World War II
Setting the Stage
The Great Depression devastated
economies around the world and people
began to look for strong leaders.
 Japan, Italy, Russia and Germany were
all angry over the Treaty of Versailles
and believed they deserved land.
 Nationalism was spreading throughout
the world.

Dictators around the World
Soviet Union
 Created a model communist
state
 Had abolished all privately
owned farms and replaced them
with collective farms
 Focused more on
industrialization instead of
necessities like food and clothing
in his 5 year plan
○ Millions starved to death
 Great Purge- killed millions of
supposed traitors
 Established a totalitarian
government where one person
controls everything
Italy
-
-
-
-
Benito Mussolini (Il Duce)
Believed Italy should have been
given more land in the Versailles
Treaty (WWI)
Suffering from an economic
depression and high
unemployment, Mussolini formed
the Fascist Party, which
emphasized nationalism and the
supreme authority of the leader.
Outlawed political parties, took
control of the media, created a
secret police, and organized groups
to indoctrinate the youth.
Eventually, he took control of
Ethiopia (Africa)

Germany
 Adolf Hitler
 Promised the people he would fix the




economy and gain back land that
was taken
Wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”)autobiography criticizing ideologies,
politics, and Jews.
Get land, build up military, get
revenge for Treaty of Versailles, fix
economy, create “master race”
Joined Nazi Party- extreme
nationalism
1933-appointed chancellor of Nazi
Party
 2014: Only 81 years earlier!
Japan
-
-
-
-
Emperor Hirohito
In the 1930s, Japan suffered
economic problems.
Unlike Germany and the Soviet
Union, Japan remained a
constitutional monarchy.
Power shifted towards military control
and attacked Manchuria, a region in
northeastern China.
Controlled foreign and domestic
policies there.
In 1937, Japan moved against China,
gaining control over major Chinese
railroad links and coastal areas.
In Nanjing, China, Japanese soldiers
murdered more than 200,000
residents and burned a section of the
city- “Rape of Nanjing”
Dictators Turn to Aggression
A.
B.
The League of Nations never recovered from
America’s refusal to join it.
Hitler directly defied the Treaty of Versailles by
enlarged the army, navy, and air force.
○ Germany began violating the Treaty of Versailles
- Began to build up the military
○ Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, a buffer zone between
France and Germany
 The League of Nations did nothing
○ Italy invaded Ethiopia
 League of Nations did nothing
D.
E.
Promoting the notion of appeasement
(the policy of granting concessions to
the enemy in the hope that it will
maintain peace), Great Britain and
France were fearful of another World
War.
The United States condemned Japan
for their brutal actions in Nanjing, but
embraced isolationism due to the
economic depression at home.
The U.S. Response

Most citizens wanted to stay out of
European affairs
 Isolationism

Congress passed the Neutrality Acts
 Outlawed the sale of arms or loans to
nations at war or engaged in a Civil War

President Roosevelt found neutrality
hard to follow
 Sent arms to China to help fight Japan
Aggression in Europe
Germany, Italy, and Japan continued to be
aggressive
 Hitler took Austria in March 1938

 Nobody did anything

Hitler now wanted Czechoslovakia,
especially an area called Sudetenland
 France and Britain meet to discuss what to do
(Manchurian Conference)
○ Decided to let Hitler have Sudetenland to avoid
war
 Appeasement- giving up principles to pacify
aggressors
What was Soviet Union doing?
At first the Soviets declared neutrality.
 Hitler wanted to make an agreement
with the Soviets to protect his future
plans of invading Poland
 Non-Aggression Pact- Stalin and Hitler
signed this pact and agreed to never
attack each other

Poland



France and Britain agreed
if Hitler tried to take
Poland they would get
involved.
Hitler invades Poland on
September 1, 1939.
Hitler used his newest
military strategy Blitzkrieg.
 Lightning war
 Fast planes and tanks

