TESINA: THE SECOND WORLD WAR SLIDE 1: opening SLIDE 2: the Second World War SLIDE 3: The pre-war
Before the war started: Hitler wanted to unite all German-speaking peoples into a great Germany,
expanding and conquering territories; As a result, he decided in 1938 to conquer Austria and subsequently
conquer Czechoslovakia in 1939.
SLIDE 4: Alliances
In 1939, Italy and Germany signed the Steel Pact which was a political and military alliance, the agreement
provided for military cooperation and mutual defence.
Hitler in the same year concluded an agreement with Stalin under the Molotov-Von Ribbentrop Pact that
consisted of non-aggression against each other.
SLIDE 5: Beginning of World War II
On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, triggering the reaction of France and the United Kingdom
that declared war on Germany.
And that's how the Second World War begins.
SLIDE 6: The Lightning War In 1940, Germany conquered France, the Netherlands and Belgium in the
Lightning war.
The war was so named because of the rapid conquests by Germany.
SLIDE 7: The entry of Italy into war
In 1940, France demanded an armistice.
Italy was initially neutral, but thanks to Hitler's numerous conquests, Mussolini decided in 1940 to enter war
with Italy.
SLIDE 8: Air Battle of England In 1940-41, Britain rejected the German proposal for peace, and the first air
war in British history was fought.
SLIDE 9: Violence by the Nazis On 22 May 1940, in the concentration camp at Aushwitz in Poland, the first
violence by the Nazi began, which resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 12 million deaths in total,
including: Gypsies, homosexuals, political opponents and disobedient SLIDE 10: The crystal night
The night of the crystals or in German Kristallnacht occurred in the night between 8 and 9 November 1938.
On this day members of the Nazi party, especially in Austria and Nazi Germany, set fire to numerous Jewish
synagogues, books and shops causing about 91 deaths.
In the following days, more than 30,000 male Jews were deported to concentration camps.
SLIDE 11: The Censorship of Jazz
Jazz is a contemporary style of music, born in the southern regions of the United States and spread
throughout the world, expresses in a new way the problems of modern man and is characterized by a great
rhythmic charge, improvisation and a vocal timbre generally linked to African American singers.
Another violence by the Nazi-Fascists was the censorship of jazz in Italy and Germany during World War II,
which was considered “negroid” and “semitic” music. (musica di neri e ebrei).
The photo is by Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest representatives of jazz and is also considered one of its
greatest exponents.
SLIDE 12: Attack on Pearl Harbor and Operation Barbarossa
In 1941 the Germans invaded Russia with Operation Barbarossa, breaking the covenant with it, the germans
were stopped by the Russians due to the great cold that the German soldiers could not endure.
For the attack Germany used about 3,500,000 soldiers.
In the same year, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, and the United States declared
war on Italy, Germany and Japan.
Because of this event, a real war was created between the Axis (Japan, Italy and Germany) and the Allies.
(Unione Sovietica, Stati Uniti e Regno Unito).
SLIDE 13: The Battle of Stalingrad and the situation on the African front.
In 1942 the Germans attempted to occupy Stalingrad and from this episode the battle took its name.
In this war the Russians managed to stop the Germans for the second time, forcing them to withdraw.
In the same period on the African Front there was a battle where Germans and Italians were defeated by
the United Kingdom and the United States.
During this period the Allies were winning against the axis.
SLIDE 14: The Allied rise of the peninsula.
Between 9 and 10 July 1943, the Allies landed in Sicily.
About 180,000 men from the British, US and Canadian armies landed on the Sicilian coast.
The objective of the Allies was to go back to the peninsula and arrest Mussolini and they succeeded.
Later, however, Germany occupied Central-North Italy liberating Mussolini and as a consequence in the
peninsula there was a real division into 2 parts: the Central North was occupied by the Nazi-Fascists and
instead the South was ocuped by the allies and the partisans.
SLIDE 15: The CLN and the Partisans in the War of Resistance
The CLN (Committee of National Liberation) comprised all the anti-fascist parties and was created in the
War of Resistance against the Germans.
The partisans were ordinary people shocked to live with Fascism in Italy and as a result created a real army.
These two armies were very important for the liberation of Italy.
SLIDE 16: The landing in Normandy
The Normandy landing (coded Operation Neptune) was one of the largest amphibious invasions in history,
launched by Allied forces in 1944 to open a second front in Europe.
In the photo you can see the soldiers descending from the ships and making a large road on foot, but the
Germans waited for them hiding and as a result killed a lot of them.
