Download World War II Begins

World War II
A True World War
Mrs. Morris’s Version
A Troubled Germany
• Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for WW1 and Germany had to
pay reparations.
– It made one payment in 1921, then claimed it couldn’t afford to make
anymore
• Since Germany couldn’t pay, France invaded Germany (the Ruhr
Valley) to get money from the rich resources there
• Germans workers were angry and went on strike
• To pay workers, the German gov. printed more and more paper
money.
– When too much money is printed, it loses it’s value (this is called
inflation!)
• Germans were very, very poor
• The U.S. created a payment plan for Germany (Dawes Plan) and lent
Germany money, things got better, but only for a while.
What caused the Great Depression?
• During 1930’s the world’s industrialized countries were hit
by a depression.
– Depression—period of low economic activity when many
people lose their jobs.
• This depression was so bad it became known as The Great
Depression
– During this time millions lost their jobs in the U.S.
• Causes:
– U.S. stock market crashed in October of 1929
– Workers weren’t paid high enough wages, and eventually were
laid-off
– In October panic struck the nation, people tried to get money
out of banks, but the banks collapsed
The Depression Spreads
• American investors were scared and even
withdrew their money from European stock
markets
• This caused the collapse of European banks, too
• The worst year of the depression was 1932
– 1 out of 4 Americans/British were out of work. Two
out of five Germans were out of work.
– People lived in shacks made out of cardboard or tin in
some places
FDR and the New Deal
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set up a program known as the
New Deal.
– To provide people with money to buy food/homes and get them back
to work, he had the government set up different agencies to hire
people.
– The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) gave jobs to younger people
(mostly) they planted trees and built facilities in the nation’s parks
– The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paid jobless workers to
build dams, roads, bridges and hospitals.
• 1935-FDR convinces gov. to pass the Social Security Act
– This program gives payments (pensions) to citizens 65 and older who
are retired.
– Also provides unemployment insurance
• FDR’s New Deal didn’t fix our economy completely, but it gave
American’s hope.
Mussolini Takes Power
• Italy was the 1st country to become a totalitarian state.
– Totalitarian state—leaders try to TOTALLY control the way
citizens think and live
• Italy also had a huge debt after WW1 and people didn’t
have jobs. The country was in discourse.
• Benito Mussolini created the fascist party and promised to
restore order and fix the problems to make Italy a great
nation.
– His followers wore black and beat up those that opposed him.
• He and his followers marched on Rome, the king declared
Mussolini the head of Italian government
– He got rid of all other political parties, personal freedoms, and
free press
The Rise of Adolf Hitler
• In the 1930s millions of Germans lost their jobs and
businesses were failing.
• Large numbers of voters supported a new political leader
named Adolf Hitler.
– He appealed to the people because he was bitter about the
Treaty of Versailles and understood their fears in his speeches.
• Hitler was the leader of the National Socialist German
Party, also known as the Nazi Party
– Hitler and Nazis said Germans were better than other people
and Germany deserved to expand its power
– They were also Anti-Semites (meaning they hated the Jewish
people) and blamed the Jewish people for all of Germany’s
problems.
• By 1932, the Nazi Party was the largest political
party in Germany.
• A year later, Hitler was named chancellor (prime
minister) of Germany
• The government gave all power to Hitler in order
to fix Germany, in this way, Hitler became a
dictator.
– Like Mussolini, once in power, Hitler got rid of all
other political parties (except the Nazis)
– He took over courts and set up secret police forces
– He controlled the press
– He created large prisons called concentration camps
– Nazis took away Jew’s businesses and jobs. He took
away their education as well.
– Nazis did not believe in women’s rights either.
Stalin Takes Power
• Harsh rule also came to Russia.
• After a series of strokes, Vladimir Lenin died in
1924, after his death there was a power
struggle
• By the 1920s Joseph Stalin became the ruler
of the Soviet Union
Government Plans the Economy
• Stalin wanted the Soviet Union to become an industrial
power ASAP.
• Beginning in 1929, he introduced some of his Five Year
Plans
– Plans that, in the span of 5 years, would create steel mills,
oil refineries, and power plants that were all under
government control
• Stalin also had the gov. take over all agriculture.
