world war ii 1939-1945. world war looms things to consider: how did the totalitarian rulers rise to...

World War II

1939-1945

World War Looms

Things to consider:

How did the totalitarian rulers rise to power?

How was Germany able to so quickly conquer much of Europe?

How did the United States become involved in the war?

World War Looms

Why Germany again?

The Versailles Treaty of WWI required such high reparations (payments) that successive generations became resentful and were therefore ready and willing to accept Hitler’s new vision for Germany

World War Looms

Why the United States?

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor left the U.S. no choice but to enter the war. In addition, Hitler’s defeat of Europe would have endangered America eventually.

World War LoomsWhy Japan?

Japan’s vision of itself as a chosen people is a result of the following events:

1. Kamikaze (divine wind) that saved it from Mongol attack by Kublai Khan in 1200

2. Easy defeat of China in Sino-Japanese War

3. Easy defeat of Russian navy in Russo-Japanese War

In addition, the culture of the Samurai did not allow for surrender once the war was begun, leading to the use of the Atomic bomb to end the war.

Pacific Theatre

When did Japan conquer Manchuria? (Sino-Japanese War) 1937

Where is Manchuria? In China, south of Russia, north of Beijing

Why would it have been important to Japan? Iron ore

Pacific Theatre

Japan 1931Nationalistic, militaristic leaders were trying to

take control of the Imperial government.

The emperor was a quiet reserved man who kept out of sight in the palace. He still held sway with the people however under the old concept of filial piety – respect for ones elders/leaders

Manchuria had resources, especially iron ore Japan needed to build their war machine. It was also conveniently located across the Sea of Japan.

Who are the leaders?Axis Powers

Germany – Adolf Hitler

Italy – Benito Mussolini

Japan – Emperor Hirohito with P. M. Hideki Tojo

Dictators Threaten World Peace

Joseph Stalin – Russia – totalitarian government in which the government exerts complete control over its citizens and suppresses all opposition. Stalin’s purges resulted in the deaths of 8 to 13 million people.

Benito Mussolini – Italy – fascist government stresses nationalism and places the interests of the state over the interests of the people through creation of a single political party. Very similar in practice to totalitarian governments.


Adolf Hitler – Germany – Nazism, a German brand of fascism based on extreme nationalism. (Not the same as communism in fact Hitler was very anti-communism)

Francisco Franco – Spain- fascist government by a military leader.

Hideki Tojo though not a fascist government Tojo’s actions mimicked the totalitarian governments of Europe.

Axis Powers

The Real power of JapanPrime Minister Hideki Tojo

Who are the leaders?

Allied Powers – the Big Three

United States – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Great Britain – P.M. Winston Churchill

Russia – Joseph Stalin

The “Big Three”

World War Looms

Important:

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election to a third term in 1940 broke the unwritten rule that had limited previous presidents to a maximum of two terms.

This eventually led to the 22nd Amendment which imposed a constitutional limit of two terms.

World War Looms

In 1939 President Roosevelt addressed the nation reassuring citizens that the U.S. would remain neutral.

Despite being horrified by the news of Hitler’s atrocities Americans were not ready to enter what looked to be another World War on European soil.

Roosevelt would reverse himself in 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan which brought the war to American soil.

Dictators Threaten World PeaceFailures of the World War I Peace Settlement led

directly to the rise of Hitler and the start of World War II.

The treaty was overly harsh despite President Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to push a fair treaty.

Harsh repayments created such burdens on the citizens of Germany that they were more than ready when Hitler came along and told them they didn’t have to take it anymore. The extreme nationalism that resulted gave Hitler free reign to follow his world domination agenda.

Germany’s Losses from WWI


America was in an isolationist mood and was resolved to live by the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1828 which declared that war would not be used as an instrument of national policy. It had been signed by 62 countries. It did not specify however how nations were to deal with those who broke the pledge and therefore was useless once the belligerents went to war.

Appeasement Of HitlerHitler begins to challenge the restrictions placed

on Germany as a result of the Versailles Treaty of WWI.

He does so in small increments, each one by itself was not enough for European nations to declare war but each small step resulted in a stronger Germany.

Europe “appeases” Hitler thinking, with each violation, that this would be the last one.

Appeasement Of Hitler1. Hitler rebuilds Germany’s military beyond what was allowed by the Versailles Treaty claiming Germany’s right to defend herself

Appeasement Of Hitler2. Hitler annexes (takes over) Austria saying that the majority of Austrians were of German descent and wanted to be reunited with Germany.

