APUSH – Lecture 8A
(covers Chapter 28)
Ms. Kray
Some slides taken from Susan Pojer
Long-Term Causes
Unhappiness with Treaty of
Versailles
 Weak and ineffective League of
Nations
 International Agreements of the
1920s bred false sense of
security

 Locarno Pact, 1925
 Agreement between Fr, Ger, GB, & Italy
-- considered the official end of WWI
 Guaranteed existing
frontiers/boundaries
 Demilitarized Rhineland
 Promised to refrain from aggression
against each other
Kellogg-Briand Pact
 Great Depression

 Allowed aggressive dictators to come to
power
Short Term Causes:
Appeasement & Aggressors on the March
1931 – Japan invades
Manchuria
 1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia
 1936 – Germany invades the
Rhineland
 1937 – Japan invades China
 1938 – Germany annexes
Austria
 Sept. 1938 – Munich Pact
hands Sudetenland over to
Germany
 March 1939 – Germany
annexes the rest of
Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakian
woman
Hitler Seeks Allies

May 1939: Rome-Berlin
Axis
 “The Pact of Steel”

Aug. 1939: NonAggression Pact
 Signed by Germany and
Soviet Union
 Secret Component: Partition
of Poland

Sept. 1940: Tripartite
Pact
 Germany, Italy, and Japan
The Spark: Invasion of Poland
Sept. 1, 1939
Blitzkrieg
The Collapse of France

May 1940: The
Phony War Ends

June 4, 1940: British
army flees France
 Miracle of Dunkirk

June 17, 1940:
France is under
German control
Britain Stands Alone . . .sort of

Battle of Britain, 19391941
 Germany begins massive
bombings to soften Britain
up for invasion

U.S. sends aid –
“Arsenal of Democracy”
 Cash-and-carry policy
 Destroyers-for-bases
 Lend-Lease Act
 Hitler violates nonaggression pact, U.S. sends
aid to Soviets too
The Atlantic Charter, 1941

Created during secret
meeting between FDR
and Churchill
 Declaration of friendship

Became a blueprint for
postwar world
No territorial gains sought
Self-determination
Free trade
Freedom from want and
fear
 Freedom of seas
 Disarmament




The U.S. Enters WWII
Dec. 7, 1941

I fear we have awoken a
sleeping giant.” -- Isoroku
“
Yamamoto, mastermind of
Pearl Harbor
The U.S War Plan

U.S. faced a two-front war

1942 – Height of Japanese Power

U.S. strategy: Get Germany First
 European theater and Pacific theater
 Occupied much of Asia
 Portrayed selves as “liberators”
 Feared “Fortress Europe”
1942: An Overview

1942-43: Battle of Stalingrad
 German advance in Russia finally halted

1942: Battle of the Atlantic
 Naval war to see who would control shipping lanes
 U.S defeated Germany by utilizing: convoy system,
radar, sonar, bombing German naval bases

Late 1942: Operation Torch
 U.S. & British invasion of North Africa
 U.S. General D. Eisenhower & British General B.
Montgomery defeated German Gen. E. Rommel
 Battle of El Alamein
1943: Italian Campaign
“Europe’s Soft Underbelly”

Stalin begs Allies to open a
2nd front in France
 Jan. 1943: Casablanca
Conference
 Victory at Stalingrad convinces
FDR it’s time for invasion of
France
 Later Churchill convinces FDR
invasion of Italy should come
first – Stalin upset

Italian Campaign, 19431945
 Battle of Sicily, 1943: Huge
success
 Led by U.S. General G. Patton
 Fighting bogs down in Northern
Italy when Germany sends
troops to reinforce Mussolini
1944: D-Day Invasion

Largest naval invasion in world history

U.S. General D. Eisenhower in command
 Stalin finally gets his wish, a 2nd front in France
Images of D-Day
1944-1945:
The War in Europe Winds Down


June 25, 1944: Paris
is liberated!
Dec. 1944 – Jan.
1945: Battle of the
Bulge
 Hitler’s last offensive

The Race to Berlin

May 8, 1945: V-E
Day!!!
 April 1945: Soviet troops
enter Berlin
 The war in Europe is over
Images of V-E Day!
The Horrors of War:
Discovery of the Holocaust
Horrors of the
Holocaust Exposed
Early 1942: Japan on the Offensive

March 1942:
Battle of
Corregidor
 U.S. loses the
Philippines
 “I shall return” –
Gen. D. MacArthur

April 1942:
Bataan Death
March
Late 1942: The Tide Turns

Doolittle Raid
May 7-8, 1942: Battle of the Coral Sea

June 4-7, 1942: Battle of Midway

 Japanese offensive halted for the first time
 Turning point battle
 Japan now on the defensive
A New U.S. Strategy:
Island-Hopping

Strategy
developed
by Adm.
Chester
Nimitz
1943-45: The U.S. Closes In

Oct 1944: Battle of
Leyte Gulf
 Largest naval battle in
history
 1st use of kamikazes
 Laid groundwork for U.S.
re-conquest of
Philippines

April-June 1945:
Battle of Okinawa
 Last island before Japan
 50,000 American
casualties
 100,000 Japanese killed
The Yalta Conference
February, 1945

Issues

Decisions:
 FDR wants quick Soviet
entry into Pacific War
 Stalin wants a weak
Germany & Churchill wants
a strong Germany as buffer
against Stalin
 Germany would be divided
into zones of occupation
 Free election would be held
in liberated countries
 Soviets enter war against
Japan by Aug. 8, 1945
 New world peace
organization would be
formed (United Nations)
Last Meeting of the
Big Three
The Manhatten Project, 1942
Headed by
Dr. Robert
Oppenheimer
Employed
100,000
Cost $2 bil.

“I have become death, the shatterer of worlds!”
The Potsdam Conference,
July 1945

Big Three are gone!

U.S. has the A-bomb

Decisions:
 FDR is dead, Churchill is
out of office
 Stalin only original left
 Truman doesn’t trust
Stalin
 Issue warning to Japan
to surrender
unconditionally or “face
utter destruction”
 Hold war-crime trials
PM Clement
(Nuremberg Trials)
Atlee
Pres. Harry
Truman
Joseph
Stalin
Col. Paul Tibbets & the A-bomb
Hiroshima: Aug. 6, 1945

70,000 killed
immediately

48,000 building
destroyed

100,000s died of
radiation poisoning
and cancer later
Nagasaki: Aug. 9, 1945

40,000 killed
immediately

60,000 injured

100,000s died of
radiation
poisoning &
cancer later
V-J Day: Sept. 2, 1945
The War is Finally Over!
The Costs

Most destructive war in
world history
 300,000 Americans killed
 800,000 Americans wounded

$320 billion price tag
 a sum ten times greater than
the spending for WWI
 Federal spending increased
1000%
 National debt reached $250
billion
Europe After WWII

Massive
human
dislocation

USA & USSR
emerge as
Superpowers
 Bi-Polarization
of Europe,
beginning of
the Cold War

Division of
Germany
Creation of the United Nations

April 1945 – delegates
from 50 nations
assembled in San
Francisco

Drafted a charter for
the United Nations

U.S. Senate quickly
voted to accept U.S.
involvement
The Nuremberg Trials:
"Crimes Against Humanity"
Japanese War Crimes Trials
Gen. Hideki Tojo
7 U.S. Presidents Served in WWII
The De-Colonization of European
Empires