The War in Europe and the Pacific

How Quickly the War Advanced …

The Battle of Britain Because of Hitler’s blitzkrieg warfare, he

couldn’t attack Britain until he had destroyed their air force, called the Royal Air Force

August 1940: the Luftwaffe began attacking southern England and London Nightly occurrence for months upon months Nazis called it: “war of terror” British called it: “the Blitz”

These nightly attacks were designed to destroy the British will to resist Germany

Battle of Britain – Cont’d The British refused to give

up – Londoners became accustomed to sleeping in bomb shelters or in subway stations

The greatly outnumbered RAF shot down almost 3000 Nazi planes in 2 months! The Germans

(temporarily) gave up the idea of bombing Britain out of the war

Battle of Britain – Cont’d Fought from August – October

1940 CDN pilots in the RAF fought

alongside other Allied pilots Although there weren’t many

CDNs, we always made a major contribution to the war effort and gained international prestige

Douglas Bader: a hero in Britain who led the CDN air force

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Joseph Stalin and Communist Soviet Union Communism is a political theory whereby the

society shares and works for its own benefit; essentially then, the people/workers own the economy

Joseph Stalin is responsible for the deaths of anywhere between 30-60 million people Hitler and the Nazis are responsible for the

deaths of 11 million people Stalin believed that he and a group of

advisors should run all aspects of the country5

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Joseph Stalin - Cont’d Religion was banned

Atheism became the “religion” of the day Started his Reign of Terror by ridding the Soviet

Union of his opposition (not only political parties, but anyone who would speak out against him) These were known as purges People who were seen as suspicious of being against

the government were immediately killed or sent to concentration camps

Soviet soldiers were even given quotas that they had to meet (kill a certain number of people per week)

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Gulag – Forced Labor Camps

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Joseph Stalin - Cont’d

Victims were interrogated until they snitched on family or friends -- this was the only way to avoid death This meant that people would provide the

Soviets with lies: the people they snitched on were not actually against the government, but they needed to provide the interrogators with a name in order to survive

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Joseph Stalin - Plans for Expansion Stalin also wanted to extend the borders of

the Soviet Union It was already a massive country, but he

wanted more! This led to his pact with Hitler and the plan to

carve up Poland Stalin came to regret this decision: Hitler went

against his word, took Poland for himself, and eventually turned on Stalin’s Soviet Union as well

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1941 – Germany Advances on Russia

June 1941: Hitler decided he could not defeat Britain from the air, so he turned to the East He attacked his own ALLY, the Soviet Union

(USSR)! Hitler wanted the natural resources: grain, coal, iron,

and oil 3 million German troops moved into the Soviet Union,

scoring incredible initial success Reached the outskirts of Moscow (the capital) and

Leningrad in just 3 months! Eventually, Russia re-grouped and was able to push

back the Nazis

Germany Advances on Russia – Cont’d 5 December 1941: the Germans stopped The long march through the country’s rugged

landscape in a bitterly cold winter had left the soldiers exhausted

6 December 1941: Soviet Union launches a counterattack

Spring 1942: Germany suffered major losses in the Soviet Union and, though continuing to fight in deadly and fierce battles, were slowly pushed back in retreat

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour7 December 1941

1939-1941: US remains neutral After the fall of France, the US began

producing extraneous amounts of ammunition Development of a land-lease policy: Allies

did not need to pay for the war supplies … until later

This GENEROSITY was because the American president (Roosevelt) considered the defence of Britain important to the security of the US

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour While the US is neutral, Japan has been

expanding its army 1936: Signed an agreement with Germany to

become one of the Axis Powers In WWII, Japan saw the opportunity to attack

British (and other) colonies in the Pacific 7 December 1941: Japanese planes came

without warning and bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii Half of the American fleet was crippled Americans were shocked

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour

Video of Pearl Harbour Attack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxIsVYdB

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Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour The attack brought the

US into the war 8 December 1941: US

declares war on Japan 11 December 1941: US

declares war on Germany and Italy, Japan’s allies

The Allied Forces began to crush the Axis Powers after this

1942 – Axis Powers Gain Momentum

1942: Japan engulfs all of the Philippines CDN force captured at Hong Kong Japan also captured British colonies of

Singapore, Malaya, and Burma and SE Asia Seemed as though victory for the Axis

Powers was at hand Europe: Hitler’s troops occupied almost every

capital from Oslo (Norway) to Athens (Greece)

Axis Powers Gain Momentum – Cont’d This put Hitler in the position

to proclaim to his followers that the Nazi Empire in Europe would last for 1000 years!

Because of this, many more soldiers enlisted in the war – would do everything to stop Hitler

CANADA implemented conscription again More and more CDN

troops were being sent to Europe and Asia