Download WW 2 IMPORTANT EVENTS NOTES

Bellwork
• On the “Important Events of World
War II” chart, fill in as many blanks as
you can from yesterday’s class/lesson
• You should be able to fill in the
information for the appeasement of
Hitler and the Nazi-Soviet
Nonaggression Pact
Appeasement of Hitler
What is appeasement?
Appeasement = giving into an aggressor in order to
avoid a conflict
•Hitler mobilized German forces even though the Treaty of Versailles forbade it
•Hitler went into:
•the Rhineland
Nobody stopped him
•Austria (the Anschluss)
•the Sudetenland
•Great Britain & France appeased Hitler in order to avoid fighting another war at
the Munich Conference
Adolf Hitler was becoming more powerful (militarily and politically). The military
build-up was easing Germany’s economic problems and the violation of the Treaty
of Versailles was making Hitler more and more popular amongst the Germans
If no one was going to stop Hitler, why wouldn’t he keep going???
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin made an agreement to
1.) not fight each other
2.) divide Poland between the 2 countries
Neither leader trusted the other but each had reasons for
entering into the agreement
Made plans for the invasion of Poland which
would be the immediate cause of World War II
Invasion of Poland
• September 1, 1939—Germany moved its
troops into Poland
• Britain and France could not allow such an
aggressive action against defenseless
Poland
World War II begins…
Battle of Britain
• Hitler ordered Operation Sea Lion—the
invasion of Great Britain—but he wanted
to weaken Britain first with a massive
attack by air (using the German Luftwaffe)
• The city of London was bombed for 57
nights straight
Hitler was never able to successfully take over
Great Britain…the British people held strong and
proved that the terror bombings of the mighty
Luftwaffe would not work on a determined nation
like Great Britain
Attack on Pearl Harbor
• In response to an American embargo on
Japanese oil, General Tojo ordered the
surprise attack on the American Pacific
fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor
• On December 7, 1941—“a date which will
live in infamy”—more than 2,400
Americans were killed
American President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to
declare war on Japan in retaliation for the attack on Pearl
Harbor…they did so on December 8, 1941.
The U. S. was now involved in World War II
Operation Barbarossa
• Hitler’s attempt to conquer the Soviet Union; Hitler
wanted lebensraum (“living space” for Germans) and
natural resources
• Hitler’s forces moved quickly while Russians used the
scorched-earth policy (they burned everything as they
retreated)
• Eventually, Russian winter set in and, like Napoleon of
France, Hitler’s attack was stalled and many German
soldiers died of the cold
Adolf Hitler’s offensive was stopped and the Russians
would eventually begin to push back at the Axis
advances
D-Day
• Germany had overrun all of continental Europe
and had pushed the French out of their own
country
• Allied powers needed a foothold in Europe if
they hoped to push the German’s back
• Led by General Eisenhower, the Allied forces
stormed the beaches of Normandy, France
The Allies were successful in taking the beaches at
Normandy but they suffered heavy casualties
German forces were pushed back and the Allies gained the
foothold that they needed to fight the Axis Powers
#29—D-Day
Allied Powers gain a foothold on continental
Europe and begin to push the Axis Powers
back on the Western Front
El Alamein (Africa)
• Battle that took place in Northern
Africa—pitted the Allied forces against
the German general Rommel (the
“Desert Fox”)
Axis forces were pushed back in Northern Africa and the Allies
win major victories in Africa
#22—Battle of El
Alamein
Invasion of Italy
• Using their victories in Northern
Africa, the Allied forces continued on
to Sicily and up the boot of Italy
Italian forces were pushed back and, after a month of
fighting, Italians signed an armistice but Hitler sent
reinforcements to help his ally—this forces Germany
to fight on 3 fronts
#22—Battle of El
Alamein
Allied forces had
pushed the Axis
Powers across
Northern
Africa…now the
Allied forces
could launch
attacks on a
newly created
Southern front
Battle of Stalingrad
• German forces surrounded the city of
Stalingrad…Russians then encircled the
Germans
• Fierce fighting continued in Stalingrad with
house-to-house combat
Once the Germans were forced to surrender, the Red Army
(Russian forces) went on the attack
* Russians struck out against Germany when Hitler showed
a weakness
#21—Battle of
stalingrad
Soviet/Allied forces begin to push back
against Axis control after the battle of
stalingrad
Allied Forces open three fronts against the
only remaining european axis
country…germany
* The tide of World war II changes and the
allies are victorious in World war II
May 8, 1945
VE-Day
V-E = Victory in Europe
• Axis Powers were beginning to lose their
stronghold over Europe
• By April 1945, Mussolini was killed and
Hitler committed suicide
• The war in the European arena was
over…now they had to deal with the
horrors left behind by years of warfare
Island Hopping
• Goal: to get to mainland Japan with
minimal casualties—fight for certain
islands while bypassing others
• The Allied forces faced difficult battles on
islands such as Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima,
Midway, etc.
August 6th & 9th, 1945
• Two atomic bombs were dropped on major
Japanese cities (Hiroshima & Nagaski)
• Japan surrendered to Allied forces
– Countless deaths related to the atomic bomb
September 2, 1945
• Japan signed a peace treaty to end
WWII….
• WWII is responsible for 75 million deaths
and now the question is how to achieve
world peace