World War II: Pacific Theater
S. Gerhardt
Packet #35
Global 10R
DO NOW:
The invasions of Russia by France in
1812 and by Germany in World War II
were unsuccessful in
part because of the
(1) Russian alliances with China
(2) harsh climatic conditions in Russia
(3) inexperience of French and German
military
leaders
(4) failure of France and Germany to
develop modern weapons
The policy of appeasement helped
cause World
War II because this policy
(1) reduced the armaments of major
European powers
(2) gave too much power to the United
Nations
(3) increased sea trade between
England and the United States
(4) allowed the aggressive actions of
Germany to go unchecked
Which action illustrates the concept of
genocide?
(1) the British negotiating peace with
Adolf Hitler during the 1938 Munich
Conference
(2) Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin
signing a nonaggression pact in 1939
(3) the Nazi armies eliminating the
Jews and other groups as part of Adolf
Hitler’s Final Solution
(4) German generals plotting against
Adolf Hitler
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria in
1931 and Hitler’s rebuilding of the
German military in 1935
demonstrate the
(1) success of defensive alliances
(2) fear of communist expansion
(3) support for the Treaty of Versailles
(4) failure of the League of Nations
NOTES:
Essential Vocabulary
Notes
V-E Day:
• By March 1945, the Allies had crossed the
Rhine River into Germany from the west.
From the east, Soviet troops closed in on
Berlin
• Hitler commits suicide in an underground
bunker
• Mussolini had been captured and executed
• Germany officially surrendered on May 7,
1945 – WAR IN EUROPE WAS OVER!!!!
Struggle for the Pacific:
• Until mid-1942, the Japanese had won an
uninterrupted series of victories.
• They controlled much of Southeast Asia,
many Pacific islands and the Philippines.
• The spring of 1942, the United States went
on the offensive and landed in the Solomon
Islands.
Island Hopping:
• The victory at Guadalcanal marked the
beginning of an “island hopping” campaign.
• The goal of the campaign was to recapture
some Japanese-held islands while bypassing
others
• The captured islands served as
steppingstones to the next objective for the
U.S.
Invasion or Bomb?
• It was clear from the bloody battles on the
islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa that the
Japanese would rather die than surrender.
• When Allied leaders planned for invasion –
scientists offered them another option
• The Manhattan Project – was a group of
scientists trying to harness the power of the
atom and was successful in 1945
Hiroshima & Nagasaki:
• Allies issued warning to Japan to surrender
or face “complete destruction”
• Japanese ignored the warning and the
United States took action
• August 6, 1945, an American plane dropped
an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima
• Bomb flattened four square miles and
instantly killed more than 70,000 people
• In the months following, many more would
die of radiation sickness
• Japanese still refused to surrender and the
next day August 9, 1945 the US dropped the
second atomic bomb on Nagasaki – killing
more than 40,000 people
Japanese Surrender:
• FINALLY! On August 10th, Emperor Hirohito
intervened and forced the government to
surrender
• September 2, 1945: Formal peace treaty
was signed on board the American
battleship Missouri
HITLER’S FINAL DAYS
On April 30, 1945, Hitler holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin;
Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the
head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending
Hitler's dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich.
Since at least 1943, it was becoming increasingly clear that Germany would fold
under the pressure of the Allied forces. In February of that year, the German 6th Army,
lured deep into the Soviet Union, was annihilated at the Battle of Stalingrad, and German
hopes for a sustained offensive on both fronts evaporated. Then, in June 1944, the
Western Allied armies landed at Normandy, France, and began systematically to push the
Germans back toward Berlin. By July 1944, several German military commanders
acknowledged their imminent defeat and plotted to remove Hitler from power so as to
negotiate a more favorable peace. Their attempts to assassinate Hitler failed, however,
and in his reprisals, Hitler executed over 4,000 fellow countrymen.
In January 1945, facing a siege of Berlin by the Soviets, Hitler withdrew to his
bunker to live out his final days. Located 55 feet under the chancellery, the shelter
contained 18 rooms and was fully self-sufficient, with its own water and electrical supply.
Though he was growing increasingly mad, Hitler continued to give orders and meet with
such close subordinates as Hermann Goering, Heinrich Himmler and Josef Goebbels. He
also married his long-time mistress Eva Braun just two days before his suicide.
In his last will and testament, Hitler appointed Admiral Karl Donitz as head of
state and Goebbels as chancellor. He then retired to his private quarters with Braun,
where he and Braun poisoned themselves and their dogs, before Hitler then also shot
himself with his service pistol.
Hitler and Braun's bodies were hastily cremated in the chancellery garden, as
Soviet forces closed in on the building. When the Soviets reached the chancellery, they
removed Hitler's ashes, continually changing their location so as to prevent Hitler devotees
from creating a memorial at his final resting place. Only eight days later, on May 8,
1945, the German forces issued an unconditional surrender, leaving Germany to be
carved up by the four Allied powers.
Essential Question of the day
If Hitler had not committed suicide, do you think War World II in Europe would have
ended in 1945?
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