Download Second World War Continued

WW II
• Invading German troops approach Bydgoszcz,
Poland. September 18, 1939.
Past IB Questions—Paper 2
• “Wars may be started by a single incident. They
are never caused by such an incident.” With
refrence to any ONE twentieth century war show
how far you agree with this statement.
• How comprehensively are the characteristics of
“total war” illustrated by the 2nd World War?
• “20th century wars have been won by the side
with the most money, men and material.” Using
at least two examples, each chosen from a
different region, show how far you agree with
this assertion.
• What were the most frequent causes of 20th
century wars? Specific evidence from at least
three wars should be used.
• How and why did technological developments
play an important part in 20th century wars?
• Assess the social and economic causes of one
20th century war.
Past IB Questions—Paper 3
• For what reasons could it be argued that the 2nd
World War in Europe was “total war”?
• In what ways, and with what results for Europe
between 1939 and 1949, was the 2nd World War
a “total war”?
• With reference to the 2nd World War in Europe,
explain the main features and effects of “total
war”.
1939
• May… invasion of the rest
of Czechoslovakia
• May… Pact of Steel with
Italy; treaty of friendship &
alliance; committed each
country to support the other in case of war
• Nazi-Soviet Pact
1939
Sept. 1… German invasion of Poland
Sept. 3… France & Britain declared war on Germany
Sept. 17… USSR attacked Poland
Blitzkreig… rapid advances in enemy territory; use of
radio to connect commanders, tanks, aircraft
Nov…USSR attacked Finland
Winter 1939-1940
Dubbed “sitzkreig” by the British press
War in the Atlantic already in full swing
1940
April 9… Germany attacked Denmark & Norway
May 10… attacked France, going through Belgium,
Netherlands & Luxembourg
May 10, 1040… Winston Churchill
“I would say to the House, as those
who have joined this Government, I
have nothing to offer but blood, toil,
tears and sweat. We have before
us an ordeal of the most grievous
kind. We have before us many long
months of toil and struggle.
“You ask what is our policy. I will say, it
is to wage war with all our might,
with all the strength that God can
give us, to wage war against a
monstrous tyranny never surpassed
in the dark, lamentable catalogue of
human crime.
“You ask what is our aim? I can
answer in one word: Victory. Victory
at all costs. Victory in spite of all
terror. Victory however long and
hard the road may be. For without
Victory there is no survival.”
First speech as PM; House of
Commons, 13 May 1940
• France…
• June… evacuation at Dunkirk of 230,00 British
120,000 French
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June 10… Mussolini
declared war on France &
invaded
June 22… France
surrendered; Germany took
2/3; the other 1/3 became
Vichy France under a
government led by Petain
And in the Atlantic Ocean…
• Admiral Karl Donitz commanded all German U-boats at
the beginning of the war
• Britain put their ships into convoys to try to protect them
• By October 1939, Germans had sunk 41 merchant ships
• In 1939 more ships were sunk than could be built
• Surrender of France gave the Germans more ports
• Donitz developed the wolf pack system for attacking the
British & American convoys
• After the US entered the war, German submarines
operated off the US East Coast; by June 1942, German
U-boats had sunk 505 ships
• Battle of Britain… Aug-Oct 1940
• July 1940 it was predicted that the Luftwaffe could
defeat the RAF in 6 days
• During the battle, for every RAF plane shot down, the
Luftwaffe lost two planes;
• Sept 7-30--RAF lost 242 planes;
Germans lost 433 planes
• The British were building a lot
more planes than the Germans
were building
• The British used radar to detect
incoming German planes
Mussolini’s attempt at conquest
• Sept. 1940 troops in Libya invaded Egypt; antiquated
weapons, small “tankettes”; no match for the
British in Egypt
• Erwin Rommel sent to Libya to help the Italians;
became known as the “Desert Fox”; he led the
Afrika Korps. He failed
to defeat the British
at Tobruk
Eventually defeated by
the British at El Alamein
in Oct. 1942.
German & Italian troops
surrendered in Tunisia
May, 1943.
• Oct. 1940 Mussolini declared war on Greece; attacked
from Albania. In 6 weeks, Greeks drove Italians
back into Albania.
Hitler came to
Mussolini’s aid
in April 1941,
which delayed
his plans to invade
Russia. The Greek
govt. went to London
when the Germans
captured Crete.
• Operation Barbarossa… the invasion of the
USSR June 22, 1941
• Siege of Leningrad Nov. 1941 to end of 1943
• German troops reached the outskirts of Moscow
• Battle of Stalingrad winter 1942-1943
** one of the turning points of WW II
** Russian army led by General Zhukov; German army led by
General Paulus
** German army was headed for the oil fields in the Caucasus.
Stalingrad was attacked both for its name and because it would
have left a Russian city in the German rear
** Was a HUGH defeat for the Germans; Paulus, 24 other generals
and army of 300,000 Germans were lost
** First defeat for a German army; German retreat from the Eastern
Front began Feb. 1943
• Battle of Midway Island June 4-6, 1942
• Another turning point battle, along with the Battle of coral
Sea in May, 1942
• US broke the Japanese code
• Japanese wanted to sink the aircraft carriers they missed
at Pearl Harbor.
• The two navies never saw each other; battle was air
battle.
• All four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk; established
US naval superiority in the Pacific.
June 6, 1944 D-Day
• Allied invasion of Normandy… also called Operation
Overlord or Operation Neptune
Bridge at Benouville captured by
the British
US army troops at
Omaha Beach
Conferences
• Oct. 1943—Moscow Conference
Declaration to continue carrying out the war
& maintain international peace
• Nov. 1943—Tehran Conference
Plans for the final destruction of the German
army.
Agreed to partition Germany at the end of
the war, but specific boundaries were not set.
• Feb. 1945—Yalta Conference
Set policy of unconditional surrender
Germany to be divided into four occupation zones
Discussed reparations
Russia agreed to enter the war in the Pacific
First UN meeting set for April, 1945 in San
Francisco
• July 1945—Potsdam Conference
Attended by Truman, Attlee & Stalin
Confirmed agreement at Yalta
Set up boundaries and commission to run Germany
Decided on amount of reparations to be paid by
Germany and other Axis countries
Surrender terms for Japan
Surrender of Japan
• Dropping of the atomic bomb on both Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
mushroom cloud over
Hiroshima
A-bomb dome in
Hiroshima
Japan surrendered Aug. 14, 1945
Nagasaki
Bibliography
• Pictures
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http://www.worldwar2database.com/cgi-bin/slideviewer.cgi?list=poland.slides&dir=
&config=&refresh=&direction=forward&scale=0&cycle=off&slide=3&design=default&t
otal=18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DUNKIRK1940.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/frame/Virtual_e/tour_e/guide2_4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki,_Nagasaki
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http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005070
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http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/uboat.html
http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/worldwarII.htm
http://www.winstonchurchill.org
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_stalingrad.htm
http://www.2worldwar2.com/blitzkrieg.htm