Transcript The Second World War

The Second World War
Path to War
Hitler’s War: 1939-1941
American Involvement: 1941-1945
Road to War
• 1931:
–Japan invades Manchuria
–League of Nations fail
• 1935:
–Hitler announces rearmament
–Mussolini invades Ethiopia
• 1936:
–Hitler occupies demilitarized zone
along Rhineland
–Spanish Civil War begins (19361939)
–Berlin-Tokyo Anti-Comintern Pact
–Rome-Berlin Axis
• 1937:
–Japan invades China
• 1938:
–Anschluss: Germany annexes
Austria
–Munich Conference (March)
Appeasement
–Germany annexes Sudetenland from
Czechoslovakia (per Munich
agreement) see map
–Japan announces “A New Order in
East Asia”
• 1939:
–Germany occupies all of
Czechoslovakia
–Russo-German nonaggression pact
–Italy invades Albania
–France & Britain prepare for war
–September 1st Germany & USSR
invade Poland (see map)
–September 3rd Britain & France
declare war on Germany
Hitler’s War: 1939-1941
• 1939: Polish Campaign
– Use of Blitzkrieg
– USSR takes possession of East Poland
(per Russo-German agreement)
• Sitzkrieg, or Phony War
– Period of inaction for Germany, Britain,
France
– Main issue over mining Norwegian waters
• Winter War 1939-1940
–Soviets demand Finland cede
territory
–Finland denies
–War: USSR took Finland
• April 1940
–Germany invaded Denmark &
Norway
• May 1940: Battle of France
–Belgium & Netherlands attacked
simultaneously
–Luftwaffe fly over Maginot Line
–‘impassable’ Ardennes Forest
(Luxemburg) passed
–Allies ‘divided’
–Dunkirk Evacuation
–Belgium surrendered May 25th
–Paris fell mid-June
• New France (Vichy France)
– Marshal Petain led Vichy France (new capital
at Vichy)
– ‘Free French’ fled to Britain – led by Charles
de Gaulle
• Chamberlain criticized
– Moved too slow
• Churchill chosen as new Prime Minister
• 1940: Italy attacked British in Egypt & lost
– Rommel sent to deal with Africa (Afrika
Korps)
Hitler’s New Order
• Mid-summer 1940 Germany & Italy
control most of Western and Central
Europe (see map)
• Hitler believed he had won the war
• Set up puppet governments (Quislings)
• Gathered asocials, Jews, Communists,
Gypsies, etc into labor camps
• Britain, however, refused to sue for
peace
Battle of Britain: Operation Sea Lion
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Luftwaffe versus RAF
Brits had better planes
Radar invented by Brits
Brits held off German invasion
British invasion abandoned
1941: A pivotal year
• Russian Invasion: Operation
Barbarossa
– Germany made demands on Eastern
Euro countries
– June 22, 1941 Hitler invaded USSR
– Got within 25 miles of Moscow
– Winter and counter-attack turned
Germans back
American Involvement
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Isolationists prior to this year (1941)
Did have Cash-and-Carry Policy
Lend-Lease Act passed (1941)
Economically supporting Allies
Began 1st peace-time draft
Looked like isolationism no longer going to
work
• Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941
1941-1945
• Germany First (Rainbow Plans)
• Operation Torch 1942:
– Montgomery (Brit),
– Patton & Eisenhower (USA)
– Went after Rommel in Africa
• Battle of Stalingrad 1942
– Hitler invaded
– Weeks of bitter fighting
– Germans lost January 1943
• Casablanca Jan 1943
– Casablanca Conference
– Churchill & Roosevelt talk strategy
– Planned Sicily/Italy invasion
– Discussed possible Normandy invasion
• Teheran Conference Nov 1943
– Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
– Normandy invasion plan decided upon
– Stalin agreed to invade Germany from East
– Eisenhower chosen as leader
• Operation Overlord: D-Day: June
6, 1944 (see map)
–European invasion
–Brits, Americans, Canadians, Poles,
Free French
–It worked
• By end of 1944, France was
liberated
• 1944 USSR took
–Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria
• Battle of the Bulge: Dec 1944-Jan
1945
• Yalta Conference Feb 1945
• Hitler committed suicide May 7,
1645
• V-E Day May 8, 1945
• Potsdam Conference July 1945
• Atomic Bomb dropped on
Hiroshima & Nagasaki Aug 1945