WORLD WAR II
Failure of Versailles
• Deep resentment in
Germany
• Weimer Republic
could not handle the
stipulations
• Easy for dictators to
ease power.
Joseph Stalin
• Took control after Lenin died in
1924
• Wanted the Soviet Union to
become the model communist
state
– Stamped out all free enterprise
– Government owned land and
industry
• Responsible for 8 – 13 million
deaths.
• Totalitarian- Form of
government where the
government maintains all
control over its citizens
• Unemployment, strikes in
Italy
• Played on economic
collapse and communism
to gain popularity
• Fascism: Terror – based
dictatorship that valued
strong government
control, military strength,
and intense nationalism.
• Militaristic expansion
• Private property w/strong
gov. controls.
• Italy invaded Ethiopia in
1935
Benito Mussolini
Adolf Hitler
• Failure of the
Weimer Republic,
German
unemployment &
depression gave
him an opportunity
• Nazism:
– Extreme nationalism
– Racial purification
– National expansion
Militarism in Japan
• The Great Depression
hit Japan hard
– Military took matters in
its own hands
• 1932: Military
dictatorship
– Group of leaders
• Wanted an overseas
empire = nat. resources
• Invaded Manchuria
• Hideki Tojo becomes
Prime Minister is ’41.
Civil War in Spain
• 1936, Francisco
Franco led Spanish
officers against the
Spanish Rep.
– Civil War
• World alarmed by
another fascist
regime
• Backed by Hitler
and Mussolini
• Western
democracies
remained neutral.
U.S. Remains Neutral
• Arguments that U.S.
involvement in WWI
was caused by
greedy bankers and
arms dealers
• Neutrality Acts:
– Outlawed arms sales
or loans to nations at
war and or civil war.
Neutrality Breaks Down
• FDR found away around
the Neutrality Acts
• Japan never declared
war on China when they
invaded Manchuria
• U.S. supplied China
w/arms
• Called on nations to
quarantine aggressors
• Strong criticism
WAR IN EUROPE
Austria & Czech. Fall
• For Germany to
grow it needed land
of its neighbors
• Hitler knew it might
provoke war but
didn’t care.
Austria
• Majority of
population were
Germans who
favored unification
• March 12, 1938:
German troops
marched in
unopposed
– Auschliss = Union
• World did nothing
The Sudetenland
• Hitler = false
accusations of
Czechs abusing
Sudeten Germans
• France, G.B. =
protect Czech.
• Munich Agreement =
Sep. 30, 1938 –
France & G.B. gave
Hitler the
Sudetenland w/o a
shot fired.
Soviet Union Remains Neutral
• Poland: neighbor of
Soviet Union
– France, G.B. vowed to
protect her
• Nonaggression PactAgreement between two
parties not to engage in
hostilities.
• w/Hitler and Stalin
– Divided Poland between
the both
The “Blitz” in Poland
• Sept. 1, 1939:
Germany invaded
Poland
• Blitzkrieg: Lightning
war
– Bombing raids by air
– Quick but
devastating
advances on the
ground
• Sept. 3: France, G.B.
declare war on
Germany = WWII
The Fall of France
• German invasion
from the north, Italy
from the South
• Little resistance
• Nazi controlled
Northern France,
puppet gov. in the
South
Battle of Britain
• Summer – Fall 1940
• German Luftwaffe
relentlessly bombed
Britain
• Royal Air Force
(RAF)
– Used radar to take
back the skies
– Sept. 15, 1940: 185
German planes shot
down
PEARL HARBOR
Japan’s Ambitions in the Pacific
• French, Dutch, and
British colonies
unprotected in Asia
– Japan seized them
• July 1941: Japanese
takeover of Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia
• U.S. cut off trade
– No oil
Peace Talks
• Tojo promised peace
• Sept. 1941: Japanese
planned the attack
• U.S. broke Japanese
codes – learned that
Japan was preparing
for an attack
• FDR wanted the
Japanese to strike 1st
• Dec. 6, 1941: Japan
rejects all peace
proposals.
Battleship Row
The Attack
• 180 Japanese
warplanes; 6
carriers; two waves
• 21 ships / 8
battleships lost or
sunk
– Nearly the whole
Pacific Fleet
Reaction to Pearl
• FDR did not want a two
front war.
• Dec. 8: Unanimous
declaration of war on
Japan
• Dec. 11: Italy &
Germany declared war
on the U.S.
• Sen. Burton Wheeler:
“The only thing to do
now is lick the hell out
of them.”
One Saving Grace
• U.S. aircraft carriers
left Pearl days
before.
• Aircraft carriers
changed the way the
Pacific theatre
would be fought.
Battle of the Atlantic
• German U-Boats
sank any supply
ship in the Atlantic
– 1st seven month of
’42 = 681 ships lost
• Allied Solution:
Convoy system
– Battleships and
airplanes
accompanied supply
ships
Stalingrad
• S-Grad: major
manufacturing and
communications center
city of So. Russia.
• Sept. – Oct ’42:
Germans surrounded
the city
• Winter helped the
Soviets
– Bring in reinforcements
and surround the
Germans who were
inside the city.
• German surrender in
Jan. ’43 marked the
beginning of Germany’s
retreat westward.
North Africa
• Allies didn’t think
they had the
men/resources for a
European invasion
• Operation Torch –
Nov. ’42
– Designed by Ike
• Industry/resources
propelled Allied
victory
Italian Campaign
• Italy chosen before
English Channel
invasion
• Patton’s Sixth Army
• Sicily fell to the
Allies in 1943
– Mussolini stripped of
power.
D-Day• June 6, 1944
• Largest land-sea-air
operation in history
• 5 main beaches
–
–
–
–
–
Gold
Sword
Juno
Omaha
Utah
D-Day (Decision Day)
• 156,000 men (3
million total)
• 6,000 landing craft
• 11,000 planes
• 800 warships
• 60 miles of coastline
to secure
• Break down the
Atlantic Wall
Success at Normandy
• Within one month: 1
million Allied troops
occupied the
beaches
• Began the process
of pushing the
Germans back
towards Belgium
D-Day Memorial
• 9378 Americans
buried w/crosses
and Stars of David
• 209,000 total Allied
casualties
• 200,000 estimated
Germans