World War II
The World at War Again
Causes of World War II
 Failure of the Treaty of Versailles
 Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations
 Impact of the Depression
 Rise of nationalism & militarism
 Rise of totalitarian leaders
 Policy of appeasement
What is Appeasement?
 Giving into other’s demands to avoid conflict.
 Followed by Great Britain and France
towards Germany prior to the war.
 After WWI, people wanted peace at any price
(and essentially ignored Hitler’s advances)
 Great Britain even cut military spending prior
to WWII to focus on the economy.
Points to Consider
 Why does a second war break out in Europe
20 years after the Great War?
 Why does Hitler feel he can win a two front
war?
 Why are most nations unable to withstand the
onslaught of the German forces except for
Great Britain & the USSR?
 Why is the United States crucial in the war
against Germany?
European Society before the War
 Great Depression
affected all nations’
economies
 Extremely high
inflation in Germany
 Growth of fascist and
communist groups in
all nations
German woman collecting
money to go shopping
Hitler’s Beginnings
Hitler
 Born in Austria, 1889
 HS dropout – studied art in Vienna, Austria
 In Vienna, Jews were among the intellectual
and financial leaders
 This was the beginning of his hatred toward
Jews.
 He served for the German army during WWI
 He organized the Nazi Party in the 1920’s
Hitler continued
 He was imprisoned after organizing a failed “coup”
against the German Government.
 In Jail he wrote “Mein Kampf” – My Struggle
 The book outlined his political views
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Anti-Semitism/Racism – the Jews were the reason for
the German problems
The Final Solution – Genocide, the eradication of the
Jewish People
Nationalism – Aryans were a master race, needed
more space to live
Hitler spent 9 months in prison.
Why Hitler?
 Economic Crisis
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People out of work
Hunger
Insecurity
Restlessness
 Hitler Gave People
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Security
An enemy to hate
A cause to fight for
Hitler Gained Support
 Used Propaganda supporting the Nazi’s
 Used violence and violence and speeches
 Less Wealthy – promised to protect them
from large industrialists and communists
 Hitler used the unemployed as his private
army and gave them food clothing and shelter
 The wealthy liked that he promised to make a
stand against communism and promised to
rebuild Germany
Hitler In WWI –
Soldier on Left
Hitler’s Anti-Semitism
Increased Violence Towards the Jews
The Nuremberg Laws
 Anti-Semitism became the official government
policy
 Jews lost citizenship
 1933 – Jews forbidden from holding
government jobs or owning businesses
 Jews lost the right to fly the German flag,
publish, teach, go to school, bank, etc.
Kristallnacht – Night of Broken Glass
 November 9-10, 1938 – Nazis set fire to synogauges
in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland
 Jewish homes and stores were broken into and
looted by Nazi soldiers
 Many Jews were killed or wounded, 1000’s were
arrested
 After the war began, Jews were forced to wear the
yellow Star of David and were forced to move from
their homes to live in the all Jewish Ghettos.
Destroyed Synagogue - Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
The Beginning of the War
Hitler’s Invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland
 September 1, 1939
 Successful use of the blitzkrieg
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Half of Poland’s air force destroyed in the first
attack
 England & France declare war on Germany
 Soviet armies invade Poland from the east

15,000 Polish officers executed in Katyn forest
 Soviets took 10% of Finnish territory
The PHONY War - Sitzkreig
 Short period of time
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after the war began,
but not much
aggression
No invasion of
Germany
Hitler had few forces on
the western front
British Air Force
dropped leaflets for
peace
Hitler occupied
Denmark & Norway by
April 1940
Fall of France
 Low Countries
surrender in May
1940
 France fell in six
weeks
 French troops using
outdated tactics—i.e.
Maginot Line
 Germans take Paris
on June 14, 1940
Results of Fall of France
 Three-fifths of France under German
control
 Establishment of Vichy Regime, a
puppet of the German government
 Disarmament of France
 Great Britain virtually alone against
Germany
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
 August 1940-June
1941
 German bombing of
English Channel ports
and airstrips
 Bombing of cities
 Britain lost 650 fighter
planes
Britain’s
Defense
 New Technology
Anti-aircraft guns and radar
 Radio broadcasts to rally the people
 Knowledge of German code
 Assistance from the United States

US is “the arsenal of democracy”
 Lend-Lease: lend
armaments in
exchange for leasing
UK naval bases in
Caribbean
 Cash and Carry:
surplus US weapons
sold to Britain for cash
 US remains neutral
TRIPARTITE PACT
 Germany feared Japan
would enter war on side
of Allies
 Secured Japanese
alliance with Axis powers
in September 1940
Germany
Axis
Powers
Italy
Japan
Other German Allies
 Romania—oil fields
 Hungary
 Bulgaria
US Entry
in World
War II
 US blockade of Japan due to invasion of
Manchuria (1931) and China (1937)
 Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941
German Attack on Soviet Union
REASONS
 Interest in lands in
Poland and
Finland
 Fascists hatred of
communism
 Always intended to
invade USSR
German Attack on Soviet Union
OPERATION BARBAROSSA
 Begins June 22, 1941
 Scorched earth policy
 Fall rains & harsh winters
 German supply problems
 Assistance from US &
Britain
 Defeat of Germans at
Battle of Stalingrad in June
1943
Mediterranean Front—Mussolini’s
Blunders
 Mussolini invaded Egypt in Sept. 1940—did
not allow German help