On September 3, 1939,
France and Britain
declared war on Germany.
 WWII begins

Poland was not saved and
Hitler and Stalin agreed to
split it.
Offensive Germany

Denmark,
Norway,
Netherlands,
Belgium,
Luxembourg, and
France was then
quickly
conquered by the
German
offensive.
Axis Powers v. Allied Powers
Axis Powers
consisted of
Germany, Italy,
Japan
Allied Powers
consisted of Great
Britain, France,
China, and
eventually the
United States and
Soviet Union
Battle of Britain


Hitler now wanted Britain
Britain was almost
defeated but was saved
by three things:
 Refusal to give up (last
allies standing)
 Radar- took the element of
surprise out of Germany’s
plan
 The British smuggled in a
German code machine
U.S. increases involvement

The U.S.
 Despite isolationist feelings at home the U.S. is
increasingly helping Britain
○ Sending war supplies

When Britain began to run short of funds to
purchase cash-and-carry goods in the U.S.,
President Roosevelt addresses Congress.
(January 6, 1941)

In March 1941, Congress approved the LendLease Act.

The act authorized Roosevelt to “sell, transfer title to,
exchange, lease, lend…” articles whenever necessary.
America Moves Towards War

In response to the
fighting in Europe,
the United States
gradually abandoned
its policy of neutrality
and provided
economic and military
aid to help the Allies
achieve victory.





America’s isolationist views shifted as the Axis
Powers invaded more countries.
In 1940, the U.S. started limiting Japan on
purchases from America.
FDR soon cuts off all oil shipments, hoping to
halt Japanese expansion.
In 1941, General Hideki Tojo became the
Japanese prime minister. (Supported war
against the U.S.)
Japan’s mission was to eliminate the American
naval and air presence in the Pacific with a
surprise attack.
Japan Attacks the U.S.
Background: During the 1930s, Japan,
under the leadership of Hideki Tojo,
invaded Manchuria and China as it sought
military and economic domination over
Asia.
 The U.S. refused to recognize Japanese
conquests in Asia and in the Pacific and
imposed an embargo on exports of oil and
steel to Japan.
 This resulted in a diplomatic stalemate.






Pearl Harbor:
(December 7, 1941)
–Japan carried out
an air attack on U.S.
naval base in Hawaii
Destroyed a
significant part of
the Pacific Fleet
stationed at pearl
Harbor
2,400 Americans
killed
http://www.history.com/shows/wwi
i-in-hd/videos/attack-pearl-harbor





U.S. abandoned
neutrality and
isolationism by
entering WWII
FDR asked for a
declaration of war
against Japan
“Yesterday, December
7, 1941, a date which
will live in infamy...”
Germany and Italy
also declared war on
the U.S.
http://www.history.com/topics/worldwar-ii/speeches#fdr-asks-congress-todeclare-war-on-japan
Mobilizing for War
A.
B.
C.
Following the
Japanese attack, a
spirit of patriotism
and service swept
across the country.
Factories halted
production of
consumer goods and
began making goods
for war.
The Ford Motor
Company poured all
of its resources into
war production,
building over 8,000
B-24 Liberator
bombers.
Selective Service Act


Selective Service
Act–established a
draft before the
U.S. entered World
War II, expanded
greatly following
Pearl Harbor
Draft provided 10
million soldiers
during the war
Women

Women-Women’s
Auxiliary Army
Corps (WAAC or
WAC) -allowed
women to serve in
noncombatant
military roles –
nurses, ambulance
drivers, radio
operators, pilots
African Americans

African Americans
1 million served in segregated military units and were
frequently assigned to non-combat roles
Tuskegee Airmen served in Europe with distinction

http://www.history.com/videos/tuskegee-airman-luther-smith#tuskegee-airman-luther-smith


Asian Americans



Asian Americans:
50,000 served
(mostly Japanese
Americans)
Nisei regiments
earned a high
number of
decorations
Native Americans



Native Americans:
25,000 served in the
military in integrated
units (not segregated)
Navajo “Code Talkers”
–used communication
codes based on
Navajo language that
the Japanese were
never able to break
War at Home
Industrial Workers –18
million workers in
defense industries
 Women increasingly
participated in the industrial
workforce
 SIGNIFICANCE– resulted
in the “Rosie the Riveter”
image of women at work
 African Americans –
frequently migrated to
industrial cities in search
of jobs in war plants

Mass Media and
entertainment industries
promoted nationalism
through propaganda.
 Hollywood movies
focused on war-oriented
propaganda films.
 Advertising campaigns
used pro-U.S.
propaganda and
stereotypical antiGerman/anti-Japanese
to keep public morale up.

