Download The End of World War II

The End of World War II
 Even though they were rolling along
in the summer of 1942, the Axis war
machine showed signs of wear
 The U.S. was merely beginning to
realize its potential, and Russia had
huge reserves and was receiving
U.S. lend-lease aid.
 The major blow, however, was
leveled by Britain, when General
Montgomery routed Rommel at
Alamein in North Africa (Oct., 1942).
 This was followed by the American
invasion of Algeria (Nov. 8, 1942); the
Americans and British were joined by
Free French forces of General de
Gaulle
 After heavy fighting in Tunisia, North
Africa was cleared of Axis forces by
May 12, 1943
Germany Gets Pushed Back
 The Soviets had lost 90% of the city in the Battle of
Stalingrad in Aug. 1942, but the harsh Russian winter
crushed the German troops.
 The Soviet stand at Stalingrad and counteroffensive resulted
in the surrender of the German 6th army
 The Russians quickly pursued other Germany regiments and
pushed them back across the Russian border
 In the Mediterranean, the Allies followed up their African
victory by the conquest of Sicily (July—Aug., 1943) and the
invasion of Italy, which surrendered on Sept. 8.
 However, the German army in Italy fought bloody rearguard
actions, and Rome fell (June 4, 1944) only after the battles of
Monte Cassino and Anzio
 In the Atlantic, the submarine threat was virtually ended by
the summer of 1944.
 Throughout German-occupied Europe, underground forces,
largely supplied by the Allies, began to wage war against
their Nazi oppressors.
Allies’ Bond Grows Stronger
 The Allies, signed (Jan. 1, 1942) the
United Nations declaration, which
drew them closer together militarily
 At the Casablanca Conference, they
pledged to continue the war until the
unconditional surrender of the Axis
 The Allied powers agreed they would
not negotiate separate treaties with
Axis powers to get out of the war
 Stalin wanted the U.S. & Britain to
invade France to alleviate pressure for
the Soviets
 Churchill & FDR agreed to take out
Italy first at Casablanca then invade
France
 The invasion of German-held France
was decided upon, and Gen. Dwight
D. Eisenhower was put in charge of
the operation.
D-Day
 By the beginning of 1944 air warfare
had turned overwhelmingly in favor
of the Allies
 The Allies brought unprecedented
destruction on many German cities
and on transport and industries
throughout German-held Europe.
 This air offensive prepared the way
for the landing (June 6, 1944) of the
Allied D-Day attack in Northern
France
 Allied troops landed on the beaches
of Normandy, France began the
process of retaking France
 After heavy fighting in Normandy,
Allied armored divisions raced to the
Rhine, clearing most of France and
Belgium of German forces by Oct.,
1944.
Russia pushes Germans West
 On the Eastern Front Soviet
armies swept (1944) through the
Baltic States, E Poland,
Belorussia, and Ukraine
 Russians forced the surrender of
Romania (Aug. 23), Finland
(Sept. 4), and Bulgaria (Sept.
10).
 Having evacuated the Balkan
Peninsula, the Germans resisted
in Hungary until Feb., 1945, but
Germany itself was pressed.
 The Russians entered East
Prussia and Czechoslovakia
(Jan., 1945) and took eastern
Germany.
Nazi Germany Collapses
 In Dec. 1944, the Germans made their last
offensive attack pushing through the Allied line
in the Ardennes, located in Belgium in the
Battle of the Bulge
 Initially the German attack was successful, but
the Allies pushed back & won
 On Mar. 7 1945 the Western Allies crossed the
Rhine River after having smashed through the
strongly fortified Siegfried Line and overran
west Germany
 German collapse came after the meeting (Apr.
25) of the Western and Russian armies at
Torgau in Saxony
 Hitler committed suicide in Berlin, which was
falling to the Russians.
 The unconditional surrender of Germany was
signed at Reims on May 7, 1945 and ratified at
Berlin on May 8, VE Day
 VE = Victory in Europe
 The U.S. still had the war in the Pacific to
settle
Iwo Jima
 Capture by the Allies of islands
such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa
close to Japan were crucial
victories for the U.S.
 This brought the Japanese
homeland within range of naval
and air attacks
 American forces were less than
five hundred miles from the
Japanese mainland
 Nimitz coordinated constant
aerial bombardment of the cities
and industrial centers of Japan.
 Tokyo was firebombed
constantly
Truman’s Dilemma
 The question regarding the final
push to defeat Japan still
remained
 Despite the utter collapse of its
Pacific empire, the Japanese
showed no signs that they were
willing to surrender
 American military strategists
estimated that an amphibious
assault and ground invasion of
the Japanese mainland could
be costly
 Some estimated that over 1
million U.S. solders would be
lost in an invasion of Japan
 President Truman was unwilling
to sacrifice a large # of men
 Especially with the war in
Europe over
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
 Therefore, Truman chose an
unprecedented venue of warfare: the
atomic bomb.
 On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped
an atomic bomb on the city of
Hiroshima.
 On 8/8/45, the Soviet Union invaded
Japanese Manchuria.
 On 8/9/45, the U.S. dropped a second
atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki.
 Six days later, the Japanese
surrendered unconditionally.
 V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day) was
September 2, 1945
 Japanese signed the unconditional
surrender aboard the USS Missouri.
 The war in the Pacific was over,
ending World War II.
Atomic Devastation
 The bombings had three effects:
 1. Massive destruction and loss of
life from the enormous explosion.
2. Destruction was instantaneous
3. Health of survivors was subject
to continuing damage due to the
aftereffects of burns and radiation
 There were over 200,000
casualties as a result of the 2
bombs
 Because the A-bomb exploded
close to the center of the cities
and because 85% of the buildings
were within 3 km of the
hypocenter…
 Destruction to the city was nearly
complete, with 90% of buildings
collapsed or burned.
Nuremberg Trials
 Hitler committed suicide on April 30,
1945, a week before Germany's
surrender.
 The "heroic" leader of the German
people chose not to face the
consequences of defeat.
 But twenty-two other Nazi leaders
mainly responsible for the criminal acts
of the Germans survived.
 It was at Nuremberg, Germany in 1946,
that an international court was formed to
bring these murderers to justice.
 Most of the Nazis on trial were either
sentenced to death or life in prison
 No power on earth, of course, could
bring those murdered back to life
 But perhaps this act of the world going
on record that it would not tolerate
inhuman acts on this scale might serve
to prevent similar horrors in the future
Effects of Defeat in Japan
 As part of the Japanese surrender,
Gen. Douglas MacArthur oversaw the
U.S. military occupation of Japan
 Japan was forced to demilitarize or
disband its armies
 MacArthur helped draft a constitution
& helped Japan recover economically
 The Japanese emperor was forced to
admit he wasn’t a god
 The position of emperor still exists but
it became a figurehead position with
little power
 The new constitutional monarchy gave
the power to the people with an
elected two house parliament
 The parliament was called a Diet