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World War Two
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Causes of the War
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World War Two
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In the 1930s, Italy, Germany, and Japan aggressively sought to build new empires.
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The League of Nations was weak.
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Western countries were recovering from the Great Depression and did not want any more
war.
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As a result, acts of aggression occurred and were allowed to go unchecked.
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a) Japan Invades China
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The militaristic leaders of Japan wanted to build a Japanese empire.
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In 1931, Japan seized the Chinese territory of Manchuria.
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When the League of Nations condemned the action, Japan merely withdrew its membership
from the League.
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In 1937, the Japanese army invaded the Chinese mainland.
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Establishing a puppet government in Nanjing, the Japanese invasion of this city was so brutal
that it became known as the “rape of Nanjing.”
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b) Italy Attacks Ethiopia
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In 1935, the Italian army invaded the African country of Ethiopia.
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The Ethiopian king appealed to the League of Nations.
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The league agreed to stop the sale of weapons and other war materials to Italy.
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However, the agreement was not honored by all nations.
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c) German Aggression in Europe
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Hitler glorified war as a means of restoring German national pride.
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This philosophy led to a policy of expansion.
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Hitler rebuilt the German army, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
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In 1936 Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland along Germany’s border with France, and in 1938
he made Austria part of the German empire-all in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
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d) Appeasement
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Western democracies adopted a policy of appeasement.
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Under appeasement, nations gave in to aggressive demands to maintain peace.
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The western democracies responded weakly to German aggression.
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At the Munich Conference in 1938, western democracies agreed that Germany would seize
control of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
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WWII Begins!
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In the face of this weakness, Japan, Italy, and Germany formed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.
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These nations agreed to fight Soviet communism and not to stop each other from making
foreign conquests.
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At this point it became clear that the policy of appeasement had failed.
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Several events led to a declaration of war.
1) In March of 1939, Hitler took over Czechoslovakia.
2) In August of 1939, Hitler made a pact with Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. In this NaziSoviet Pact, the two enemies agreed not to fight each other.
3) In September of 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
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Hitler Invades Poland
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Finally, Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany.
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World War II had begun!
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The Axis Powers Advance
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World War Two
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World War II was fought between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the Allied
Powers (France and Britain).
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The Allies were later joined by the Soviet Union, China, and the United States.
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During the first portion of the war Germany and the other Axis nations prevailed.
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Nazi forces conquered Poland in a swift, massive attack known as a blitzkrieg, or lightning
war.
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In April 1940, Hitler overran Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
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By June 1940, the Germans had entered Paris.
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Charles de Gaulle formed a French government in exile, calling on French forces to continue
fighting Germany.
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These “Free French” worked from England to liberate their homeland.
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Turning Points of the War
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a) The Entry of the United States (1941)
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Although the United States had declared its neutrality in the war, it banned the sale of war
materials to Japan in order to stop Japanese aggression.
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Angered by the ban, Japan launched a surprise attack on military bases at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
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More than 2,400 people were killed, and many ships and planes were destroyed.
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In response,President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, allowing
the United States to join the Allied effort.
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A Burning USS Arizona
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USS Arizona Memorial,
Pearl Harbor
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b) Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943)
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The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
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Hitler tried to take Stalingrad in 1942 however, Russian troops and a freezing winter caused
the German invaders to surrender in 1943.
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Soon the Red Army (the Soviet military) drove the Germans out of the Soviet Union and made
an advance towards Germany.
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c) El Alamein (1942)
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The Germans, under General Erwin Rommel, gained many victories in North Africa in 1941 and
1942.
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British forces in Egypt finally stopped Rommel’s advance during the Battle of El Alamein in
1942.
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The Allies trapped Rommel’s army in 1943, in which General Rommel surrendered.
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d) Invasion of Italy (1943)
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The victory in North Africa allowed British and American forces to land in Italy in July 1943.
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This move forced Hitler to send troops to Italy, weakening his forces in Western Europe.
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e) Invasion of Normandy (1944)
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The Allies invaded France (D-Day) on June 6, 1944.
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Allied troops were ferried across the English Channel, landing on the beaches of Normandy.
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They broke through the German defenses, liberating Paris from Nazi occupation.
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The Allies then moved from France into Germany.
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Storming the Beach on D-Day
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The Beaches of Normandy Today
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The War Ends!!!
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The war in Europe ended on May 7, 1945, with the surrendering of Germany to the advancing
Allied forces.
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Unfortunately, fighting in the Pacific would continue until the Japanese surrendered in August
1945.
