World War II
The Myth of the
“Good War”
Causes of the
war
1. Treaty of Versailles
• Germany blamed for
the war
• Huge German
reparations
• Germany disarmed
• German loss of land
• German loss of labor
• German loss of honor
• New map of
Europe
• Russia lost land
• Austria-Hungary
dismantled
• Creation of new
weak nations
without regards
to culture
• Failure of U.S. to ratify the
Treaty and become a
member of the League of
nations
• Failure of the League of
Nations and the idea of
collective security
• Rise of communism in
USSR
• Central Powers lost their
colonies to England and
France
• Japan and Italy not
rewarded as Allied
Powers
• Pessimism and
disillusionment- “there
would be another war”
• New treaties and security
alliances of England and
France with “new
nations”
2. U.S. Isolationism
• Isolationism- opposition
to political and
economic
entanglements with
other countries
3. Rise of Totalitarian Dictatorships
• Totalitarianism- a
government that
suppresses all opposition
where individuals have no
rights
• Fascism- a government
that stressed nationalism
and placed interests of
the state above those of
the individual. Power
rests in one strong leader
and a small group of
devoted party members
• Nazism (GermanFascism)- the government
wanted:
• 1. to unify all German
speaking people
• 2. racial purification
• 3. national expansion
4. Appeasement Policy
• Appeasement- giving up
your principles to pacify
an aggressor. (giving
Czechoslovakia to
Germany)
The Road To War
1933- Hitler became Chancellor of
Germany
Hitler soon began a program of
rearming Germany
March 1936: German troops marched
into the Rhineland
• The Rhineland was
a region of
Germany that was
‘demilitarized’ after
the Treaty of
Versailles. Hitler’s
actions showed
how he was willing
to directly
challenge the
treaty.
March 1938: Nazi Germany annexed
Austria
• Again, this went
against the terms
of the Treaty of
Versailles which
banned Germany
from uniting with
Austria.
Appeasement: The Munich
Agreement, 1938
• British Prime
Minister Neville
Chamberlain
• Now we have “peace
in our time!” Herr
Hitler is a man we
can do business with.
March 1939: Germany invaded
Czechoslovakia
• Hitler had ordered the
occupation of a part of
Czechoslovakia known
as the Sudetenland (in
October 1938). Many
hoped that this would
be the last conquest of
the Nazis.
• However, in March
1939, he ordered his
troops to take over the
remainder of
Czechoslovakia.
August 1939: Germany and Russia signed a
non-aggression pact
• Hitler and Stalin (the
Russian leader) signed a
‘non-aggression pact’.
• They promised that
neither country would
attack the other in the
event of war.
• As part of the deal, Hitler
promised Stalin part of
Poland, which he planned
to invade soon.
The non-aggression pact
was surprising. Hitler
and Stalin were seen as
natural enemies.
When Hitler talked of
taking over new land for
Germany, many thought
that he meant Russia.
Hitler also hated
Communism, the form
of government in Russia
September 1939: Germany invaded
Poland
• But, the pact
allowed Germany to
march into Poland
without fear of an
attack from Russia.
• On 1st September
1939, Germany
invaded Poland. This
started a war with
Britain and France
on 3rd September.
Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939
• Blitzkrieg
[“Lightening
War”]
The “Phony War” Ends:
Spring, 1940
• Not much happened
between the invasion of
Poland in September
and the Spring of 1940
May 1940: Germany turned west and
invaded France and the Netherlands
• In May 1940, Germany
used Blitzkrieg tactics to
attack France and the
Netherlands.
• British troops were
forced to retreat from
the beaches of Dunkirk
in northern France.
By June 1940, France had surrendered to the Germans.
Britain now stood alone as the last remaining enemy of
Hitler’s Germany in Western Europe.
A Divided France
September 1940-May 1941: For the following nine
months, the German air force (Luftwaffe) launched
repeated bombing raids on British towns and cities.
This was an attempt to bomb Britain into submission.
Battle of Britain
• 1940 - The
Germans
severely
bombed Great
Britain during
the Battle of
Britain but
were unable
to defeat the
island nation.
Winston Churchill, British Prime
Minister
• 'We shall fight on the beaches ...‘,
• June 4, 1940
• '... 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 ...'
Operation Barbarossa:
Hitler’s Biggest Mistake
American Foreign Policy:
1920-1941
Foreign Policy Tensions
• Interventionism
Disarmament
American Isolationism
Isolationists like
Senator Lodge,
refused to allow the
US to sign the
Versailles Treaty.
Security treaty with
France also rejected
by the Senate.
Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge,
Sr. [R-MA]
Washington Naval Disarmament
Conference
(1921-1922)
Goals  naval
disarmament and the
political situation in
the Far East.
Dawes Plan (1924)
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
15 nations dedicated to
outlawing aggression
and war as tools of
foreign policy.
62 nations signed.
Problems  no means of
actual enforcement
and gave Americans a
false sense of
security.
Japanese Attack Manchuria (1931)
League of Nations
condemned the
action.
Japan leaves the
League.
Hoover wanted no part
in an American
military action in the
Far East.
Neutrality Acts: 1935, 1936, 1937
When the President proclaimed the existence of a
foreign war, certain restrictions would automatically
go into effect:
 Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations.
 Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations.
 Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at war [in contrast to
WW I].
 Non-military goods must be purchased on a “cash-and-carry” basis  pay
when goods are picked up.
 Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
This limited the options of the President in a crisis.
America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces!
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
The American “Lincoln
Brigade”
Spanish Civil War- practice for WWII?
• General Francisco
Franco became dictator
of Spain.
Guernica by Pablo Picasso
1939 Neutrality Act
In response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
FDR persuades Congress in special session to allow the US to aid
European democracies in a limited way:
 The US could sell weapons to the European democracies on
a “cash-and-carry” basis.