– His plans called for collectivization (combining small farms
into large, factory-like government run farms)
• The Soviet Union became a power by 1939, but many
peasants were unhappy and out of jobs
– Millions suffered under Stalin because of low wages, long
hours, and home shortages.
What Problems did Japan Face?
• Japan’s government hoped that new factories and markets
would make them successful and create jobs for its growing
population.
• Japan’s industry grew rapidly, and Japanese goods were
sold world-wide
• Japanese developed large, powerful companies called the
zaibatsu.
• By the late 1930s they controlled much of the economy.
– The owners grew wealthy, but workers were poorly paid and
housed
– Often there was not enough food to feed all of Japan and food
riots would break out. (The Great Depression reached Japan
too)
Japan Invades Manchuria
• Starving and overworked Japanese workers/farmers
blamed politicians for their plight.
• The leaders of Japan’s military claimed that their problems
stemmed from Europe and America.
• They wanted Japan to return to its old, warrior-like
traditions
• As Japan’s trade declined, military leaders declared that
Japan needed more land for natural resources.
– Without gov. approval, in 1931, Japanese military leaders
invaded Manchuria (northeast region of China)
– When Japan’s Prime Minister tried to stop the war, the military
killed him!
• From then on the government of Japan did whatever the
military wanted
• Japanese military leaders were elected prime ministers and
began making plans to grown a Japanese empire…and they
weren’t afraid of going to war with other countries
Appeasement Fails
• One reason Hitler was popular in Germany is
he criticized the Treaty of Versailles
(remember, it didn’t turn out so well for
Germany)
• Hitler said it was unfair that it said Germany
had to keep its military small
• March 1935, Hitler stated that Germany
would build a new air force and increase the
size of its army.
• The Treaty of Versailles also said no German
troops could be in Rhineland (A German
territory west of the Rhine River that is along
the French border)
• 1936—Hitler ordered German troops to go
into Rhineland…
• France did not like this, but would not act
unless the British helped them.
• The British didn’t want to use force/violence
so they tried using appeasement.
– Appeasement—idea that if you meet another
gov.’s demands you can avoid war.
Germany and Italy
• Hitler gained a close ally in Italy’s Benito
Mussolini.
• 1935—Mussolini sent Italian forces to invade
Ethiopia
• Britain and France didn’t like this either but
took no military action against Mussolini
• Hitler supported Mussolini in this endeavor
Dictators in Spain
• Next, the two dictators intervened in Spain
• 1936-1939—a civil war divided Spain
– Germany and Italy helped a Spanish military
leader, General Francisco Franco over throw
Spain’s republic
• Soon after Germany and Italy formed an
official alliance.
On to Austria
• Next Hitler focused on Austria
• He insisted that Austria, a German-speaking
country should be a part of Germany.
• In March 1938, he sent troops to Austria and
took it over.
Czech yourself…
• Hitler then focused on Austria’s neighbor,
Czechoslovakia and demanded that the Czechs
give Germany the Sudetenland (an area in
western Czechoslovakia where many Germans
lived.)
• Czech. was ready to fight Germany to keep
Sudetenland, but Britain and France convinced
them to negotiate.
• 1938-European leaders met in Munich, Germany
to discuss
The Munich Conference
• At the conference, Britain and France agreed
to give the Sudetenland to Germany.
• As a compromise, Hitler promised not to take
over any more places (not to expand
Germany’s territory further)
• The British Prime Minister, Neville
Chamberlain, returned home and declared
that there would be “peace in our time.”
Broken Promises
• Hopes for peace were smashed the following
year.
• March 1939-German forces took over more of
western Czech. And set up a new Nazi-friendly
state in the eastern part
• Hitler then set his sights on Poland and
demanded control of Danzig, a German city in
Poland.
• Britain promised Poland their support if the
Germans did invade.
Hitler and Stalin
Enemies make a Compromise
• Summer of 1939, Hitler began preparations to
invade Poland.
– He was worried about angering Stalin though
since Poland bordered the Soviet Union
– Although Hitler and Stalin were bitter enemies,
they signed a treaty in August 1939 in which they
promised not to attack each other, and decided to
divide Poland between them.