Financing the War:

Income taxes=
50% of the money
needed to fight the
war

War Bonds= 50%
of the money
needed to fight the
war
Rationing
 Rationing–
the
establishment of
fixed allotments
of goods
deemed
essential for the
military
 Example: meat,
shoes, sugar,
coffee, gasoline
Two Theatres of War

War for Europe and North
Africa
 Strategy: “Defeat Hitler First”
○ Most American resources went to
Europe first

War in the Pacific
 Pacific Strategy: “Island hopping”
○ Seizing islands closer and closer
to Japan and using them as
bases for air attacks on Japan,
○ cutting off Japanese supplies
through submarine warfare
Germany’s Goals
Hoped to defeat the Soviet Union
quickly and gain control of Soviet oil
fields.
 Hoped to force Great Britain out of the
war through a bombing campaign (Battle
of Britain) and use of submarine warfare
before the U.S. could fully mobilize and
turn the tide of war in favor of the Allies.

Japan’s Goals
Hoped that U.S. would
accept Japanese
dominance in the Pacific
rather than fight.
 After Pearl Harbor,
Japan invaded the
Philippines (a U.S.
territory) and Indonesia
and planned to invade
Australia and Hawaii.

Battles and Turning Points



El Alamein(1943)–
German forces under
Erwin Rommel that
threatened to seize Egypt
and the Suez Canal were
defeated by the British
SIGNIFICANCE –German
defeat prevented Hitler
from gaining access to
Middle Eastern oil
supplies and potentially
attacking the Soviet Union
from the South
http://www.history.com/topics/wo
rld-war-ii/videos#north-africacampaign

Invasion of Italy (1943)
 Germany had created
a strong line to prevent
the Allies from moving
north to capture more
cities
 By 1945, Allied forces
broke through the
German line and
caused the Axis
Powers to surrender.
 The Allies now had
complete control of the
western
Mediterranean, and
ended the rule of
Benito Mussolini.
EUROPE
Confused old German
lady watches U.S.
troops march by as they
enter a newly occupied
town.
Stalingrad (1942-1943) –
German forces besieged
Stalingrad but were eventually
surrounded and surrendered to
Soviet forces.
 Germany lost 400,000
troops killed, wounded or
captured
 Soviet Union lost 1,100,000
troops killed, wounded or
captured
 SIGNIFICANCE–Turning
point of the war –Soviet
army moved west toward
Germany as a result –put
Hitler on the defensive

http://www.history.com/topics/world-warii/videos#world-war-ii-battle-of-stalingrad
D-Day
 Normandy Landings
 (June 6, 1944) –3
million American,
British, and Canadian
troops under the
command of Dwight D.
Eisenhower landed in
German-occupied
France at Normandy
 SIGNIFICANCE –
marked the beginning of
the liberation of Europe
from Hitler’s control

http://www.history.com/topics/world-warii/videos#dday-invasion

-
-
-
-
-
-
Battle of the Bulge (1944)
Hitler refused to surrender
and ordered a counterattack
in Belgium and Luxembourg.
The Germans caught the
Allies by surprise, creating a
bulge in the American line,
and captured several key
towns.
At the Belgian town of
Bastogne, American forces
held out.
This was the largest battle in
western Europe during World
War II and the largest fought
by the U.S. Army. (600,000)
Hitler and his Nazi leaders
realized their war had been
lost.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-warii/videos#at-the-battle-of-the-bulge
http://facesbeyondthegraves.com/heath.html
http://www.pararesearchteam.com/Research/EBHeath.html
http://www.in-honored-glory.info/html/stories/ifheath.htm

