World History Chapter 26 World War II

Chapter Objectives

•Identify the steps taken by Germany & Japan that led to the beginning of World War II

•Describe the successes of Germany & Japan in the early years of the war

Chapter Objectives

•List the major events of the last years of the war

•Explain the causes & results of the Holocaust

Chapter Objectives

•Explain the conditions of the peace settlement & the ways in which the peace settlement led to the Cold War

The Impact Today

•By the end of World War II, the balance of power had shifted away from Europe.

•Germany & Japan’s search for expanded “living space” is comparable to nations fighting over borders today.

The Impact Today

•Atomic weapons pose a threat to all nations.

Section 1: Paths to War

I. The German Path to War•Adolf Hitler•Aryan race was superior to all other races & nationalities

•needed more land to support a larger population

•land in the east - in the Soviet Union

Poster, c/ 1938, which proclaims “One People, one State, on Leader!”

After becoming dictator in 1933, Hitler often held large rallies to inspire the loyalty of Germans

Land to support a larger population.

I. The German Path to War•Slavic peoples could be used as slave labor to build the Third Reich

A. The First Steps•Germany wished to revise the unfair provisions of the Treaty of Versailles by peaceful means

•Hitler created a new air force & began a military draft

•This was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles

A. The First Steps•In the midst of the Great Depression, France, Great Britain & Italy were distracted by their own internal problems

•1936, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, the demilitarized area

France

Rhineland

A. The First Steps•Great Britain did not support the use of force against Germany

•Thus began a policy of appeasement

A. The First Steps•appeasement - the belief that if European states satisfied the reasonable demands of dissatisfied powers, the dissatisfied powers would be content & stablitiy & peace would be achieved in Europe

B. New Alliances•Benito Mussolini•Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia•1936, Germany & Italy sent troops to Spain to help General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War

B. New Alliances•New alliance between Italy & Germany, called the Rome-Berlin Axis

•Germany & Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, promising a common front against communism

C. Union with Austria

•1937, Hitler proclaimed his plans of Anschluss, or union, with Austria, his native land

•1938, Hitler annexed Austria to Germany

Maps and Charts 1a

D. Demands & Appeasement

•Nov. 1938, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland, an area in northwestern Czechoslovakia that was inhabited largely by Germans

•German troops were allowed to occupy the Sudetenland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/higher/img/history/roadwar/munich/sudetenland_1938.gif

D. Demands & Appeasement

•The Czechs, abandoned by their Western allies, stood by helplessly

•Munich Conference, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, boasted the agreement meant “peace for our time”

http://homepage.eircom.net/~finnegam/war/munich_conference.jpg

“peace for our time”

E. Great Britain & France React

•March 1939, Hitler invaded Bohemia & Moravia in western Czechoslovakia

•Hitler’s aggression had made clear that his promises were worthless

E. Great Britain & France React

•Hitler began to demand the Polish port of Danzig, Great Britain offered to protect Poland in the event of war

•France & Britain began political & military negotiations with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator

F. Hitler & the Soviets•To avoid a two-front war, Hitler made his own agreement with Stalin

•August 1939, Germany & the Soviet Union signed the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

http://www.historynet.com/pod/0822_l.jpg

F. Hitler & the Soviets•On September 1, 1939, German forces invaded Poland

•Two days later, Britain & France declared war on Germany

II. The Japanese Path to War

•1931, Japanese soldiers seized Manchuria, which had natural resources Japan needed

•Japan renamed Manchuria, Manchukuo

II. The Japanese Path to War

•By the mid-1930’s militants had gained control of Japanese politics

A. War with China•Chiang Kai-shek sought to appease the Japanese by allowing it to govern areas of Northern China

A. War with China•1936, Chiang ended his military efforts against the Communists & formed a new united front against the Japanese

•By 1937, the Japanese seized the Chinese capital of Nanjing

B. The New Asian Order•Japanese military leaders wanted Chiang to join a New Order in East Asia, comprising Japan, Manchuria & China

