WWII-In a
nutshell
New Leaders in Europe
• Josef Stalin
o Communism
o Leader of U.S.S.R
o Totalitarianism
• Gov’t has complete control over its citizens
• Benito Mussolini
o Fascism
o Leader of Italy
• Stressed nationalism and placed
the needs of the state above those
of the individual
• Power rested with a single strong
leader and a group of devoted party leaders
More new leaders
• Adolf Hitler
o Leader of Germany
o Nazi
• Extreme form of fascism
o Powerful public speaker
• Called himself “der fuher” the leader
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Wrote Mien Kampf (My Struggle)
Wanted racial purification to an Aryan race
Took control of Germany in 1932
Established the “Third Reich” Third Empire
Hitler’s Aggression
• Part of Nazi plan was expansionism
• Hitler invaded and took over Austria in 1937
• Also charged that the Czechs were abusing the
German speaking people of the Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia
o Also wanted to expand Germany’s control and resources
Sudetenland
• France and Great Britain offered to protect
CZ.
• Neville Chamberlain was P.M. of G.B.
• A conference was called by Hitler to solve
the situation
• French premier and Chamberlain were
invited to Munich
• Hitler said that the Sudetenland would be his
last territorial demand
Appeasement
• Signed “Munich Agreement” Sept. 20, 1938
o Turned Sudetenland over to Germany
• Chamberlain came home and pronounced
that he had achieved “peace in our time”.
• Winston Churchill
o Chamberlain’s political rival in parliament
• Believed that Chamberlain had appeased Hitler
o “Britain had to choose between war and
dishonor. They chose dishonor.”
o Believed that Hitler would want more-He was
right
Poland
• Once CZ was conquered, Hitler moved
against Poland
• Most believed that Hitler was bluffing
o Might begin a war with Soviets, French, and
British
o Wouldn’t risk a two front war
• Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with
Hitler in 1939
o Secret vow was to split Poland between them
Defenses
• The Nazis had control of Poland in three
weeks
o Allies were not able to set up defenses that
quickly
o France and Britain set up defenses in Eastern
France
• Some newspapers called it a “Phony War”
o No fighting was going on
• Stalin annexed Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania
and began to take over Finland in late 1939
• Chamberlain was replaced as P.M. by
Winston Churchill
War Expansion
• Hitler launched an invasion of Denmark and
Norway in April 1940
o Needed bases to attack G.B.
• The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg were
next on Hitler’s hit list
o End of the phony war
France
• Italy began taking Southern France
• Germans pushed into Paris
• Nazis controlled Northern France
o Puppet gov’t was set up in France
• “Vichy Government” set up in the south
• Gen. Charles DeGualle fled France after it fell
o Set up a gov’t in exile in England
FDR’s Support for the War
• Roosevelt was willing to help France and England
o The country wanted to stay isolated
• FDR created a “cash and carry program”
o We would sell arms but only if they paid in cash and picked them up
themselves (1939)
Axis Powers
• Tripartite Treaty
o Germany, Italy, and Japan
o If war was declared by U.S. it would face a two ocean war.
• U.S. began building defenses
o 1940 Selective Service Act
• 16 million men age 21-35 registered
• Drafted 1 million men at a time for 1 year at a time
• Poor Army, fat and untrained
Election of 1940
• FDR ran for a third term
o Refused to actually say he was a candidate until he was nominated
• Ran against Wendell Wilkie
• FDR won with 55% of the vote
• Led FDR to strengthen aid to Europe
Lend Lease
• FDR would lend European allies supplies that would
either be returned at the end of the war or
replaced.
o Saw this as lending a garden hose to a neighbor if his house was burning
• Roosevelt believed that, given the chance, Hitler
would attack US
o Saw this as a measure to try and defeat Hitler
Lend Lease cont.
• FDR wanted the US to be the “Arsenal of
Democracy”
• Also gave aid to Soviets
• Hitler invaded USSR in1941 ending the N-A pact of
’39
• “If Hitler invaded Hell, the British would be prepared
to work with the devil himself”
-Winston Churchill
FDR at home
• FDR was keeping the US war prepared on a
shoestring
o Extension of the draft barely passed the house
• Couldn’t ask for a dec. of war but wasn’t doing
anything to prevent one
• There had been some naval confrontations
between U-boats and US ships
What about Japan?
• Most of the focus was on Hitler
• French, Dutch, and British were fighting for
their homeland
o Left pacific colonies unprotected
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Japan began expanding into East Asia
1937 Japan invaded Manchuria in China
1941 invaded French Indochina (Vietnam)
U.S. protested invasions by cutting off oil to
Japan
Tojo
• Japan was ruled by Emperor Hirohito
• Hideki Tojo was the Army Chief of Staff
o Held most of the power
• Peace talks began between US and Japan in 1941
but broke down
Pearl Harbor
• November 1941, Tojo told Navy to prepare for
attack
• U.S. had broken Japanese code and knew an
attack was planned
o Expected it last week of November
• December 6, 1941 Japanese ambassador told to
reject any US peace plan
Pearl Harbor cont.
• US sent warnings to Pacific bases:
o Philippines
o Panama Canal
o Pearl Harbor
• Attack came at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 @7:55
am
• Battleships were lined up perfectly to be destroyed
by bombs and torpedoes
Pearl Harbor cont.
• 180 planes from 6 carriers
• Less than 2 hrs. 2,403 Americans were wounded
1,178 killed
• Larger scale damage than the navy incurred in all
of WWI
WAR!!
• FDR asked Congress
for a declaration of
war on Dec. 8
• Called Dec. 7th “A
day of infamy”
• Germany, honoring
the Tripartite Pact of
1941, declared war
on US Dec. 11, 1941
New Kind of War
• Past battles had focused on using battleships
o Most were destroyed at PH
• Aircraft carriers had pulled out of PH prior to the
attack
o Dawn of depending on navel airplanes
• “I fear all we have done is awoken a sleeping giant
and filled it with a terrible resolve”
-Admiral Yamamoto
Battle of the Atlantic
• Hitler began to attack ships on the Atlantic to try to
stop goods from getting to the allies
• “wolf packs” began to attack Allied ships
• Allies brought back the convoy system from WWI
• Ships carrying goods were surrounded by a group of military ships,
submarines, and planes
• Traveled in large groups
Battle of the Atlantic cont.
• Convoy system also included ships with sonar and
radar
• U-boats were being destroyed faster than they
could be replaced
• US was producing 140 “liberty ships” each month
o Not really well built, but easily replaceable
• Allies were winning the Battle of the Atlantic by mid’43
Battle of Stalingrad
• Germans took the offensive in southern Soviet Union
• Wanted to wipe out Stalingrad
o Major industrial city
• Stalingrad was attacked for weeks
• Winter set in and the Soviets surrounded the mostly
German controlled city
Stalingrad cont.
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Soviets cut off German supply lines
Hitler ordered his troops to stay and fight
Germans surrendered Jan. 31, 1943
Soviets lost 1,100,000 troops
During the battle, Stalin wanted a second allied
front opened up to take some of the pressure off of
him
Operation Torch
• Tried to take pressure off of Stalin
• Allies invaded North Africa
• Dwight Eisenhower commanded the Allied troops
o American General
o Would command the Allies in Europe for the rest of the
war
• Gens. George S. Patton and Omar Bradley along
with Field Marshal Montgomery defeated Rommell’s
Afrika Korps
Operation Torch cont.
• Following success in North Africa, the allies landed
in Sicily and moved north into Italy
• Mussolini was forced in July ’43 to resign and was
beaten to death by his own people
• Allies got caught up just outside Rome
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“Bloody Anzio”
Lasted 4 months
25,000 Allies dead
30,000 Axis dead
Race War
• Tuskegee Airmen
o All black squadron fought with distinction in Sicily and Italy
o Thought to be too unintelligent to fly
• Japanese Americans also fought in Italy
o Were not allowed to fight in the Pacific
o 442nd Regimental Combat Team
• All 2nd gen. Japanese Americans
• Most decorated unit in U.S. History
Douglas MacArthur
• After P.H. Japan took control over a major area of
the Pacific
• Japanese forced Gen. Douglas MacArthur out of
the Philippines
o Left some US troops there to fight w/ Filipino rebels (March 1942)
o “I shall return”
Doolittle’s Raid
• Lt. Col. James Doolittle led a raid of bombers off
carriers and bombed Tokyo in April ’42
• Japanese moral was damaged
o Believed that they were safe
Battle of Midway
• Americans had broken the code of Japanese
• Knew about where next attack would come
• Admiral Chester Nimitz was the commander of US
naval forces
• Found the Japanese fleet and bombed it before it
could inflict too much pain on Midway Island
Midway cont.
• US planes were able to attack while the Japanese
planes were still on the decks of their carriers
• Japanese lost 4 carriers, a cruiser, 250 planes
• Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war in
the Pacific
New War Plan in Pacific
• MacArthur created a hopscotch plan to defeat the
Japanese
• Attack some islands while leaving others behind
o Plan was to cut off supplies to those islands not attacked and let them
“wither and die”
Europe-Operation
Overlord
• Planned invasion of
Normandy
o 3 million US, British, and
Canadian troops
o Some dropped by air, others
came by sea
• D-Day
o June 6, 1944
o Largest air-sea operation in
history
o Utah and Omaha beaches
(US)
o Gold, Juno, and Sword
beaches (British)
Europe - D-Day
• Heavy casualties on beaches, but not as much as
planned
o 70% casualty rate planned
o 30% actual
• 1 million troops crossed through Northern France
within a month of D-Day
Europe – Post D-Day
• After D-Day Gens.
