Transcript 1A Chapter 16 Section 1x

Chapter 16 Section 1
Hitler’s Lightening War
Important people & terms for WWII
• Franklin D. Roosevelt: US President at the start of WWII
• Harry S Truman: was Roosevelt’s VP, took office when
Roosevelt died, made the decision to use the atomic bomb
on Japan
• Winston Churchill: British Prime Minister during WWII
• Joseph Stalin: leader of the Soviet Union during WWII
• Adolf Hitler: leader of Germany, started WWII
• Benito Mussolini: Fascist leader of Italy during WWII
• Hideki Tojo: Japanese general who was Prime Minister of
Japan during WWII
• Emperor Hirohito: god-like leader of Japan during WWII
• Vichy Government: puppet government created by Germany
in France after France surrendered
• Philippe Petain: leader of the Vichy Government in France
New war in Europe
• After signing the nonaggression pact with Stalin, Hitler
moved forward with plans for Poland
• 9/1/1939: Germany launches a surprise attack on
Poland
• They used planes, tanks, troops, and artillery in a massive
quick strike
• GB & France declared war 9/3/39
• Poland fell before they could mobilize troops (18 days)
• The military strategy was called Blitzkrieg or lightening
war
• Speed & surprise was the key element in this type of
attack
• Hitler claimed the western ½ of Poland
The Soviets Move In
• 9/17/39: Stalin sent troops into the eastern ½ of
Poland and Poland was no more
• Lithuania, Latvia, & Estonia fell without a fight
• Finland resisted but fell to the Soviets
• The Finns put up more resistance than expected and cost
the Soviets huge losses
The Phony War
• GB & France stationed their troops along the Maginot
Line
• Huge fortification constructed after WWI to protect
France from a German attack
• They waited for an attack for months, nothing
happened: became known as “Sitzkrieg”
• 4/9/40: the Germans attacked Denmark & Norway
• Bases were constructed to launch attacks against GB
The Maginot Line
The Fall of France
• 5/40: Germany attacked Belgium, Luxembourg, & the
Netherlands; this attack kept the allies focus
• The Germans also sent a huge force of tanks and
troops through the Ardennes and into France avoiding
the Maginot Line
• They pushed through France in 10 days to the northern
coast
• By the end of May the Germans had trapped the allies
on the beaches of Dunkirk: “The Miracle at Dunkirk”
• From 5/26 – 6/4: 850 ships carried troops off the
beaches back to England
• Naval ships, yachts, fishing boats, tugs, lifeboats, &
paddle steamers helped in this heroic recuse
The Fall of France cont..
• After Dunkirk, French resistance crumbled. By 6/14,
Germany had taken Paris
• 6/22: French leaders surrendered to Hitler in the very
same railroad car that Germany had been forced to
surrender in at the end of WWI
• The Vichy Government was created to rule the
southern part of France under Marshal Philippe Petain;
it was a puppet government
• The rest of France was controlled by Germany
• Charles De Gaulle set up a “true” French government
in exile in GB
The Battle of Britain
• Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister had declared
that Britain would never surrender
• Hitler planned to knock out the RAF and land 250,000
troops to invade Britain.
• Summer 1940, the Luftwaffe began pounding Britain
from the air, hitting airbases & aircraft factories
• 9/40: Germany began hitting cities trying to crush
British morale. It was called the “Blitz”
• The RAF fought brilliantly & with the help of radar and
the enigma decoder, they were able to launch a very
successful defense of Britain
• Hitler called off the attack on Britain by 5/41
The Mediterranean & Eastern Fronts
• The Nazis focus became North Africa to aid Mussolini
• Mussolini attempted to take over British controlled
Egypt. He hoped to secure the Suez Canal & the oil
fields of the Middle East
• Britain launched a counter attack in 2/41 pushing the
Italians back 500 miles and taking 130,000 prisoners
• Hitler sent Gen. Irwin Rommel to fix the problem in
North Africa. The Nazi Afrika Korps pushed the British
back to Tobruk, Libya
• 6/42 the fighting had been seesawing; Rommel finally
gained the upper hand, earning the nickname the
Desert Fox
The War in the Balkans
• Hitler wanted the Balkans for bases to attack the USSR
• By threatening war, Hitler had convince Romania,
Bulgaria, & Hungary to join the Axis
• 4/41; Hitler invaded Greece and Yugoslavia to
complete the conquest of the Balkans
The Russian Front
• Operation Barbarossa: the invasion plan for the Soviet
Union
• 6/22/41: Germany launched a blitzkrieg attack into the
Soviet Union. The Soviets were not prepared. Their
troops were not well equipped and poorly trained
• The Soviets burned everything as they retreated,
(scorched earth), had worked against Napoleon when
he invaded
• 9/8/41: Germany laid siege to Leningrad. Hitler tried
to starve 2.5 million people into surrendering. They
were eating animal feed, cats, dogs, rats, and crows
• 1 million died, and city would not surrender
The Russian Front cont.
• Hitler turned toward Moscow, on 10/2/41, by 12/41
they had reached the outskirts of the city.
• Temperatures fell and the Germans were not prepared
for the cold. They began to retreat and Hitler ordered
no retreat. They dug in and held on until 3/43
• The invasion of the Soviet Union had gained nothing
for the Nazis and cost them 500,000 lives
The United States Aides the Allies
• Most Americans wanted to stay out of the European conflict
and the Neutrality Acts were passed to keep the US out
• 9/39: FDR asked Congress to allow a “cash & carry” policy for
weapons
• 3/41: the Lend-Lease Act, allowed the US to lend weapons to
the allies
• Summer 1941: the US was escorting allied ships across the
Atlantic
• FDR & Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter; the charter
upheld free trade & the right of people to choose their
government
• 9/41: A U-boat fired on a US ship, & the “shoot on sight”
order was issued by FDR for German U-boats
• US was involved in an undeclared naval war with Germany