World War II
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Transcript World War II
World War II
Roots
Other powers could not organize resistance
U.S. remains isolationist
Britain and France follow policy of appeasement
France-lost 16% of male population in WWI
Britain dealing with depression
Spanish Civil War
Foreshadow World War II
General Francesco Franco—opposed liberal
government
Franco helped by Italy and Germany
Government helped by France and Russia
Franco wins with support of industry, large
landowners and Catholic Church
Hitler’s steps towards War
Reoccupies Rhineland
Annexes Austria
Sept 1938—Demands Czechoslovakia
Sudetenland
British PM Chamberlain negotiates deal w/ Hitler
Nazi-Soviet Pact
August 1939—Hitler and Stalin sign nonaggression pact
Divide up Poland
Hitler now free to go to war with west without
fear of Soviet attack
Phony War
British and French declare War on Germany
when they attack Poland
Until Spring 1940—French and British sit
behind Defensive barrier—Maginot Line
Hitler launches “Blitzkrieg”-through Belgium
and N. France
Paris falls in 7 weeks
British escape through Dunkirk
Small Setbacks
British keep Fighting
Italians join the war
Battle of Britain
Forces Hitler to divert troops to support
Japanese alarming U.S. about actions
Major Problems
June 1941—Germany attacks Russia
Hitler wants elbow room
Appears like quick victory
Soviets lose 2.5 million in 4 months
Germans reach gates of major cities
Soviets hold out—becomes war of attrition
Problems for Germany
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
Brings U.S. into war
Hitler declares war on U.S.
U.S. economy is a major force in the conflict
Soon out producing Japan, Germany and Italy
combined.
Long War
Series of Allied victories in the West
North Africa
Italy
Normandy—D-Day June 6, 1944
Battle of the Bulge
Air War
Both sides ravage cites
Example
Feb 1945 Dresden
135,000 Germans died
Both sides make deliberate target of citizens
Civilian morale not impacted
German Genocide
Hitler decides to exterminate the Jews
Also sought to destroy a long list of other peoples:
Slavs
People of mixed race
Gypsies
Incurably ill and insane
Homosexuals
Jehovah’s Witnesses
By 1942—mass gassing techniques used
By 1945—6 million Jews killed
11 million victims total
End of the War
Germany—May 1945
Japan--August 1945
Two atomic bombs
Hiroshima
Nagasaki