• This agreement gave Hitler the confidence to
attack Poland
Poland and France Fall
• Sept. 1, 1939-Hitler sent his armies into
Poland.
• Two days later, Britain (keeping its promise to
Poland) and its ally France, declared war on
Germany.
• The German attack on Poland was quick and
fierce, in less than a month it was conquered
and split between Hitler and Stalin.
German Invasion Continues
• April 1940- Germans attacked Denmark and
Norway.
• May 1940- Germany invaded the Netherlands
and Belgium
– Next, German tanks and troops smashed through
French defenses
– They began to race across northern France
• A few weeks later, on June 22, 1940, France
surrendered to Germany.
• About this same time, Italy official joined the war,
pairing with its ally, Germany.
The Battle of Britain
• Hitler expected the British to ask for peace after
witnessing his conquers of Europe
• But, there was a new prime minister for Great Britain,
Winston Churchill and he declared to Hitler
“We shall never surrender.”
• Germany decided to take an air attack approach to
conquering Britain, and in August they began an allout, violent effort to destroy Britain's Royal Air Force to
clear the way for a land invasion.
– These air battles between Germans and Britain,
sometimes called “dogfights” were known as The Battle of
Britain
German and British Fighting Continues
• The British Royal Air Force also had
a new technology called radar.
• Radar stations along the coast
detected incoming German
airplanes and would direct British
fighter planes to stop them.
• Oct. 12, 1940, Hitler cancelled his
plans to invade Britain
• Britain escaped this invasion
thanks to only a few hundred
brave pilots
– Churchill told the British Parliament,
“Never…was so much owed by so
many to so few.”
America Stays Neutral
• The United States actually remained neutral during the
early years of the war.
– In the 1930s, Congress passed several laws making it illegal
to help other countries in a war if the U.S. was neutral.
• However, President Roosevelt believed that Germany
was a real threat to the U.S.
– He convinced Congress to approve a “cash-and-carry” policy
• This law let Britain buy goods from American businesses as long as
they paid cash and used their own ships for shipping
– The next year, FDR convinced congress to pass the LeaseLend Act
• This law allowed America to lend weapons to Britain
• FDR also ordered the American navy to protect the
British ships from German submarines when they were
close to U.S. waters
Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
• Unable to defeat the British, Hitler decided that
Germany needed the resources of the Soviet
Union.
• He also believed that the Soviet’s vast land area
could provide more “living space” for Germans
• June 1941-Germany attacked the Soviet Union
– They destroyed most of the Soviet Union’s air force,
disabled thousands of tanks, and capture half a million
Soviet soldiers
Stalin’s Response
• As the German’s advanced, Stalin ordered a
scorched-earth policy.
– Soviet troops, and even civilians, burned cities,
destroyed their own crops, and blew up dams that
produced electric power.
• These actions made it harder for the Germans to
supply their troops and move forward
• Then the rainy season began, turning roads to
mud and trapping German wagons and trucks,
next the harsh Russian winter set in…
• The German army was NOT prepared for the
harsh winter and suffered great losses (History
repeated itself! Think of Napoleon!)
• Despite the losses, the remaining German
troops did reach the outskirts of Moscow on
December 2, 1941, but that was as far as they
got.
• The Soviets refused to surrender and the
Germans were unable to get into the city.
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
• The Japanese were launching new attacks in East Asia
while Hitler and Mussolini were waging war in Europe.
– After conquering Manchuria, they attempted to conquer
the rest of China and even took the capital city of Nanjing,
but the Chinese emperor moved the government and
refused to surrender.
• Since they couldn’t take China, the Japanese moved to
Southeast Asia and conquered the French colony of
Indochina (this was after Hitler conquered France in
1940)
• They also planned to take over the Dutch East Indies,
British Malaya, and the AMERICAN territory of the
Philippines
• FDR wanted Britain to defeat Germany, and
was worried that Britain would also be drawn
into fighting Japan if they attacked their
colony.
• So, FDR tried to stop Japan by using economic
pressure.
