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Major Events of WWII
1939-1945
1. Beginning of War
Germany invades Poland, Sept 1, 1939
using the blitzkrieg (lightning war)
A)
Germany
Marching into
Poland
b) Britain and France declare war
Phony War –no fighting for 7 months
c) April 9, 1940, Hitler attacks Denmark &
Norway
Denmark
And Norway
b) Britain and France declare war
Phony War –no fighting for 7 months
c) April 9, 1940, Hitler attacks Denmark &
Norway
d. Battle for France & Britain
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Attacks on France begin in May, 1940
France surrenders on June 14, while
Charles de Gaulle sets up a French
government in London
Hitler after taking Paris,
France
d. Battle for France & Britain
Axis advances after France
Next
Destination
Great Britain
e) Battle of Britain
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Battle for Britain begins in Sept, 1940
Winston Churchill (leader of Britain)
explains that Britains will fight until the
end
Battle ends in May 1941 when Hitler
calls off the invasion-saves Europe
E. Battle of Britain
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Winston Churchill (leader of Britain) explains
that Britains will fight until the end
Battle ends in May 1941 when Hitler calls off
the invasion-saves Europe
Churchill preparing
For battle
E. Battle of Britain
For the following nine months, the
German air force (Luftwaffe) launched
repeated bombing raids on British towns
and cities. This was known as the
BLITZ and was an attempt to bomb
Britain into submission.
2. War around the World
A) Britain's attack Italians in Northern Africa,
but Hitler sends aid by 1942
 Hitler conquers Yugoslavia and Greece in
1941(April)

B) Germany invades the
Soviet Union
A Time of Peril
Germany:
· Germany had conquered
most of Europe and
invaded the Soviet Union
in 1941.
· The Soviets retreated as
the Germans advanced on
Moscow, burning crops
and farm equipment as
they went in order to keep
them out of German
hands.

B) Germany invading the Soviet Union
Soviet Prisoners
• German Forces Stalled at Moscow and
Leningrad
C) Battle of Stalingrad (Turning Point of
War in the East)
Hitler starts stalling
At Moscow
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C) Battle of Stalingrad (Turning Point of
War in the East)
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C) Battle of Stalingrad (Turning Point of
War in the East)
Hitler trying to
Get Soviet Union
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C) Battle of Stalingrad (Turning Point of
War in the East)
3. America gets involved
A) December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked
by the Japanese-kills 2,400 Americans
A) December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor is
attacked by the Japanese-kills 2,400
Americans

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A) December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked
by the Japanese-kills 2,400 Americans
Aa) FDR calls it “A date that will live in
infamy”
B) From 1941-1942 Japanese Island hop in
the pacific undefeated (“Asia for
Asians”)
Japan:
• After
attacking
Pearl Harbor,
the Japanese
seized Guam,
Wake Island,
Hong Kong,
Malaya,
Burma and
the Dutch
East Indies.
• The Japanese also defeated American and Filipino forces, led
by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, in the Philippines.
U.S. troops
surrender
to the
Japanese
in the
Philippine
Islands,
May 6,
1942. A
total of
11,500
Americans
and
Filipinos
became
POWs.
C) Battle of Midway-June 6, 1942,
Americans defeat Japanese and
turn the tide in the Pacific
(Turning Point in Pacific)
C) The United States was victorious over
Japan in the Battle of Midway. This victory
was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
D) Douglas MacArthur leads
Americans Island-hoping back
towards Japan
“Hit them where they ain’t, and
Let them die on the vine”
Island Hopping towards Japan
The photograph became the only photograph to win the
Pulitzer Prize in the same year as its publication, and
ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant
and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most
reproduced photograph of all time.
Battles that turn the tide
E. Dwight D. Eisenhower leads Allies to
victory in African territories
Dwight Eisenhower speaking
to troops.
4. Allied Victory in Europe (Turning
point in West)
A) D-Day-operation Overlord-greatest land and sea
attack in History.
B) Led by Dwight Eisenhower on June 6, 1944
C) 5 beaches of Normandy, France
 Sept. liberate France
D-Day
A) D-Day-operation Overlord-greatest land and
sea attack in History.
