Download Outbreak-of

Outbreak of WWII
The coming storm
 Hitler pulled out of the League of Nations, began rearming, and instituted a peace
time draft (violation of the Treaty of Versailles)
 Alliances and Actions in 1936
 Anti-Comintern Pact- Germany and Japan- precursor to military alliance
 Rome-Berlin Axis with Mussolini’s Italy
 Invasion of the Rhineland- German speaking region between Germany and
France
 Unopposed by England and France, hoping Hitler would be satisfied
 1938
 The Anschluss- invasion and annexation of Austria- imprisoning its chancellor
 Again, Britain and France did not react, hoping that Hitler will be satisfied
 Hitler demanded the Sudetenland- German speaking region of Czechoslovakia
 Munich Conference- leaders of France and England met with Hitler Mussolini and
accepted their promise not to expand further into Europe in exchange for the
Sudetenland (which effectively gave him all of Czechoslovakia)
 English Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin declared he had achieved ‘peace in
our time ‘
1938
Hitler and Stalin
 Joseph Stalin rose to power after the Bolshevik revolution in
1917 and ruled the USSR from 1929-1953
 Succeeded Lenin as head of the Socialist party, despite Lenin’s
misgivings
 Naturally paranoid and suspicious, began a series of purgesattempting to eliminate political enemies who opposed the
Communist Party
 Focus specifically on the military which weakened the Red Army
severely
 Did modernize the USSR by taking direct control of industryalthough caused famine that killed millions
 1939- Hitler and Stalin sign the German-Soviet Non-Aggression
Pact
 USSR agreed not to enter the war in exchange for influence over
the Balkans and eastern Poland
 This allowed Germany to invade Poland without resistance
The War Begins
 Sept 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland
 Blitzkrieg (lightning war)- speed, force, and surprise- coordination of
ground and air attacks.
 France and Britain declared war on the 3rd, but did little while Poland
fell.
 France moved its troops to the Maginot line- supposedly invincible
line of defense along the German border
 April of 1940- Hitler surprises Denmark and gains control of the
capital in 2 hours- Norway by June.
 Britain elects a new PM, Winston Churchill who had been warning of
the threat Hitler posed since 1932
The Maginot Line
The War Begins cont.
 May of 1940- Hitler began his assault on Western Europe
 Went through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands before
pushing into France
 Luxembourg surrendered in 1 day, the Netherlands in 5.
 Escape at Dunkirk
 British attempted to intervene but they were forced back and
cornered on the beach at Dunkirk
 The British Royal Air Force (RAF) held the Germans off long
enough for 338,000 troops to escape across the channel, leaving
their tanks and weapons behind.
 In 6 weeks, Germany had conquered most of Europe, only
Britain remained
The Battle of Britain
 Hitler wanted to negotiate but Churchill refused- “we shall fight
them on the beaches...we shall never surrender”
 Germany begins a bombing campaign intended to cripple
Britain and force its surrender
 RAF was incredibly outnumbered (704 planes vs. 2682 for the
Luftwaffe)
 At first, targets were mainly military, but as the siege dragged on,
Hitler expanded into civilian targets
 Known as the London Blitz
 Ended in May 1941- Germany gave up its attempt to take the
British Isles
New Enemies and Crucial
Mistakes
 Abandoning his plan to take Britain, Hitler broke his nonaggression pact with the USSR and invaded in June 1941
 Attempting to seize labor and resources
 Moved quickly through Ukraine, and by fall German troops were
approaching Moscow
 Instead of pressing for the capital, he took Leningrad; during that
time, the winter moved in
 Temperatures plunged to -40, causing equipment malfunction
and frostbite
 On December 6, Soviets repulsed a German attack on Moscow
AprilJune
1940
Battle of
Britain
June
1940May
1941
June
1941
Sept
1939
May
1940
Now, please
use the colors
on your table to
shade
Germany and
its conquered
territories, the
USSR, and
Britain
America’s Response to the War in
Europe
 FDR issued a proclamation of neutrality, although he recognized
the threat Hitler posed and wanted to support Britain and France
 Cash and Carry- law that FDR pushed through Congress
allowed warring nations to purchase arms as long as they paid
cash and transported their own goods
 Sept. 1940- FDR instituted the first peacetime draft in US history
 Election of 1940- FDR promised to keep the US out of foreign
wars
 Lend Lease Act- when Britain ran out of cash, this allowed the
president to sell, exchange, lend or lease war material to any
country
 Eventually was extended to the USSR
 US navy aided in British detection of German U boats
Collision course in the Pacific
 1940- Japan occupied Indochina (modern day Vietnam)- goal
of capturing French oil in the Dutch East Indies.
 US responded with an embargo (official ban on trade with a
certain country) on scrap metal, oil and aviation fuel.
 FDR also froze Japanese bank accounts in the US
 Devastating blow to Japan who was almost completely dependent
on US oil imports
 Without US oil, Japan would run out of oil in months
 Japan attempted to negotiate with FDR to allow its further
expansion into China; FDR refuses
 Military coup in 1941 places military General Tojo in command
of Japan
 Japan was expected to attack the Dutch East Indies for oil next
Attack on Pearl Harbor
 7:55 am- December 7, 1941 the first Japanese bombs fall on
Pearl Harbor
 Subs torpedoed the docks while planes struck the US airfields,
where over 400 airplanes were parked.
 Within 30 minutes, the US fleet of 70 warships was virtually
destroyed
 USS Arizona sustained the most damage and sunk with
thousands of crewmen still on board
 Totals- 2,403 killed, 1,178 injured
 Despite the damage, Japan did not achieve all its goals- failed
to destroy the aircraft carriers which were still at sea.
 The next day, FDR declares December 7th “a day that will live
in infamy’ and the US declares war on Japan
Works Cited
 Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2016). World War II. Digital History.
Retrieved March 21, 2016, from
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=11&smtID=2