Transcript File


Failures of the Treaty of
Versailles
 Germans saw punishment as
unfair, couldn’t pay
reparations
▪ As a result, experienced inflation
 Soviet Union bitter that
territory had been taken to
make Poland, Finland,
Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia
 Many European countries didn’t form new democratic
governments, lacked democratic traditions
▪ ex: Germany, Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria,
Romania, Greece
 Treaty didn’t help war-torn nations rebuild or repair
damage

Economic troubles were worldwide
 as depression spread, unemployment rose in capitalist
countries, especially those with close trade relationships with
US
 depression prevented countries from rebuilding after they were
devastated by the war
 countries could not pay off their war debts with their economies
declining

Failure of democracies: strained democratic
governments fell to dictators
 Soviet Union: Stalin – communist
 Italy: Mussolini – fascist
 Germany: Hitler – fascist
 Spain: Franco – fascist
 Japan: militarists (Tojo)

German aggression sparks fighting in Europe
 Austria: peaceful takeover in March 1938 (Anschluss)
 Sudetenland: region of Czechoslovakia, Hitler claimed
it would be his last demand
▪ Britain (Chamberlain) and France (Daladier) appease Hitler
and sign Munich Pact Sep. 30, 1938

Non-aggression pact: Germany and Soviet
Union sign agreement to not invade each
other Aug. 23, 1939

Poland: Germany raids Poland (blitzkrieg)
Sep. 1, 1939, follows with invasion
 Britain and France declare war on Germany Sep. 3,
1939
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France: Germany invades
France through Belgium and
mountains in South (avoided
fortifications along Maginot
line), France falls June 17, 1940
Britain: air attacks on military
sites and London
 August and September 1940,
Britain does not fall to German
control
 Winston Churchill: inspires Britain
to persevere

September 1940
 Germany, Italy and Japan
sign Tripartite Pact
(formal alliance), become
known as Axis Powers

November 1940
 FDR elected to 3rd term
 Gives “fireside chat”
saying United States
should become “great
arsenal of democracy”
▪ Wants to help Allies defeat
the Axis

1939: Cash and Carry
 Allowed sale of weapons to
nations at war if they paid in
cash and provided transport

1941: Lend Lease Act
 United States would lend or
lease arms to any country
whose defense is “vital to
U.S.”
 Germans respond with UBoat attacks, FDR orders
naval protection of lend-lease
shipments

August 1941
 Congress passes a draft
extension bill
 FDR and Winston Churchill
sign Atlantic Charter
▪ Statement of war aims
▪ Promoting free trade and
popular democratic
government
▪ Encouraged international
cooperation and open
discussion of territorial
changes
▪ Work towards disarmament
▪ Build “secure peace based on
freedom” and establish
permanent system of security

Hideki Tojo became Japanese leader October 1941
 Very militant, wanted to attack U.S.
 Gave peace talks a try, but ended when U.S. cut off their oil supplies in
response to expansion
Dec. 6, 1941: U.S. receives decoded Japanese message to reject
all U.S. peace proposals
 Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese planes bomb naval base at Pearl Harbor
 Dec. 8, 1941: FDR asks for war on Japan
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5 million volunteered for military service
drafted another 10 million
women accepted to army
 Chief of Staff George Marshall created Women’s
Auxiliary Army Corps

Shift of industry to
wartime production
 Shutdown of automobile
production beginning 1942

18 million workers in war
industries
 6 million of them were
women
 African Americans
demanded equal treatment
in industry – A. Philip
Randolph organized march
on Washington July 1941
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2csVk8IE3tE
http://dlib.nyu.edu/rosie/interviews

Office of Scientific Research and Development
 Improved radar and sonar, used DDT to fight insects
 Created Manhattan Project to develop atomic bomb

Evacuated from Hawaii and West Coast
beginning in 1942
 110,000 sent to internment camps
 many were Nisei: born in US, American citizens

Operation Torch
 General Dwight D. Eisenhower led troops
through North Africa in pursuit of German
General Rommel beginning November, 1942
 May 1943: all German and Italian resistance in
North Africa had ceased
 Next launched invasion of Italy – Allies aided by
Italian rebels, who capture and execute Mussolini

D-Day (Operation Overlord)
 Invasion of Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944
 Led with overnight parachute troops, followed up with
156,000 Allied troops landing on Beaches in Normandy
 Within a month, 1,000,000 Allied troops landed in France –
under General George Patton able to push back Nazi forces
 August 25, 1944: France liberated from Nazi control

Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16,
1944-Jan. 25, 1945)
 Nazis try last offensive assault
on Allied troops in liberated
Belgium
 Germans were pushed back,
never tried another offensive
campaign
 Allied troops pushed into
German territory, discover
concentration camps and
liberate prisoners
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Allies reached Berlin April
25, 1945
Hitler accepted defeat
April 29, 1945
 Married girlfriend Eva
Braun, then shot himself
while she drank poison, had
bodies burned
 Nazis unconditionally
surrender a week later
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May 8, 1945: Allies
celebrate V-E Day (Victory
in Europe Day)
General Douglas MacArthur:
leader of American forces in
Pacific, struggled early in
Philippines but vowed “I shall
return”
 US recruited Navajo to work
sending messages in their
native language, Japanese
could never decipher “code”
 Kamikaze pilots: Japanese
used their planes as bombs
by flying them into Allied
ships
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June 4-7, 1942
 US wanted to stop Japanese naval attack, important for
setting up future campaigns in Pacific islands
 after victory US started “hopping” from island to island
reclaiming territory from the Japanese

February 19-March 26,
1945
 Capturing heavily
fortified island important
for proximity to Japan
 Over 20,000 Japanese
soldiers hiding in
elaborate system of
tunnels and caves on the
island, only 200 survived
Allied attack

Okinawa: April 1-June 21,
1945
 Battle was Pres. Truman’s first
real test as new commander in
chief after FDR’s death
 Japanese defended the island,
7600 Americans died, 110,000
Japanese
 High death tolls on Okinawa
made Allied leaders nervous
about death tolls in invasion of
mainland Japan