Download American Commanders WW II

Ch 25
The Beginnings of WWII
Tensions Rise again in Europe
• Mussolini (1922) & Hitler
(1933) come to power due
to World wide Depression
– Hitler Angered by the unjust
Treaty of Versailles
• 1931- Japan invades and
conquers Manchuria
• 1935- Italy conquers
Ethiopia
– League of Nations ignores
world wide pleas for
intervention
Japan and War in Asia
• Japan then attacks
China - 1937
– In response the U.S.
cuts off Oil and Steel
shipments to Japan
• Japan secretly
prepares for war
against US
Final Opportunities to prevent
World War II
• 1936- Spanish Civil
War
– Fascists (Franco)
overthrows democracy
in Spain.
– Italy and Germany use
Spanish Civil War to
test new weapons by
loaning them to the
fascists
• 1936- Hitler rearms the
Rhineland
– France does nothing
Final Opportunities to prevent
World War II
• Mar. 1938- Anschluss
– German-speaking Austrians
support Hitler
– Hitler demands “Sudetenland”
(German speaking region of CZ)
to “protect” innocents
• Sep. 1938 Munich Conference
– Germany, Great Britain & France
discuss the “Czech” crisis.
– Chamberlain gives in to Hitler’s
demands in policy known as
“Appeasement”
1939
• Germany takes over the rest of
CZ
• Hitler and USSR sign a
nonaggression pact
• Sept. 1- Germany invades
Poland
– Blitzkrieg warfare used
– Poland falls in weeks
– USSR absorbs eastern half of
Poland as well as the “Baltic
Republics” (part of secret
agreements in Nonaggression
pact)
WWII Begins
• Great Britain and France
demand immediate
German withdraw from
Poland
• Germany ignores request
• September 3, 1939WWII begins
– Great Britain and France
declare war on Germany
The war in the Atlantic
• U.S. begins assisting G.B. in
1940 despite our official Neutral
stance
• Lend Lease and Convoy
systems in place summer of
1940-winter 1941
• Germans begin U-boat attacks
and Americans die
• By the time of Pearl Harbor U.S. navy has already been
fighting for 1 1/2 years
Leaders in Great Britain
• P.M. Neville Chamberlain - “Peace in our
Time”
• Replaced by P.M. Winston Churchill “Never was so much owed by so many to
so few”
• General Bernard Montgomery; Hero of El
Alamein leader of the Desert Rats
The Holocaust
Nazi Party beliefs
• Formed on the basis of extreme
nationalism and racism
Nuremberg Laws- 1935
•
Implemented Anti-Semitism
–
Racial/ethnic prejudice attitudes towards Jews
• The Laws: Jews…
1. Were deprived of their citizenship
2. Could not marry “Aryans” (Hitler’s chosen
race…blonde hair/blue eyes)
3. Were forbidden to display the German Flag
4. Were eventually stripped of all civil rights
Kristallnacht: Night of Broken Glass
• Nov 9 & 10, 1938
• Retaliation act for the assassination of a
German diplomat by a Polish-Jew
• German and Austrian citizens stage antiJewish riots
– Over 250 synagogues and 7500 Jewishowned stores were destroyed/vandalized
• Kristallnacht marks the beginning of
secluding Jews into “Ghettos” and
eventually labor camps/concentration
camps
Hitler’s Final Solution
• The “Final Solution”
– Every Jew and non-Aryan
is to be killed
– Implemented in 1942
• 1942- SS begin mass
killings of Jews by gas
chamber
• Auschwitz
– most notorious death camp
Transportation
Separating line
Work Makes One Free
Mass Graves
Gas Chambers: Zyklon B
Once the chamber was full, the doors were
screwed shut and solid pellets of Zyklon-B were
dropped into the chambers through vents in the
side walls, releasing a toxic gas. Those inside
died within 20 minutes; the speed of death
depended on how close the inmate was
standing to a gas vent. About one third of the
victims died immediately. Joann Kremer, an SS
doctor who oversaw the gassings, testified that:
"Shouting and screaming of the victims could be
heard through the opening and it was clear that
they fought for their lives." When they were
removed, if the chamber had been very
congested, as they often were, the victims were
found half-squatting, their skin colored pink with
red and green spots, some foaming at the mouth
or bleeding from the ears
Crematorium
Sleeping Quarters
Survivors
1933-1945: 6 million Jews die in Holocaust
American Commanders
WW II
Eisenhower - Europe overall commander
MacArthur Pacific overall commander
Kimmel is replaced by Nimitz (Navy)
Italy and the War
• Benito Mussolini - Il Duce
• Invades Ethiopia first - in violation of the League
of Nation’s appeal to stop hostilities - no real
action or threats
• 6 months later - Ethiopia becomes an Italian
possession
• Mussolini and Italy are poor allies to Germany
and eventually Italy quits the war; Mussolini is
killed by his own people
USSR Leaders and the War on
the Eastern Front
• Stalin - officially the “head of the Party”
• In reality - Totalitarian Dictator
• Purges of the 1930’s resulted in millions of
deaths through forced “collectivization” independent farmers die by exile to Siberia
• When Germany invades USSR in 1941 Scorched Earth Policy is followed - USSR
survives and holds on until Winter of ‘41-42
German Commanders
• Adolph Hitler (Fuhrer)
• Jodl (Sr. General of the Wehrmacht)
• Rommel (Desert Fox - later commander of
all European German forces)
• Goerrhing (Vice-Fuhrer) Head of the
Luftwaffe
• Himmler leader of the Gestapo (SS)
entrusted with the “Final Solution”
Japanese Leaders
• Emperor Hirohito
• General Tojo (PM) and Army cmdr
• Admiral Yamamoto - Imperial Fleet cmdr
Turning Point in the Pacific
• Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
• Battle of Coral Sea - April 1942
• Battle of Midway - 4 Japanese carriers
sunk - 400 planes lost - U.S. loses one
carrier and 150 plus planes
• Following this battle - 12 more Aircraft
carriers are built and launched within 6
months - Japan cannot replace theirs.
