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Chapter 28: World War II
Axis Aggression
 When
Adolf Hitler came to power in
1933, he promised to return
Germany to glory.
 He wanted the German people to
have lebensraum or living space.
 Hitler also started to rebuild
Germany’s military, because he
knew that no one would stop him.
In 1936, Hitler sent troops into the
Rhineland.
 The French and British protested, but did
nothing about it.
 In March 1938, Germany annexed
(Anschluss) Austria, even though their
government was against it.
 Hitler then wanted to annex the
Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia.

 In
order to avoid war, Britain,
Germany, and France met at the
Munich Conference in Sept. 1938 and
agreed to the Munich Pact.
 Hitler was given the Sudetenland in
return to his agreeing to not take
any more land.
 This was known as Britain’s policy of
appeasement. Hitler soon took over
the rest of Czechoslovakia.
 By
the late 1930s, Germany, Italy,
and Japan formed an alliance and
became known as the Axis Powers.
Each side pledged to aid the other in
a war.
 In
1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a
Non-aggression Pact. Each side
agreed not to attack each other and
to divide up Poland among
themselves. Stalin believed that
England and France would not be
able to protect the USSR from
German invasion so he agreed to this
treaty.
 Germany
invaded Poland on
September 1, 1939, starting WWII.
Germany used a new battle tactic
called Blitzkrieg.
 Britain and France had agreed to
help Poland if they were ever
invaded but never sent any help.
 Britain and France became known as
the Allies.
 By
the Spring of 1940, Germany
started their invasion of France.
Germany invaded through the
Ardennes, totally surprising the
French.
 Hundreds of thousands of Allied
troops would soon be trapped along
the French coast at Dunkirk.
 Ships rescued 300,000 Allied troops.
On June 22, 1940, France
surrendered to Germany.
 Between
August and October 1940,
the Battle of Britain was fought.
 Germany planes bombed England
almost on a nightly basis.
 The British were aided by radar and
Germany finally gave up the idea of
invading England.
 In
June 1941, Germany invaded the
Soviet Union. At first the German
army was successful, but soon the
Red Army dug in.
 The Germans would be defeated at
the Battle of Stalingrad.
 On
December 7, 1941, Japan
bombed Pearl Harbor. The next day
the United States entered WWII.
The Allied Response
The Afrika Korps was the Axis force in
North Africa. By late 1942, the Allies
started to take control.
 The Battle of El Alamein in Egypt
started to turn the tide in North Africa.
 The Allies took advantage of Rommel’s
supply problems. By 1943, the Americans
had joined the British and finally defeated
the Axis in North Africa.

 The
next goal was Italy. Allied
soldiers landed in Sicily in July
1943. By September 1943, The Allies
invaded Italy itself.
 Nazi forces slowed the Allies down,
even though the Allies would
continue to push towards Germany.
 The
Russians defeated the Nazis at
the Battle of Stalingrad which was
fought from 1942-1943.
 Hitler wanted the city because of its
industry.
 The city would get surrounded by
Nazis by the fall of 1942 and then
winter hit.
 The Nazis would eventually be
defeated
 After
the American victory at
Midway in 1942, the Americans
started their strategy of island
hopping, which was created by
Douglas MacArthur. This is when
American forces would go from island
to island until they reached Japan.
 The
Battle of Guadalcanal (19421943), would be one of the bloodiest
battles of the war. The Japanese
would hide in the jungles and refuse
to surrender.
 The
Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944)
was the largest naval battle ever
fought. This was the first time the
Japanese used kamikazes or suicide
pilots on a large scale. It ended in an
Allied victory and the Allies had
taken back the Philippines.
The Holocaust
 The
Nazis used several methods to
deal with Jews with their Final
Solution. At first, Jews were forced
to move to ghettos where they were
walled in and were prevented from
leaving. If someone tried to escape,
they would be shot. Most people
would die from starvation.
 Other
Jews were sent to
Concentration Camps. People here
were forced to work as slave
laborers. Some people were even
used for medical experiments.
 The
enemies of the state were not
being killed fast enough for Hitler’s
liking, so the death camp was
invented. At these camps prisoners
would be gassed. Once they were
killed, their bodies were burned in
furnaces to get rid of the evidence.
 Prison
camps did not only hold Jews.
They also held homosexuals,
people with disabilities, blacks, and
gypsies. By the end of the war,
around 6 million had been killed.
The End of the War
 June
6, 1944, Is D Day. This was the
Allied invasion of northern France.
Over 150,000 troops would land on
the beach during the first day. By
July, over 1 million Allied troops
would be in France.
 The
Battle of the Bulge would
occur in Belgium in December 1944.
It would be the last German
offensive of the war. It was a
surprise attack, but the Allies would
quickly recover and defeat the Nazis
by January 1945.
 The
Soviets would be the first to
reach Berlin. Hitler would kill himself
on May 2 and the Nazis would
surrender on May 7. May 8 would
become VE Day (Victory in
Europe).
 In
February 1945, Allies would defeat
the Japanese in the Battle of Iwo
Jima. 7,000 Americans would die
and 20,000 Japanese soldiers died.
 The
closest island to Japan was
Okinawa.
 The Americans would win a bloody
victory there in 1945.
 After three months 12,000
Americans were killed while 100,000
Japanese were killed.
 The island was 350 miles from
Japan.
 On
August 6, 1945 an atomic bomb
would be dropped on Hiroshima.
70,000 would die instantly. On
August 9, another bomb would be
dropped on Nagasaki. 75,000
people would die. Japan would finally
surrender on August 15.
 At
the Yalta Conference (1945)
Stalin agreed to let Eastern European
countries to hold free elections.
 At
the Potsdam Conference
(1945), the Allies agreed to split
Germany into 4 occupation zones.
 The United Nations would be
formed as an open forum for
countries to discuss their problems
with each other.
Summary of WWII
Who fought:
– Axis Powers – Germany, Italy, Japan
– Allied Powers – Britain, France, U.S.
Why did WWII start: Germany’s
bitterness from WWI, Hitler broke Treaty
of Versailles
Winner: The Allied Powers!