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Chapter 14 Notes
World War II and
Aftermath
Aggression
• Japan invades Manchuria and Eastern
China
• Italy Invades Ethiopia
• Hitler defies Treaty of Versailles – built up
German military, sent troops into
Rhineland
• Policy of Appeasement; Pacifism; US
Neutrality Acts
• Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
Dress Rehearsal for WWII
• Spanish Civil War- 1936
General Franco, conservative
and pro-monarchy, attempted
to overthrow new democratic
government. Mussolini helped
due to shared hatred of
Communists. Hitler also sent
aid.
• Soviets supported the
republicans who fought for
elected government.
• Germans attacked small town,
Guernica (as test for new
planes and equipment)
• Franco won.
• Annexation of Austria
• Anschluss –union of
Germany and Austria.
Forced Austrian
Chancellor to appoint
Nazis to cabinet
posts, Hitler sent in
army to ‘preserve
order’
• Czechoslovakia/
Sudetenland:
• Insisted 3 million
Germans in Sudetenland
be given autonomy,
• No one was willing to
save Czechoslovakia
(one of 2 remaining E.
European democracies)
• Sudetenland annexed to
Germany with promise of
German end to expansion
World War II Begins
• 1939- Germany signed a non-aggression treaty with the Soviets
freeing up the borders and able to place all efforts in invading
Poland, dividing the nation between the two countries.
• Sept. 1, 1939- Tanks entered Poland while the Luftwaffe (airforce)
bombed cities with the “blitzkrieg” or swift maneuver air strikes.
• Caused France and UK to enter the war because they had agreed to
protect Poland.
• Soviets created bases in Baltic states and seized part of Finland
Axis Advances
• Miracle of Dunkirk:
• German forces evaded
Maginot Line, Allies retreated
trapped between English
Channel and Nazis. Rescued
by available English vessels.
Ferried 300K troops to safety
• France Falls:
• June 22, 1940 French signed
surrender docs. Germans
occupied Northern France.
• Vichy government established
in Southern France- “puppet
state”
• Operation Sea Lion: Nazi planned invasion of Britain, massive
airstrikes.
– August 1940: German daily bombardments of England’s southern coast, and
eventually London
– Sept. 1940: Blitz of London begins, destroys most of city. 57 nights in a row and
lasted until May
– Hitler unable to take Britain; morale actually strengthened with bombing
Blitz of London
September 1940- May 1941
Axis Powers invade Africa and Balkans
• Italy sends troops from Libya
into Egypt (UK)
• UK evaded Italian advances
• Hitler sends in Gen Rommel –
Desert Fox
• Successes in 1941-42, push
British forces back towards
Cairo
• Oct 1940- Italy
invaded Greece
with German
reinforcements
– Greece,
Yugoslavia,
Bulgaria and
Hungary added to
Axis alliance
Soviet Front
Operation Barbarossa- Nazi invasion of USSR (had non-aggression pact) :
Wanted raw materials. Did not prepare for Russian winter.
June 22, 1941. Surrounded Leningrad for 900 days, starving to death ½ million
residents. Residents ate most anything- wallpaper; rationed to 2 pieces of
bread/day
Sept. 1942- Nazi troops attacked Stalingrad, battle continued around the ruin
and rubble of the city for 5 months until Germans surrendered in Jan. 1943.
Soviets hoped for help on the Western front from Britain – Allies were unable to
offer the help Soviets requested
Holocaust
• Nazi’s intense hatred of Jews led to the
eradication of Jews, known as the “Final
Solution” to the “Jewish problem”.
• Jews were first forced to label themselves with a
Star of David
Holocaust
• Next the Jews were
forced out of their
homes and into
ghetto’s where they
had to live several
families to a room.
• The ghetto’s were eventually liquidated and the
Jews were placed on trains to “work” camps
• Once at the camps they were used as slave
labor, weak or sickly were killed. Eventually
many died of starvation or were gassed or shot.