 FDR was authorized to proclaim danger zones which US
ships and citizens could not enter.
Results of the 1939 Neutrality Act:
 Aggressors could not send ships to buy US munitions.
 The US economy improved as European demands for war
goods helped bring the country out of the
1937-38 recession.
America becomes the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
Breaking tradition, FDR ran for, and
won, a third term as President in 1940
Lend-Lease Act
• (1941) – allowed sales or loans to
“any country whose defense the
President deems vital to the defense
of the U.S.”
• * 1941 – Germany
launched a surprise
attack on the Soviet
Union. The U.S.
decided to extend LendLease aid to the Soviets
as well.
Destroyers-for-bases deal
• FDR’s idea to help Britain maintain control of
• the Atlantic by trading 50 older but still
serviceable U.S. destroyers in exchange for
giving the United States the right to build
military bases on British islands in the
Caribbean.
Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941
• Japanese
attacked naval
base at Pearl
Harbor in
Honolulu,
Hawaii.
• 2,887
Americans
killed.
President Roosevelt Signs the US
Declaration of War
• “A day which
will live in
infamy.”
Axis and allies
•
•
•
•
Major Axis PowersGermany
Italy
Japan
•
•
•
•
Major Allied Powers
United States
Great Britain
Soviet Union
European Theater of
operations
• Dwight Eisenhowerwas Supreme
Commander of U.S.
forces in Europe. He
was in charge of the DDay invasion and later
served two terms as
president.
Allied Nation Leaders
• The Big Three- leaders
of the U.S. (FDR), Soviet
Union (Stalin), and
Great Britain (Churchill)
who met secretly many
times to coordinate
military strategies and
peace terms.
Conferences
• Yalta Conference- agreed
1)to divide Germany into
zones, 2)allow free
elections in Soviet
controlled Eastern
Europe, 3) Soviets enter
war against Japan, 4) to
create a new world peace
organization
• Potsdam Conferencecall for Japan’s
unconditional surrender
and agreed to hold
war-crime trials of Nazi
leaders.
Axis Nation Leaders
• Adolf Hitler- He
was chancellor of
Germany from 1933 to
1945, and dictator
of Nazi Germany
as Führer.
• Benito Mussolini- was
an Italian politician who
led the National Fascist
Party .
• Hideki Tojo- was a general of
the Imperial Japanese
Army and Prime Minister of
Japan during most of World War.
• Directly responsible for
the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Battles
• Battle of Stalingrad- Nazi
Germany fought the Soviet
Union.
• The battle took place between
August 1942 and February
1943.
• It is among the bloodiest
battles in the history of warfare,
with casualties amounting to
nearly two million.
• The heavy losses inflicted on
the German army made it a
turning point in the war.
• Invasion of
Normandy(D-Day)June 6, 1944. It marked
the 1st day of the Allied
invasion of Nazicontrolled France. Code
named Operation
Overlord.
Tuskegee Airmen
• African-American
fighter group in the Air
Corps. These “Red Tails”
won numerous awards
and citations.
V-E Day
• May 8, 1945 was the
day that General
Eisenhower accepted
Germany’s
unconditional
surrender, Victory in
Europe Day.
Pacific Theater of
Operations
Battles in the Pacific
• Battle of Midway- It
was the turning point in
the Pacific War. The
victory sent the Allies
island hopping back to
Japan.
• Island HoppingNimitz’s strategy to
bypass strongly held
Japanese islands to get
the U.S. within striking
distance of Japan.
• Flying Tigers- volunteer
pilots who supplied
China with war supplies
at the beginning of the
war.
• Navajo Code Talkers400 native Americans
were recruited into the
Marine Corps to use
their native language to
transmit telephone and
radio messages that the
Japanese could not
interpret.
Atomic Weapons
• Atomic weapons- a
weapon of mass
destruction whose
explosive power derives
from a nuclear reaction.
• Manhattan Project- the
code name for research
done to develop the
first atomic bomb.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• The Japanese cities
that the U.S. dropped
atomic bombs on
(August 6 and 9,
1945).
• Hundreds of
thousands people
were killed as a result
of these two bombs.
V-J Day
• August 14, 1945 Japan
surrendered
unconditionally
• V-J Day Victory in Japan
Day
Home front
American mobilization for
war
• War Bonds- It was an
emotional appeal to
patriotic citizens to lend
the government their
money for the war.
• Rationing- a system
that established limits
on good that were
deemed necessary for
the military. People
were given ration cards
for items such as gas
and sugar.
• Victory gardensgovernment
encouraged people to
grow their own
vegetables at home
since food was being
rationed. About 20
million gardens were
grown in the U.S.
producing 1/3 of the
vegetables in the U.S.
• Office of War
Information- created
pro-Allied anti-Axis
propaganda through
movies, posters, and
radio
• Office of Price
Administration- fought
inflation during the war
by freezing prices on
most goods
• War Production Boarddecided which
companies would
convert from peacetime
to wartime production
and allocated raw
materials to key
industries.
• Rosie the Riveterbecame a symbol of
women who worked in
factories during the
World War II.
• Bracero Program- a
• Nuremburg Trials- the
program to bring
Allies put 24 Nazi
temporary workers
leaders on trial for
from Mexico to the U.S.
crimes against
from 1942-1964.
humanity, against
peace, and war crimes.
• It was originally created
to help with the labor
shortage during WWII.
Internment
• Executive Order 9066• Internment- After Pearl
issued by FDR to require
Harbor, this was forceful
Japanese Americans to
removal and
relocate to interior
confinement of all
internment camps away
Japanese Americans
from Western coastal
from the West coast to
regions.
relocation centers.