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World War II
The Path, The Problem, The Plan
Path to War
• Hitler
wants to create a “supreme” race
• Takes
political steps to achieve that goal
 Lebensraum
 Becomes Chancellor
• Creates
the Third Reich
 Aryan racial state
 Goal is to dominate Europe
Path to War
• Hitler
violates Treaty of Versailles
 Treaty limited Germany’s military power
 Hitler creates a new air force and increases army size
from 100K to 500K
• Great
Britain and France warn Hitler to stop
 Hitler stops because he doesn’t want to use force…or so
he says
• Ends
up taking over the Rhineland
 1st step to war
 Why?
Rhineland Problem
•
Part of Germany
•
Under French control
•
Demilitarized Zone
 Germany not allowed to have ANY military weapons, troops, or
fortifications
 Ignored by Hitler
•
France was too scared to attack without British support
 Britain did not think it was a problem
•
Issued an idea of APPEASEMENT
 Giving into demands in hope of peace later
Rhineland occupied by Germany
Hitler’s Push to Gain Allies
•
Italy-Mussolini
 Common interests in expanding empires
 Rome-Berlin Axis
•
Japan-Emperor Hirohito
 Sign Anti-Comintern Pact
 Fight against Communism
•
Austria
 Promotes Anschluss (Union with Austria)
 Threatens with invasion
 Austria gives in
War is Looming
•
Sudetenland
 Area in Czechoslovakia with many Germans
 Hitler wants control
 Admits that he is “willing to risk World War”
•
Munich Conference
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British, French, German, Italian leaders meet
Agreement reached to give Sudetenland to Germany
Britain and France met ALL of Hitler’s demands
Hitler promises no more demands or invasions
Invades 3 other areas and threatens to invade Poland
Germany controls Sudentenland
The Leaders meet at the Munich Conference
Britain and France React
•
Finally realize Hitler is full of s***
•
Offer to protect Poland from Hitler and his army
•
Need help of USSR
 Political talks with Stalin begin…or so the allies think
Hitler Reacts
•
Hitler gets to Stalin before Britain and France
•
Hitler offers Stalin all of Eastern Poland
 Stalin agrees
•
Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact
 Promised to not attack each other
•
Opens the door to Poland
World War II Begins
•
Hitler invades Poland on September 1 st, 1939
•
Britain and France declare war on Germany
•
Alliances are formed and stage is set
Western European Front
•
Poland is attacked by using blitzkrieg
 Key to Hitler’s early success
 Means “Lightning War”
 Use of Panzers supported by airplanes
•
Hitler gained many early victories
 Ardennes Forest
 Broke through French defenses
 Allowed Germany to control France
•
Maginot Line
 French & British defensive line in Ardennes Forest
 Germany swept around Maginot Line
 Split allied forces
 Now in control of France
Maginot Line
Western European Front
•
Dunkirk
 British troops survive Maginot Line attack
 Gained a new resolve
•
Pleaded to the U.S. for help
 FDR issued the Lend-Lease Act
 FDR sent food, ships, planes, and weapons to Britain
 No troops due to Neutrality Acts
Western European Front
•
Battle of Britain
 Germany wanted control of Britain
 Had to control the airspace
 Luftwaffe (German Air Force) was created
 Constant bombing of British military areas
•
British did not give in
•
Hitler started targeting cities & civilian populations
 Allowed British air force to rebuild
•
The Royal Air Force (RAF) defeated the Luftwaffe
•
First great allied victory
Mediterranean Front
•
North Africa
 Italy invades and attacks North Africa
 Push against the British and force a retreat
•
Suez Canal
 Main objective was to control the area
 Access to the Middle East
 Why is this important?
 British did not give in, pushed back
•
Germany helps Italy
 Afrika Korps and Erwin Rommel
 Crushing defeat for Allies
Suez Canal and Afrika Korps
Eastern Front
•
War in the Balkans
 Hitler planned to invade USSR
 Needed bases of operation
 Persuades countries to ally with Germany
•
Operation Barbarossa
 Plan to invade and control USSR
 USSR unprepared
 Scorched-Earth policy……again
•
Siege of Leningrad
 Starve and cut-off 2.5 million people
 1 million died; still refused to surrender
Eastern Front
•
Moscow
 Hitler and the Nazi army attack the capital
 Soviet Generals hold the line
•
“No retreat” by Hitler
 Does not want same mistake as Napoleon
 Costs Germany and the army 500,000 lives
War in the Pacific
•
Pearl Harbor
 U.S. sent help to the Chinese resistance to stop Japan
 Wanted to cut-off oil intake as well
 “A dagger pointed at [Japan’s] throat”
 December 7, 1941: “A date which will live in infamy”
 More than 2,300 Americans were killed; over 1,100 wounded
•
Japanese Victories
 Dominated the Pacific
 Controlled British and American colonies
 Bataan Death March
 Surrender was considered dishonorable
 50 mile march where Allied POW’s were subjected to torture
War in the Pacific
•
Battle of Midway
 Key American airfield
 Admiral Chester Nimitz planned a successful counterattack
 Turned the tide in the Pacific toward Allied favor
•
Douglas MacArthur
 Commander of forces in the Pacific
 “Island-hopping”
•
Battle of Guadalcanal
 Destroy Japanese military bases
 12,000 out of 36,000 Japanese troops survived
 Terrible conditions
Pearl Harbor
The End Awaits
•
North Africa
 Battle of El Alamein
 British forces drive Rommel out of Egypt
 Operation Torch
 Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Rommel indefinitely near Morocco and Algeria
•
Battle of Stalingrad
 Soviet troops hold out and defeat the frostbitten German troops
 90,000 of Hitler’s original 330,000 survived
 Pushed westward (towards the ‘scorched earth’)
•
Invasion of Italy
 Allied troops took control of Sicily; defeated Southern Europe
 Mussolini still in power in Northern Europe; defeated when Germany
surrenders
The End Awaits
•
D-Day: Codename Operation Overlord
 Allied forces invade Normandy and drive out Germans
 June 6, 1944
 Dwight D. Eisenhower and General George Patton led the attack
•
Battle of the Bulge
 Fighting in the Ardennes forest
 Constant ‘push-pull’ battle
 Allied forced pushed Germans back to the Rhineland
End of WWII
•
Germany’s Unconditional Surrender
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‘Noose’ closed around Berlin and Hitler’s Germany
British/American forces from the West; Soviets from the East
Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide
Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7th & signed the surrender
agreement on May 9th
 Known as V-E Day
End of WWII
•
Victory in the Pacific
 MacArthur defeated the Japanese naval fleet in the Philippines
(Battle of Leyte Gulf)
 Battle of Iwo Jima officially ended the Japanese military threat in
the Pacific
 Japanese: 100,000 dead; U.S.: 12,000 dead
•
Japanese Surrender
 Manhattan Project is put into action
 Japan is warned; still no surrender
 First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima August 6, 1945; no
surrender
 Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945
 Japan surrenders on September 2, 1945; V-J Day