Holocaust
eventually more than 6 million Jews and 6
million gypsies, homosexuals, pow’s, and slav’s
were murdered
US Involvement
• Lend-Lease Act – March
1941, US ‘neutral’, but act
allowed US to sell or lend
war materials to “any
country whose defense…
is vital to the...US”
• “Arsenal of Democracy”
• Atlantic Charter: US and
UK August 1941, set
goals for war: final
destruction on Nazi
tyranny, selfdetermination
• US bans sale of iron,
steel, and oil to Japan
– Japan viewed it as
interference with their
sphere on influence
Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Dec 7, 1941
- US declares war on
Japan
- Germany, Italy declare
was on US
Allies
• Total War
–
–
–
–
–
–
Bonds
Factories
Price regulation
Ended unemployment
Limited rights of citizens
Japanese Internment
• Rosie the Riveter: women
helped war effort; Rosie was
face of propaganda program
• Pacific Theater:
– Japanese suffered loss at Coral
Sea in May 1942; 1st war where
aircraft carriers launched attack
using planes
– Battle of Midway June 1942;
Japanese left unable to launch
further offensive operations
• ‘Big Three’:
•
•
Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
focused war on Europe before
Asia
Allies distrusted each other;
agreed to let Stalin have
boundaries et out by Nazi-Soviet
Pact
• Victory in North Africa:
•
•
Stopped Rommel at El Alamein
Nov. 1942
Allies trapped Rommel’s army in
May 1943
•
•
Germans defeated at Stalingrad
D-Day Assault:
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• Allies advance through Italy
July 1943
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•
June 6, 1944, Invasion of France
156K troops ferried across English
Channel
Allies advance into France as allied
forces continue north from Italy
August 25th Allies liberate Paris
Battle of the Bulge; Last German
offensive, one month battle, terrible
losses suffered on both sides
Italy- guerillas captured and executed
Mussolini
V-E Day:
–
Victory in Europe, May 8. 1945 one day
after Germany surrendered
Yalta Conference
•
• February 1945:
Roosevelt, Stalin and
Churchill met in Southern
USSR
• Planned strategy in
atmosphere of distrust
Agreed to:
– USSR would enter war vs
Japan within 3 months of
Germany’s surrender
– FDR and Churchill promised
Stalin that Soviets would get
Sakhalin and Kuril Islands and
part of Korea
– Germany would be temporarily
divided into 4 zones, each
controlled by British, French,
American and Soviet forces
– Stalin agreed to hold free
elections in E. Europe
Struggle in Pacific
• Bataan Death March- US
POW’s surrendered to
Japanese- marched with
little food and water, beaten
or shot for straying,
thousands perished.
• Victory of Guadalcanal
• Island Hopping campaign
– islands serve as stepping
stones, refueling
• By 1944 US had made
progress and was
blockading Japan
• War over in Europe allies
poured all resources into war
with Japan
Bombing of Japan
• Atomic Bomb: Truman had
scheduled an invasion of
Japan late 1945. July 16,
1945: American scientists led
by J. Robert Oppenheimer
successfully detonated the first
a-bomb over Alamogordo, NM
(Manhattan Project)
• Aug. 6, 1945: dropped single
a-bomb “Little Boy” from the
Enola Gay on Hiroshima.
Killed 100k instantly.
• Aug. 9, 1945: 2nd bomb, “Fat
Man” dropped over Nagasaki.
• Aug 14, 1945: Japanese
government surrendered.
End of WWII
Nuremburg Trials: Axis leaders
should be tried for ‘crimes against
humanity’; Nearly 200 Germans
and Austrians were tried, most
guilty.
• United Nations
–
–
–
Occupying Allies: Why had
Europe allowed Hitler’s “Final
Solution”. US felt that democracy
would ensure tolerance, Western
Allies built new gov’ts in occupied
Germany and Japan.
50 nations
Each member nation has 1 vote, 5
permanent Security Council members
(US, USSR, France, Britain, China)
have more say
Goal to ensure peace
• Beginning of Cold War
– Differences grow between Allies
– State of tension and hostility
between US and USSR (and their
allies)
– Stalin ignored earlier promises for
free elections in E. Europe