WWII & the Holocaust
Objective: To analyze and understand
the outbreak of WWII in addition to the
major players, leaders, and decisive
battles.
Overview:
 WWII (1939-1945) deadliest, costliest & largest
conflict in history
 61 nations in fighting
 The Axis Powers: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy , & Japan
 The Allied Powers: Great Brit, France, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, & the US
 1st Global War (over WWI)
 55-60 million killed (most to half civilians)
 Genocide- 6 million Jews & 6 million non-Jews in the
Holocaust
 WWII topple nations of Europe
Overview:
Superpowers-US & the Soviet Union
Cold War: new struggle between US & Soviet Union
1940-1970 massive wave of decolonization (freedom to
African & Asian colonies)
Shift of internatl. trade
Tech & scientific innovation
1. What roles did imperialism, nationalism, and
ethnocentrism have?
2. Could WWII have been prevented?
“The Road to War”
 Results from pattern of
aggression on part of Nazi
GA, Fascist Italy &
militaristic Jpn.
 Aggression, met with weak
response from the
democracies (US does little
to stand up to dictatorships)
 Appeasement- policy of
letting the aggressors have
what they wanted, in hope
they would demand no
more
WWII Timeline:
1933: Hitler withdraws from the
League of Nations
1935:
• Hitler openly began to
•
rebuild Germany army
&navy
• Mussolini invades Ethiopia•
(League imposes sanctions
•
but ineffective)
• Soviet Russia- fearful of GA,
allies itself with France both
agree to protect Czech &
France protect Poland
• Antifascist cooperation =
collective security
1936
2nd violation of TOV; Hitler sends troops
to Rhineland (permanent DMZ- Fr.& GB
protest but tale no action)
Mussolini completes conquest of Ethiopia
Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War: 19361939
– Francisco Franco’s uprising against
Demo. Leaders is supplied with $ and
supplies by Hitler and Mussolini
– Stalin tried to help Spanish govt. (when
Western demo do nothing he loses
trust)
– Dictator Franco =successful
WWII Timeline:
•
•
•
•
1938
1937:
• GA annex Austria in Anschluss
union
In Jpn. Military- controlled
• Hitler announces plans to take
govt.
over Sudetenland (former GA
Anti-Comintern Pact: signed
territory with 3 million GA
people)
by GA, Italy, & Jpn. pledging
• Munich Agreement: Mussolini &
to oppose internatl
Hitler met with Chamberlain &
communism
Paladier of Brit and Fr. to agree
Jpn. Invades China (atrocities
to let GA have Sudetenland but
expand no further –Appeasement
– Rape of Nanking)
• Stalin & Czech not there- he's
Hitler goes to public with
angry doesn’t trust GB or France
Lebensraum “Living Space” • Jpn. & Soviet Union clash in
for GA expansion
Siberia & Soviets drive them back
1939
WWII Timeline:
• GA Takes rest of Czech (foolish Fr.
& GB)
• GA takes W. Lithuania
• Italy invades Albania
• Jpn. &USSR fight in Siberia again
• Hitler claims on Polish territory (Fr.
& Brit. Promise to guarantee Poland
safety)
• Nazi-Soviet Pact/ Non-Aggression
Pact- Hitler seeks to reach agreement
with Stalin b4 invading Polandtherefore agreement keeps USSR
neutral & allows for his invasion
• Sept. 1st 1939 Hitler’s invasion of
Poland
The Major Players:
The Axis Powers
Leaders of the Axis Powers
Germany
Adolf Hitler
Japan
Emperor
Hirohito
Italy
Benito
Mussolini
The Major Players:
The Allied Powers
Leaders of the Allied Powers
France
Great Britain
Charles De Winston Churchill
Gaulle
Franklin D. Roosevelt
USA
USSR
Josef
Stalin
Harry Truman
The Axis Ascendant: 1939-1941
• During 1st half of war Axis Powers were winning
• Only major opposition was Fr. And GB
– USSR = neutral (Why?)
– US- isolated & wants to stay out
• Japan extends into Asia & China against Brit,
Dutch, & Fr. Colonial possessions in SE Asia
New Technology
New Technology:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Makes war rapid & dynamic
Naval aircraft
Long-range submarines
New Artillery (the tank)
Strategic air bombers
*** All make war quick but
more deadly (civilian
population)
• Jet aircraft & synthetic
materials
Blitzkrieg, & the Invasion of Poland
• Blitzkrieg: The new GA method of warfare means
“lightning war”- use of tanks, airplanes to rush and
knock out enemy territory
• Its effective: Poland falls within weeks
• Brit & Fr. Did very little- old strategy of waiting for
GA to attack them believes defensive would win
• Winter 1939-1940 named sitzkrieg or phony war
German Invasion of Western Europe &
the Fall of France
• April 1940 Hitler’s assault on W. Euro (success)
• Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, &
Netherlands all defeated
• Fall of France- surrenders within months- Leaves GB
to fight GA & Italy alone
• France’s confidence in the Maginot Line- great
border of fortifications to protect them GA sidesteps
this
Part II: Japanese Aggression &
The Allied Quest for Victory
Battle of Britain & Operation Barbarossa
Battle of Britain:
• 1940-41 GA attn on GB
• Italy heads for Greece,
Yugoslavia, & Egypt
• Attempt to knock GB out of
the war- fails (Royal navy
protects British Isles)
Eastern Invasions & Operation
Barbarossa
• 1941 Hitler shifts attn to E.