B) Led by Dwight Eisenhower on June 6, 1944
C) 5 beaches of Normandy, France
A) D-Day-operation Overlord-greatest land and
sea attack in History.
B) Led by Dwight Eisenhower on June 6, 1944
C) 5 beaches of Normandy, France
Normandy, France on D-Day
A) D-Day-operation Overlord-greatest land and
sea attack in History.
B) Led by Dwight Eisenhower on June 6, 1944
C) 5 beaches of Normandy, France
At Utah Beach, members of an American landing party help
others whose landing craft was sunk by the Germans off the
coast of France. The survivors reached Utah Beach, near
Cherbourg, by using a life raft.
Crossed rifles in the sand placed as a tribute to this fallen
soldier.
D) Battle of Bulge-Allied Victory
-Germany tries one final time to turn
back the Allies but are defeated
E) The Tide Turns
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The Allies enjoyed victories in the Pacific, North Africa, Italy and
Russia.
In Italy, Mussolini had been overthrown and the new government
joined the Allies.
April 29, 1945
Mussolini and
15 other fascist
leaders are
executed and
hanged at an
Esso gas
station in the
Piazzale Loreto
in Milan.
Election of 1944
· FDR won an
unprecedented fourth
term in office in 1944.
F) However, in April of
1945, FDR died,
forcing Vice-President
Harry Truman to
assume the Presidency.
G) Victory in Europe
· By April of 1945,
American and Soviet
troops were closing in on
Berlin.
· Adolf Hitler committed
suicide on April 30, and
Germany officially
surrendered on May 7.
The endless procession of
German prisoners
marching through the
ruined city streets to
captivity.
Red army soldiers raising the Soviet flag on the roof of the
Reichstag (German Parliament) in Berlin, Germany.
H) On May 8,
the Allies
celebrated V-E
Day (Victory
in Europe).
Churchill
waves to
crowds in
Britain after
broadcasting to
the nation that
the war with
Germany had
been won, 8
May 1945.
V-E Day Celebrations in New York City, May 8, 1945.
V-E Day celebrations, Bay Street, Toronto, Canada
May 7, 1945
VE-Day Parade, Red Square, Moscow, Russia on 6/24/1945
I) May 8, 1945 Germany surrendersHitler is dead, so is FDR-Truman takes
over
Defeat of Japan
· The U.S. planned to invade Japan in 1945, though experts
warned that the invasion could cost over a million casualties.
Stalin, Truman and Churchill at the
Potsdam Conference.
· Upon learning
about the atomic
bomb, Pres.
Truman sent the
Japanese the
Potsdam
Declaration,
warning them to
surrender or face
“prompt and utter
destruction.”
5. Atomic Bombs end the war in
Japan
A) August 6, 1945, U.S. drops atomic bomb
on Hiroshima-killing 73,000 instantly;
A Uranium bomb, the first nuclear weapon in the world, was
dropped in Hiroshima City. It was estimated that its energy was
equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. Aerial photograph from 80
kilometers away, taken about 1 hour after the dropping.
B) August 9, drop another on Nagasaki-kills
37,500 people instantly.
C) Japanese surrender to Douglas MacArthur
on Sept 2, 1945
Mushroom cloud from the
nuclear explosion over
Nagasaki rising 60,000
feet into the air on the
morning of August 9 1945
B) August 9, drop another on Nagasaki-kills
37,500 people instantly.
C) Japanese surrender to Douglas MacArthur
on Sept 2, 1945
Mushroom cloud from the
nuclear explosion over
Nagasaki rising 60,000
feet into the air on the
morning of August 9 1945
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B) August 9, drop another on Nagasaki-kills 37,500
people instantly.
C) Japanese surrender to Douglas MacArthur on
Sept 2, 1945
Before and after photos of downtown Nagasaki.
The aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Map of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic Bombs were
Used on Japan
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Ohmura Navy Hospital:
A
14 year old girl after the
bombing of Hiroshima at
Ohmura Navy Hospital on
August 10-11.
Severe burns. Only his waist was protected from a burn by a
waistband he wore (within 1km from the hypocenter).
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The Real Aftermath
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A woman whose face is disfigured from the
blast.Later, when the rain would fall, some of
the mobile survivors would actually drink the
rainwater, which was poisonous with
radiation.
