Pre-War
•Britain and France assumed WWI
alliance still existed with Russia
•Economies damaged by global
depression
•Allied public deeply opposed to
fighting another war
Czechoslovakia and
Appeasement
•September 1938- Hitler invades
the Sudentenland, a part of
Czechoslovakia
•On September 30, the Munich
Agreement Britain and France
agree to allow Hitler’s
occupation of the Sudentenland,
in return Hitler promised to stop
invading other countries
•March 14, 1939 Germany
invades the rest of
Czechoslovakia- Allies do
nothing
Non-aggression Pact
•Between Germany and the U.S.S.R.
•August 23, 1939
•Temporary agreement which secured Hitler's
eastern front
•If Germany attacked Poland the Soviet Union
would not come to Poland’s aid- in fact, Soviet
Union would be allowed to take part of Poland as
their own
Germany Invades Poland
•September 1, 1939
•Germany invades Poland
•Warsaw succumbs on
September 28
•Soviet invasion from the
East
Britain and France Declare
War on Germany
•September 3, 1939
•Resulting from Germany invading Poland
Germany Invades
Denmark and Norway
•April 9, 1940
•Surrendered to Germany
Belgium and the
Netherlands
•May 10, 1940
•Netherlands surrender on
May 15
• Belgium on May 28
Germany Invades France
•May 14, 1940
• French relied upon the
Maginot Line which was a
system of heavily armed steel
and bunkers stretching
hundreds of miles along the
German boarder
•Germans outflank the line by
going north of it, through
Belgium
•French surrendered June
22,1940
Battle of Britain
•September 1940 to May 1941
•Series of air battles between
German and British air forces
fought over Britain.
•Initially Hitler wanted to
destroy the RAF but after he
failed to do that he began to
bomb British cities
Germany invades the Soviet
Union
•June 22, 1941
•Germany makes rapid
advances but the frigid
Russian winter and
“scorched earth” tactics
slows the advance
•By September 8, Germany
surrounded Leningrad
•October 2, 1941 the
Germans drove on Moscow
Battle of Stalingrad
•1942 – 1943
•German forces were
defeated in their attempt to
capture the city of Stalingrad
in the Soviet Union.
•Turning point on the
Eastern Front
Allied Troops Land in Algeria
and Morocco
•November 7, 1942
•In Operation Torch
which applied western
pressure as British
attacked from East
•Axis forces in N.
Africa surrender May
13, 1943
Allied Troops Land in Italy
• Allies invade Sicily in
July 1943
•Mussolini’s
government falls from
power that month
•Italy surrenders on
Sept. 8 but the German
army moves into Italy to
protect Hitler’s
Southern Flank
•Sept 9, the allies land
in Italy
Allied Troops Land in
Normandy on D-Day
•June 6, 1944- Operation
Overload -- the largest land, sea
and air invasion in history
•Creates a third front
confronting Nazi Germany
•August 1944, Paris is liberated
•By the end of summer France,
Belgium, and Luxembourg are
under Allied Control
The Plot to Assassinate
Hitler Fails
•Attempt on July 20, 1944 as a bomb is
placed under a table during a meeting.
•The bomb detonates and injures Hitler,
but does not kill him
•Hitler retaliates with a purge of military
officers that he suspects of disloyalty –
this purge further harms the German war
effort
Battle of the Bulge
•December 16, 1944 to January
25, 1945
• Last major German offensive
creates a “bulge” in the Allied
lines that is 80 miles long and
50 miles deep
•Allies push back the offensive
and drive into Germany
Hitler Takes His Life in
Berlin
•April 30, 1945
•Hitler kills himself as Russian
troops surround Berlin
Germany Surrenders to
Allies in Reims, France
•Unconditional surrender of Germany on
May 7, 1945
•May 8, 1945 declared V-E Day
Pearl Harbor
• December 7, 1941
•Surprise attack by Japan
at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
•More than 2,400 killed
•180 aircraft destroyed, 19
ships sunk
•Sub pens, refueling
stations, repair facilities
unharmed
America Responds
•December 8, 1941,
Roosevelt asked
Congress to declare war
on Japan to avenge the
“date which will live in
infamy.”
After Pearl Harbor,
Japanese seize Dutch
East Indies, Burma, Wake
Island, Guam, and the
Philippines in early
months of 1942
Battle of the Coral Sea
•May 1942, in the Pacific
•American carrier-based planes
bombard the Japanese fleet
aimed at invading New
Guinea’s southern coast – The
Japanese counter attack with
their carrier-based planes
•Allies lost more ships than
Japanese, but Japan turned its
invasion forces around – halting
Japan from expanding
southward near Australia
Aftermath of Battle of the
Coral Sea
•American Carrier Yorktown is badly damaged (estimates put
repairs at three months) and its aircrew almost gone
•Japanese Carrier Shokaku is lightly damaged
•Japanese Carrier Zuikaku is undamaged but needs to replenish
40 percent of its air crew
•Yorktown is repaired in 68 hours with a new flight crew and
plays a pivotal role in the Battle of Midway
• Japanese Carrier Shokaku takes three months to repair
•Japanese Carrier Zuikaku takes more than a month to replenish
their airwing
Battle of the Midway
•June 1942, three US carriers
(including the Yorktown) attack
four Japanese carriers to stop
invasion of Midway Island
•US Airplanes sink all four
Japanese carriers, while the US
loses only the Yorktown
•Essentially ends the offensive
capabilities of the Japanese in
the Pacific
American Strategy
Island Hopping
• forces went island to island
in pitched battles against the
Japanese.
•Some islands were ignored
as US forces isolated
Japanese forces by cutting
them off from sea or air
supply
•Goal was to move closer
and closer to Japan’s
mainland
Battle of Guadalcanal
•Allies discover Japanese
building airfield on
Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Island
•10,000 US Marines attack
on August 7, 1942
•Marines take the airfield
and hold it against repeated
Japanese attacks
•Japan lost 25,000 men, US
about 2,000
•First Japanese land lost
Island Hopping
US takes
 Guam- July 1944
 Phillipines- January through
June 1945
 Iwo Jima- February through
March 1945
 Okinawa- April through June
1945
June 1944
 US begins bombing Japanese
mainland
 Firebombing of Tokyo in
March 1945, killing 83,000
civilians
 Japan refuses to surrender
Atomic Bomb
Pros
•Estimated casualties of invading the Japanese mainland estimated at
almost a million American deaths
•A conventional invasion with strategic bombardments could take
months and devastate Japan
Cons
•The Atomic Bomb would kill and sicken hundreds of thousands of
people
•The US would be the first (and so far only) country to use such a
devastating weapon
Defeat of Japan
•August 6th, 1945- United
States dropped the atomic
bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
100,000 killed instantly,
100,000 die wounded
•Japan didn’t surrender and
the United States dropped a
second bomb on Nagasaki
on August 9- 40,000 deaths
•The Japanese surrendered
August 14, 1945