German Surrender
 By April 25, 1945 the Soviets had stormed Berlin
 Hitler committed suicide on April 30

V-E Day
 Gen. Eisenhower accepted the unconditional
surrender of the Germans
 May 8, 1945 the Allies celebrated V-E Day- Victory in
Europe Day
The Pacific
- Japan hoped the U.S. would withdraw from
the war, leaving them access to natural
resources of Southeast Asia.
- China will join the Allied Powers.
- The Allies will follow an island-hopping
strategy, capturing some Japanese-held
islands and ignoring others in a steady path
toward Japan.
Battles and Turning
Points: Pacific
Midway
“Miracle of Midway” (1942)
–American naval forces
under Chester Nimitz
attacked and defeated a
much larger Japanese
force
 Avenged the U.S. naval
defeat at Pearl Harbor and
saved Hawaii from
Japanese invasion
 SIGNIFICANCE–led to the
successful “island hopping
“ campaign that brought the
war closer to Japan
 The battle was fought
entirely from the air.


Iwo Jima
 Iwo Jima(1945) –U.S.
Marines attacked and
defeated heavily
entrenched Japanese
forces, but suffered heavy
casualties
 Flag-Raising Photo–
became a symbol for
American pride and
victory
 U.S. casualties = 6,000
killed Japanese casualties
= over 20,000 killed
 SIGNIFICANCE-The
island was important as a
staging island for U.S.
bomber runs to Japan
Okinawa
 Okinawa (1945) –U.S. Marines
invaded and conquered the
last island needed for final
attack on Japan
 U.S. casualties = 7,600 killed
Japanese casualties = 110,000
killed
 Japanese used kamikaze
(suicide-plane) attacks on U.S.
ships
 Many Japanese soldiers chose
suicide over surrender
(kamikaze pilots)
 SIGNIFICANCE–convinced
U.S. commanders that the U.S.
would lose about 1 million
soldiers to invade and conquer
Japanese home islands

http://www.history.com/topics/world-warii/videos#battle-okinawa
The Atomic Bomb

Manhattan Project- July
1945- American scientists
create atomic bomb
 Headed by Robert
Oppenheimer
 Tested in New Mexico-very
secret




FDR dies and Harry
Truman takes over
Truman ordered the use
of the atomic bomb on
the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and
Nagasaki (Aug. 9) to
force surrender
200,000 died of injuries
and radiation poisoning
Japanese surrender on
Sept. 2, 1945 (V-J Day)
The Home Front

Main Idea –
Japanese
Americans were
victimized by the
U.S. government’s
decision to move
110,000 Japanese
Americans to
internment camps in
the West.
Internment of Japanese
Americans


Background:
Following the attack on
Pearl Harbor, many
Americans believed false
rumors that Japanese
Americans had served as
spies for Japan prior to the
attack, which led to
discrimination and
prejudice against
Japanese Americans on
the West coast
February 19, 1942 –FDR signed an
executive order that called for the internment
(confinement) of all Japanese Americans.
 FDR stated that the internment was a military
necessity.
 110,000 Japanese Americans were moved to
internment camps in the West.
 2/3 of all people moved were Nisei
(Japanese Americans born in the U.S.)
 Japanese Americans were forced to sell their
homes and businesses.


http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/videos#japanese-internment-in-america
Korematsu v. United States(1944)

Supreme Court decision that stated the
government’s use of internment camps
was justified on the basis of “military
necessity.”