Hitler Annexes Austria

Appeasement Of Hitler3. After annexing Austria, Hitler then made a similar claim on behalf of the 3 million German speaking people in the Sudetenland on the western side of Czechoslovakia.

Hitler wanted this area as living space for German expansion as well as for its rich natural resources.

Germany loses the area called Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia via Treaty of Versailles

War in EuropeFrance and Great Britain had promised to protect

Czechoslovakia but balked when it came right down to it.

Hitler met with the French premier and Neville Chamberlain telling them this would be his last territorial demand.

They both signed the Munich Agreement giving over the Sudetenland to Germany with out a fight.

Chamberlain stated “I believe it is peace in our time” He would soon lose his job over this.

The Munich Agreement was signed on Sept. 30 1938, Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939.

Appeasement of Hitler4. Hitler moves troops into the Rhineland on the border of France

Appeasement of Hitler5. Hitler attacks Poland

War in Europe

Winston Chamberlain said it most eloquently:

“Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war.”

Read “A Personal Voice” by Winston Churchill on page 538

War in Europe

Europe’s “lines in the sand”

No build – up of military power – broken

No annexing other countries – broken

No attacking Poland – broken

No attacking Russia - broken

War in EuropeHitler wanted to start his European takeover

with Poland. France and Britain however had promised to defend her. This alone didn’t particularly worry Hitler however another issue did.

Poland had Russia on its eastern border and Russia might be drawn into the fight to protect its own territory.

Stalin and Hitler agreed to a Nonaggression Pact in which Russia promised not to interfere with Hitler in Poland. In secret they also agreed to split Poland between them.

War in Europe

Hitler’s tactic for a swift and decisive victory included the technique dubbed blitzkrieg or lightening war.

Fast tanks and aircraft followed by an overwhelming force of arms allowed for an astonishingly fast surrender by first Poland (3 weeks) and soon thereafter by France.

Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway followed by the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg in order to build coastal bases for attacks against Great Britain.

The Fall of France

France had built a line of defensive bunkers (The Maginot Line) along its borders intended to guarantee its safety from attack. Hitler avoided these heavily fortified areas by marching through the Ardennes a heavily wooded, area with deep ravines. British and French troops retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. They would have been captured had it not been for the most amazing rescue by ordinary seamen.

War in Europe

Show Dunkirk video.

War in Europe

330,000 (out of 400,000) French and British soldiers were rescued at Dunkirk by a variety of fishing vessels that worked all night to move the men before Hitler’s troops got there. More than 800 vessels were involved.

In the summer of 1940, Germany began its attack on Britain. Needing to “soften up” the target, they bombarded the cities of England for two solid months. The “Luftwaffe” composed of some 2000 planes nearly destroyed the British Royal Air Force.

War in Europe

The RAF, Royal Air Force with help from a new invention – radar – allowed the British to plot the flight paths of German planes even in darkness. They were able to decimate Germany’s air power causing Germany to turn its sites elsewhere

The British got a German “Enigma” code machine and were able to decode German messages This let them know German battle plans and ahead of time.

America Moves Toward War

America wanted to remain neutral and not be brought into the war in Europe.

Roosevelt had promised the people he would do his best to keep America out of the conflict.

Instead America provided economic and military aid to help the Allies achieve victory.

America’s military capability would become the deciding factor in WWII and world affairs.

The War in AfricaGermany needed N. Africa especially Egypt for

the Suez Canal and access to the oil fields of the Middle East.

Mussolini’s Italian troops came into play here. Egypt was controlled by Great Britain. Mussolini pushed 60 miles into Egypt but the Brits pushed back.

The Italians were pushed 500 miles across N. Africa. The British took 130,000 Italian prisoners.

The War in AfricaHitler stepped in sending German General Erwin

Rommel (Desert Fox) and his tank corps – Afrika Korps

The Brits were pushed back again to Libya.

The two sides went back and forth with a significant British loss at Tuburk.

Hitler meanwhile persuaded Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to join the Axis Powers. Hitler took Yugoslavia, and Greece by force. The Nazis raised the Swastika over the Acropolis.

War in RussiaHitler‘s plan to invade Russia was called

Operation Barbarossa (His plan for to invade England was called Operation Sea Lion)

Hitler invaded Russia on June 22, 1941

The Germans pushed 500 miles inside Russia.

As the Russians retreated they used the scorched earth policy that they used on Napoleon, destroying anything that might be of use to the enemy.

