Download World War II

World War II
Causes and Contributions to WWII
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Rise of nationalism
Rise of militarism
Disputed territorial claims
World War I
Treaty of Versailles
League of Nations
Great Depression
The Growth of European Fascism
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From “fasces,” Roman symbol of authority
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Axe surrounded by wooden rods
Originates with Benito Mussolini
Influenced Europe, Asia, Latin America
Fascism in Italy
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Poor showing of post-WWI Italian government
 Public disappointed with weak territorial gains
 Economic and social turmoil
Mussolini, former newspaper editor, electoral
successes in 1921
March on Rome October, King Emmanuel III offers
him prime ministership
1926 seizes power as Il Duce, “the leader”
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and the Nazi
Party
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1921 becomes Chairman of the National Socialist German
Workers’ Party (Nazis)
Attempts to overthrow government in 1923
 Writes autobiography Mein Kampf in jail, massively
popular
Capitalizes on public discontent with post-war era
 War guilt clause
 Reparation payments
 Inability of major parties to come to consensus
 Anti-semitism
Consolidation of Power
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Nazis become single largest party in parliament, 1930-1932
Weak president Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) appoints
Hitler as Chancellor
Suppresses opposition, abrogates constitutional and civil
rights
 Makes the Nazis the sole legal party
 Destroyes train unions
 Purges judiciary, civil service of perceived enemies
The Racial State
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Theories of racial superiority, racial purity
Policies of eugenics
 Compulsory sterilization of 30,000 Germans
 Abortions illegal for healthy Germans, mandatory for
“hereditary ill” and “racial aliens”
 “Euthanasia” program kills 200,000 people with physical
or mental handicaps between 1939-1945
Precursors to massacres of Jews, gypsies
Anti-Semitism
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Influence of 19th-century racism
1935 Nuremburg laws define Jew on racial basis
 Prohibits marriages between Jews and non-Jews
 Removal of Jews from civil service, schools
 Liquidation of Jewish-owned businesses or purchase by
non-Jews
Kristallnacht: major country-wide pogrom on Jews,
November 9-10, 1938
 “night of broken glass”
Rise of Fascism
Italy and Germany
Characteristics
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Absolute power
Glorification of the
state/gov’t
Strong form of
nationalism
Defense of private
property, class structure
Rise of Adolf Hitler (1933 to 1945)
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Disappointing youth
Imprisoned for treason in
1923, writes Mein Kampf
Member of Nazi party,
elected Chancellor in 1933
Hitler gets ‘emergency
powers’ granted to him
Bans speech, press,
assembly, political parties,
religion
Pass Nuremberg Laws,
1935
Anger in Japan
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Not received as equal in
League of Nations
Banning of Japanese
immigration in U.S.
U.S. refusal of Japan’s
policy in China
Population explosion
Effect by Great Depression
led to influence of military
U.S. oil embargo in 1940
Japan’s War in China
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Conquest of Chinese Manchuria 1931-1932
Full-scale invasion in 1937
The Rape of Nanjing
 Ariel bombing of urban center
 400,000 Chinese used for bayonet practice,
massacred
 7,000 women raped
 1/3 of all homes destroyed
Japan signs Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy (1940),
Non-Aggression Pact with USSR (1941)
Axis Acts of Aggression
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Japan invades Manchuria, 1931
Italy invades Ethiopia
Germany invades the Rhineland (1936),
Austria (1938), Czechoslovakia (1938)
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Hitler is appeased at Munich Conference
Italian Aggression
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Benito Mussolini invades Ethiopia with
overpowering force
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2,000 Italian troops killed, 275,000 Ethiopians
killed
Also takes Libya, Albania
Pre-WWII Agreements
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Rome-Berlin Axis
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact - 1939
Tripartite Pact – 1940 (United States becomes
the target)
Axis Rally in Tokyo
Nazi Soviet Non Aggression Pact
World War II
Beginning until 1942
The Second World War
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Allies vs. Axis Powers
Italy, Germany and Japan form Axis
“Revisionists:” wished to revise post-World
War I peace treaties
Allies initially follow policy of appeasement
War erupts 1939, global by 1941, over 1945
European Theatre
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Sept. 1, 1939 – Germany invades Poland, GB
and France declare war
April 1940 – Norway and Denmark fall
May 1940 – Germans takeover Northern
France
Aug 1940 – Germany air bombs Britain
Occupation of France - 1940
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Less than two weeks of
fighting
Gov’t evacuated to GB,
called Free France
Northern France was placed
on German military gov’t
Southern France (Vichy)
placed on indirect rule, led
by Petain
Battle of Britain - 1940
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German Air Supremacy: 2100 Luftwaffe vs. 700 RAF
Air bomb London
 23 consecutive days; 30,000 civilians killed
 Morale victory for Britain
U.S. Involvement prior to 1942
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Neutral except for