•Japan also planned to seize Soviet Siberia with its rich resources

B. The New Asian Order•Japanese became interested in the raw materials in Southeast Asia to fuel its military machine

•The United States objected & threatened to apply economic sanctions - restrictions intended to enforce international law

B. The New Asian Order•Japan badly needed the oil & scrap iron it was getting from the United States

•Japan was now caught in a dilemma

B. The New Asian Order•Japan

decided to launch a surprise attack on the U.S. & European colonies in Southeast Asia

Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

Section 2: The Course of World War II

I. Europe at War•Blitzkrieg, “lightning war” German’s attack on Poland used armored columns, called panzer divisions, supported by airplanes

•Blitzkrieg broke quickly through Polish lines, within four weeks Poland had surrendered

http://www.geocities.com/shadow_bitten/Wermacht/blitzkrieg.jpg

I. Europe at War

•On Sept. 28, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland

A. Hitler’s Early Victories•After a winter of waiting (called the “phony war”), on April 9, 1940, Hitler attacked Denmark and Norway

•One month later Germany attacked the Netherlands, Belgium and France

A. Hitler’s Early Victories•The Germans went around the Maginot Line (a series of concrete and steel fortifications armed with heavy artillery along France’s border with Germany)

•This trapped British and French troops on the beaches of Dunkirk

http://www.sitemaps.com/Custom_Map_Design/Historical/Maginot_Line.jpg

A. Hitler’s Early Victories•The Royal Navy and civilians evacuated 338,000 Allied troops

A. Hitler’s Early Victories•After Dunkirk, the British appealed to the U.S. for help

•The French signed an armistice on June 22, 1940

A. Hitler’s Early Victories•President Franklin D. Roosevelt, denounced the aggressors, but the U.S. followed a strict policy of isolationism

•The U.S. passed a series of neutrality acts in the 1930’s preventing the them from taking sides or becoming involved

A. Hitler’s Early Victories•The acts were relaxed as the U.S. supplied food, ships, planes and weapons to Britain

B. The Battle of Britain•Luftwaffe - the German air force•Bombed British air and naval bases, harbors, communication centers and war industries

•Sept. 1940, Hitler ordered a shift in strategy, the Luftwaffe began massive bombing of British cities

B. The Battle of Britain•Hitler hoped to break British morale,

•The British were able to rebuild their air strength quickly

•Soon, the British air force was inflicting major losses on Luftwaffe bombers

B. The Battle of Britain•Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain indefinitely

C. Attack on the Soviet Union

•Hitler had convinced himself that the Soviet Union had a pitiful army and could be defeated quickly

•Mussolini’s failed invasion of Greece forced him to secure his southern flank

•Hitler seized both Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941

C. Attack on the Soviet Union

•Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941

•German troops advanced rapidly, capturing 2 million Russian soldiers

•The second army besieged the city of Leningrad

C. Attack on the Soviet Union

•An early winter and fierce Soviet resistance halted the German advance

•Germans had no winter uniforms

•The German armies had for the first time been stopped

•Soviet army counterattacked in Dec. 1941

II. Japan at War•December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands

•By Spring 1942, almost all of Southeast Asia & much of the Western Pacific had fallen into Japanese hands

II. Japan at War•The Japanese community of nations was called the “Greater East-Asia Coprosperity Sphere”

•Japan needed the resources of the region for its war machine

II. Japan at War•Japanese leaders thought the American people had been made soft by material indulgence

•The Japanese miscalculated•The attack on Pearl Harbor unified American opinion about becoming involved in the war

II. Japan at War•Hitler declared war on the United States 4 days after Pearl Harbor

III. Allies Advance•Grand Alliance or “Allies” - Great Britain, United States & Soviet Union vs.

•Axis Powers - Germany, Italy & Japan

III. Allies Advance•Unconditional surrender principle, required the Axis nations to surrender without any favorable condition