U.S. Government apologized for
internment in 1980s and each surviving
internee was paid reparations of
$20,000.
Rebuilding

Yalta Conference- Feb. 1945,
FDR, Churchill (Great Britain)
and Stalin (Soviet Union)- The
Big Three
 Stalin wanted to break Germany
into occupation zones
 Churchill disagreed and FDR
played mediator
○ Needed Soviet Union to help in
the Pacific and wanted them to
join a new peace-keeping
organization- United Nations
 FDR convinced Churchill to divide
Germany into 4 temporary military
zones (one for each countryFrance, Britain, U.S., Soviet Union)
 Stalin agreed to join against Japan
and agreed to meet in April for the
formation of the United Nations.
The Geneva Convention

Treatment of
prisoners in the
Pacific Theater of
WWII often reflected
the savagery of the
fighting there.
POW’s in Europe

Treatment of
prisoners in the
European Theater of
WWII more closely
reflected the ideas
of the Geneva
Convention
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
 In the Philippines,
American POWs that
surrendered to the
Japanese suffered brutal
treatment.
 Forced march of 60 miles
without proper food or
water, with random
shootings, beheadings, and
slitting of throats common.
 Over 10,000 U.S. soldiers
were killed along the
march.

Postwar Outcomes in Europe


The end of WWII found Soviet forces
occupying most of Eastern and Central Europe
and the eastern portion of Germany.
Germany was partitioned into East and West
Germany.
 West Germany became democratic and resumed
self government.
 East Germany remained under the domination of the
Soviet Union and didn’t adopt democratic
institutions.

Europe lay in ruins and the U.S. launched the
Marshall Plan.
 Provided massive financial aid to rebuild European
economies and prevent the spread of communism.
Postwar Outcomes in Asia
Japan was occupied by American
forces.
 It soon adopted a democratic form of
government and resumed selfgovernment.
 Became a strong U.S. ally.

The Holocaust
1933-1945
-
The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power
in Germany and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated
by the Allied powers.
-
The term "Holocaust," originally from the Greek word
"holokauston" which means "sacrifice by fire," refers to the
Nazi's persecution and planned slaughter of the Jewish people.
-
In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted gypsies, homosexuals,
Jehovah's Witnesses, and the disabled for persecution.
-
Anyone who resisted the Nazis was sent to forced labor or
murdered.
-
The Nazis used the term "the Final Solution" to refer to their
plan to murder the Jewish people.
-
On April 1, 1933, the Nazis instigated their first action against
German Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish-run
businesses.
The Persecution Begins
During the first six years of Hitler's
dictatorship, from 1933 until the outbreak of
war in 1939, Jews felt the effects of more
than 400 decrees and regulations that
restricted all aspects of their public and
private lives.
 “Nuremberg Laws" excluded German Jews
from citizenship and prohibited them from
marrying or having relations with persons
of "German or German-related blood”.

Why the Jews?
After its defeat in World War I, Germany
was humiliated by the Versailles Treaty,
which reduced its territory, drastically
reduced its armed forces, demanded the
recognition of its guilt for the war, and
stipulated it pay reparations to the Allied
powers.
 German beliefs in anti-Semitism (hatred
of the Jews) was a contributing factor to
Jewish persecution.

Brainwashing Germany




Nazis propaganda, "The
Jews are our misfortune!"
The Nazi’s preached that
Jews must be excluded from
society, and they used
schools and the media to
indoctrinate the young and
old with anti-Semitic feelings.
They portrayed the Jews as
evil and cowardly, and
Germans as hardworking,
courageous, and honest.
The effects set the stage for
mass genocide.
To stay or to leave?






Many Jews attempted to flee Germany, and
thousands succeeded by immigrating to such
countries as Belgium, Czechoslovakia, England,
France and Holland.
Jews were having trouble finding nations that
would take them in.
France already had 40,000 refugees and did not
want more.
Britain worried about fueling Anti-Semitism and
refused to admit more than 80,000 refugees.
The U.S. allowed 100,000 refugees, but people
wanted to close the doors.
By the autumn of 1941, Europe was in effect
sealed to most legal emigration. The Jews were
trapped.

