Download World War II

WORLD WAR II
1931-1945
Nancy Pace, 5th Grade Teacher
Berry Shoals Intermediate School
2004
World War II
“The Big One”
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Causes of World War II
Friends and Enemies
United States Gets Involved
End of the War
Gains and Losses
Causes of World War II
• Germany blamed for causing World War I (WWI)
– Continued developing war weapons after WWI
– Economy destroyed after WWI
– Discrimination of ethnic groups, especially Jewish and Polish.
• The rise of dictators as a result of WWI
• Imperialism and the search of raw materials
Germany
• Germany’s economy was devastated after WWI.
• Germany was held completely accountable for
WWI.
• The Germans resented the blame and grew weary
of the depressed economy.
• Germany welcomed a person who developed
strong patriotism and provided it with someone to
blame for all its troubles – Hitler.
The Rise of Dictators
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RUSSIA: Joseph Stalin
SPAIN: Francisco Franco
ITALY: Benito Mussolini
JAPAN: Emperor Hirohito
GERMANY: Adolf Hitler
• Three of these men joined to rule the world!
BLITZ KRIEG
• Germany took over neighboring countries:
Czechoslovakia and Austria, 1938.
• Germany attacked Poland, in 1939, hoping
that the world would not come to its rescue.
• As the world watched, in a matter of days,
Germany conquered the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Norway,
and most of France.
The Axis Powers:
Germany, Italy, and Japan
• Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito formed an
alliance to conquer the world.
• Germany continued to consume Europe.
• Mussolini led Italian forces to take over
Africa.
• Hirohito led Japanese forces to overcome
Asia.
The Allied Forces:
Great Britain, France, USA, and Soviet Union
• The world could no longer ignore the danger.
• Great Britain, lead by Prime Minister William
Chamberlain, joined the war to help France.
• The United States, led by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, pledged supplies and support for the
Allies but worked to stay out of the war.
• The Soviet Union agreed to stay out of the war as
long as Germany left them alone.
Big Mistakes…HUGE!
• Germany agreed with the Soviet Union to not
attack. Hitler broke his agreement and attacked
the Soviet Union. He now fought a war on two
fronts, East and West. The Soviet Union joined
the Allied Forces.
• Japan declared war on the United States with a
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,
December 7, 1941.
• Japan’s General Yamamoto said, “I fear all we
have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill
him with a terrible resolve."
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Yanks are Coming…
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked
Congress to declare war on the Axis Powers
and entered the war on three fronts.
• Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 to be
“…a day that will live in infamy.”
President Roosevelt Signs
Declaration of War
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Led Troops in Europe
General Douglas MacArthur
Led Troops in Asia
General George Patton
Led Troops in Africa
End of WWII
• Germany no longer sustained strength
fighting a war on two fronts.
• German troops froze to death in the Soviet
Union and lacked the supplies and
willpower to continue.
• The Allied Forces planned an amazing
attack in Northern France: D-Day.
End of WWII
• Mussolini lost power over Italy as starving Italians
marched in the streets and took over the country.
• Mussolini was captured and publicly hung upside
down in the town square.
• The Axis Powers in Europe surrendered May 8,
1945.
• Hitler, hiding in an underground bunker, took his
own life. To avoid being disgraced, he asked his
few remaining loyal guardsmen to burn his body.
End of WWII
• Upon the death of President Franklin
Roosevelt, President Harry S. Truman led a
mournful nation to the end of the war in
Asia.
• President Truman decided to use the most
powerful weapon known to man, the
Atomic Bomb (A-Bomb).
• Japan was asked to surrender, but it chose to
ignore the warning.
August 6, 1945…Hiroshima
August 9, 1945…Nagasaki
• When Japan refused to surrender, the United
States dropped another A-Bomb, this time
on the industrial city of Nagasaki.
• With the destruction of two major industrial
cities, Japan was hopeless.
• Japan surrendered, bringing the end to
WWII on all fronts.
Gains and Losses
• Germany was divided into two countries, losing its
colonies around the world.
• Japan was denied its right to a military: army or
navy. To this day, it may only maintain a coast
guard to provide coastal protection for itself.
• Italy lost its colonies around the world.
• The Soviet Union took over neighboring
countries, forming a wide and comprehensive
national boundary to protect itself from future
attacks.
Gains and Losses, (cont.)
• The United States (USA) took on the role of
rebuilding Europe.
• The USA refused to share the technology of
the atomic weapons, creating distrust and a
Cold War between the Soviet Union and
the USA.
• A new form of government developed
worldwide: Communism.
…and the world goes on!
• It will take years (40) before the aftereffects of WWII are resolved.
• Under President Ronald Reagan (19801988), communism fell, and the world was
ready for democracy to flourish.
Credits
• Boehm, R.G. ed. United States in Modern
Times. Harcourt Brace & Company, 2000.
• Photos Courtesy of the Library of Congress:
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi