WWII - Introduction:
• Most devastating war in human history
• 55 million dead
• 1 trillion dollars
• Began in 1939 as strictly a European Conflict
• Widened to include most of the world
Remember: Celebration Time
• Cheering the end of
world war I, on Nov.
11, 1918.
• The long, horrible
war had taken the
lives of nearly 10
million soldiers.
Germany After WWI
Third Reich
• Nationalist
• imperialism
– Continental empire
– Autarky
– Elimination of nonGermans
– Elimination of
enemies
The Empire of Japan
– Autarky
– Security
– Expanding buffer
zones
• Anti-imperialist
imperialism
– Nationalist destiny
– “Asia for the Asians”
How It Began
Lots of factors
• WWI leftovers
• Germany defeated in and had to pay cost of war. In
huge economic depression
• Italy victorious but wanted more territory
• Japan victorious but wanted China
• Outside factors…
What Were These Outside Factors?
• Germany reduced size
• Organized League of Nations
• French and Britain unsure
• U.S. isolationist
Fascism in Europe
• Mussolini - “Il Duce”: 1922
– Invasion of Ethiopia - 1935
• Hitler - “Fuhrer”: Chancellor of Germany - 1933
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Nazi Third Reich replaces Weimar Republic.
Promise of German economic recovery.
Beginnings of the Holocaust.
German rearmament begins.
• Spanish Civil War - 1930’s
– Generalissimo Francisco Franco supported by fascists.
• Agreement permits Germany to rebuild Navy - 1935.
• Remilitarization of the Rhineland - 1936
– German rejection of the Treaty of Versailles.
Rise of Hitler
• Nazi Party organized, 1920s
• Nazi party largest in Germany, 1932
• Hitler voted as chancellor, 1933
• New parliament created
• 450, 000 members
• Larger than German army
Adolf Hitler
“Fuhrer”
Hitler Gets Busy
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Gestapo Created -- April, 1933
Jewish Boycott – April, 1933
Jewish Books Banned & Burned – May, 1933
27,000 People in Camps – July, 1933
60,000 People in Camps – 1938
Illegal to Leave Germany – October, 1941
German Territorial Gains
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Austria – March, 1938
Border of Czechoslovakia – Sept., 1938
All of Czechoslovakia – March, 1939
Poland – Sept., 1939
By Summer of 1940, Germany Controlled
Most of Europe
• World shocked as France falls to Germans
Beginnings of War in Europe
• German annexation of Austria (Anschluss) - March 1938.
• Munich Crisis - September 1938.
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Czechoslovakia’s German-speaking Sudetenland.
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Appeasement of Hitler by Western leaders.
British Prime Minister Chamberlain: “Peace in our time.”
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German occupation of Czechoslovakia - March 1939.
• Italian occupation of Albania - April 1939.
• Guarantee of protection of Poland: Britain and France.
– March 1939
(Also Holland and Belgium.)
• Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - August 1939
– Non-aggression treaty between Soviet Union and Germany.
Start of World War II
Germany's dictator, Adolf Hitler, had built Germany into
a powerful war machine.
World War II began
on Sept. 1, 1939,
when Germany
invaded Poland.
War in Europe
• Invasion of Poland: Blitzkrieg - September 1939
– Tanks and Stuka dive bombers.
– Soviet occupation of eastern Poland..
• May 1940 - Invasion of Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
– Maginot Line proves ineffective to maneuver warfare.
– Chamberlain yields office of Prime Minister to Churchill
• Battle of Britain - Summer 1940.
– Operation Sea Lion - planned German invasion of England.
• Soviet annexation of Baltic States: June 1940.
• Soviet invasion of Finland - November 1940.
• German invasion of Soviet Union - June 1941.
– Operation Barbarossa
Germany Allies
• Stalin and the Soviet Union, 1939
• Betrayed by 1941
• Mussolini and Italy, 1939
• Off and on betrayed until Italian defeat in 1943
Axis Powers
Germany, Italy,
and Japan formed
an alliance known
as the Axis. Six
other nations
eventually joined
the Axis.
Alliance That Changes War
• Germany “allies” with Japan
• Japan was “China Hungry”
• Japanese angry over U.S. support of China
• Agreed to peace negotiations with U. S.
Japanese Imperialism in Asia
• Expansion - Natural Resources
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Formosa (Taiwan) - Annexed: 1895
Korea - Protectorate: 1905
Annexed: 1910
Invasion of Manchuria - 1931
War with China - 1937
• USS Panay sunk on Yangtze River.
• Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung.
– Occupation of French Indochina - 1940
• Embargo of oil and other natural resources - July
1941.
– U.S., Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
• General Tojo: Military government installed - October
1941.
Hirohito
Emperor of Japan
World War II
Pearl Harbor
Dec. 7, 1941
Damages
Allies United:
U.S.S.R, England and The U.S.
Normandy Invasion, D-Day
General Eisenhower Speaks
Talking to his men,
general Dwight D.
Eisenhower, commander
of the Normandy
invasion, wished
paratroopers luck before
they dropped behind
German lines in France
on d-day.
D-Day - June 6, 1944
Landing on Normandy Beach
It was the largest sea borne invasion in history.
The Air War
During world war II the B-24 bombers were used to strike
factories, railroads, and other industrial targets.
Some Casualties of World War II
Prisoners
Homeless
Germany Surrenders
May 7, 1945
Germany At The End Of WWII