World War II Notes
Part A
Causes of the War in Europe
1. Versailles Peace Treaty
what did the treaty do to cause
WWII?
a.
b.
War Guilt Clause
Germany pays $33 billion in
reparations
Causes of the War in Europe
2. Hitler rises to power
what was his early life like?
development of the Nazi Party…
1932 Elections in Germany…
German depression ends
German militarism
1936 Olympics
Persecution of the Jews & others begins in
1933…examples?
Causes of the War in Europe
(cont.)
3. Failure of the British & the French
to stop Hitler
Hitler wants lebensraum…”living space”
military build-up (1933-1939)
Rhineland (1936)
Spanish Civil War (1936-39)
Annexation of Austria (Mar. 1938)
Munich Conference (Sept. 1938)…how was Hitler appeased?
Sudetenland (Sept. 1938)
Czechoslovakia (Mar. 1939)
Poland (Sept. 1939)
Munich Agreement
Causes of the War in Europe
(cont.)
4. Weaknesses of the League of
Nations
in what ways was the League weak?
how did these contribute to WWII?
Causes of the War in the Pacific
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Japan needed more living space…why?
Japan was resource poor…imported everything
Japan needed/built a strong military…why?
Japan wanted to control the Pacific (Japanese Empire)
Invasion of Manchuria (1931)
Invasion of China (1937)
League of Nations “inaction”
Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941)
who planned it? What was the goal?
did we know ahead of time?
Leaders in WWII
Political Leaders:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Germany
Italy
USSR
Great Britain (2)
Vichy France
Free France
Japan (2)
US (2)
Benito Mussolini & Adolf Hitler
Italy
&
Germany
Josef Stalin--USSR
Neville Chamberlain &
Winston Churchill
Prime Ministers of Great Britain
Vichy France—Philippe Henri
Petain
Free France—Gen. Charles
DeGaulle
Japan: Emperor Hirohito &
Prime Minister Hideki Tojo
FDR & Truman—US Presidents
Leaders in WWII
Military Leaders in European Theater:
1.
2.
3.
4.
USSR
Germany
Great Britain
US (3)
Military Leaders in the Pacific Theater:
1.
2.
Japan
US (3)
Gen. Georgi Zhukov--USSR
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel—
Germany “Desert Fox”
Gen. Bernard Montgomery--Britain
Gen. George Marshall—Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--US
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower—
Supreme Allied Commander in
Europe
Gen. George Patton—US Tank
Commander
Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto—
Commander of the Japanese Navy
Gen. Douglas MacArthur—
Supreme Allied Commander in the
Pacific
Adm. Chester Nimitz—C in C of the
US Pacific Fleet
Adm. Bull Halsey—US Fleet
Admiral in the Pacific
World War II Notes
Part B
The War in Europe
1. Blitzkrieg “Lightning War”
a.
b.
c.
d.
Luftwaffe attacks targets
Tanks and heavy armor move in
quickly
Infantry follows to secure area
Extremely fast and overwhelming
warfare
2. Poland
a.
b.
c.
d.
WWI-era planes
Few tanks
Many soldiers are on horseback
Poland falls in six weeks
3. France
a.
b.
c.
d.
Maginot Line
3rd most powerful military in the world
Surrender in six weeks
Vichy Gov’t cooperates with the
Nazis
4. Nazi Germany controls
Western Europe
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Germany
Austria
Czechoslovakia
Poland
Denmark
Belgium
Netherlands
h. Luxembourg
i. Norway
j. France
Axis Expansion in Europe
1935-1941
5. Non-aggression Pact between
USSR and Germany
a.
b.
c.
d.
Hitler and Stalin hated each other
Why did they make this agreement?
Shocked the world
What was the agreement?
6. Battle of the Atlantic
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
U-Boats
Convoy System
Goal: starve the Brits out of the war
Sonar
Enigma/Ultra (U-571)
7. Battle of Britain
a.
b.
c.
d.
air war: Luftwaffe –vs- RAF
Goal: destroy RAF to invade Britain
Operation Sea Lion
Radar & RAF saves the Brits
The Eastern Front
1.
2.
3.
Invasion of the USSR “Operation
Barbarossa”
Goal: Lebensraum “living space”
Russian “scorched earth policy”
4. Battle of Leningrad
a.
b.
no surrender
900 day seige
5. Battle of Moscow
a.
b.
Stalin stays in town
Russian winter and Hitler’s stupidity
defeat German Army
6. Battle of Stalingrad
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Named after Stalin, war materials &
factories, gateway to the Soviet oil
fields
“Enemy at the Gates”
House to house, street to street fighting
Hitler’s stupidity again causes the
German defeat…no retreat/surrender
Turning point on the Eastern Front
7. Kursk tank battle
a. largest tank battle in history
b. USSR
Germany
1.3 million men 1.0 million men
3,600 tanks
2,700 tanks
2,400 planes
2,000 planes
20,000 artillery much less than 20,000!
c. Germans are overwhelmed & pushed
back
North African Front (1942)
1.
2.
3.
German invasion
Goal: capture the Suez Canal
British retreat
a. Gen. Montgomery takes
command
b. El Alamein
4.
5.
6.
US arrives (1942)
a. Gen. Eisenhower
b. Operation Torch
c. Kasserine Pass
Rommel is finally defeated
Germans are squeezed out of North
Africa
The War in Italy
•
•
•
•
The German Army escaped to Sicily
Pushed from Sicily to the boot of Italy
Italian army quickly stops fighting
Italian people immediately turn against
Mussolini
• Mussolini is ousted from power
• German army does all of the fighting
against the Allies
• Takes 18 months to push Germans out of
Italy
Western Front
1. D-Day Invasion
a.
b.
c.
tricked the Germans
1. Calais –or2. Normandy
Normandy invasion
Helps the USSR… how?