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a) Yalta Conference
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In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at a resort, called Yalta, located in the
Soviet Union.
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The three leaders decided at this meeting, the Yalta Conference, that at the war’s end
Germany would be temporarily divided amongst them.
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British, French, American, and Soviet forces would each control a zone in Germany.
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They agreed that Stalin would oversee the creation of new governments in Eastern Europe.
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b) Victory in the Pacific
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Japan was greatly weakened, and the United States took the offensive after two Japanese
fleets were severely damaged by Americans in 1942.
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Gradually, American forces recaptured Japanese-held islands south of Japan.
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By 1944, the Americans began their bombing campaign of Japanese cities.
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c) Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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By mid-1945, most of the Japanese navy and airforce had been destroyed, yet their army still
remained strong.
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On August 6, 1945, an American plane dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of
Hiroshima.
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Hiroshima
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The bomb flattened 4 square miles of the city and killed an estimated 70,000 people.
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The Americans dropped another atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing 40,000
people.
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On August 10, 1945, Japanese emperor Hirohito forced his government to surrender.
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Japan signed a peace treaty on September 2, 1945.
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The Holocaust
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One of Hitler’s goals was to create “living space” for Germans who he considered racially
superior.
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He planned to destroy people he found inferior.
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Jews became the main target, but Hitler also wanted to destroy or enslave others, including
Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally or physically disabled.
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The attempt to destroy an entire ethnic or religious group is called genocide.
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Hitler began his genocide against the Jews by limiting their rights and encouraging violence
against them.
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ON November 8, 1938, called Kristallnacht, organized violence began.
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Thousands of Jewish synagogues, businesses, cemeteries, schools, and homes were destroyed.
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The next day, 30,000 Jews were arrested for being Jewish and more restrictive laws on Jews
and Jewish businesses began.
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Jews were forced to live in separate areas.
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Hitler, set-up concentration camps (death camps), like Auschwitz.
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Jews were starved, shot, or gassed to death.
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By 1945, over 6 million Jews died in what became known as the Holocaust.
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Other Wartime Atrocities
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The Japanese invasion of Nanjing in 1937 involved mass shootings and terrible brutality. As
many as 250,000 Chinese were killed.
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In the Philippines, Japanese soldiers forced American and Filipino prisoners of war on a march
up the Bataan peninsula. Along the way, prisoners were beaten, stabbed, and shot. The event
became known as the Bataan Death March.
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In Poland, Soviet troops subjected thousands of Poles to imprisonment, torture, and
execution.
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Impact of WWII
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Human Losses
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Total-75 million people dead.
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In Europe itself-38 million people dead.
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Soviet Union-22 million people dead.
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Millions of Jews and others had been killed in the Nazi concentration camps.
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Economic Losses
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Throughout Europe and parts of Asia, cities were in ruins.
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Aerial bombardment had been very destructive.
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The European countryside was devastated as well.
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The economies of war-torn countries took many years to recover.
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War Crimes Trials
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At meetings conducted during the war, Allied leaders had agreed to punish those responsible
for “crimes against humanity.”
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Trials were held in Nuremburg, Germany; known as the Nuremburg Trials.
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Hitler was dead but 22 surviving Nazi leaders were tried during these proceedings.
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Some received the death penalty; others were imprisoned.
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Additional trials were held in Italy and Japan.
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The trials demonstrated to the world, that leaders could be held accountable for their actions
during war.
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Occupied Nations
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In order to prevent another world war and to promote democracy, western nations occupied
West Germany and Japan.
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They built new governments with democratic constitutions, which protected individual rights
and liberties.
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Soviet forces occupied East Germany and most of Eastern Europe.
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They established communist governments in these nations, backed by the power of the Soviet
Union.
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Thus, Europe was divided in two-between democracy in the West and communism in the East.
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The United Nations
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World War II resulted in the formation of a new international body, known as the United
Nations.
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The purpose of the United Nations is to provide a place to discuss world problems and
develop solutions.
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The 2 Main Bodies of the U.N.
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SUMMARY
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Germany, Italy, and Japan tried in the 1930s to build world empires. When Germany invaded
Poland in 1939, World War II began, and the world faced the most devastating conflict in
human history. During WWII, new weapons and massive power caused the loss of millions of
lives. Civilians were greatly affected by the war, facing rationing, military attacks, and
sometimes severe repression. The conflict continued until 1945. WWII resulted in millions of
deaths, heavy economic losses, and brutality on a scale such as the world had not seen before.
After 1945, the world became divided between communist and democratic forms of
government.