Transcript World War II

Chapters 24 and 25
WORLD WAR II
Chapter 24
WORLD WAR LOOMS
DICTATORS AROUND THE WORLD
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Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin
and Communism
Italy: Benito Mussolini and Fascism
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Germany: Adolph Hitler and Nazism
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Japan: Militaristic government
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Spain: Francisco Franco
and Nationalism
SOVIET UNION
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Stalin followed in the footsteps of Vladimir Lenin;
wanted Communism at any cost; became a police state
Moved to a Socialist nation in 1927—meaning no
private enterprises (even farming); wanted a
totalitarian government—one with complete control
over its people
Issued three separate five-year plans to create an
industrial power—was very successful
Executed tens of thousands during The Great Purge
where people were branded enemies; responsible for
the deaths of up to 13 million people
ITALY
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Fascism had a strong, centralized government with
a powerful dictator
Il Duce—the chief—gained control after marching
on Rome with thousands of followers; controlled
every aspect of Italian life
Did not control the farms and factories like
Stalin—had support from many jobless youth,
veterans, and business owners
GERMANY
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Joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party
(the Nazi Party) in 1919; rooted in extreme nationalism
Ideas
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Unite all German speaking people
Felt Aryans were superior
National expansion—”to secure for the German people the
land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth”
Helped by the Great Depression—so many were out of
work, they were desperate
Established the Third Reich—the Third German
Empire
JAPAN
Also wanted expanded living space for
their growing population
 Invaded the Chinese province of
Manchuria and quickly gained control
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SPAIN
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Francisco Franco lead a
fight with the Spanish
Civil War
Assisted by Mussolini
and Hitler
After 600,000 people
had died and over $15
billion was spent to stop
him, Franco controlled a
totalitarian government
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Remember—the League of Nations was
formed to help keep peace throughout the
world after WWI
 Japan was simply reprimanded for its
invasion of Manchuria—so Japan simply
withdrew from the League
 Hitler began violating the Treaty of
Versailles and Mussolini invaded Ethiopia
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THE UNITED STATES RESPONSE
Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts
beginning in 1935 with a plan to keep the US
out of war
 In 1937, a poll showed 70% of Americans
believed the US never should have entered
WWI
 FDR spoke out against isolationism
in 1937 showing his desire to take
action—the people protested and
he backed off
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WAR IN EUROPE
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Hitler felt, “Germany’s problems can be
solved only by means of force, and this is
never without risk.”
Hitler met with Austria’s chancellor
Kurt von Schuschnigg in February
1938 and demanded Austrian Nazis
enter the government; although von
Schuschnigg changed his mind,
German troops marched into
Austria unopposed on March 12, 1938
THE MUNICH PACT
 French
premier Edouard Daladier and
British prime minister
Neville Chamberlain signed
the agreement with
Germany on September 30, 1938
 Said the Sudetenland (an area
of Czechoslovakia with German
speaking people) would be the
last land acquired by Nazi
Germany
THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE BEGINS
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On March 15, 1939, “Czechoslovakia has ceased to
exist.”
Hitler said German-speaking people in Poland
were also being mistreated; he signed a
nonaggression pact with Soviet Union (and
secretly agreed to divide Poland between
them)
On September 1, 1939, Germany debuted its blitzkrieg
or lightning war in which it attacked by surprise; the
Soviet Union attacked from the east
Britain and France declared war and by the end of the
month, WWII had begun although it was termed a
sitzkrieg (a sitting war) because there was no fighting
THE SOVIET UNION JOINS IN
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Stalin and the Soviet Union decided to
take back lands lost after WWI ended
 The
Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania fell easily
 Finland
put up a strong battle, but fell after
three months of fighting
MORE GERMAN MOVEMENT
German newspapers reported, “Germany is
ready” on April 7, 1940
 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway
 Next, Hitler attacked the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg
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THE FALL OF FRANCE
German troops entered France from the
northeast and successfully isolated British
and French troops
 Italy joined in and invade the southern part
of France
 On June 21, 1940, Hitler took control of
France
 French general Charles de Gaulle
fled to Britain and set up a
government-in-exile
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THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
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The German air force, the Luftwaffe, made
bombing runs over Britain for two solid months in
the late summer of 1940
1000 German planes attacked British air fields,
aircraft factories, and cities
Because the RAF (Britain’s Royal Air Force) used
the new technology of radar and battled back
bravely, Hitler called off the invasion indefinitely
THE HOLOCAUST
HITLER’S PLAN
To promote the Aryan race
 In April 1933, he removed all non-Aryans
from government jobs
 Jews had traditionally been the scapegoats
for Germans—blamed for any failures or
economic problems
 In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped
Jews of their civil rights and property
and forced Jews to wear a yellow star
of David
 Nuremberg Laws Site
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Nuremberg Chart
KRISTALLNACHT
November 9, 1938—the night of broken
glass
 Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues
throughout Germany were attacked
 More than 20,000 Jews were arrested and
sent to concentration camps
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JEWISH REFUGEES
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In 1938, Germany’s foreign minister
observed: “We all want to get rid of our
Jews. The difficulty is that no country
wishes to receive them.”