War in RussiaOn September 8 Germans lay siege to

Leningrad. Hitler intended to starve its 2.5 million people into submission. 1 million died. Leningrad would not surrender.

Hitler looked to Moscow.

On Oct. 2 1941 the Germans got to the edge of Moscow. The Soviets counterattacked but the Soviets held the line. The Germans were stopped and lost 500,000 men. They began to push the Germans back into Germany.


Important terms and names

Axis Powers – Germany, Italy, Japan formed a mutual defense treaty (Tripartate Pact)

Allies – America, England, Russia, and other nations that fought against the Axis Powers

Neutrality Acts – U.S. law that forbid the sale of arms to belligerents (intended to keep America out of the war)

Cash and Carry – a provision that allowed the sale of arms if the purchaser paid cash and transported on their own ships.

Lend-Lease Act – plan by which America could lend or lease arms and supplies to any country whose defense was vital to the United States


In 1935, in an effort to remain neutral. The U.S. Congress passed the Neutrality Acts which forbid the sale of arms or aid to belligerent nations (nations at war)

As Roosevelt became more and more convinced that aid had to be given or Europe would be lost, he looked for ways around the Neutrality Acts.

Cash and Carry was a provision toward that end in which warring nations could buy U.S. arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in their own ships. (Partly this was to reduce American losses to German U-boats that were patrolling the seas between Europe and the U.S.


Due to the possibility of was, Congress passed the Selective Service Act under which all men between the ages of 16 and 35 had to register for the draft.

America has an all volunteer military except in cases of national crisis.

During this time (1940) Roosevelt ran and won the presidency for a third time.


Roosevelt spoke to the nation in 1940 with a different opinion about American neutrality.

“No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it”

“If Britain fell, the Axis powers would be left unchallenged to conquer the world…all of us in the Americas would be living at the point of a gun”

America must become the “Great Arsenal of Democracy”


In June 1941, Hitler had broken his promise to Russia and attacked their western border.

Under the idea “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” Roosevelt began sending supplies to Russia.

Hitler responded to these shipments with German “wolf packs” U-boats – to attack supply ships.

Running in groups of up to 40 they sank 350,000 tons of shipments in a single month. U.S. warships were deployed to defend the convoys.


Based on what you just learned,

How did the United States end up in an undeclared was with Germany?


With America now in an undeclared war with Germany over the U-boat attacks, Roosevelt and Churchill met and agreed to mutual war aims by signing the Atlantic Charter.

It’s essence was that neither country was in pursuit of conquering territory rather only to end the threat of the Axis powers and restore freedom of the seas.


Examine the picture on page 553 of technology used at the time.

Japan attacks the United States

As these events were taking place between Hitler and the Allies, Japan was already in control of Manchuria.

Many of the island nations in the Dutch East Indies (in the Indian Ocean between the peninsula of Thailand and Australia) were French, Dutch, and British colonies and were therefore unprotected.

Japan began with French Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos). In response the U.S. cut off all trade with Japan. This was key as Japan got all its oil from the U.S.


Japan entered into peace talks with the U.S. while secretly preparing for war.

On Dec. 6, 1941 Roosevelt received a decoded message that instructed the peace envoy to reject all American peace proposals.

The next morning, December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

FDR Declares War 12/8/41 Franklin Delano Roosevelt WW II Infamy Speech

Periscope film


In less than two hours, 2,043 Americans were killed and 1,178 were wounded.

21 ships were damaged or sunk and 300 aircraft were damaged or destroyed.

By chance, 3 aircraft carriers were out at sea and escaped harm. Their survival would prove crucial to the wars outcome.


Congress approved Roosevelt’s request for a declaration of war against Japan.

Three days later Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_AZ3j2LbY

World War II in Europe: Everyday

Emperor Tigerstar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_AZ3j2LbY

Japanese VictoriesUse map on page 499

Guam and Wake Islands fell quickly to Japan and Japan then turned to the Philippines.

The Philippines had been under U.S. influence since the Spanish/American War because they had been controlled by Spain. The U.S. used these as refueling stations in the days of coal and steam engine ships.

After 3 months of fighting the Philippines fell

Japanese VictoriesJapan seized Hong Kong, Malaysia, and then

over-ran Thailand, Dutch East Indies (rich in resources)

The Bataan Death March – a forced march of 50 miles up the peninsula was an early example of the cruelty of the Japanese.

Only 54,000 of 70,000 survived.

Primary Source Page 498

The Allies Strike BackThe Japanese seemed unbeatable.