The landing in Normandy also allowed the liberation of France from the Nazis.
SLIDE 17: The liberation of Italy
Italy was liberated on 25 April 1945 thanks to the allies and partisans who killed Mussolini with his mistress
in the war of resistance; In fact, in Italy every year on 25 April is celebrated.
SLIDE 18: The surrender of Germany
Shortly before the surrender of Germany, Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself with his wife.
On 30 April 1945, Germany was besieged by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States,
and Germany surrendered.
SLIDE 19: Japan's surrender.
Between 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States made the Japanese surrender by attacking them for the
first time in history with nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This is how the Second World War ended on 2 September 1945 with a death toll of 60 million.
SLIDE 20: What caused the nuclear bombs?
The shooting of the two nuclear bombs caused a number of casualties ranging from 90,000 to 166,000 in
Hiroshima and 60,000 to 80,000 in Nagasaki.
About 90% of the buildings were completely grounded and all 51 temples in the city were completely
destroyed by the force of the explosion.
SLIDE 21: nuclear energy
When the structure of protons and neutrons is modified in atomic nuclei, nuclear energy is released that
binds the particles.
Nuclear forces are very powerful, in fact in nuclear reactions they release enormous energies such that
make atomic bombs much more powerful than conventional ones.
Nuclear reactions can be of several types:
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction that occurs when two light atoms merge to form a heavy atom.
In this process atoms lose or gain protons and as a result one chemical element is transformed into another.
For example: different hydrogen atoms merge with each other and by mixing their own electrons and
protons they generate helium atoms that are fundamentally different:
The hydrogen atom has the nucleus composed of only one proton and on the outside by an electron;
Instead, the helium atom has a nucleus composed of two neutrons and two protons with two electrons on
the outside.
The practical use of nuclear fusion happens sadly only with hydrogen atomic bombs (dette anche le bombe
H).
SLIDE 22: Nuclear fission
It is a nuclear reaction that occurs within many nuclear power plants for the production of electricity: In
these power plants the heat used to produce steam to turn the turbine comes from the splitting of atomic
nuclei.
This transformation is the exact opposite of nuclear fusion, in fact, the nucleus of the heavy atom splits into
nuclei of lighter atoms and releases a quantity of energy in the form of particles and radiation, most of
which is exploitable as thermal energy (thermal energy is the one produced by fire; fire, indeed, is able to
increase the temperature; the term thermal means precisely that it is based on the increase in
temperature).
The rupture of the atom occurs when the nucleus is bombarded by a very fast neutron: At the impact the
nucleus breaks and releases exorbitant amounts of energy, even some neutrons that hit other nuclei in turn
release other neutrons triggering a chain reaction.
Depending on the number of neutrons involved, the reaction can take place in a controlled or explosive
manner just like in nuclear bombs.
The metal used to create atomic bombs is uranium, which is a radioactive material present in nature divided
into two isotopes: isotops are elements that have the same number of protons, but have a different number
of neutrons): Uranium 235 has a nucleus consisting of 92 protons and 143 neutrons and uranium238 has the
same number of protons, but has 3 more neutrons.
99% of natural uranium is U238.
In order to trigger a reaction it is therefore necessary to increase the unstable component, i.e. U235 which
is more reactive.
Therefore, the uranium is subjected to an enrichment process, in which the amount of U235 is increased by
more than 5% compared to U238 present in Uranium: with this percentage, uranium is highly radioactive, to
the point of triggering a chain reaction and therefore is usefulSLIDE 23: the nuclear power plant
The main fuel is uranium and is inserted into the nuclear reactor, thanks to the reactor thermal energy is
produced which is used to evaporate the water inside the boiler, the steam has kinetic energy and as a
result the vapor moves the turbine which in turn transforms the vapour into mechanical energy.
The turbine is connected to an alternator which manages to convert the mechanical energy into electricity
which is sent into the transformator which is subsequently inserted into the electrodes.
The vapour released from the turbine is collected and thanks to a capacitor is returned to the boiler.
Unfortunately, this plant contains radioactive stocks that are very dangerous to the environment and must
be disposed of with the appropriate precautions.
SLIDE 24-27: Japan Today
Japan is a constitutional monarchy (the sovereign has a representative role, but does not rule). In fact,
Parliament has the legislative power while the Government holds the executive function).
Language: Japanese
Religion: Shintoism
Boundaries: It is wet to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the north by the Okhotsk Sea to the west by the
Sea of Japan separating it from Korea, and to the south by the East China Sea separating the Ryūkyū Islands
from China and Taiwan.