 40,000
fled to France
 England accepted 500 refugees a week
 60,000 travelled to the United States which
had strict immigration quotas
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Most people were anti-Semitic
and didn’t want the Jews either.
HITLER’S FINAL SOLUTION
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Since many Jews were unable to flee Germany, Hitler
came up with a new plan
Healthy Jews would be sent to labor camps to perform
slave labor
The rest would be sent to extermination camps—this
resulted in genocide, the deliberate killing of an entire
people
The Nazis also included others they felt were inferior
or unworthy: gypsies, freemasons, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, homosexuals, the mentally retarded, the
insane, the disabled, and the incurably ill
Eventually, they added the Poles, Ukrainians, and
Russians to their list
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
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Prisoners would work
from dawn to dusk,
seven days a week, until
they collapsed
They lived in cramped
wooden barracks that
held up to 1000 people
each
Food was meager—
mostly a thin soup with
an occasional scrap of
bread
EXTERMINATION
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Because the Jews wouldn’t die fast enough in the
work camps, the Nazis built six death camps in
Poland—the main purpose was to exterminate or
kill people
Each had gas chambers to kill up to 6000 people
daily
Bodies were initially buried in huge pits, but
crematoriums worked more quickly to dispose of
the bodies
Others died by being shot, hanged, poisoned, or
experimented on
CONCENTRATION CAMP PICTURES
AMERICA RESPONDS
ROOSEVELT’S FEELINGS
Remember—he had been in
favor of US involvement
 He personally knew some of Hitler’s
advisors and believed they were crazy
 He convinced Congress to pass a new
neutrality act that allowed “cash and
carry”—meaning Britain and France could
buy weapons and ammo and transport them
on their own ships
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THE AXIS POWERS
In September 1940, Japan, Germany, and
Italy signed the Tripartite Pact—a mutual
defense treaty
 Roosevelt responded by increasing his
assistance to France and Britain to avoid a
two-ocean war
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AMERICA CONTINUES SUPPORT
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The US began boosting its
defense spending
The Selective Training and
Service Act was passed to
register men between 21
and 35; 1 million were
drafted to serve
The Lend-Lease Act was
passed in 1941—the US
would now “lend” arms to
Britain
HITLER INVADES THE SOVIET UNION
Invaded on June 22, 1941
 The Soviets fought bravely, but destroyed
everything in the path when forced to
retreat (scorched-earth policy)
 Lasted over six months
 Roosevelt began sending lend-lease
supplies to the Soviet Union
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GERMAN SUBMARINES
Also known as U-boats
 Traveled in groups of
15-20, known as wolf packs
 Was an effective mode of
attack for the Germans
 Roosevelt gave the Navy permission to
protect lend-lease ships against German
U-boats
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THE ATLANTIC CHARTER
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Declared both the US
and Great Britain
wanted
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No extra land
To keep self-control
To let people choose
their own government
Free trade
Cooperation
A secure peace
Permanent security
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“A Declaration by the
United Nations” was
signed by 26 nations,
including China and the
Soviet Union
US SHIPS ARE ATTACKED
US destroyer Greer: torpedoes were fired
at the ship on September 4, 1941
 The Pink Star—a US merchant ship: sunk
two weeks later
 US destroyer Kearny: torpedoed in midOctober
 US destroyer Reuban James: sunk in
October; killed at least 100 sailors
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JAPAN
Dreamed of a vast colonial empire
 They had invaded Manchuria in 1931 and
China in 1937
 Pushed south in July 1941 towards presentday Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
 Hideki Tojo became Prime Minister
and planned to attack the United
States
 The US intercepted Japan’s secret
communication codes and knew an attack was
coming
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THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR
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December 7, 1941: 181 Japanese planes
bombed Pearl Harbor for an hour and a
half
The attack crippled the US Pacific Fleet
 18 ships were sunk or damaged; 350 planes
were destroyed or severely damaged;
2400 people had died; and 1178 were
injured
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RESPONSE TO PEARL HARBOR
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Roosevelt said,
“December 7, 1941, a
date which will live in
infamy.”
Burton Wheeler, an
isolationist senator,
said, “The only thing
now to do is to lick
the hell out of them.”
The US declared war
on Japan on 12/8
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Three days later
Germany and Italy
declared war on the
US