The U.S. wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor. In April 1942 16 B-25 bombers under command of Lt. Colonel James H. Doolittle bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities – it was in important psychological strike.

Explain Japanese sense of invincibility

Defeat of Kublai Khan by kamakazi (Divine wind)

Code of Bushido – never quit, hari kari

Easy defeat of China and Russia

Sense of invincibility and entitlement, contempt for quitters, losers.

The Allies Strike BackWar tactics changed – used air attacks from

aircraft carriers.

Japans advance toward Australia was stopped.

Japan then attacked Midway (between Asia and Pearl Harbor)

Code breakers gave the U.S. early warning.

Tell of Navaho code breakers

Read Battle of Midway pg 500

The Allies Strike BackAmerican pilots destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all 4 aircraft carriers and 1 support ship

Yamamoto retreated – the tide of War in the Pacific was turned

An Allied OffensiveAfter Midway the Allies Took the Offensive

Douglas MacArthur (who had had to retreat from the Philippines)

Developed a plan to deal with the fact that Japan was dug in on hundreds of islands across the island.

He decided to island hop, seizing islands that were not well defended and bypassing those that were.

He made his way steadily toward Japan

An Allied OffensiveGuadalcanal – Island of Death

24,000 of 36,000 Japanese soldiers died before it was abandoned.

The HolocaustMain Idea: During the Holocaust the Nazis

systematically executed 6 million Jews and 5 million other non-Aryans

Terms:

Holocaust

Kristalinacht

Genocide

Ghetto

Concentration Camp


Liberation of Buchenwald Edward Murrow

The HolocaustIn 1942 most of Poland’s 3 million Jews were

sent to labor camps rounded up by Hitler’s “SS” security squadron

The HolocaustThe Persucution Begins

In 1933 shortly after taking power, Hitler removed all jews from government jobs. Jews were blamed for Germany’s economic problems

In 1935 Jews were stripped of the German citizenship, jobs, and property. They had to wear a bright yellow star of David on their clothing for easy identification

The HolocaustOn Nov. 9-10 1938 Kristallnacht – “night of

broken glass” Nazi storm troopers attacked jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and Austria. 30,000 Jews were arrested and blamed for the destruction.

The HolocaustJews started to flee but couldn’t find countries to

take them.

30,000 went to France

80,000 went to Great Britain

30,000 went to Palestine

U.S. Quota system of immigration plus the recent Great Depression resulted in restriction of immigrants to the U.S. Still 100,000 came to the U.S.

The HolocaustHitler’s “Final Solution”

By 1939 only 250,000 Jews were in Germany but millions were in other countries Hitler occupied.

Impatient, he instituted his “final solution”. The systematic genocide of the entire population of Jews.

The HolocaustHitler believed that the Aryans were a superior

rece and the purity of this master race had to be preserved.

Those unworthy were to be enslaved or killed. These included : Gypsies, free masons (supported the Jews), Jehovah’s Witnesses (refused to salute Hitler or join the army)

Also homosexuals, mentally ill, physically disabled, or incurably ill, physically disabled, or incurably ill were targeted.

The HolocaustJews who were not outright shot were sent into

ghettos – crowded neighborhoods in certain Polish cities. They were sealed in with barbed wire and stone walls. Factories were built along side and Jews were forced to work in them. Food was scarce as was fuel for heat. Many died.

Resistance movements operated underground newspapers and schools and food/supply smuggling

The HolocaustConcentration Camps

Finally, Jews were loaded onto trains or trucks and taken to concentration camps.

They were worked, enslaved and killed. In 1942 the mass murder by poison gas began.

Six death camps were built in Poland. Each had huge gas chambers which killed as many as 12,000 a day.

The HolocaustThe largest – Aushwitz told victims they were

going to shower – giving them a bar of soap to share. Instead of water – cyanide gas spilled from the vents while an orchestra played outside to block the sound of the screams.

At first bodies were buried in large pits. 500 men labored to “get rid” of all the bodies.

Crematoriums were built to dispose of the bodies and eliminate some of the stench of decay.

The HolocaustVicious experiments were carried out on some

prisoners by Dr. Mengele a sadistic doctor employed by the Nazis.

Elie Wiesel, an Auschwitz survivor wrote extensively of his experiences.


When German tanks rolled across Poland, Roosevelt revised the Neutrality Acts to include a Cash-and-Carry provision. (This allowed warring nations to buy arms from the U.S. if they paid cash and used their own ships for transport.

By the summer of 1940, France had fallen and Britain was under seige.