Territory: predominantly mountainous, contains + of 3000 islands the 4 + important are (Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku e Kyushu).
Rivers: Shinano (367 km)
Reliefs: Mount Fuji, 3.776 meters Frequent tsunamis
Climate: cold continental north, tropical south, cold oceanic center.
Economy:
Sector I: fishing
Sector II: the manufacturing industry has advanced (delle automobili ed elettronica)
Sector III: The main activities are banking, insurance, real estate, commercial, transport and
telecommunications.
Capital: Tokyo among the monuments, museums and parks to visit are: Asakusa and Temple Senso-Ji.
(Buddhist temple) National Museum. (ha The largest collection of Japanese art treasures and includes about
120,000 works)
Ueno Park. (A culture park, temples, a large zoo and the spring flowering of cherries. Ueno Park is one of the
five oldest public parks in Japan.
City: Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya (cities with + inhabitants after Tokyo)
SLIDE 28: Hermetism The hermetism is a literary movement that extends between 1820 and 1930.
Hermetic means closed and mysterious.
Language is dark without immediate understanding.
The themes are based on the suffering of war and the style has few words, but evocative.
The main exponents are: Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale and Salvatore Quasimodo.
SLIDE 29: Giuseppe Ungaretti (la vita).
He was born in Alessandria D'Egitto in 1888 to Italian parents.
In 1912 he moved to Paris where he met Italian artists and futurists, later he also met Picasso and from this
moment he began his journey of poetic experimentation and stylistic renewal.
He then moved to Milan and participated in the First World War.
At first he was pro-war, but later he understood the dramaticness of the war and as a result began to write
short texts and poems that he used as a personal exhilaration and comfort.
Thanks to this experience the poet in 1916 decided to write his first collection which was called: “The buried
port”.
After the war, Ungaretti married Jean Dupuà in France.
In 1921 he returned to Italy, joined fascism, devoted himself to journalism and began to write his first
works.
Later, he will publish his second collection: “Feeling of Time”.
His son Antonietto died at the age of nine and in 1942 he assumed the position of lecturer of letters at a
university in Rome.
In the same period: the publisher Mondadori in 1969 collects all the works of the poet that are gathered
and published all in the volume “Life of a curated man”.
In 1970 he died in Milan.
SLIDE 30: His works.
The poet's themes are based on the suffering of war and his style includes short but evocative texts.
The buried port (1916) is the author's first poem and includes 30 autobiographical poems.
It speaks of the poet’s experience as a soldier and the vocabulary is simple without scores.
L’allegria (1981) is a collection that relates to Ungaretti’s adolescence and the themes are based on
suffering in war and the desire for peace.
Sentimento del tempo (1933) is a collection that was written in Rome, and the themes are based on the
perception of the flow of time in the war.
Pain (1947)
It is a collection that refers to the pain that Ungaretti feels because of the death of his son and the suffering
in the war.
The poems also focus on the value of religious faith.
Poetry
Morning (The Joy)
The poem reads the following text: “I am enormously enlightened”
In this poem, the poet is inspired by an intense light and expresses a sense of bliss and harmony with nature
Soldiers (The Joy)
The poem reads the following text: “it stands like autumn on the trees leaves”.
In this poem there is a parallel between the leaves that are fragile and fall with the soldiers that are frail and
fall (che muoiono).
Don't scream anymore (Il dolore)
The poem speaks of the hatred triggered by the war that continues to grow inexorably, the hatre of men
towards their victims, who despite now being dead, still kill, with the screams: There is also a parallelism in
this poem; In fact, the poet says that when you walk on the grass it makes noise, but because of the too
many dead it does noise anymore.
SLIDE 31: the political situation in Spain in the Second World War
Spain remained largely neutral during the Second World War, although it sent 50,000 volunteers to the
Russian front to fight alongside Nazi Germany. El Caudillo (is a political-military authority in front of an
authoritarian regime) also would allow the German submarines to use the Spanish ports as bases in the
Atlantic.
The Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco envisaged the persecution of the political opponents, the
repression of the freedom of the press and culture, the censure of the media and the absolute control of
the country.
(Spain remained largely neutral during World War II, although it sent 50,000 volunteers to the Russian front
to fight alongside Nazi Germany. The Caudillo (a political-military authority headed by an authoritarian
regime) would also allow German submarines to use Spanish ports as bases in the Atlantic.
The leader was Francisco Franco and as in any dictatorship, Francisco Franco's Spain envisaged the
persecution of political opponents, the suppression of freedom of the press and culture, the censorship of
the media and the absolute control of the country. )