Italian forces defeated
 Mussolini invaded Greece
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Greek generals bribed not to defend land
Patriot army defeated Italians
 Britain & France took land in Ethiopia
 Rommel, the Desert Fox, called in to rescue
Mussolini
The Desert Fox
 In 1942 Rommel won
victories for the Axis
powers in Libya and Egypt
 Allies, through air and land
attacks, defeated
Rommel’s forces at El
Alamein and controlled
northern Africa by the May
1943
 Allies launched attacks on
Vichy government from
Africa
Allied Invasion of Italy, 1943
 Quick defeat of Italian forces by Allied
troops
 Victor Emmanuel III dismisses Mussolini
and has him arrested
 Italy signs armistice on July 3, 1943
 Allies use peninsula as point to launch
attacks on Germany
Mussolini’s
End
 German’s freed Mussolini in June 1944
 Hitler declared Mussolini as head of Italian Social
Republic, an exiled government
 Mussolini captured by Italian partisans in 1945
 Executed with his wife and other fascists
The Holocaust
 Systematic murder of European Jews
 “The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem” –
genocide
 European Jews were rounded up, put in
cattle cars, and sent to Death Camps all
around Eastern Europe
The Death Camps
 Methods of Killing – gas chambers, torture,
starvation, beatings
 Gross Medical Experiments were performed
on the Jews and other groups that were taken
to the concentration camps
 6 million Jews were murdered
 Auschwitz Death Camp – 2 million Jews died
here alone.
Auschwitz
Auschwitz Gas Chamber
Railroad to Auschwitz
Wartime Conferences
Diplomatic Efforts
The BIG Three
 Churchill
 Roosevelt
 Stalin
Atlantic Charter—1941
 United States & Great Britain
 Statement of War Aims
 Goal of replacing League of Nations
with a new United Nations
Teheran Conference—Nov. 1943
 UK, USA, & USSR
 Creation of second front in France
 USSR plans to join in Pacific war after
defeat of Japan
 Plans for Postwar Europe
1.
2.
Policemen of Europe: UK, USA, USSR,
China
Dismantling of Germany
Yalta Conference—Feb. 1945
 Red Army 100 miles from Berlin
 Germany divided into zones of
occupation held by allied nations
 Communist government remains
in Poland; USSR keeps land in
eastern Poland
 Goal of free elections in Eastern
Europe
 Trial of war criminals
 USA & USSR permanent members of UN Security Council
Potsdam Conference—July 1945
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A New Big Three
1.
2.
3.
Truman--USA
Attlee—Britain
Stalin
 Churchill also present
at conference
 Tensions between
allies: News of
American Atomic
Bomb; Stalin’s
demands for more land
 Division of Prussia
between German &
Poland
 Reconfirmation of
German zones
 Payment of reparations
of USSR by Germany
End of the War
Treaties & Results of War
OPERATION OVERLORD
 Allied Invasion of
Europe
 Begins with D-Day on
June 6, 1944—
Invasion of Normandy,
France
 Allied march to Berlin
 Slowed by German push in Battle of the Bulge
 Surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945
Pacific War
 General MacArthur
Returns to Pacific
Islands
 Allied Successes
 Midway & Coral
Sea (1942)
 Guadalcanal
(1943)
 Iwo Jima (1944)
 Okinawa (1945)
Japanese Surrender
 A-Bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, August 6,
1945
 A-Bomb dropped on
Nagasaki, August 9,
1945
 Victory in Japan—
August 14, 1945
Japanese surrender on USS
Missouri in Tokyo Bay
Treaties—Europe
 Germany: Soviet and Allied disagreements
prevented treaty
 Separate treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary,
Romania & Italy

Pay reparations and lose some territory
Treaty—Japan
 Withdrawal from all territory taken since 1854
 Lose Sakhalin & Kurile Islands to USSR
 Bonins & Ryukyus to USA
 Demilitarization of Japan
 Maintenance of US military bases in Japan
Demographics Changes
25
20
15
Deaths in
millions
10
5
0
USSR
Poland
Yugoslavia Germany
Jews
Demographics Changes
 Deportation of 12-14 million Germans from
Eastern Europe (Baltic States & Prussia) to
Germany
 Removal of Poles from Soviet Territory
 Transfer of two million Soviet refugees to
Siberia
 Voluntary emigration of Jews from Europe
Boundary Changes in Europe
Economic & Social Turmoil
 Agricultural production reduced 50% in war
zones
 Inflation
 Execution of Nazi collaborators
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10,000 Nazi collaborators executed in France
15,000 executions in Italy
35 executions in Austria
 634,000 people prosecuted in Belgium for
Nazi assistance
Nuremburg Trials—August 1945
 24 German officers
charged & tried before
international court
 21 found guilty
 10 executed
 Some
war criminals
escaped: Josef
Mengele, Adolf
Eichmann, Klaus Barbie
Effects of World War II
 Growing tensions between USSR & USA
 Satellite nations of USSR in eastern Europe
 Creation of Marshall Plan to prevent mistakes
of Treaty of Versailles
 Establishment of Capitalism in Japan
 Atomic weapons introduced
 Creation of United Nations to prevent world
conflict