A. The European Theater

•1942, in North Africa the Afrika Korps, German forces under General Erwin Rommel, broke through the British defenses in Egypt & advanced toward Alexandria

http://nacismus.mysteria.cz/fotobox/rommel_1.jpg

A. The European Theater•By the fall of 1942, the war had turned against the Germans

•In North Africa, British forces had stopped Rommel’s troops at El Alamein

•Nov. 1942, British & American forces invaded French North Africa

A. The European Theater

•On the Eastern Front, Hitler decided that Stalingrad, should be taken

•Between Nov. 1942 & Feb. 1943, the Soviets counterattacked & stopped German troops

A. The European Theater

•German troops were encircled, supply lines cut off, all in frigid winter conditions

•The Germans were forced to surrender

•The entire German 6th Army, was lost

B. The Asian Theater 1942•The Battle of the Coral Sea,

American naval forces stopped the Japanese advance & saved Australia from threat of invasion

•The Battle of Midway Island, U.S. planes destroyed 4 attacking Japanese aircraft carriers to establish naval superiority in the Pacific

B. The Asian Theater 1942•Douglas MacArthur commanded the forces in Asia

•“Island hopping” capture some Japanese-held islands and bypass others up to Japan

http://www.e-yliko.gr/Fyyl/Istoria/prosopawwarII/Douglas%20MacArthur.gif

http://img42.photobucket.com/albums/v129/daftanddemented/worldwartwo/WorldWarII15.jpg

IV. Last Years of the War•By 1943 the tide of battle had turned against the Axis forces

•Germany surrendered in Tunisia in 1943

•Allies then invaded Italy an area Winston Churchill called the “soft underbelly” of Europe

A. The European Theater•After the fall of Sicily, Mussolini was removed from office & placed under arrest

•Mussolini was liberated by Germans in a daring raid

•Germans troops moved in & occupied much of Italy

A. The European Theater•June 6, 1944 (D-Day) Allied forces under U.S. general Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the Normandy beaches in history’s greatest naval invasion

•In Paris, partisans, or resistance fighters helped liberate Paris by Aug. 1945

A. The European Theater•In March 1945, the Allies crossed the Rhine River and advanced into Germany

•Using newly developed heavy tanks, German forces were defeated by the Soviets at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, the greatest tank battle of WWII

A. The European Theater•Soviet troops now began a steady advance westward

•Soviet troops occupied Warsaw in Jan. 1945 & entered Berlin in April

•By Jan. 1945, Adolf Hitler had moved into a bunker

A. The European Theater•In his final political testament, Hitler blamed the Jews for the war.

•Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, two days after Mussolini had been shot by Italian partisans

A. The European Theater•On May 7, 1945, German commanders surrendered

B. The Asian Theater•US forces advanced slowly across the Pacific

•1945, Harry S. Truman became president after the death of Roosevelt in April

•U.S. had now developed atomic weapons

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/cph/3c10000/3c17000/3c17100/3c17122r.jpg

Harry S. Truman

B. The Asian Theater•Using atomic weapons would, Truman hoped, enable the U.S. to avoid an invasion of Japan

•American troops would suffer heavy casualties if they invaded Japan

The Atomic Bomb

Scientists at the beginning of the twentieth century discovered that atoms contained an enormous amount of energy. The discovery gave rise to the idea that releasing this energy by splitting the atom might create a devastating weapon.

Read the excerpt on page 834 of your textbook and answer the question on the following slide.

B. The Asian Theater•Truman decided to use the bombs

•The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, three days later a second on Nagasaki

•Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945

http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/A-bomb/photo-1/p9.jpg

Atomic bombs were more powerful and left behind radiation.

The destruction was so overwhelming that Japan surrendered.

Possible answer: The fear that the prospect of using atomic weapons caused, and the power that resulted from having atomic weapons.

Costs of the War•17 million had died in battle•20 million civilians had perished as well

•Some estimates place total losses at 50 million