Kristallnacht(1938)–
”night of broken glass”
as Jewish homes,
businesses and
synagogues were
attacked across
Germany

Approximately 30,000
Jews were arrested
and sent to
concentration camps.
Jews arrested after Kristallnacht await
deportation to Dachau concentration
camp.
Ghettos






After the beginning of the war, Nazis began
ordering all Jews to live within certain areas of big
cities.
Major ghettos- Bialystok, Kovno, Lodz, Minsk, Riga,
Vilna, and Warsaw
The largest ghetto was in Warsaw, with its highest
population reaching 445,000 in March 1941.
Nazis would then order deportations.
In some of the large ghettos, 1,000 people per day
were loaded up in trains and sent to either a
concentration camp or a death camp.
When the Nazis attempted to liquidate the Warsaw
Ghetto on April 13, 1943, the remaining Jews
fought back in what has become known as the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Jewish resistance fighters captured by SS troops during
the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Warsaw, Poland, April 19May 16, 1943.
Concentration and
Extermination Camps




Different kinds of camps, including
concentration camps, extermination camps,
labor camps, and prisoner-of-war camps.
One of the first concentration camps was
Dachau, which opened on March 20, 1933.
Prisoners were forced to do hard physical
labor and yet given tiny rations. Prisoners
slept three or more people per crowded
wooden bunk (no mattress or pillow). Torture
within the concentration camps was common
and deaths were frequent.
At a number of Nazi concentration camps,
Nazi doctors conducted medical experiments
on prisoners against their will.
View of the entrance to the main camp of Auschwitz
(Auschwitz I). The gate bears the motto "Arbeit Macht Frei"
(Work makes one free).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7mg3qvvzhY
Close-up of a young mother with her two children, sitting among a
large group of Jews from Lubny who have been assembled for
mass execution by the Germans. (October 16, 1941)
Selection at the Auschwitz ramp in 1944, where the Nazis chose
whom to kill immediately and whom to use as slave labor or for
medical experimentation. The entrance to the main camp is in the
background.

While concentration camps were meant to work
and starve prisoners to death, extermination
camps (also known as death camps) were built
for the sole purpose of killing large groups of
people quickly and efficiently.

The Nazis built six extermination camps:
Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz,
and Majdanek. (Auschwitz and Majdanek were
both concentration and extermination camps.)

Auschwitz was the largest concentration and
extermination camp built. It is estimated that 1.1
million people were killed at Auschwitz.
A crematoria oven
where the corpses of
prisoners were
burned in BergenBelsen concentration
camp. (April 28,
1945)
Liberation

As Allied troops moved
across Europe in a
series of offensives on
Germany, they began to
encounter and liberate
concentration camp
prisoners, many of
whom had survived
death marches into the
interior of Germany.
Soviet forces were the
first to approach a
major Nazi camp,
reaching the Majdanek
camp near Lublin,
Poland, in July 1944.
Survivors of the death march from the
Polish city of Lodz arrive in Berlin, Dec 14,
1945. These are the only survivors of a
group of 150.
"Auschwitz-Birkenau, then and now"



Soon after
liberation, surviving
children of the
Auschwitz camp
walk out of the
children's barracks.
Poland, after
January 27, 1945.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.
php?ModuleId=10005129&MediaId=3426
Nuremburg Trials



Nuremburg Trials –Nazi
leaders were convicted
of war crimes for their
participation in the
Holocaust
Emphasized individual
responsibility for actions
during a war, regardless
of orders received
SIGNIFICANCE–led to
an increased call for a
Jewish homeland
Writing Activity- Cinquain
The cinquain is a short,
simple poem.
 A creative way to reflect on
the meaning of a concept of
information just learned.


Guidelines
- The first line is a one word
title (usually a noun).
- The second line is a two
word description of the topic
(usually two adjectives).
- Line three is three words
expressing action of the topic
(usually three “ing” words).
- The fourth line it a four word
phrase about the topic.
- The fifth line (last line) is a
one word synonym that
restates the essence of the
topic.
Example:
Hitler
Ruthless killer
Terrorizing, attacking, dictating
Aryan race always superior
Nazi