World War II
Part 2
WWII World Map
WWI vs WWII
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Tanks, ships, and airplanes
– moved quickly from battle to battle
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Bombs
– Larger, faster planes that could destroy whole
cities
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Larger area
– almost ½ the world
– 2 fronts: Europe & Africa and the Pacific
Why Africa?
Germany and Italy were there.
 Allies needed to gain control of North
Africa to gain control of the Mediterranean
Sea.
 If they controlled this sea, they could
invade Italy.
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Taking Italy
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Several things helped the Allies take Italy:
– The Italian people were tired of war.
– Mussolini was hated by his people.
– As the Allies began taking over, Mussolini was
arrested an put into prison.
• But…
• Hitler sent more Germany troops to fight in Italy
and free Mussolini.
• It took almost another year to take Italy.
D-Day
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June 6, 1944
Largest water-to-land invasion in history
Normandy, France
Allies attacked German forces there
Effects:
– Many died.
– Success! Allies broke through German lines and
began pushing them back.
– The war now turned in favor of the Allies.
– Allies began forcing Germany out of conquered
countries.
VE Day
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Axis Powers had lost control in Europe.
Allies were closing in on Berlin, Germany’s
capital.
Mussolini had been captured and killed.
Hitler had killed himself.
April 12th- Roosevelt dies and Harry Truman
becomes the next U.S. president.
May 2nd- Berlin is taken by the Allies.
May 8th, 1945- The Allies accept Germany’s
surrender…Victory in Europe!
The Holocaust
As Allies marched across Europe, they
freed people in the Nazis’ concentration
camps.
 The largest group was the Jews.
 Hitler began killing people in concentration
camps – “final solution” or mass murder of
Jews and “undesirables”.
 More than 6 million had been killed from
1941 to 1945.
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Why?
Religious beliefs
 Political beliefs
 Race
 Disabled or ill and could not work
 “undesirable”- Those Hitler did not desire.
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New Technology
Antiaircraft guns- special cannons that
could shoot large, exploding bullets to hit
planes
 Radar- helped find planes and ships at
night, bad weather, or long distances
 Two-way radios- helped soldiers
communicate during battle
 Medicines- penicillin, sulfa, and DDT
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Next target: Japan
War was over in Europe, not in the Pacific.
 Japan had to be defeated, and by 1942 they
were winning.
 2 battles turned this around:
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– Battle of the Coral Sea: kept Japan from taking
Australia
– Battle of Midway: Island close to Hawaii that would
have given Japan a base close enough to launch
attack on U.S.
 Allies won because the U.S. was able to break the Japanese
codes with help from Navaho Code Talkers!
Japan
Taking Japan
 Japan was now on the run! Allies began “island
hopping” as they pushed them back to Japan.
 Allies also took back the Philippines which had
belonged to the U.S. before the war. This left the
southernmost island of Japan unprotected.
 Iwo Jima: The site of the first major battle of
WWII on Japanese homeland.
– U.S. needed this island for planes and bombers to
land/take of while attacking Japan.
– It was thought that many Japanese soldiers there had
been killed during the bombings and that it would be an
quick victory. It was not!
Iwo Jima
The Japanese had dug tunnels and hiding
places all over the island.
 It took 36 days for the U.S. to take control
of the island.
 Many lives were lost (>25k American
Marines and almost all of the 21K
Japanese soldiers that were defending it).
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Atom or “Atomic” Bomb
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Albert Einstein’s letter to President Roosevelt in
1939 warned of Germany’s plans to build a new
kind of bomb.
– Explosion made from splitting atoms.
– It had the force of more than 18,000 tons of
dynamite.
– It had massive explosion, blinding flash, and cloud of
smoke that looked like a mushroom.
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U.S. formed a group of secret scientists to build
this type of bomb before Germany. It was called
the “Manhattan Project” and was tested in the
New Mexico desert.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
July 1945: Allies send Japan a message to
surrender or bombing would continue.
 Japan did not surrender. Truman wanted a quick
end to the war and to save American lives.
 August 6th: 1st atomic bomb was dropped on
Japanese city of Hiroshima. More than 70,000
were killed and city destroyed.
 August 9th: 2nd atomic bomb dropped on city of
Nagasaki
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VJ Day
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August 15th, 1945: Japan agrees to
surrender and the fighting stops.
– Victory over Japan is celebrated!
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September 2nd, 1945: Japan signs
surrender papers and WWII is officially
over! The Allies win!
The United Nations (UN)
During WWII, Allied leaders wanted to
establish an international organization to
help keep peace in the future.
 President Roosevelt felt strongly about
getting countries together to settle their
differences peacefully. He suggested the
name. He worked hard to get this started
in 1941 and 1942.
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The United Nations
1944: A meeting was held in Washington,
D.C. to work out the purpose and
structure of the UN.
 1945: Representatives from 50 countries
created the United Nations charter in San
Francisco, CA.
 1949-1950: The UN headquarters was
built in New York City.
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United Nations Established
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Goals:
– Maintain world peace
 If fighting breaks out, the UN may be asked to
step in to stop it.
 It may help work out conflicts to prevent future
fighting.
 It seeks out causes of war and works to eliminate
them.
– Maintain human rights
 It helps provide relief (food, medicine and shelter).
 It often works with the American Red Cross.
Europe after the War
Much of Europe and Asia were destroyed.
 Germany was divided into Eastern and
Western Germany.
 Eastern Germany was controlled by the
Soviet Union.
 Western Germany was controlled by the
Allies.
 The U.S. offered help to rebuild Europe.
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Asia After the War
The U.S. and Allies remained in Japan and
took control until they recovered from the
war.
 The U.S. and Soviet Union divided Korea
until there was a free election for the
country. That never happened.
 China was still in a civil war between the
nationalist and communists. The
communists won and the nationalists left.
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War Crimes
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After the war, leaders from Germany and
Japan were put on trial for war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
– Holocaust
– Terrible treatment/torture of prisoners of war
• Many of these leaders were executed for their
crimes.