Download World War Two

WORLD WAR TWO
OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR
Britain & France prepare for
Nazi-Soviet aggression . . .
 1 Sept. 1939 = Germany invades Poland



3 Sept. 1939 = Britain & France declare war
against Germany


Nazis stage a Polish raid on a German radio tower
“phony war”
Tense relationship between Stalin and Hitler

Stalin fortifies his new Polish border
OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR
Britain & France prepare for
Nazi-Soviet aggression . . .
 1 Sept. 1939 = Germany invades Poland



3 Sept. 1939 = Britain & France declare war
against Germany


Nazis stage a Polish raid on a German radio tower
“phony war”
Tense relationship between Stalin and Hitler
Stalin fortifies his new Polish border
 Invades Finland (“Winter War”, 1939-1940)

HITLER’S MARCH THROUGH EUROPE
“Blitzkrieg” = Germany’s new war-time strategy
 October 1939 = Poland defeated
 April 1940 = Germany invades Denmark &
Norway

Denmark puts up no resistance
 Norway defeated by June 1940

May 1940 = Hitler invades the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg
 May 1940 = Nazis invade France through
Belgium

Dunkirk evacuation
 14 June 1940 = Nazis march through Paris

HITLER’S MARCH THROUGH EUROPE
“Blitzkrieg” = Germany’s new war-time strategy
 October 1939 = Poland defeated
 April 1940 = Germany invades Denmark &
Norway

Denmark puts up no resistance
 Norway defeated by June 1940

May 1940 = Hitler invades the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg
 May 1940 = Nazis invade France through
Belgium




Dunkirk evacuation
14 June 1940 = Nazis march through Paris
17 June 1940 = Pétain signs armistice with Germany

France is split into an occupied zone and a Vichy zone
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc
 Is Britain really “alone”?



Sure, if you count Australia,
New Zealand, Canada, South Africa,
and India
Operation Sea-Lion = the Germans plan to invade
Britain

August 1940 = Luftwaffe begin massive bombing
campaign
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc
Is Britain really “alone”?


Operation Sea-Lion = the Germans plan to invade
Britain


Sure, if you count Australia,
New Zealand, Canada, South Africa,
and India
August 1940 = Luftwaffe begin massive bombing campaign
August-September 1940 = “Battle of Britain”
A fight for air supremacy over Britain
 15 September = Royal Air Force finally beats back the
Luftwaffe; Hitler puts the invasion on hold
 Luftwaffe continue to bomb Britain well into 1941

GROWING SOVIET-NAZI TENSION

Hitler turns back toward the East . . .
Mussolini had tried to invade Greece (1940) and was
taking a beating
 Nazis wanted to control oil, agricultural, and mineral
resources


April 1941 = Nazis invade Yugoslavia


Tito’s resistance!
April & May 1941 = Nazis invade Greece
Germans ordered to preserve cultural artifacts
 Germans defeat the Greeks and beat back the British


Nazi brutality in the East . . .

Massacres and “reprisal ratio” killings
OPERATION BARBAROSSA: HITLER
INVADES THE SOVIET UNION

22 June 1941 = Germany invades the Soviet Union
Hitler wanted to completely annex its territory
 3,000,000 soldiers = largest invasion force in history


Soviets were unprepared


Poor military leadership, experience, expectations
Battle of Moscow (October 1941 – January 1942)
Red Army rallies, stopping the German advance
 Germans were not prepared for the winter
 Gyorgi Zhukov leads a Soviet counterattack, pushing
Germans back


Summer of 1942 = Hitler tries the same tactic, but at
Stalingrad

Same result; Germans halted, winter comes, Germans
pushed back
“THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR”
Russians were dedicated to
winning WWII
 German arrogance and
cruelty encouraged an enraged
Soviet populace
 High cost of war for the Soviets . . .

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1/3 of men born in 1906 died in war
20,000,000 Soviet people died (10% of population)
Lots of starvation and poverty
Eastern Front was the most brutal and the most
deadly for both the Soviets and the Germans
THE UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR

Early efforts to help Britain and France


Lend-Lease Act (1941)
Problems in Japan . . .
Historical tension between Japan and the West
 U.S. & Britain impose trade embargo on Japan
 In response, Japan invades Indochina (pisses off the
U.S.)

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7 December 1941 = Pearl Harbor


U.S. immediately declares war against Japan
11 December 1941 = Germany declares war
against the United States

By 1943, American production has increased by 400%
ALLIED VICTORY

Different Allies, different strategies . . .
Stalin wants help
 U.S. wants to beat Japan
 Britain wants back its influence in the
Mediterranean

Allied forces march through North Africa and
land in mainland Italy by September 1943
 November 1943 = Tehran Conference


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Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill agree to work more in
concert
6 June 1944 = D-Day


General Eisenhower leads Allied troops onto the
beaches of Normandy, France
August 1944 = Paris is liberated
ALLIED VICTORY

Battle of the Bulge
(December 1944 – January 1945)


Germany’s final attempt to push back
against the Allies
April 1945 = Soviets invade Berlin
Mass rape and sexual violence
 30 April 1945 = Hitler commits suicide

September 1945 = Japan surrenders
 Results of WWII . . .
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50,000,000 people dead (including 6 million Jews)
Soviets dominate Eastern Europe
Europe is in shambles