Turning Point in N. Africa
• Montgomery put in command of British Army in
Egypt (to protect the Suez canal - unit renamed
“Desert Rats”) - British win at El Alamein and the
canal is saved.
• Eisenhower, George Patton, and Omar Bradley
land with U.S. forces in Morocco at Casablanca
• Allies push Germans under Rommel from both
directions to Tunisia
• 250,000 Germans surrender at Tunis • N. Africa is regained for the allies.
Fighting in the USSR
• Nazi Soviet Nonaggression pact signed in
August 1939
• Germany invades Poland - USSR waits and
then invades from the East - Poland divided in
half - following Hitler’s failure in the Battle of
Britain - he attacks the USSR - at first total
success and then the Russian Winter arrives
• Hitler’s men are stopped around 3 key cities Leningrad; Moscow; Stalingrad - U.S. extends
Lend-Lease supplies to the USSR
Turning Point in the USSR
• Leningrad refuses to surrender and holds on supplies arrive across frozen Lake Ladoga
• Moscow - Soviet leaders remain in capital city
and survive with U.S. supplies (lend lease)
• Stalingrad; House to House fighting; 2 million die
- after 2 winters and Hitler’s refusal to allow
retreat - 330,000 Germans are forced to
surrender - USSR begins drive west to Berlin
Final European Battles
• Invasion of Sicily succeeds as U.S. and British
forces meet at Messina and Italy quits the war joins Allies - Germans destroy and imprison
former Italian allies - Operation Husky
• Allies invade Italy’s mainland - bog down when
Patton is court-martialed after slapping a U.S.
private and eventually Rome does fall - allies
slowly advance up the “spine” of Italy.
D-Day through V-E Day
• Eisenhower as supreme Allied commander
plans and executes the largest amphibious
assault in history of war - June 6, 1944 - D-Day
(101st Airbornne; Omaha Beach; etc.)
• Rommel prepares German defenses and is
fooled by allied decoy of Patton and a
beachhead is secured in Normandy
• Push to Berlin begins with Patton in command of
3rd army and Germans in full Retreat
D-Day through V-E Day
• Paris is recaptured by Allies - General de Gaulle
leads French troops into the city - “home by
Christmas” is the cry (Allies are confident)
• Germans surprise allies at the Battle of the
Bulge - winter counterattack nearly succeeds as
the 101st Airborne is surrounded at Bastogne U.S. general refuses to surrender - “Nuts” is the
reply - the German advance is stopped
• Patton and 3rd army relieve Bastogne Dec. 26th
- German cause is hopeless - Hitler goes insane
- eventually commits suicide - 3rd Reich ends.
War in Pacific
• Guadalcanal begins U.S. advance on
Japan - Island Hopping (Leapfrogging)
• Marshall Islands; New Guinea; Mariana
Islands (incl. Guam)
• Battle of Leyte Gulf - Kamikaze attacks
last gasp of Japan’s navy
• Nightly bombing raids on Japan 1944-45 Preparations for final push
Final Days in the Pacific
• Okinawa and Iwo Jima are taken (Marine
memorial as flag is raised)
• FDR dies - Truman replaces and is told of
“Manhattan Project”
• Yalta conference agreements are being ignored
- Truman pressures Stalin at Potsdam
conference - hints at “prompt and utter
destruction” to Japan - USSR declares war on
Japan
Atomic Age and Legacy WWII
• Decision is made to use the bomb on Hiroshima Destruction is complete
• Japan’s leaders refuse to surrender
• Nagasaki is bombed - Japan asks for surrender
terms
• Japan surrenders aboard Battleship USS
Missouri - MacArthur heads up “Occupied Japan”
• Cold War begins as USSR and US become world
rivals - Eastern Europe remains communist
puppet states for 50 years (Berlin Wall falls 1989)
End of WWII
FDR’s Passing
• FDR passes away on
April 12, 1945
• Longest serving
president (elected to
office for 4 terms)
• Harry S. Truman
becomes president
– VP for only 82 days
Advances in the Pacific
• February ‘45:
– Battle of Iwo Jima
• 5000 Americans die
• US Flag raised on Mt.
Suribachi
• April ’45:
– Battle of Okinawa
• 7600 Americans die
• 1900 Kamikaze attacks
on Allied ships
V-E Day
• Hitler commits suicide
April 30, 1945
• Allied Victory in
Europe (V-E Day) is
declared and is
officially ended on
May 8, 1945
Manhattan Project
• Secret research
project to develop an
atomic bomb during
WWII
– Led by Dr. Robert
Oppenheimer
– Research conducted
at a secluded Lab in
Los Alamos, NM
The Atomic Age Begins
• July 16, 1945: First
nuclear bomb
detonated at Trinity
test site in
Alamogordo, NM
Truman approves the bomb
• Aug 6: The Enola Gay
drops “Little Boy” on
Hiroshima, Japan,
killing 150,000 total
killed
• Japan refuses to
surrender
• Aug 9: “Fat Man” is
dropped on Nagasaki
killing over 75,000
WWII Ends
• Sep 2, 1945: Japan
signs unconditional
surrender on the deck of
the USS Missouri to
officially end the war
• In the end, an estimated
50-80 million soldiers
and civilians lose their
lives during the war