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World War II
1939-1945
Nazism
• SPACE and RACE
– Hitler’s main goal was the territorial expansion of
the superior German race.
– This was outlined in Mein Kampf:
• Germans are a superior race and should unite to form a
German Empire “Third Reich”
• Jews, Poles, Slavs, etc… were inferior and should be
enslaved and forced to die out.
• Germans would resettle their land to gain lebensraum
“living space”.
Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles
• Treaty limited German army to only 100,000
men. Hitler disobeys this and builds up the
military.
• 1936- Hitler marches army into the Rhineland
(30 mile demilitarized buffer zone with
France).
• The League of Nations was supposed to
enforce the treaty but nothing happened
Appeasement
• GB and France gave in to Hitler to keep peace.
• WHY???
– Felt guilty about Treaty of Versailles
– Saw Hitler as better than Soviet Communism
– Great Depression
– Pacifism – no one wanted another war
Hitler Expands
• 1938- Hitler annexes Austria (Anschluss)
-Next, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland be
given to Germany (western region of
Czechoslovakia with 3 million Germans)
• Czechs ask France for help (allies). Near war.
• Sept 1938-Munich Conference
– GB and France agree to let Hitler have
Sudetenland. He promises no further expansion.
A woman in the Sudetenland
greets incoming German troops
with tears and a Nazi salute.
Munich Conference
Two Views on the Conference
• GB Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain – I
have secured… “peace with honor…peace for
our time.”
• Winston Churchill – “They had to choose
between war and dishonor. They chose
dishonor; they will have war.”
Hitler Breaks His Promise
• March 1939 – Hitler took over Czechoslovakia
• August 1939 – Signed the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression
pact with Joseph Stalin.
– Stunned the world because they were enemies
– Secretly divided Poland and eastern Europe between them
• Sept 1 – Hitler invades Poland
• Sept 3 – GB and France declare war. WWII begins!
German Invasion of Poland, 1939
WWII
• Blitzkrieg “lightning war”
– Poland crushed in 4 weeks
• Winter: Sitzkrieg “phony war”
• 1940: Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands,
Belgium, and France are taken over by
Germany.
• Miracle of Dunkirk
– Heroic rescue of 300,000 Allied soldiers across the
English Channel to GB.
Operation Sea Lion
• By 1940, all of western Europe was under
German control or neutral except GB.
• Battle of Britain: RAF v. Luftwaffe
– 57 straight nights of bombing on London and
other cities, then sporadic until May 1941
– Killed over 40,000 civilians, massive damage
– British never surrendered; Hitler gave up
Operation Barbarossa
• June 1941-Hitler invades the Soviet Union
– Wanted rich resources (land, oil, grain)
– Wanted to defeat Communism
– Wanted to put more pressure on GB
• Scorched earth policy
• Temps reached -40 degrees in Dec 1941;
thousands die
• Siege of Leningrad (900 Day Siege) – 1 million
Soviets died over 2 ½ year siege
-Supplies blockaded. Ration: 2 pieces bread/day
Back in the US…
• President FDR is building support for US
involvement
– Persuaded Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act
– Allowed US to sell/lend war materials to “any
country whose defense the President deems vital
to the defense of the United States”
– Wanted to try to stand up for democracy without
joining the war
Japan
• July 1941 – US cut off sell of oil to Japan
because of their takeovers in Asia
– Reduced their oil supplies by 90%
• Dec 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor
– Sank or crippled every American battleship but all
aircraft carriers were out at sea and unharmed
– Killed 2,400 people
– “A date which will live in infamy”
The Big Three
• FDR, Winston Churchill, and Stalin
– FDR and Churchill were true allies, not Stalin
– Only cooperated to defeat Hitler
– Stalin wanted FDR and WC to open a 2nd front
against Germany to take pressure off USSR
– Didn’t until 1944.
Turning Points
• May 1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea
• June 1942 – Battle of Midway
– Americans destroyed several Japanese ships and
planes
• Jan 1943 – Russians defeat Germans at the
Battle of Stalingrad
• May 1943 – Allies led by Dwight. D.
Eisenhower force an Axis surrender in North
Africa
D-Day
• June 6, 1944 – Allies land at Normandy
(France)
• Free France, Belgium, enter Germany by
March 1945
• Soviets also advancing from East
• Mussolini – executed
• Hitler – suicide Apr 30, surrender May 7
• May 8, 1945 – V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
Japan?
• Will not surrender
– Kamikaze
– Manhattan Project – code name for the research
on atomic bomb
– Harry S Truman is now President of US
• FDR died April 12, 1945
– August 6 – Hiroshima – 70,000 killed instantly
– August 9 – Nagasaki – 40,000; surrender
– Many more died later from radiation