Events/Battles of WWII
Ch. 17 Sec. 1-5
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From Appeasement to War
Ch. 17 Sec. 1
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Aggression Goes Unchecked
 Aggressive actions by Germany, Japan and Italy were met
with verbal protests
 Hitler, leaders of Japan, and Mussolini saw desire for peace as
a weakness
1. Japan overruns Manchuria and Eastern China
2. Italy Invades Ethiopia
3. Hitler went against Treaty of Versailles1.
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Built up German military
Sent troops in “demilitarized” Rhineland
Quit paying WWI reparations
• All these actions were met with appeasement
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Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
 Agreed to fight Soviet Communism
 Agreed to not interfere with one
another’s plans for territorial expansion
 Set the path for these anti-democratic
aggressor powers to take bolder steps
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Spain Collapses into Civil War
 Starting in 1931 unrest boiled over polarized public opinion
over setting up a republic after forcing the king to abdicate
 1936 Francisco Franco led a revolt that started the civil war
 Other nations soon jumped in to support both sides
 Soviet Union, anti-Nazi Germans, and anti-Fascist Italians
joined Spanish Loyalist
 US, Britain, and France remained neutral
 Hitler used his modern warfare to help Franco take power
 Once in power- Franco set up a Fascist dictatorship similar to
Hitler and Mussolini
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Continued German Aggression
 One of Hitler’s goals- bring all German people into the Third
Reich
 Took steps to gain more “living space” for Germans
Annexed Austria
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Annexed Sudetenland
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1938 Ready to engineer the Anschluss
Violated Treaty of Versailles
Some Austrians favored Annexation
Western democracies took no action
3 mill Germans lived in Sudetenland
Western democracies did nothing
“Peace for Our Time”
 1938: Munich Conference
 British and French leaders chose to appease Hitler
 Gave Hitler Sudetenland
 Hitler assured Britain/France he had no further plans of
expansion
 “Peace for Our Time” – Chamberlain thought he had fixed
the problems of Europe
 Winston Churchill- “They choose between war and dishonor.
They chose dishonor; they will have a war.”
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Europe Plunges Toward War
 March 1939: Hitler broke promise- took over rest of
Czechoslovakia
 Realized appeasement would not work- promised to protect
Poland
 August 1939: Nazi-Soviet Pact
 Hitler announced a non-aggression pact with enemy- Joseph Stalin
 Based not on friendship but mutual need- Hitler feared communism
as Stalin feared Fascism
 Each man felt he was protecting his country
 September 1, 1939: Germany invaded Poland
 Two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany
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The Axis Advances
Ch. 17 Sec. 2
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Axis Powers Attack
 Sept. 1, 1939: Nazi forces stormed into
Poland from the West
 Stalin’s forces invaded from the East
 Within 1 month, Poland surrendered
 Britain and France declared war on
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Germany
 Soviet Union set up military bases in
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and seized
part of Finland
Miracle at Dunkirk
 April 1940: Hitler launched Blitzkrieg against
Norway and Denmark
 Next he took Netherlands and Belgium
 May 1940: German forces surprised French
and British by attacking through Ardennes
Forest (Belgium)
 Trapped between Nazi army and English Strait
 English sent any available vassal to pick up troops
 Saved more than 300,000 troops to Britain
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France Falls
 Germans headed South to Paris
 Italians declared war on France and attacked
from the south
 June 22, 1940: France signed surrender papers
in same train car Germany signed armistice to
end WWI
 Some French escaped to Britain to set up a
Government in Exile under Charles de Gaulle
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 They worked to liberate their homeland
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Operation Sea Lion
 Winston Churchill replaced Neville
Chamberlain as Prime Minister
 Hitler made plans for Operation Sea Lioninvasion of Britain
 August 1940: Germany began daily bombing of
southern coast of Britain
 After a month, Germany began bombing
London instead of military in south
 Citizens carried on with everyday life- did not let
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Germans see them sweat
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Sea Lion, Africa, and Balkans
 May 1941: Operation Sea Lion deemed a failure
 Germans could not get air superiority over Britain
 British morale remained high
 Sept. 1940: Axis Armies moved in to North Africa
and Balkans
 Italy’s colony in Libya attacked Egypt- British resisted
 Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel “Desert Fox” who
pushed British back to Cairo, Egypt
 Oct. 1940: Italians invaded Greece- needed German
reinforcements by 1941
22  1941: Axis Powers held most of Europe
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Germany Invades the Soviet Union
 Hitler turned forces from failure to take Britain to
invade Soviet Union
 One of his costliest mistakes
 June 1941: Hitler nullified Nazi-Soviet Pact-
