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What I Should Have Learned
About World War II
World History
7.2.3
The Alliances: Who is Fighting Who
The Allied Powers
- The United States
- (President Franklin D.
Roosevelt)
- Great Britain (Prime
Minister Winston
Churchill)
- France (what hadn’t been
taken over)
- The Soviet Union (Joseph
Stalin)
The Axis Powers
- Nazi Germany (Adolf
Hitler)
- Fascist Italy (Benito
Mussolini)
- Japan (Emperor Hirohito)
The Early Stages
• September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland,
Great Britain and France declare war on
Germany
• Summer, 1940 – Nazi Germany captures France
• Mid-late 1940 – Nazi Germany bombs but does
not capture Great Britain
• Summer, 1941 – Operation Barbarossa: Nazi
Germany invades the Soviet Union
– Strange considering they were in an alliance with
each other prior to the invasion
United States Entry
• Attempted (again) to
remain neutral
• December 7, 1941:
Japan attacks US
Naval base at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii
• United States
declared war on
Japan; Germany
declared war on
United States
American Invasions
• Pacific Battles
– Midway
– Guadalcanal
– Iwo Jima
• Atlantic Theater
– Initially through Africa
– June 6, 1944: Allies (USA, Britain, Canada) land in
northern France
• D-Day/Operation Overlord/The Invasion of Normandy
– Battle of the Bulge
Toward the End
• Mussolini captured by Italians and is
murdered/executed
• United States and Great Britain move in from the
west, Soviet Union moves in from the east
• Hitler gets married, then commits suicide with
her the next day (April 30, 1945)
• May 8, 1945: Victory in Europe (V-E Day)
celebrated, Atlantic theater of war is closed
The Atomic Bombings
• The Manhattan Project – America’s plan to
develop atomic weapons
• Japan is warned of impending attacks and
shown footage of bomb tests
• August 6, 1945 – “Enola Gay” drops “Little Boy”
on Hiroshima, Japan
• August 9, 1945 – “Bockscar” drops “Fat Man” on
Nagasaki, Japan
• August 15, 1945 – Japan surrenders to the
allies, WWII officially ends