trade
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Cash and Carry policy
Lend-Lease Act
US in WWII before Pearl Harbor
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US initiates “cash and carry” policy to supply
Allies with arms
“lend-lease” program: US lends war goods to
Allies, leases naval bases in return
US freezes Japanese assets in US
US places embargo on oil shipments to Japan
Japanese Defense Minister Tojo Hideki
(1884-1948) plans for war with US
Axis Powers in Africa
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Italy invades Egypt via
Libya
Hitler reinforces Italy
with Afrika Korps
Vital Interests
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Oil in Middle East
Suez Canal
Operation Barbarossa
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Invasion of Soviet Union – June 1941
Penetrated 100 miles in USSR
Will be stopped by Soviet winter
90% of German deaths will occur on eastern
front
Axis expansion in Europe & North
Africa
The Pacific Theatre
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The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere –
War in Asia
Japan occupied Manchuria, 1931
Invaded French Indochina , 1940
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Acquired Korea, 1905
Became a menace to British and American
interests in the area
Asia and the Pacific
World War II
The Turning Points
Turning Points in 1941 and 1942
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Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
Hitler’s defeat at Stalingrad in 1943
Axis defeat at El Alemein in 1942
Japanese defeat at Midway in 1942
Wreckage from Pearl Harbor
Operation Overlord - 1944
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June 6, 1944; D-Day- invasion of Normandy,
France
Two prong attack: Attack on Germany from
west and east
May 7, 1945: V-E Day; unconditional
surrender by Germany
Allied Victory in Europe
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Red Army (USSR) gains offensive after Stalingrad
(February 1943)
British, US forces attack in North Africa, Italy
D-Day: June 6, 1944, British and US forces land in
France
US, Britain bomb German cities
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Dresden, February 1945: 135,000 Germans killed in
shelters
30 April 1945 Hitler commits suicide, 8 May
Germany surrenders
The Invasion of Normandy, France
Island Hopping
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The use of blockade and strategic attacks on
Japanese-held islands
August 6 and 9; atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 14, 1945: V-J Day
The Atomic Bomb
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Aug 6 and 9:
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
140,000 people in
Hiroshima and 80,000
in Nagasaki by the end
of 1945
Japanese Surrender
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US firebombs Tokyo, March 1945
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100,000 killed
25% of buildings destroyed
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, August 1945
Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) surrenders
unconditionally September 2, 1945
Total War
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Japan - Rape of Nanking – 12/1937
 300,000 die due to rape, murder, torture
Germany - Bombing of Britain – 8/1940
 30,000 civilians die
Germany - Siege at Leningrad – 9/1941
 3 year siege: 1 million Russian civilians die
Great Britain - Firebombing of Dresden - 2/1945
 2 day attack: 24-40,000 civilians die
United States - Firebombing of Tokyo 3/1945
 80,000 killed, millions homeless
Deaths During World War II (millions)
0.3
0.4
6
6
20
2
4
15
USSR
China
Germany
Japan
Poles
Britain
US
Jews
The Yalta Conference
Iwo Jima
Hiroshima – after the bomb
Prisoners at a Concentration Camp
Nazi Genocide and the Jews
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Jews primary target of Nazi genocidal efforts
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Nazis initially encouraged Jewish emigration
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Other groups also slated for destruction: Roma
(Gypsies), Homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses
Few countries willing to accept Jewish refugees
Aborted plans to deport Jews to Madagascar,
reservation in Poland
The Final Solution
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mobile killing squads follow German army
into USSR with Operation Barbarossa
Round up of Jews and others, machine-gun
executions of 1.4 million
Later in 1941 decided on “Final Solution:”
deportation of all European Jews to Death
Camps
Plans solidified at Wannsee Conference,
January 1942
The Holocaust
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Jews deported from ghettos all over Europe in
cattle cars, spring 1942
Destination: six specially designed Death
Camps in Eastern Europe
Technologically advanced, assembly-line
style of murder through poison gas (Zyklon
B)
Corpses destroyed in crematoria
Estimated number of Jews killed: 5.7 million
The Holocaust in Europe, 1933-1945
Women and the War
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WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer
Emergency Service)
US, Great Britain bar women from serving in
combat units
Soviet, Chinese forces include women
fighters
Women very active in resistance movements
“Comfort Women”
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Asian women forced into prostitution by
Japanese forces
20/30 men per day, in war zones
“Comfort Houses,” “Consolation Centers”
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Killed when infected with venereal disease
Large-scale massacres at end of war to hide
crimes
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Social ostracism for survivors