Operation Barbarossa (named after Frederick
Barbarossa)
 About 3 million German soldiers invaded- caught Stalin
unprepared
 Stalled at Leningrad (St. Petersburg)- 2 ½ year battle
 Britain opened a second front to relieve Stalin
 Hitler failed to take Leningrad
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Japan attacks US
 US sympathizers found ways around
Neutrality Acts to help British when they
stood alone
 March 1941: FDR and Congress passed
Lend-Lease Act
 Aug. 1941: Roosevelt signed Atlantic
Charter with Churchill
 Japan was frustrated at US’s Neutrality Acts
because if affected their progress into
French Indochina and Dutch East Indies
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 With talks at a standstill, Gen. Tojo
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ordered an attack on US
 Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese planes bombed
American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
 US declared war on Japan
 Dec. 11, 1941: Germany and Italy
declared war on US as Japans allies
 Japanese initially successful capturing
Philippines and other US islands and
British lands
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The Allies Turn the Tide
Ch. 17 Sec. 3
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Allies Turn to Total War
 Governments increase political power
 Factories started making war products
 Programs to ration food
 Raised money with War Bonds drives
 Production ended unemployment from
depression
 Government limited rights of citizens, censored
the press, used propaganda to win public support
 Women replaced men in the factories and helped
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in war efforts
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Allies Forge Ahead
 1942-1943 Turning point in the war
 Allies win victories on four fronts- Pacific,
North Africa and Italy, Soviet Union, and France
 Pacific- Battle of Coral Sea- First set back for
Japanese
 Enemy ships never even saw each other: battle
fought by plane from aircraft carriers
 Continued wins at Battle of Midway
 Japan was unable to launch any more offensive
attacks
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Battle of Midway
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Big Three Plot their Strategy
 “Big Three” (US, Britain, France) agreed to
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focus on finishing the war in Europe before
ending the war in Asia
 Churchill and Roosevelt feared Stalin wanted
to dominate Europe/ Stalin believed West
wanted to end communism
 Nazi-Soviet Pact borders stood
 Churchill/Roosevelt would not open a second
front against Germany to relieve Soviet Union
troops
Allied Victory in North Africa
 British led by General Bernard
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Montgomery fought “Desert Fox”
Rommel
 Nov. 1942: Battle of El Alamein- Allies
halted Axis advances and drove them
back to Libya and Tunisia
 May 1943, General Dwight Eisenhower
advanced into Tunisia and forced
Rommel to surrender
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Allies Advance through Italy
 Allies from North crossed to Mediterranean
into Italy
 American/ British troops landed first in Sicily
and then southern Italy
 Defeated Italian forces within a month
 Italians overthrew Mussolini and signed armistice
 Hitler sent troops to aid northern Italy and
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rescue Mussolini
 Allies fought next 18 months to take the
north- helped to weaken German army
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Germans Defeated at Stalingrad
 German troops stalled outside Leningrad 1941
 1942 Hitler launched new offensive- aimed for the
rich oil fields of the south
 Only made it to Stalingrad
 One of the costliest battles of the war
 Hitler and Stalin both determined
 Nov. 1942: Soviets encircled their attackers and cutoff
supply lines
 Jan. 1943: German commander surrendered
 By early 1944: Soviet troops advancing to East
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Europe
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Allies Push Towards Germany
 June 6, 1944: D-Day
 Paratroopers dropped in night before
 At dawn, thousands crossed English Channel under
fire towards Normandy
 Aug. Gen. Patten helped Brit./Amer. Troops break
through German forces towards Paris
 Other Allied forces sailed in from Italy
 French resistance rose in Paris to help
 Aug. 25, 1944 Allied troops entered Paris
 Rest of France was free within a month
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Allies Continue to Advance
 Allied forces entered Belgium as Germany
launched a massive counterattack
 Battle of the Bulge- lasted more than a month
 Both sides took terrible losses
 Germans could not break through/ delayed the
Allied advance from the West
 Soviet Union battled through Germany and
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advanced on Berlin from the East
 Hitler’s support was in decline
 By 1945 defeat of Germany seemed inevitable
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Agreement at Yalta
 Feb. 1945: Big Three planned strategy in atmosphere
of distrust
 Stalin wanted to maintain control of East to protect Soviet
Union in the future
 Churchill/Roosevelt wanted self-determination of East
 Agreed: Soviet Union would enter war against Japan
3 months after fall of Germany- in return Stalin
would keep possession of Southern Sakhalin Island,
Kuril Islands, & part of Korea
 Germany would be divided into 4 zonesUS/Fr/Br/SU- free elections in all zones
