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World War II
1939-1945
Japanese Aggression
• Economic hardship—desire for more
colonies
• Japanese military leaders and
ultranationalists thought Japan
should have an empire equal to
those of the Western powers.
• Invade Manchuria- 1931
– Withdrew from the League of Nations
(1933)
• Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany 1936
Italian Aggression
• Mussolini invades
Ethiopia, 1935
• A reaction to Italy’s defeat
by the Ethiopians in 1896
• League of Nations
powerless to stop Italy
– The League stopped selling
weapons, but sanctions did
extend to petroleum
German Aggression
• Lebensraum
• Hitler violates Treaty of Versailles:
– Remilitarizes
• By 1935 550,000 men in the
German Army
• New air force
– Invade the Rhineland, March 7,
1936
– His success made him more
popular at home
• Reaction:
– Appeasement: or giving in to the
demands of an aggressor in order
to keep the peace.
Why Appeasement?
• Policy of Great Britain, France, US
• Saw Fascism as the lesser of two
evils
• Impact of the Great Depression
• Pacifism: opposition to all war
Why did the Western democracies
respond to aggression with a policy of
appeasement?
The Western democracies wanted to
avoid the horrors of another war.
Neville Chamberlain
Hitler annexes Austria- 1938
• Anschluss
– Union between Germany &
Austria
– Prohibited by Treaty of
Versailles
– Hitler threatened invasion
– Eventually Germans
annexed Austria in March
of 1938 with ease because
the Western democracies
took no action
Hitler annexes Czechoslovakia- 1938
• Sudetenland= home to 3
million ethnic Germans
• Was one of only two
remaining democracies
in Eastern Europe.
(Finland was the other.)
• Czechs ask for help from
France & GB, they are
unwilling to save it
Munich Conference, Sept. 29 1938
• Reaction to the invasion of
Sudetenland
• GB, France, Germany, Italy meet
– (Who’s missing???)
• What was the response?
– APPEASEMENT again
– Munich Pact
• Signed by Hitler,
Chamberlain, Daladier
(France)
– Agreed Hitler can take
Sudetenland but must
respect Czech borders
Chamberlain (left)
and Hitler (right)
Six months
later...Hitler takes
Czechoslovakia
Check for Understanding
How was the Munich Pact an act of
appeasement?
A. Western democracies gave in to Hitler’s
demands of annexing the Sudetenland.
B. Czechoslovakia went to war with Germany to
protect its lands.
C. Hitler was given permission to annex Austria.
D. Hitler gave in to Western democracies’ demands
for an end to aggressive actions.
German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact:
August 23, 1939
• Stalin distrusts Hitler, but
distrusts Western allies more
• Pact based on mutual need
(Hitler feared communism and
Stalin feared Fascism)
• Agreement that neither would
attack if the other invaded
Poland
• Gave Stalin the opportunity to
expand in Eastern Europe
“Wonder how long the
honeymoon will last?”
Hitler invades Poland- September 1, 1939
• “Official” start to
WW2
• Blitzkrieg
– “Lightning War”
• Two days later,
Britain and France
declared war on
Germany. World War
II had begun
German soldiers in Warsaw
Soviets annex Baltic States- 1939
• Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania
• Military bases
Sitzkrieg- The Phony War
• The Maginot Line
– French built defensive
line to protect
themselves from
German attack in
1930s
• Stretched over 200
miles
• VERY expensive
The Maginot Line was France’s fortification at the French-German
border. Britain and France, anticipating a German attack, armed the
line with soldiers.
Sitzkrieg- The Phony War continued…
• Winter, 1940
– No movement or battles
– French / Nazis Kept waiting for the other to
attack
– Ends April 9, 1940 when Germany turns
attention towards…
German Expansion
• Denmark (April 1940)
– 4 hours
• Norway (May 1940)
– Two months
Why this territory?
Oslo, April 10, 1940
German Expansion
• May 1940
– Belgium, the
Netherlands,
Luxembourg
– Surprise French by
going through Ardennes
Forest (BELGIUM)
– Push through France
trapping 100,000s off
beaches at Dunkirk
German Expansion- the Fall of France
• June 22, 1940, Germans enter
Paris (with help of Mussolini)
• French form a “government
in exile” in England
• France divided into Northern
France (controlled by
Germany) and Vichy France
(German puppet state)
A Frenchman weeps as German soldiers march into the French capital, Paris, after the Allied
armies had been driven back across France.
Who’s Left?
• Britain
• Winston Churchill becomes
new prime minister (May
1940)
•
"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the
end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on
the seas and oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence and growing strength in
the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the
cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight
in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in
the hills; we shall never surrender."
Battle of Britain
• Hitler offered Churchill a truce, Churchill
promptly rejected it
• Hitler sent the Luftwaffe to lead the attack on
Britain (Operation Sea Lion)
– Needed air dominance in order to stage an invasion
of Britain
• London Blitz
– Break British morale
• Hitler stopped by the RAF
– Radar- track German planes
– Enigma- machine to
break down German codes
– Hitler’s first major defeat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg85ggZSHMw
The first attack took place on September 7, 1940. German bombers darkened the skies
over London and other cities. After a sleepless night, Londoners found parts of their city
in ruins.
Families built shelters in
their yards and cellars.
When the sirens blared,
thousands of Londoners
whose homes did not
have shelters took
shelter in the
Underground (subway)
stations.
The British government organized “Operation Pied Piper,” which sent more than
3 million children to safer homes in rural areas. Each child boarded a train with a
gas mask and a nametag.