Bradley and Patton
advanced through
France
• By Sept. ’44 France,
Luxembourg, and
Belgium were free
• Helped to elect
FDR to a fourth
term
o New running mate:
Harry Truman
Europe-Battle of the Bulge
• Allies began to invade Germany
o Took Aacher in October ’44
• Nazis responded by an offensive against the Allies
• Nazi tanks drove 60 miles into Allied lines
o Last ditch offensive on the Nazi’s part
• Lasted 1 month – turned the war
Back
back2
Europe-Battle of the Bulge
• Germans lost:
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120,000 troops
600 tanks
1,600 planes
Could not be replaced
• Allies continued to push at Germany from both East
and West
Europe – Coming to an
End
• Soviets invaded Poland and began freeing Death
Camp prisoners
• FDR didn’t think that he could free the camps and
still keep focused on beating Hitler
Pacific- Back to the
Philippines
• MacArthur continued
to the Philippines
o Returned in ’44
• Battle of Lete Gulf
o Japanese began
Kamikaze attacks
o “divine wind”
o Suicide missions that
crashed planes into
ships
o Sunk 16 ships and
damaged 80
Pacific- Back to the
Philippines
• Battle of Lete Gulf lasted 3 days
• Crippled the Japanese Navy
o Lost:
• 3 battleships
• 4 carriers
• 13 cruises
• 500 planes
Pacific-Iwo Jima
• After Philippines, MacArthur needed Iwo Jima as a
bomber base
• Defended by 27,000 Japanese
• 6,000 marines died taking Iwo Jima
o Most lost in the Pacific up to that point
Back
back2
Pacific-Okinawa
• April ’45
• 1,900 Kamikaze attacks
o Sunk 30 ships
o Damaged 300 more
o 5,000 seamen killed
• US faced stronger opposition than in Iwo
Jima
• 7,600 Americans died
• 110,000 Japanese died
• Invasion of Japan could lead to even more
dead
Yalta Conference
• Close to victory in ’45
• Stalin, Churchill, and
FDR meet at Yalta to
discuss division of
Europe
• Stalin wanted to punish
Germany and divide
Germany into
occupied zones
• Churchill strongly
disagreed
• FDR mediated
Yalta cont.
• FDR wanted:
o Soviets to join war against Japan
o Soviet support for the new UN
• Agreed to temp. division of Germany
o British, Soviet, and US
• Stalin promised free elections in Poland and agreed
to enter into the war with Japan
Harry S Truman
• FDR died April 12, 1945
• Truman took over
• FDR left Truman on the outside of most decisions
o No Knowledge of the Manhattan Project
Victory in Europe
• V-E Day May 8, 1945
• Soviets moved in and took Berlin
• Hitler committed suicide and left orders that his
body be burned
Potsdam Conference
• July ’45
• “Big 3” met again
• Churchill's party had lost elections
o Churchill was replaced as P.M.
• Stalin had changed
o Probably knew of A-bomb
o Hadn’t intended to provide Poland with free elections
Manhattan Project
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Led by J.Robert Oppenheimer
Top secret project
First test was July 16, 1945
Truman ordered the dropping of two bombs
Manhattan Project cont.
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August 6, 1945
b-29 “Enola Gay” dropped “little boy” on Hiroshima
Leveled the city
Japan refused to surrender
Three days later “fat man” dropped on Nagasaki
o 200,000 people died
• Sept. 2, 1945 Japan signed the surrender aboard
the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
• V-J Day
Occupation of Japan
• MacArthur controlled Japan after the war
• 1,100 Japanese were tried for war crimes
o 7 sentenced to death, including Tojo, for atrocities against civilians or
P.O.W.s
• 7 year occupation of Japan by MacArthur
• Introduced:
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Free market economy
New constitution
Women’s suffrage
Basic freedoms
Occupation of Japan cont.
• The Emperor was
allowed to continue to
help the transition from
the old world to the
new democracy
• Had to admit to not
being a god
Paying for the War in
Europe
• 24 surviving Nazi leaders were put on trial for :
o Crimes against Humanity
• Murder
• Enslavement
• Extermination
o War Crimes
• Killing hostages
• Plundering private property
• Destruction of towns and cities
o Crimes against the Peace
• Planning and waging an aggressive war