– When Japan invaded Indochina, FDR prevented
the Japanese from withdrawing any money they
had in American banks.
– He also stopped selling them supplies like oil,
gasoline, and other natural resources.
• This made Japan angry with America.
• Japan decided to declare war on the United States.
• On December 7th, 1941 Japanese warplanes carried out
a surprise attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii.
– Some of these pilots were kamikazes.
• Kamikaze- pilot who uses suicidal plane crash to inflict damage on
the enemy
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The attack destroyed many battleships and planes.
More than 2,300 soldiers, sailors, and civilians were killed.
The next day, FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
He called December 7th “a date which will live in infamy.”
• Congress quickly declared war on Japan.
• 3 days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the
U.S.
The Great Struggle
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The were two alliances throughout the course of WW2
The Allies: U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union
Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan
Two main battle fronts: Europe and the Pacific Ocean
– Required outstanding political and military leaders,
hundreds of thousands of troops, and civilians working
hard at home.
• Rosie the Riveter: cultural icon/symbol for women working in
men’s positions during WW2
The Great Struggle
•
•
•
•
The were two alliances throughout the course of WW2
The Allies: U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union
Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan
Two main battle fronts: Europe and the Pacific Ocean
– Required outstanding political and military leaders,
hundreds of thousands of troops, and civilians working
hard at home.
• Rosie the Riveter: cultural icon/symbol for women working in
men’s positions during WW2
Stopping Japan’s Advance
• Mid-1942: Japanese had driven Americans out of
the Philippines and seized many island nations in
the Pacific.
• U.S. set out to stop Japan’s advance
• U.S. commander of the Pacific was Douglas
MacArthur who used the Island-Hopping strategy
– Island-hopping: called for attacking certain key
islands, then using those island to jump forward to
others, moving closer and closer to Japan.
Meanwhile Elsewhere…
• The war raged on, mainly in Europe, but also in
the Soviet Union and parts of Africa
– British forces defeated the Germans at Egypt, U.S. and
British forces drove the Germans out of Africa in May
1942.
• The Allies then focused on southern Europe.
– They took the Italian island of Sicily and landed on
Italy’s mainland in Sept. 1943.
– U.S. general Dwight D. Eisenhower directed the overall
Italian invasion.
• U.S. general George Patton and British general Bernard
Montgomery actually led the troops
Italy Falls
• As the Allies advanced into Italy, the Italians overthrew
Mussolini and surrendered.
• Germans forces in Italy fought onward but failed to stop the
Allies
• In June 1944, the Allies took Rome, Italy’s capital and Italy
surrendered.
• The Allies’ leaders (FDR, Churchill, Stalin) met in Tehran (the
capital city of Iran) for the Tehran Conference to decide
what to do once they defeated Hitler.
– They decided to divide up Germany.
– Stalin agreed to help the U.S. fight Japan and to join an
international organization for keeping peace after the war
ended.
The Holocaust
• During WW2, the Nazis began a program of
genocide
– Genocide: the killing of an entire group of people
• Hitler wanted to destroy all Europe’s Jews.
• As many as 6 million Jews were killed in what has
become known as the Holocaust.
– Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice
by fire."
– Millions of others, including Slavs and Roma (Gypsies)
were also ruthlessly killed.
Kristallnacht
• On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis burned
synagogues, destroyed Jewish shops, and killed many
Jews.
• About 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration
camps.
– Concentration camp: place where large numbers of
people, like political prisoners or persecuted minorities,
are imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate
facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await
mass execution
• This event became known as Kristallnacht (“the night
of shattered glass”) because of the Jewish shop
windows broken by the Nazis.
Extermination
• The Nazis began the mass killings of Jews when the
German army invaded the Soviet Union (1941)
– Special Nazi forces even accompanied the German army to
invade the Soviet Union to capture or shoot any Jews they
encountered. They dumped them in mass graves
• Jan. 1942-German leaders agreed on what they called
“The Final Solution” (extermination of the Jews)
• Nazis rounded up millions of Jews and other innocent
people in the areas they conquered, these prisoners
traveled to death camps crammed in trains.