The U.S. gave Britain “all aid short of war”


The U.S. traded 50 old destroyers for leases on British military bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland.

In Sept. Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartate Pact and became the Axis Powers

It was aimed at keeping the U.S. out of the war.

Roosevelt asked for an increase in military spending.

Congress passed the Selective Service Act registering all 21 – 35 year olds.


Roosevelt broke tradition and ran for a third term. (He will win a fourth term as well, but will die in office. This breach of unwritten constitution set by George Washington and followed by all other presidents until Franklin D. Roosevelt leads Congress to pass the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution limiting the presidency to 2 terms.


Roosevelt began warning Americans of the danger of Hitler.

“If Britain fell the Axis powers would be left unchallenged to conquer the world – All of us would be living at the point of a gun”

He called America the “Great Arsenal of Democracy”

By late 1940 Britain was out of cash (for Cash-and- Carry)


When German tanks rolled across Poland, Roosevelt revised the Neutrality Acts to include a Cash-and-Carry Provision – warring nations could buy arms from the U.S. if they paid cash and used their own ships for transport.

By summer of 1940 France had fallen and Britain was under seige

U.S. gave Britain “all aid short of war”


The U.S. traded 50 old destroyers for leases on British military bases in the caribbean and Newfoundland.

In Sept. Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartate Pact and became the Axis Powers.

This move was aimed at keeping the U.S. out of the war.

Roosevelt asked for an increase in military spending


Congress passed the Selective Service Act which required the registration of all 21 to 35 year olds.

Roosevelt broke tradition and ran for a third term. This and fourth term led to Congress passing the 22nd Amendment limiting the president to two terms.

The Great Arsenal of Democracy

Roosevelt began warning Americans of Hitler’s dangers saying:

“If Britain fell the Axis powers would be left unchallenged to conquer the world – all of us would be living at the point of a gun”

He said America was the Great Arsenal of Democracy.


By late 1940 Britain was out of cash (for cash and carry)

Roosevelt devised the lend/lease Act in which the U.S. would lend arms and supplies to any country whose defense was vital to the U.S.

When Hitler invaded Russia, the U.S. began to offer lend/lease to Russian too.

Hitler used U-boats to stop supply ships. The U.S. began “self defense” against the U-Boats.


Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly to establish the Atlantic Charter which pledged:

Freedom of the seas

Collective security

No intent of taking of territory


After several U-Boat attacks – the Reuban James was sunk killing 100 sailers – Roosevelt stated “America has been attacked – History has recorded who fired the first shot”

Japan Attacks the U.S.The U.S. was in an undeclared war with

Germany

Japan was already in control of Manchuria, China.

Hideki Tojo launched an invasion into China in 1937.

He then began expanding through French Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) So the U.S. cut off trade with japan including oil. Without oil, Japan was done. They could either negotiate with the U.S. or seize the oilfields of Dutch East Indies.

Japan Attacks the U.S.While Tojo negotiated peace, he prepared for

war and on Dec. 6 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

2,403 Americans were killed, 1178 were wounded.

Nearly the whole Pacific fleet was damaged or destroyed. 300 aircraft were lost.

Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war.

3 days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

Germany’s LossesGermany

Japan Attacks the U.S.Terms:

Charles de Gaulle Fascism

Adolf Hitler Nazism

Winston ChurchillAppeasement

Holocaust Genocide

Axis Powers Allies

Mobilizing for Defense

Terms:

George Marshall

Women’s Army Corp (WAC)

Manhattan Project

Rationing


5 million volunteers enlisted.

Selective Service added another 10 million.

George Marshall recognized a need for women in support roles and formed the WACs offering noncombat positions to women


At first they were given pay but no benefits.

One year later the military added benefits to the women’s jobs of nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, and pilots.


Minorities played a big part in the war:

300,000 Mexican-Americans

1 million African Americans

13,000 Chinese Americans

33,000 Japanese Americans

25,000 Native Americans


Production Miracle

Auto factories retooled within weeks to make tanks, planes, boats and command cars.

Mechanical pencil makers made bomb parts.

Bedspread manufacturers made mosquito netting

Soft drink companies converted from filling soda bottles to filling shells with explosives


Aircraft carriers and cargo ships were built at dizzying speed some in only 4 days using prefabricated factory made parts.

Despite the draft, 18 million workers , 3x as many as in 1941 were laboring in the war industries.


More than 6 million were women (earning 60% as men)

2 million minorities were hired.

