change horses in mid-stream”
 FDR won a clear victory
 By
1940 Britain was running out of cash to
buy arms
 FDR suggested lending supplies to
Britain
 Lend-Lease Act: allowed sales or loans of
war materials to any country whose
defense the President deems vital to the
defense of the U.S.
 1941
Hitler launched a surprise invasion
of the Soviet Union
 German armies pushed deep into Russia
 FDR decided to extend Lend-Lease aid to
Stalin and the Soviet Union
 Despite disapproving of Stalin’s
totalitarian state
 Defeating Hitler outweighed all else
 Atlantic
Charter: issued by FDR and
Churchill
• Agreed to seek no territorial gain from the
war
• Support the right of all people to choose the
form of government under which they live
• Called for a permanent system of security
 Like
the League of Nations
 Japanese
actions in Asia were as
alarming as Germany’s advance in
Europe
 Japan prepared to seize colonies of
France and Holland in Southeast Asia
 September 1940 Japan signed a treaty
with Germany and Italy
 The
U.S. tried to stop Japanese
aggression by refusing to sell oil and
scrap metal to Japan
• November 1941 Japan asked the U.S. to lift the
embargo
• U.S asked Japan to withdraw troops from
China and Southeast Asia
 Neither
side would compromise
 Japan completed a plan for a secret
attack on the U.S.
 December
7, 1941 Japanese planes swept
through the skies over pearl harbor,
Hawaii
 In 2 Hours Japanese bombs sank or
damaged 19 American ships, destroyed
almost 200 American planes and killed
about 2400 people
 The
next day FDR asked Congress to
declare war on Japan
 Congress
swiftly approved the war
request
 3 days later Germany and Italy declared
war on the U.S.
 Allies had been fighting for 2 years
before the U.S. joined them