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Victory in Europe and the Pacific
Ch. 17 Sec. 4
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Nazi’s Defeat
 March 1945: Allies crossed Rhine from
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West, Soviets closed in on Berlin from Eastmet and shook hands at the Elbe River
 In Italy- Guerrillas captured/executed
Mussolini
 Hitler committed suicide
 May 7, 1945: Germany surrendered
 May 8, 1945: War officially ended in Europe
(V-E Day: Victory in Europe)
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Successes for the Allies
 Location of Germany forced it to fight on
multiple fronts
 Hitler held sole power of decision making and
made some poor choices
 Hitler underestimated Soviets’ armies
 US productivity doubled all Axis powers
combined
 Allied bombing hindered German production
 Oil became scarce grounding the Luftwaffe
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Struggle for the Pacific
 After battles of Midway & Coral Sea- Americans
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took the offensive
 Summer 1942: US Marines landed at
Guadalcanal- Victory at Guadalcanal marking
beginning of “Island Hopping” campaign
 Recapture some islands while bypassing others
 Led by Gen. Douglas MacArther
 By 1944: US Navy led by Admiral Chester Nimits
blockaded Japan with US bombers pounding
cities and industries
 British fought Japanese in Burma and Malaysia
Defeat of Japan
 Mid-1945 most of Japanese Navy and Air Force
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had been destroyed
 With V-E Day Allies poured all resources into
fighting Japan
 Feb. – March 1945: Battle of Iwo Jima
 April-July 1945: Battle of Okinawa
 1944: Started Kamikaze missions
 Manhattan Project offered a solution to end the
war
 July 1945: 1st Atom bomb successfully tested
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Kamikaze plane sliced through US ship during Okinawa
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Ending the War
 President Truman (Took office April 12, 1945)
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decided Atom bomb would save American lives
and to use the weapon against Japan
 US warned Japanese officials of “complete
destruction” & “utter devastation”
 Aug. 6, 1945: Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy”
on Hiroshima
 Aug. 8, 1945: Soviets declared war on
Manchuria
Ending the War Con’t
 Aug. 9, 1945: Laggin Dragon dropped Fat
Man on Nagasaki
 Aug. 10, 1945: Emperor Hirohito
intervened and surrendered
 Sept. 2, 1945: Formal treaty signed on US
Missouri in Tokyo Bay
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The energy released by the bomb was powerful enough to burn
through clothing. The dark portions of the garments this
victim wore at the time of the blast were emblazoned on to
the flesh as scars, while skin underneath the lighter parts
(which absorb less energy) was not damaged as badly.[
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The End of WWII
Ch. 17 Sec. 5
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War’s Aftermath
 Over 50 million dead/30 mill Europeans/ 20 mill. Russians
 Dealing with horrors of the Holocaust
 Allies were aware but did not know the extent until the war’s
end
 War Crime Trials in Nuremburg
 Axis leaders tried for “crimes against humanity”
 Nearly 200 German/Austrians found guilty
 Showed military leaders could be held accountable for actions in
wartime
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Nuremburg Trials
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Establishing the United Nations
 April 1945 delegates from 50 nations met to draft the
charter from the UN
 Each member country had one vote in the general council
 Security Council can veto and decision by the general council
 The US, SU (Russia), GB, FR, Ch were permanent members of
the Security Council
 Dealt with World problems, not just peacekeeping
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Alliance Break Apart
 Germany defeated
 France and Britain exhausted
 US and Soviet Union emerge as new world leaders
 Conflicting ideologies and mutual distrust led to the Cold
War
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Cold War
 Stalin’s troops occupied Eastern Europe
 He wanted to spread Communism to those areas
 US/Britain occupied Japan and Italy
 They had set up democratic governments, power of the people
 US/Britain made Stalin promise free elections in Eastern
Europe – Stalin ignored this pledge
 By 1948, pro-Soviet communist governments were in place
throughout Eastern Europe
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New Conflicts Develop
 Truman Doctrine: “I believe that it must be the policy of the
United States to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.”
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Marshall Plan
 Western Europe was fertile ground for communist ideas
 US funneled food and economic assistance into Europe to
strengthen democratic governments
 We even attempted to help Stalin and Eastern European
nations- which he declined
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A Divided Germany
 France, Britain, US wanted to rebuild Germany and make a
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democratic nation
Soviet Union opposed the idea
FR, GB, US combined their lands and extended the Marshall
Plan to Western Europe
Western Germany was allowed to write their own
constitution and regain self-government
Tensions continued further into the Cold War
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