Germany Shifts to the East
• June 1941
• Operation Barbarossa
• Breaks Nazi-Soviet pact
with Stalin
• 3 million soldiers into USSR
• Russians use scorched
earth tactic & winter hits
“If I had the Ural Mountains with their incalculable store of treasures in raw
materials,” he declared, “Siberia with its vast forests, and the Ukraine with its
tremendous wheat fields, Germany under National Socialist leadership would
swim in plenty.”
-Hitler
Pacific Theater--Pearl Harbor
• Japan attacks French
Indochina
– US cuts off oil
shipments
• Japan attacks US naval
base, Pearl Harbor
– Dec. 7 1941
– Japan claimed that its
mission was to help
Asians escape Western
colonial rule. In fact,
the real goal was a
Japanese empire in
Asia.
USS Arizona Memorial
US Casualties
Service
Navy
Killed
2,008
Wounded
710
Total
2,718
Army
218
364
582
Marines
109
69
178
Civilians
68
35
103
Total
2,403
539
3,581
• 200 aircrafts destroyed
• All 8 battleships destroyed
Pearl Harbor
• US breaks isolation
– Declares war
December 8, 1941
– “Day of Infamy”
– On December 11,
Germany and Italy,
as Japan’s allies,
declared war on the
United States.
Journal Entry
1. Read the Article The Pro and Con of Dropping the
Bomb
2. In your journal, answer the following question:
Do you think the United States should have used the
atomic bomb on Japan? Why or why not? Cite
evidence from the lists above to support your
answer.
Allied Response
Allied Powers Strategize
• “Big Three”
– FDR, Churchill, Stalin
– Goal: Finish war in
Europe first, then focus
on Pacific
– Stalin wants 2nd front
in Germany
– FDR, Churchill not
enough resources
Turning Point in European TheaterStalingrad
June 1941 Nazi Invasion
• Siege of Leningrad
– Winter 1941- 1942
– 3,000-4,000 Soviets starve
each DAY
• Battle of Stalingrad
– 250,000 Germans sent in
– Soviets assemble 1 million
– Soviets surround Germans
• Cut off from supplies
• Outcome:
– German generals
surrender despite Hitler’s
orders
– Feb 1943– Soviets regain
city
– Significance of battle?
• Proves that Hitler could be
stopped!
Victory in Europe
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
• Allied invasion of France (Germany controlled France)
– Organized by the United States
– Goal was to force Germany for fight a two-front war
• Invasion was successful
– Germans were overwhelmed, and by August 1944 Allies
entered Paris
Yalta Conference
February 1945 (in Soviet Union): the “Big
Three” met to plan the final stages of the war
and post-war Europe.
Goals:
1. Divide Germany into 4 zones; occupied by
Britain, France, U.S., Soviet Union
2. The Soviet Union would get to keep much
of eastern Europe
3. Agreed to create the United Nations
Victory over Germany
• Summer of 1944: Soviets pushed
Germans out of Soviet territory.
• March 1945: U.S. and Britain
pushed into Germany through
France
• March 1945: Soviets enter Berlin
from the east.
– Hitler committed suicide in an
underground bunker.
• May 7, 1945: Germany
Surrendered—officially war in
Europe ended the next day May
8th= V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
Potsdam Conference
August 1945: Allies met in Potsdam, Germany
(Truman had replaced the deceased Roosevelt)
Outcomes:
1. Officially issued “unconditional surrender”
demand to Japan.
2. Tensions began to arise between the U.S. and
Soviet Union; disagreement over the future of
Europe (Truman did not trust Stalin as much as
Roosevelt did).
Victory in the Pacific
War in the Pacific
• Up until Mid 1942 = Japan won
an interrupted series of
victories  controlled much of
Southeast Asia + Many Pacific
Islands.
• (May 1942) Japan gained
control of Philippines = Killed
several hundred American
soldiers + 10,000 Filipino
soldiers  Bataan Death
March.
– 60+ mile march in blazing
heat to POW camps
– Over 10,000 died
US Strategy  “Island Hopping”
• Dilemma: taking over
each island would be very
costly
• Solution: “Hop” past
Japanese strongholds
– Cut off supplies for
bypassed islands
– Build bases
– Recapture some
Japanese held islands
+ bypass others
Defeat for Japan
Mid 1945: Allied poured
resources into defeating Japan.
– Most of Japanese navy and air
force had been destroyed,
although the Japanese army
still had 2 million men
February to March 1945: Bloody
battles on the islands of Iwo
Jima and Okinawa showed that
the Japanese would fight to
death rather than surrender.
Defeat for Japan
Invasion or Bomb?
Manhattan Project
• Allied scientists discovered that
splitting atoms could create an
explosive far more powerful that
any known bomb.
• After consulting with advisors and
other Allied leaders, Truman,
determined to save tremendous
numbers of American lives,
decided to use the new weapon
against Japan (The Atomic Bomb)
Truman issued warning to
Japan to surrender or face
“complete destruction and
utter devastation”
Utter Devastation
• August 6, 1945: An
American plane dropped
and atomic bomb over the
city of Hiroshima
– Bomb flattened four square
miles+ instantly killed
70,000 people.
– In month to follow
many more would die
from radiation sickness
Utter Devastation
• August 8, 1945: Soviet Union
declared war on Japan= invaded
Manchuria.
• Japanese leaders again did not
respond.
• August 9, 1945: United States
dropped second atomic bomb on
city of Nagasaki.
– Bomb killed 40,000 people
August 10, 1945: Emperor Hirohito
intervened and forced government
to surrender.
August 14, 1945: V-J Day (Victory in
Japan)