Download Ch. 26 WWII

Standard 8
• The 1930s were marked by campaigns of aggression
• Japan invaded Manchuria & China
• Italy invaded Ethiopia (East Africa)
• Germany repeatedly violated the Treaty of Versailles
• Rebuilt Army, Navy, & Air force
• Annexed Austria
• Planned to occupy the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
• The League of Nations was too weak to fight the aggression; western
nations practiced appeasement
• 1938 Munich Conference Hitler promised to stop invading if given the
Sudetenland.
• He invaded & took all of Czechoslovakia
• Hitler signed nonaggression pact with Russia in August 1939
• After Hitler invaded Poland, war was declared in September 1939
"Peace in our time"
• Axis Powers
• Germany, Italy, Japan
• Allies
• Great Britain, France, USSR
• (United States is neutral in the
beginning)
• The Blitzkrieg
• Hitler’s attack strategy was called the Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”)
• Involved aerial bombing, fast-moving tanks & infantry.
• Once the war began, Hitler conquered all of Poland & France by summer of
1940
• In Africa, General Erwin Rommel conquered much of North Africa in 1941-1942
Battle of Britain
• Great Britain was all that stood between Hitler & full control of Europe
• The German Luftwaffe began to bomb military targets & cities like
London
• The British stood strong
• The Royal Air Force fought hard to stop the bombings & Hitler was
forced to call off the invasion in May 1941
• Eastern Front – Germany vs USSR
• Hitler invaded the USSR, breaking the
non-aggression pact, in June 1941.
• Quick German victories mounted until
the winter set in.
• Bloody loss at the Battle of Stalingrad,
is Hitler’s 1st defeat. Begins long costly
war in the east.
• Japan hoped to eliminate the US Navy from the Pacific, in
order to continue their expansion
• December 7, 1941- Japanese forces launched attack on the Pacific fleet
anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• Many battleships were destroyed, but US Aircraft carriers survived to
carry on the war
• The next day, FDR asked Congress to declare war.
"A day which will live in infamy"
• American war power helps turn the tide of the war
• Dwight Eisenhower trapped Rommel’s army in Africa & forces their surrender in
May 1943
• In the Pacific, the Japanese suffer huge losses at the Battle of the Coral Sea &
the Battle of Midway
• Japanese Kamikaze pilots target aircraft carriers to crash into
• D-Day
• June 6, 1944 - Combined Allied army (Britain, US, Canada, Australia) invaded
occupied France at the beaches of Normandy.
• Harsh fighting with high casualties
• Allied victory opened western front of war & liberated Paris on August 25
• In March 1945, Russia and the Allies were closing in to Germany. At this
point, Axis powers began to fold
• Mussolini was caught & executed
• Hitler committed suicide on May 6
• The Germans surrendered on May 7th (V-E or Victory in Europe Day)
• The Pacific War
• Japan continued to fight after the European War ended
• General Douglas MacArthur began “island-hopping” campaign, taking back
the Pacific island by island
Atomic Weapons
• Facing the cost of an invasion of Japan, the US dropped atomic bombs
on Japan
• First was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima. More
than 70,000 were killed
• After a second bomb fell in Nagasaki on August 9th, and the Japanese
surrendered
• Allies uncovered atrocities of the Holocaust on their march through
Europe.
• Germans and Austrian involved in the Holocaust were tried in late 1940s at
Nuremberg. Several top officials received death sentences.
• The United Nations was formed to mediate conflicts in the future.
• Alliances broke apart & the foundation is set for the Cold War