Europe- helps clean up Italy’s mess
in Greece and N. Africa
• Hitler wants to invade Soviet
Union =Operation Barbarossa
(despite non-aggression Pact)
• Royal Air Force defends GB • June 22, 1941 GA invades Soviet
• GB holds out from its navy, air Union
force and economic aid from • 60-75% of GA troops fight E. front
• GA forces surround Leningrad
US & Canada
(USSR 2nd largest city)
• US is neutral but FDR Lend• Drive into Ukraine & S. Russialease program of economic
close to Moscow
assistance kept GB and USSR
• Last min efforts halt GA
supplied
Japanese Aggression:
• Fighting between China &
Jpn.
• 1940-41 Fr, Dutch, British
colonial possessions
vulnerable
• Fr. Falls 1940-threaten
Indochina
• Japan Goal: Establish
Greater E. Asian CoProsperity Sphere (over
Chinese coast & all of SE
Asia, India, Indochina, &
Australia)
• US imposes sanctions
after increased
aggression- without steel,
oil, & other raw
materials from US,
Japanese war on Asian
mainland would be
badly damaged
• Jpn. Views embargo as
an act of war- begin
plotting against the US
Pearl Harbor & Japan: assault on the
South Pacific
• Dec. 7th 1941 Jpn. Surprise
attack on US naval base
Pearl Harbor
• Bomb and invade South
Pacific & Philippines
• 1942 Japan had captured
Hong Kong, Indochina,
Thailand, part of Burma,
the Malaysian Peninsula,
Philippines, Indonesia and
100s of small Pacific islands
• Effect of Japanese attack is
to bring US into war both
in Pacific and in Europe
(GA declared war on US)
• Japan roused one of
world’s largest countries
(great human power &
resources & most
productive economy at
time in world)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX4sTBJ0tvA&feature=fvsr
The Allied Quest for Victory:
1942-1945
• Shifting Balance of WWII- 2NDhalf of war 194245 France dropped out; US AND Soviet Union
joined
• Advantages:
– Axis: GA & Jpn. Skill & quality of armed forces
– Allies- Soviets and US geographic size, human pwr, economies and
resources
– Longer the war lasted Allies would win (GA fails to take Moscow
and Japan fails to cripple America)
The Turning Point: 1942
• 3 Decisive Battles and GA and Japan lost all 3:
1. Midway: (June 1942) a naval battle in which the
US navy had destroyed a huge
portion of Jpn aircraft
carrier
2. El Alamein (fall 1942) the British tunred
back
drive of Erwin Rommel’s GA tanks
toward Egypt &
Suez Canal
3. Stalingrad (Aug1942-Feb 1943) clash along the
Volga River where Soviets prevent the GA from
capturing all of Southern Russia & their oil reserves in
the east
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v4I6RGRW50
The Shifting Tide: 1943-1944
• Allies determine direction and pace •
of war
• In Pacific Americans push back
Japan
• Brit and US take control of N. Africa
then invade Italy to knock out Fascist
govt.
• June 1944 D- Day invasion
(Operation Overlord. Normandy) •
Brit, French, Canadian and
American troops, ships, and aircraft
land on coast of France
• On Land Hitler threats from 3 fronts:
– East
– Italian peninsula
– Western Europe
Brit. And Americans
neutralized last weapon
with which GA had any
real chance of
threatening war effortsubmarine fleet
ineffective by 1943
Allies control air 1943British and US bomb
GA Europe
• US bombers pound
Japan 1944 (kill
civilians)
The End of WWII
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Surrender of Axis 1945 GA gave up
Hitler commits suicide April 1930
Jpn continues struggle
US navy and marines close in on Jpnese home islands
US bombers continue assault
• US new Pres. Truman (feared an invasion of Jpn,
would cost millions of lives) warns Jpn of its new
weapon
• Aug 5thB-29 bomber Enola Gay drops atomic bomb
on Hiroshima killing 78,000 instantly & 1000s die
later burns/ radiation
• Jpn, ignores US request for surrender- drop 2nd
atomic bomb on Nagasaki
Hiroshima & Nagasaki