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World War II
Official start: September 1, 1939
V-E Day: May 8, 1945
Japan officially surrenders:
Sept. 2, 1945
United States: December 8, 1941 - 1945
Background:
1931: The Japanese military invaded
Manchuria, a province of China
1935: Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italians
invaded Ethiopia
Rise of Hitler and Nazism in
Germany
The TREATY OF VERSAILLES
was very harsh on Germany.
Germans were angry about
paying war “reparations” for WW
I and losing land.
They blamed their defeat on the
Jews.
German money became
worthless during the Great
Depression (woman at right
burning paper money in the
furnace).
Rhineland Occupation
In defiance of the
Treaty of
Versailles
Hitler built up
Germany’s army
and occupied
this area in
1936
Appeasement: To give in to a
potential aggressor in hopes that the
aggressor will not commit further
harmful acts.
England and France
gave in to Hitler at
the Munich
Conference in
1938
Appeasement and
Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland
Ethnically German
area of
Czechoslovakia
Hitler demanded it
be returned to
Germany in 1938
Munich Conference: 1938
French and British leaders agreed to give Hitler the
Sudetenland hoping he would be satisfied with that.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
US President
elected to a 3rd
term in 1940 and
a 4th in 1944
President during
most of WWII
died April 14,
1945
Isolationism and Neutrality
in the 1930s-not on our soil-yet
Many Americans like
Charles Lindbergh
wanted to avoid war
at all costs.
They didn’t think we
had gained anything
from fighting WWI.
The U.S. was in the
Great Depression
George Washington’s Farewell
Address
Washington had
advised “steer clear of
permanent alliances”
Some people used this
to justify isolationism in
the 1930s
Americans did not want
to get involved in
another European war
Neutrality Acts of 1935/1937 &
the Lend Lease Act 1941
Based on US desire to
avoid participation in a
European war.
US would later pass the
“Lend Lease Act” to help
Allies with supplies to fight
the war.
Had a major effect on
allies by providing military
aid without sending
troops.
Start of WWII in Europe
German
invasion of
Poland in
September
1,1939
Nazis used
blitzkrieg
(lighting
warfare)
Nonaggression Pact: 1939
The Soviet
Union and
Germany
agreed not to
attack each
other and to
divide Poland
between them
Cartoon shows
Stalin and
Hitler as friends
Battle of Britain 1940;
Atlantic Charter: August 1941
Pearl Harbor
December 7,
1941
“A day that
will live in
infamy”
Japanese
attacked the
US Pacific
Fleet (US
Navy)
United States
enters WWII
Internment: Executive Order
9066
Fearing spying
or sabotage, the
US government
began this
process in Feb.
1942
The government
forcibly
relocated and
imprisoned
Japanese
Americans
War Production
Board
Oversaw conversion of
factories that had made
such things as toys to
war production (planes,
tanks, ammunition).
Selective Service Training Act
Required all
men
between the
ages of 21
and 35 to
register for
the draft.
“Rosie the Riveter”:
Purpose: recruit women into the
workforce – factories
Effect: millions of women made
important contributions
The European Theater
Chief Generals: Eisenhower & Patton
Strategy: North Africa, Italy, France,
Belgium then on to Germany
Battle of Stalingrad
Important Soviet victory over the Germans
Soviet Union had sided with Germany
early in the war, but switched to the Allies
when Germany attacked them.
D-Day
June 6, 1944
Supreme Allied
Commander
General
Eisenhower “Ike”
led Operation
Overlord.
Day of the Allied
landing at
Normandy, France
A turning point in
the war and key
to the defeat of
Nazi Germany
Battle of the Bulge
Germany’s last major offensive
of the War
Holocaust: The “Final Solution”
Nazi Germany’s
attempt to kill all the
Jewish people of
Europe
V E Day
May 8, 1945
The war is over in
Europe, but
continues in the
Pacific Theater with
Japan
General Douglas MacArthur:
commanding general in the
Pacific Theater (ordered by FDR
to leave the Philippines in 1942he returned)
Battle of Midway: 1942
Naval defeat that left
Japan on the defensive
for the rest of the war.
Important American
victory & turning point
in the Pacific Theater.
“Kamikaze”
Suicide
pilots of
Japan who
flew their
planes into
enemy ships
Island Hopping
Allies strategy to
conquer one Pacific
island after another,
hitting only the most
important islands
They would move closer
and closer to Japan,
isolating the Japanese
troops on the bypassed
islands
Island Hopping cont.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
August 6,
1945
and
August 9,
1945
V-J Day
August 14,
1945
Japan
officially
surrenders
on Sept. 2,
1945
WWII is
over
The Costs of War:
Approximately 50 million
people died- more than half
civilians!
Millions more were injured or left
suffering from disease or malnutrition.
In Europe, as in Asia, the war
devastated national economies and
infrastructures.
Millions of people found themselves
homeless, and lacking the basic
necessities.
The U.S. emerges as the world power.