2. Liberation of France
a.
b.
c.
Paris is declared an “Open City”
Nazis retreat
US liberates Paris
3. The push towards Germany
a.
b.
c.
d.
Patton leads the way
Germans in full retreat
US/British air superiority
Tanks & infantry eat up territory
4. Battle of the Bulge
a. Last German offensive of the war
b. Catches Allies off-guard
c. Delays the invasion of Germany 2 weeks
5. Germany is invaded from both
sides
a.
b.
c.
Hitler’s two-front war is a mistake
USSR attacks Germany from the East
Americans and British attack from the
West
6. Liberating the camps
a. Red Army (USSR) discovers the 1st
concentration camp (Majdanek)
b. Aachen is the 1st concentration camp
discovered by the US
7. Battle of Berlin
a. Hitler Youth and old men defend the city
b. USSR given the “honor” of capturing
Berlin
c. Eisenhower saves thousands of US lives
by allowing the USSR to capture Berlin
8. The end of Hitler
a.
b.
c.
hiding in his bunker
marries Eva Braun
how did he die?
9. Unconditional surrender
10. V-E Day May 8, 1945
World War II Notes
Part C
The Holocaust
1. Hitler’s beliefs
a.
“Aryan superiority”
b.
blame the Jews for everything
2. Persecution begins
a. long history of persecution
b. Hitler & Nazis increase intensity
c. Kristallnacht (Nov. 9-10, 1938)
b. 1st Concentration Camps open (1933)
3. Many groups persecuted
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
Jews
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Homosexuals
Political opponents
Slavs
Gypsies
Free Masons
People born with disabilities
J. The War in the Pacific
1.
Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941)
2.
Carrier Warfare
3.
Japanese expansion
4.
Doolittle Raid (April 18, 1942)
5. Battle of the Coral Sea
(May 1942)
a. 1st naval warfare where opposing ships
cannot see each other
b. Stopped the Japanese advance
c. saved Australia from invasion
d. US Losses
Japanese Losses
1 large carrier
1 small carrier
1 destroyer
1 destroyer
65 planes
69 planes
6. Battle of Midway
(June 1942)
a. Turning point in the Pacific war
b. Japanese begin a long retreat
c. US Losses
1 carrier
1 destroyer
98 planes
Japanese Losses
4 carriers
1 cruiser
264 planes
7. Island Hopping Campaign
a.
b.
c.
d.
attack some Japanese held islands,
skip others
the islands that are skipped are cut off
from supplies
keep attacking islands closer & closer
to Japan
Guadalcanal (Aug, 1942-Feb. 1943)
1. 1st Japanese defeat on land
2. jungle warfare
8. Battle of Leyte Gulf
(Oct. 1944)
a.
b.
c.
disaster for the Japanese Navy
Japan lost:
1.
3 battleships
2.
4 aircraft carriers
3.
13 cruisers
4.
400 planes
Japanese use kamikazes
1.
424 missions
2.
16 US ships sunk
3.
80 more US ships damaged
9. Philippines retaken (Feb. 1945)
10. Battle of Iwo Jima (Feb.-March 1945)
a. US needed as an airbase for longrange bombers to reach Japan
b. 20,700 Japanese soldiers
c. 6,000 US Marines die
d. only 200 Japanese survive
11. Battle of Okinawa (April-June 1945)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
needed b/c it was close to Japan (bombers &
eventually invasion of Japan would start here)
1,900 kamikaze attacks
30 US ships sunk
300 damaged
5,000 sailors killed
the Fighting:
1.
110,000 Japanese killed
2.
7,600 Americans killed
3.
15:1 kill ratio
4.
Japanese commit suicide rather than
surrender
12. Kamikazes
13. Invasion of Japan:
a. predicted to cost 1,000,000
American lives
b. predicted to cost 500,000 British
lives
14. Manhattan Project
a.
b.
c.
top secret project to build an atomic
bomb
1. atomic fission (Atom Bomb)
2. nuclear fusion (Hydrogen Bomb)
USSR had spies in the program
Truman informs Stalin at Potsdam,
Stalin is unimpressed
15. Decision to use the “bomb”
a.
b.
c.
d.
would save lives
a demonstration for the Japanese
might be a dud
Japanese might shoot down the plane
Japanese might move American POWs
to the test area
16. Hiroshima & Nagasaki
17. Unconditional surrender
18. V-J Day
K. Alabama’s involvement in
WW2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tuskegee Airmen
Aliceville POW Camp
Mobile shipyards
Birmingham steel industry
Military bases
L. America during WW2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Great Depression ends
Unemployment decreases
More women are working
Great Migration continues
Minorities have more opportunities
Massive industrialization
Rationing
War Bonds
New Technology (examples)
Internment camps
FDR dies April 12, 1945
M. Conferences & Postwar
Stuff
1. Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)
a.
b.
Goals:
1. create the United Nations
2. in exchange for Sakhalin & Kuril
islands, Stalin promised to enter
the war against Japan
3. Stalin promises free elections in
Poland and Soviet-occupied
Eastern Europe
Churchill, Stalin, FDR
2. Potsdam Conference
(July 1945)
a.
b.
Goals:
1. plan for disarming Germany
2. eliminate the Nazi regime
3. war crimes trials
Churchill/Attlee, Stalin, Truman
3. War Crimes Trials
a. Nuremburg
1. 12 of 22 sentenced to death
2. 200 later found guilty of war
crimes
b. Japan
Prime Minister Hideki Tojo is hanged
4. Rebuilding Europe and Japan
a.
Why?
b.
How?
c.
Examples
5. Postwar Europe
6. GI Bill
a.
b.
What was it?
Effects on America