World War II
Post WWI Problems
▪
The Treaty of Versailles
▪
Germans were angered and humiliated and they
believed that they were punished too harshly
▪
Italians and Japanese were disappointed
because they felt they didn’t gain enough
territory or colonies
▪
The Great Depression
▪
Economic problems made people desperate
▪
Fascist Aggression
▪
Dictators in Germany, Italy, and Japan
wanted to build empires so they invaded other
nations
▪
Responses to Fascist Aggression
▪
Appeasement: giving into a nation’s demands in order to avoid war▪ To avoid war with Germany, Great Britain and France allowed Hitler to rebuild his military and invade other nations
▪
Isolationism: when a nation keeps to itself and remains neutral in wars between other nationsAlliances of WWII
Allied Powers (Allies)
Axis Powers
Great Britain
Germany
France
Italy
China
Japan
The Soviet Union
(from 1941)
Theaters of Conflict
▪
European Theater
▪
In Europe and the
surrounding areas
▪Western Front – battles fought in Western Europe
▪ Mainly Britain, France, and U.S. vs. Germany and Italy
▪Eastern Front – battles fought in Eastern Europe
▪ Mainly between Germany and the Soviet Union
▪Africa – battles fought in deserts of North Africa
▪
Fighting between Allies and Japanese on
islands, water, and air of the Pacific Ocean
▪
Allies used “island hopping” or fighting
island by island to push closer to Japan
▪
Aircraft carriers (large ships that planes could
takeoff of and land on) were very important
Role of Geography
▪
The small islands of Japan had very few
natural resources so the Japanese
invaded other nations to get them.
▪
Germany’s location in Central Europe
made it easy to expand in every direction.
▪
Great Britain was an island protected from
invasion by surrounding waters.
▪
The Soviet Union was protected from
Key Events and
Turning Points
Timeline of Key Events
▪
Major Pre-War Events (1930s)
▪
German acts of aggression
▪
German troops occupy the
Rhineland
(de-militarized area along Germany’s border with France)
▪
Germany takes control of Austria
▪
The
Munich Pact
▪
Appeasement!▪ Great Britain and France agree not to declare war on Germany as long as Hitler doesn’t invade any other countries
▪
Germany takes control of the rest of
Czechoslovakia
▪
Non-Aggression Pact
▪
Hitler and Stalin agree not to attack each other▪
Hitler and Stalin secretly agree to divide Poland▪
Germany invades Poland
▪
Major Wartime Events (1939-1940)
▪
Great Britain and France declare war on
Germany (1939)
▪
Germany invades France (1939)
▪
French government surrenders▪
German army occupies Northern France▪
Germany fails to invade Great Britain
(1940)
▪
Major Wartime Events (1941-1943)
▪ Germany invades the Soviet Union (1941)
▪The Soviet Union joins the Allies*
▪Germany is unable to conquer the Soviet Union
▪ Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
▪Japanese launch surprise attack on U.S. navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii killing many
Americans
▪U.S. enters the War (1941)*
▪ U.S. declares war on Japan
▪ Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.
▪ United States helps Allies turn tide against Axis Powers
▪
Major Wartime Events (1944)
▪
Italy surrenders (1944)
▪
The Battle of Normandy (1944)
▪
D-Day (June 6, 1944)*▪ Allies successfully invade German-occupied France
▪ Allies gain a base in mainland Europe for fighting against the Axis Powers
Major Wartime Events (1945)
▪
V-E Day
(May 8, 1945)
▪
Germany surrenders, ending war in European Theater▪
U.S. drops
atomic bombs
on Japan (1945)
▪
Cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima are destroyed▪
U.S. demands Japan surrender or face more bombings▪
V-J Day
(August 14, 1945)
▪
Japan surrenders, ending the war in the Pacific TheaterMajor Outcomes of WWII
▪
The Allies won!
▪ Allies stopped the spread of fascism!
▪
The
United Nations
was created to promote world
peace and security
▪
The
European Economic Community
(EEC) was
created to remove trade barriers and improve
relationships between European nations
▪
Many nations brought out of the Great Depression
▪
Cold War began
▪ U.S. and Soviet Union became superpowers
▪ Europe divided into communist and anti-communist nations
▪Eastern Europe occupied by Soviet military
▪Germany divided by Allies
▪ East Germany – communist
Human Costs of the War
▪
35 to 45 million people died
▪
Over half of these were civilians!
▪
The war was the most expensive ever
▪
cost over $1 trillion
Axis Leaders
Country
Leader(s) and Roles in WWII
Germany Adolf Hitler – wanted to create an empire for German-speaking people; started the war by invading neighboring countriesItaly Benito Mussolini – allied with Hitler so he could build a large Italian Empire
Japan Hideki Tojo – military dictator of Japan
Emperor Hirohito – symbolic leader of Japan who told his people to surrender after atomic bombs
Allied Leaders
Country Leader(s) and Roles in WWII
Great
Britain Neville Chamberlain – Winston Churchill – motivated British people to “never appeased Hitler; tried to avoid war
surrender” to the Germans
France Charles de Gaulle – leader of Free France
Soviet
Union Joseph Stalin – wanted to spread communism United
States Franklin D. RooseveltHarry S. Truman – ordered the use of atomic bomb – brought U.S. into war
The
What was the Holocaust?
▪
The Holocaust:
the mass murder
Anti-Semitism
▪
Anti-Semitism:
hatred of Jewish people
▪
Racist laws passed against Jews in Germany
▪
Denied Jewish people German citizenship▪
Jews could not marry Germans▪
Jews could not publish written materials▪
Jews couldn’t teach▪
Jews couldn’t produce artworkThe Final Solution
▪
The Final Solution:
Hitler’s plan for getting rid of
the Jews and other “inferior” people of Europe.
▪ Jews were rounded up in “ghettos”
▪ Most Jews were then sent to concentration camps
▪labor camps – Jewish prisoners were forced to make supplies for the German Army until they were too weak to work
