Introduction to

WWII

2

Quick FactsWWII – The Most Devastating

War in History

A. War Costs• US Debt 1940 - $9 billion

US Debt 1945 - $98 billion• The war cost $330 billion -- 10

times the cost of WWI & as much as all previous federal spending since 1776B. Human

Costs• 50 million people died (compared to15 million in WWI)

• 21.3 million Russians (7.7 million civilians)

• 11 million died as a result of the HOLOCAUST(6 million Jews + 5 million others)

3

When?

1939

Sept.1 - Germany invades Poland (official start to the war)

Sept. 3 -Britain &

France declare war on

Germany

Dec. 7 – Japan

bombs Pearl Harbor; US enters the

War

1941

May - Germans Surrende

r

Sept. - Atomic

Bombing of

Hiroshima &

Nagasaki,

Japanese Surrende

r

1945

•1939-1945

•US involvement 1941-1945

4

Who?

Allies Axis

Great Britain

France(note: France surrendered to

Germany in 1940 (after 6 weeks of fighting)

United States

Russia

GermanyItaly

Japan

(major powers)

(major powers)

5

Major Leaders

Adolf HitlerNazi Germany

Benito MussoliniItaly

6

Major Leaders

Hideki TojoJapanese Prime Minister

Winston ChurchillBritish Prime Minister

7

Major Leaders

Franklin Delano RooseveltUS President

Joseph StalinRussian Leader

8

Causes

1. Treaty of VersaillesA. Germany lost land to

surrounding nations

B. War Reparations

1) Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to U.S.

2) Germany must pay $57 trillion (modern equivalent)

3) Bankrupted the German economy & embarrassed GermansLloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson

during negotiations for the Treaty

9

Causes

2. World-wide Depression

A. The Depression made Germany’s debt

even worse.

B. Desperate people turn to desperate

leaders.

• Hitler seemed to provide solutions to Germany’s problems.

• Hitler provided scapegoats for Germany’s problems (foreigners, Jews, communists, Roma (Gypsies), mentally ill, & others)

10

Hitler Gets Busy

•Gestapo Created -- April, 1933

•Jewish Boycott – April, 1933

•Jewish Books Banned & Burned – May, 1933

•27,000 People in Camps – July, 1933

•60,000 People in Camps – 1938

•Illegal to Leave Germany – October, 1941

11

German Territorial Gains

German Troops Parade in Streets of Czechoslovakian Town, ca. 1939

•Austria – March, 1938

•Border of Czechoslovakia – Sept., 1938

•All of Czechoslovakia – March, 1939

•Poland – Sept., 1939

•By Summer of 1940, Germany Controlled Most of Europe

World shocked as France falls to Germans

12

Results of Alliance to Hitler•Stalin and the Soviet Union, 1939

Betrayed by 1941

•Mussolini and Italy, 1939

Off and on betrayed until Italian defeat in 1943

13

US Assistance

Roosevelt provided aid to the Allies:

Lend-Lease - 1939

•US “lent” war materials to cash-strapped Great Britain

London Firefighter Tackles an Air Raid Blaze

Atlantic Charter

•US secretly meets with England to commit to defeating Germany

14

Meanwhile … in the Pacific

Pearl Harbor: “a date which will live in infamy”

USS Arizona Sinking in Pearl Harbor

What?

•Surprise attack by the Japanese on American forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Effect? •US declares war on

Japan & other Axis powers

15

Resources

http://www.nebo.edu/misc/learning_resources/ppt/6-12/ww2.ppt#15

http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/whs/images/stories/academics/social_studies/emcintyre/Intro%20WWII%20Forum%20Lecture.ppt