– Once at camp they were killed by the gas chambers,
starvation, abuse, or even Nazi experimentation.
Concentration Camps
• Auschwitz-Birkenau
• Bergen-Belsen
• Chelmno
The World Sees
• As Allied forces moved into Nazi-held areas,
they saw first hand the unspeakable horrors of
the death camps.
• People around the world were stunned by the
Nazi’s brutality.
The Allies Win
• By 1944 the Germans and Japanese were
retreating across Europe and the Pacific.
• No longer on the defense, the Allies were
preparing to invade Germany and Japan.
• See printed notes!
D-Day
• Allied forces under General Eisenhower had been
prepping for the invasion of France (remember,
Germany conquered France…)
• On June 6th, 1944, or D-Day (the day of the
invasions), ships carried troops and equipment
across the English Channel to the French area of
Normandy.
• Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy
as battleships shot at the Germans.
• After gaining Normandy, the Allies launched an
attack on the Germans.
• Gen. Patton raced across northern France in
his tanks, while Gen. Montgomery advanced
into Belgium.
– At the same time the people of Paris revolted
against the Germans.
– August 25, Allied troops reach Paris and the
Germans flee
Final Battles in Europe
• Dec. 16th, 1944-Germans counter-attack, the
pushed back the Allies’ lines, creating a bulge.
Fighting continued for weeks, the Americans
won, and continued into Germany. This became
known as the Battle of the Bulge.
• By late 1944, Soviets had driven the Germans
from the Soviet Union and across Poland.
• By Feb. 1945, Soviet troops were just outside
Berlin.
• April 30, 1945-Hitler committed suicide
• May 7, 1945- Germany surrenders
The Atomic Bomb
• 1941- a team of American engineers and
scientists began researching and
experimenting, and creating the Atomic Bomb
• They carried on their research at a secret lab
in Los Alamos, NM. Their project was called
the Manhattan Project.
• July 16, 1945-first atomic bomb goes off in a
deserted area of NM.
Why use the A-bomb?
• Oct. 1944-General MacArthur invades and captures
back the Philippines; his troops continued islandhopping and came within reach of Japan in 1945.
• March 1945-American bombers drop firebombs on
Japan’s cities. Fires killed more than 80,000 and
destroyed 250,000 buildings, still the Japanese
wouldn’t surrender.
• April 1945-FDR dies and Harry S. Truman becomes
president.
– He faced a problem: should he risk American lives by
invading Japan or use the new A-bomb to end the war?
• Truman’s advisors couldn’t reach an
agreement on if they should use the bomb.
– Admiral William Leahy opposed it because it
would kill thousands, and suggested stronger
economic blocking and regular bombings.
– Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, wanted to warn
the Japanese about the bomb, and let them keep
their emperor if they surrendered.
• Truman followed neither course. He
threatened Japan with “prompt and utter
destruction” if they didn’t surrender.
• The Japanese never replied to Truman…
The Bombs Drop
• Aug. 6, 1945-a plane named the Enola Gay
dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
– Between 80,000 and 120,000 were killed instantly.
Thousands more died slowly from burns and radiation
sickness
• Aug. 9, 1945-Americans dropped another atomic
bomb, this time on Nagasaki, Japan
– It killed between 35,000 and 74,000 people
• Aug. 15, 1945-Japan surrenders
Rebuilding the World
• About 55 MILLION people died in WW2
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22 million Soviets
8 million Germans
2 million Japanese
300,000 Americans
The millions killed in the Holocaust
• Allies started org. to keep the peace (before the war even
ended) called the United Nations to keep world peace
– The UN chose members for The Security Council who would look for
international problems and propose solutions.
• It had 5 permanent members: U.S., USSR (Soviet Union),Britain, France, and
China
• Nuremberg Trials-after the war, the Allies tried Nazi leaders in
Nuremberg, Germany for “pursuing aggressive war” and “crimes
against humanity.”
– Similar trials happened in Japan.
• The world wanted to stand together to ensure that the horrible
events of WW2 and the Holocaust would never be repeated.
The Allies
Churchill, FDR, Stalin
The Axis Powers
Mussolini, Tojo, Hitler