Download great leaders of world war ii

GREAT LEADERS OF WORLD WAR II
BY
MARK T. BUGBEE
NOT ALL GREAT LEADERS ARE
“GOOD” LEADERS!
• After the death of President
Hindenburg in March 1934 Adolph
Hitler became Fuehrer und
Reichskanzler (leader and
chancellor) of Germany.
• On March 12, 1938 Hitler ordered
the annexation of Austria.
•On March 10, 1939 German forces
occupy Prague, Czechoslovakia.
•On September 1, 1939 Germany
invaded Poland. Britain and France
responded by declaring war on
Germany. World War II had begun.
MUSSOLINI
A LESSER DICTACTOR
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•
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On June 10, 1940 Benito
Mussolini, dictator of Italy,
declared war on France.
Italy invaded North Africa and
Greece in support of Nazi
Germany’s continued expansion.
By 1943, Mussolini had been
driven out of Africa and Greece,
and Italy was being invaded by
American and British forces.
Mussolini was a cruel tyrant; but
his reign came to an in April 1945,
when he was executed by Italian
partisans.
HEDEKI TOJO
LEADER OF THE JAPANESE RISING SUN
• In 1933, Hedeki Tojo is appointed major general in
the Japanese army.
• In 1938 Tojo was appointed vice minister of war
by Fumimaro Kondoye.
• Tojo was an extreme military leader who supported
Nazi Germany.
• He supported the attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base
on December 7, 1941 and would battle against the
United States until the war’s end in 1945.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
CHAMPION OF VICTORY
 In 1940, as Germany dominated
the European mainland, only the
United Kingdom was left
unconquered.
 At the start of the Battle of
Britain, Winston Churchill was
Prime Minister.
 Churchill was known for his
tenacious spirit.
Due in part to his leadership the
English won the Battle of Britain.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Reluctant Warrior
 At the start of World War II,
F.D.R. tried to keep the United
States out of the conflict.
 Japan attacked the American
Naval base at Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941.
 President Roosevelt declared it
“a day that will live in infamy.”
 The United States declared war
on Japan on December 8, 1941.
 On December 11, Germany and
Italy declared war on the United
States. The United States was
now fully engaged in World
War II.
STALIN
The Guard of the Eastern Front
• In September of 1939
Adolph Hitler and
Joseph Stalin make a
non-aggression pact as
Germany and the Soviet
Union divide up Poland.
• On June 21, 1941
Germany invaded the
Soviet Union with 3,400
tanks and over 3 million
troops in Operation
Barbarossa.
•Stalin commanded the
Red Army against
Hitler’s forces, and
despite terrifying losses,
turned back the
Germans at Moscow and
Stalingrad.
THE ALLIES
UNITE TO DEFEAT HITLER
o After three years of defeat, the
United States, Great Britain and
the Soviet Union, under the
leadership of Roosevelt, Churchill
and Stalin, began to make
significant gains against Hitler’s
Nazi Germany.
o The Allies defeated the Axis
powers in Africa and Italy and
started to drive them west out of
the Soviet Union.
o President Roosevelt’s contribution
to the Allied effort was particularly
important as the United States
provided large numbers of men
and materiel to topple Hitler’s
Third Reich. Unfortunately, he
would not live to see the end of the
war. He died of in March 1945 of a
cerebral hemorrhage.
HITLER’S
REIGN OF MADNESS COMES TO AN END
 On June 6, 1944 the
largest amphibious
invasion in history took
place on the beaches of
Normandy, France.
The Allies under the
Supreme Command of
General Dwight D.
Eisenhower began the
invasion of Hitler’s
fortress, Europe.
Partly because of
Eisenhower’s outstanding
leadership the Allies
defeated Nazi Germany
on May 8, 1945.
THE FATE OF WORLD WAR II’S
GREAT LEADERS
• The most horrific war in
the history of man ended
with the explosion of
atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Japan in August 1945.
By April 1945
both Hitler
and
Mussolini
were dead.
Tojo was
tried and
executed in
December of
1948 .
THE LEADERS OF THE NUCLEAR AGE
• With the end of the World War
II, the way was clear for the
emergence of two superpowers:
The United States and the
Soviet Union.
• Stalin would continue to lead
the Soviet Union until February
1953, when he succumbed to ill
health.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, the hero
of the European campaign,
would later become the thirtyfourth president of the United
States.
• Winston Churchill, the stalwart
Prime Minister of Great
Britain, was badly defeated in
the 1945 elections, but then
served again in 1951.