Transcript The Second World War

The Second World War
Hitler’s Aims
1. Reverse the Treaty of Versailles
2. Unite all German speaking peoples
•
Greater Germany including all Germans into one
homeland  Germans in Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Poland, etc...
3. Lebensraum (“living space”)
•
Greater Germany would include +85 million people 
would need more land to provide enough food and
raw materials
4. German rearmament
Hitler’s Land Gains
Hitler’s Successes
• Reoccupation of the Saar region
• Saar under occupation of the League of Nations for
15 years after WWI
• Vote held in 1935  90% of population voted to be
reunited with Germany
• Reoccupation of the Rhineland
• 1936: Hitler marches troops into Rhineland; takes
control back from the French who had received
Rhineland under the Treaty of Versailles
• Met with no resistance – French unwilling to fight
• Later 98% of population voted for German
reoccupation
Hitler’s Successes
• Anschluss with Austria
• 96% of Austrians spoke German;
Hitler was born in Austria; strong
Nazi party in Austria
• March 1938: German troops march
into Austria; Austria made a
province of Germany
• Nazis later claimed that 99% of
Austrians voted for Anschluss
Hitler’s Successes
• Sudetenland:
• Mainly a German–speaking area given to Czechoslovakia upon its
creation post-WW1
• Pro-Nazi Sudeten leader strongly supported
• Czechoslovakia thought it would be protected by the League.
• British Prime Minister (Chamberlain) did not want a war over
Sudetenland  met with Hitler, Mussolini and French Prime
Minister in Munich and they agreed that Hitler would have the
Sudetenland if he promised to stop expanding
• Chamberlain met privately with Hitler and they promised never
to go war with each other again
New tactic: ‘Bliztkrieg’
• Meaning ‘Lightning Storm’, the Blitzkrieg tactic allowed Germany to
quickly take over territories in Europe.
• Use of tanks and other motorized vehicules to rapidly cover ground
and achieve victory.
Poland
• Demanded the return of Danzig and Polish Corridor.
• Signed a treaty with Italy to help each other should there be a war.
• Signed a pact with Russia  prevent war on 2 fronts
• Russia would not object to a German invasion of Poland
• Russia and Germany would divide Poland between them
• Germany invaded Poland  British and French issued an ultimatum
that Germany must leave or risk war  Germany did not reply 
Britain declares war on Germany
Major points of WWII
• By April 1940, Denmark and Norway were occupied.
• June 1940: Netherlands, Belgium and France were occupied.
Conflicts in Mediterranean and North Africa.
• June 1941: German invasion of USSR
• December 1941: Japanese attack on Pearl harbour.
The Axis Powers
Propaganda
associated to
Tripartite Pact
between
Germany, Italy
and Japan.
Empire of Japan
Imperial Japan
• In 1927, Japan enters a
period of radical
nationalism.
• They wanted to expand
‘co-prosperity sphere’
• Invasion of China in
1937.
• Occupation of FrenchIndochina in 1940.
Nazi occupation of Paris
German Invasion of
Soviet Union 1941
(Operation Barbarossa)
• Germany invaded the
Soviet Union; now
seen as a threat.
• Ended with Soviet
victory; pushed back
German troops.
Victory at
Stalingrad
Operation Torch in 1942: Allied Invasion of
North Africa
Italian Campaign
• After the take over in
North Africa, Allies
move to land in Sicily
and spread northward
up Italy.
• Slow going, tough
battles.
End of the War in Europe
• June 1944: Operation Overlord. Anglo-American invasion of
northern France.
• By April 1945, Russians had reached Berlin by the east and
other Allies flanked Germany to the south and the west.
• Many German cities were devastated from Allied air
bombings.
Bombing of Dresden
The Pacific Front
•June 1942: Americans
won battle of Midway
Island.
American dive bombers attacking
Japanese cruiser Mikuma
The Pacific Front (continued)
• The American attempts to capture Japanese held islands was
costly.
• Example: Americans losses of roughly 85, 000 during whole
of Battle of Okinawa in April 1945.
American soldiers at the Battle of Okinawa
The Pacific Front (continued)
• On August 6th 1945, a B-29 dropped a uranium
bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
• This resulted in 80, 000 deaths and 70, 000
injuries.
On August 9th , a plutonium bomb was dropped
on Nagasaki killing 40, 000 people and injuring
25, 000.
On September 2nd 1945, Japan surrendered.
Ruins of Hiroshima after bombing
Potsdam Conference (Summer 1945)
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President
Harry S. Truman, and General Josef Stalin