Download World War II

World War II
1939-1945
Initial German Success (1939-40)
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on Sept. 1, 1939, German air
force & army invaded Poland
from the west
blitzkrieg, or lightning warfare;
Polish forces were completely
overwhelmed (Hitler annexed
Poland, as result of Nazi-Soviet
Pact, USSR got Finland, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, and Eastern
Poland)
First six-months called “Phony
War” and “Sitzkreig” because
little fighting happened
April 1940, Hitler took Denmark
and Norway
Conquest of France
Germans bypassed Maginot
Line and went through Belgium
to get into France
British retreated to Dunkirk,
French resistance collapsed
and went south
Vichy France
• French surrendered,
Germans occupied N.
France
• Southern France left
under a puppet
government called
Vichy France under
Marshal Henri Pétan
• In GB, French General
Charles de Gaulle set
up a Free French
movement
Britain Stands Alone
• PM Winston Churchill
replaced Chamberlain
• Battle of Britain: The
Luftwaffe bombed Britain
nightly for 3 months
• “Never in the field of human
conflict was so much owed
by so many to so few.”
• The RAF (Royal Air Force)
used the new invention
Radar to detect and hold
off the invasion
US “Neutrality”
• When France fell in 1940, Americans realized that
Britain stood alone against the Fascist aggressors
• President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress began
military buildup to “all measures short of war”
• Selective Service Act 1940: first peacetime draft
• Lend-Lease Act of 1941: lend goods to any nation
whose defense necessary to defense of US (i.e.
Britain) $50 Billion
Axis Makes Two Mistakes (1941)
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German Attack on USSR
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Hitler wanted grain, oil, iron;
thought he could quickly take
over
Stalin had stayed out until this
point, Soviets used “scorchedearth policy”
Japanese Attack on Pearl
Harbor
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December 7, 1941, “date that
will live in infamy”
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7:00 AM the Japanese
launched a surprise attack
&w/I 2 hrs., Japan had
destroyed 19 ships included 8
battleships, 188 airplanes &
killed 2400 Americans w/only
the Japanese losing 29 planes
& 1 submarine
Forced US into war; “waking
the sleeping giant”
Axis believed that if US forced
into a Pacific war, the would
stop aiding GB
Victory in Europe (1942-45)
• North Africa to Italy (Operations Torch and Husky)
– Oct. 1942, British beat Germans and Italians at El
Alamein, Egypt; began pushing west
– Nov. 1942, US under command of Dwight D.
Eisenhower invaded French N. Africa and moved
East
– Allies crushed Axis forces
– 1943 Allies crossed Mediterranean into Sicily
– Mussolini’s Government collapsed
• Mussolini tried to escape dressed as a soldier, but
taken in N. Italy and hung
Russian Counteroffensive (1943)
• Battle of Stalingrad;
turning-point in the war;
Russians annihilated a
300,000 man Nazi Army
• Pushed the Nazis out of
USSR through Rumania,
Bulgaria, Yugoslavia,
Hungary, Austria,
Czechoslovakia, and
Poland
• 1945 Russians reached
Germany and stormed
Berlin
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
• Needed to open a second
front in Europe
• General Eisenhower led
Allied troops across English
Channel into Normandy
• Operation Overlord
• Beaches: Omaha, Juno,
Gold, Sword
• Largest waterborne
(amphibious) attack in
history
• Met a large Nazi army, but
drove them back from
France
V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
• 1945 Allied armies
crossed Rhine into
Germany
• Met Russians coming
from the East
• Hitler and new wife Eva
Braun committed
suicide
• May 7, 1945 Germany
surrendered
unconditionally