Who Has Them?
•The United States has a stockpile of 10,600 nuclear weapons and
103 power plants. Russia has a similar supply. The United Nation's
‘International Atomic Energy Agency’ oversees 900 of the world's
nuclear facilities. Pakistan and India have both exploded nuclear
devices in test blasts. Israel and North Korea are two countries
believed to possess nuclear weapons.
•Nuclear weapons continue to be a proliferation concern,
particularly when North Korea recently announced it was continuing
its nuclear arms program, and withdrew from the ‘International
Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.‘
•One worry of the United States is not so much that North Korea
itself will use what weapons it has, but that it will have no
qualms about selling them to the highest bidder, whether that
bidder be a nation such as Iraq, which sponsors terrorism, or
individual terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda.
One worst-case scenario
simulation estimated a
one-megaton explosion in
Detroit (equivalent to a
million tons of TNT) could
kill 250,000 people,
injure half a million
more, and flatten all
buildings within a 1.7
mile radius.
First comes the
explosion…
…then comes the
aftermath…
6. Major Leaders of the War
A) • Franklin D. Roosevelt - U.S. President
B) • Harry Truman - U.S. President after death of
President Roosevelt
FDR leads U.S. out of
Great Dep. and WWII
Truman leads
U.S. into post war age
C) • Dwight D. Eisenhower - U.S. general Allied
commander in Europe
D) • Douglas MacArthur - U.S. general in Pacific
E) • George Marshall - U.S. general
Eisenhower-leads in
D-Day
MacArthur leads in
Pacific
7. Foreign Leaders
A) • Winston Churchill - British prime minister
B) • Joseph Stalin - Soviet dictator
C) • Adolf Hitler - Nazi dictator of Germany
D) • Hideki Tojo - Japanese general
E) • Hirohito - Emperor of Japan
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Winston Churchill
Great Britain
TojoJapan
Contestant #1
I am a womanizer, have
self-interested policies
and unfortunately suffer
from ailing health.
Contestant #2
I have a drinking habit and
a defiant tongue or attitude
Contestant #3
I am a decorated war hero,
do not drink and want
to create a stable economy
Contestant #1
Contestant #2
Contestant #3
Understanding

Many economic and political causes led
toward World War II. Major theaters of war
included Africa, Europe, Asia, and the
Pacific Islands. Leadership was essential
to the Allied victory.
1.
Causes and Events Exit Quiz
Name 3 Causes of World War II
2.
What country is Germany going to invade
that begins WWII.
3.
This picture represents Germany taking over
what country?
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A)
B)
C)
D)
4. Which of the following is in correct order
Fall of France, Invasion of Poland, Battle of
Britain
Invasion of Poland, Fall of France, Battle of
Britain
Battle of Britain, Fall of France, Invasion of
Poland
Fall of France, Battle of Britain, Invasion of
Poland
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5. What happens on December 7 1941?
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6. Then U.S. defeats Japan in the Battle of
__________, the turning point in the __________.
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7. What event officially brings the United States
into WWII?
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8. What do we call the event or day when the
United States began it’s invasion of Western
Europe?
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9. What city in France was invaded on that day?
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10. Who is U.S. President during the Great
Depression and WWII?
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11. Who becomes president when he dies?
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12. Who led Great Britain during WWII
13. On what two cities where the atomic
bombs used?
14. What country were these two cities
located in?
15. Who became president when FDR
(Franklin Roosevelt) passed away in 1945.
16. Major theatres of war included Africa,
________, ___________, and Pacific Islands
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17. The systematic and purposeful destruction
of a racial, political, religious, or cultural group
was referred to as ____________.
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18. What does Anti-Semitism mean?
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19. The systematic attempt to rid Europe of all
Jews was referred to as the __________.
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20. The Holocaust was caused by such things as A)
Hitler’s belief in a master race, B) Anti-Semitism,
describe another cause of the Holocaust.
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A)
B)
C)
D)
21. All of the following are examples of
genocides in the world except
Pol Pot killing educated in Cambodia
Stalin purging the Soviet Union
The Holocaust
The Tutsi minority by the English in Africa.