Roosevelt demanded full and equitable participation of all workers in the defense industry without descrimination.


Mobilization of Scientists

Creation of the Office of Scientific Research and Development.

OSDR improved sonar and radar for finding submarines underwater.

(remember necessity is the mother of invention)


Improved use of pesticides to fight body lice, a scourge of war.

Penicillin – the miracle drug

Secret Weapon, the atomic bomb, splitting Uranium atoms to release enormous amounts of energy.


In 1939 the Germans had succeeded in splitting the atom. Albert Einstein wrote to Roosevelt to warn him of the consequences of Germany getting a bomb before the U.S.

The Manhattan Project was started.


The Federal Government took control of the economy, diverting many products to the war effort through rationing. They instituted a price freeze, raised taxes, and encouraged Americans to buy war bonds. People collected scrap metal for the war effort.

The War for Europe and N. Africa

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt became close friends during the war.

He encouraged the U.S. to help clear Hitler and then both would tackle Japan


Great Britain is an island, their supplies came by sea. The shipping corridors from the U.S. to Great Britain became prime targets for Hitler’s submarines.

By 7 months into the war, German subs had sunk 681 allied ships.

Cargo ships were organized into convoys for mutual protection. They were escorted by destroyers equipped with sonar. Airplanes helped spot subs as well.


The allies were able to destroy the submarines faster than Hitler could build them.

By mid 1943, the war in the Atlantic had turned.


The North African Front

Stalin wanted the U.S. and Britain to open a second front to draw forces away from Russia.

Churchill and Roosevelt didn’t feel they had enough trained troops to do that successfully


They launched Operation Torch an invasion of Axis controlled North Africa commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1942 107,000 Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oram, and Algiers chasing General Erwin Rommel the legendary Desert Fox.

After a back and forth, they surrendered in May 1943


The Italy Campaign

Troops landed in Sicily and quickly took control. Dictator Benito Mussolini was forced to resign.

Hitler however resolved to keep the Allies on Italian soil and away from Germany.


Because of hard fighting by the Germans, Italy was not freed until 1945 when the war was almost over.


Heroes in Combat

Some who fought in Italy were the pilots of the all black 99th pursuit Squadron, the tusdegee Airmen (Red Tails)

Other heroes included Mexican- Americans and Japanese-Americans


Allies Liberate Europe

Operation Overlord was in the planning stage while the Allies cleared Africa

D-Day – the object of Operation Overlord, a force of 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops under direction of Eisenhower landed on the shores of Normandy France.


The faked plan to attack at Calais to draw German troops away from Normandy.

Planned for June 5 but bad weather delayed the start D-Day became June 6, 1944.

Just after midnight 3 divisions parachuted behind enemy lines. Early morning the largest land-sea-air operation in army history began


From the heights of the cliffs, Germans slaughtered Allied soldiers.

Omaha Beach was particularly bad.

Using massive air and land bombardment, Omar Bradley and George Patton broke through enemy lines.

2 days later Paris was liberated.


By September 1944 France was free as was Belgium and Luxembourg

Franklin won a 4th term, he would die soon after.


The Battle of the Bulge

In Oct. 1944 Americans captured their first German town of Aachen.

In a last ditch effort the German line pushed out in the center with a tank attack hoping to take Antwerp, Belgium and split the Allied line of supplies.


Called the Battle of the Bulge because of how the line bulged out at the attack point.

The Nazis lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, assault guns, 1000 planes. All they could do now was retreat.


On the Eastern front, Russia pressed into German territory. In July 1944, They came upon the first of the death camps. The SS tried to bury and burn the bodies and destroy death chambers.

Soviets found a store house with 800,000 shoes. They said “this is not a concentration camp it is a gigantic murder plant”


In Berlin, Hitler married Eva Brawn his longtime companion. He wrote out a note blaming the Jews for everything. He said he and his wife preferred to die to escape the disgrace of capitulation. He shot himself and she took poison. Their bodies were soaked in gasoline and burned as per his orders.


One week later Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. On May 8 the Allies celebrated V-E Day. Victory in Europe Day. The War in Europe was over.

Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day. On April 12 1945 he had a stroke and died

Henry S. Truman became president.

The War in the Pacific

Despite the attack and losses of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers were safe.

Japan had overrun Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand and much of China. They then took Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands and parts of the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska.


In the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur was forced to retreat leaving thousand of his men behind. He pledged “I shall return”


Doolittle Raid

In the spring of 1942 the Allies wanted to hit back at Japan. Lt Col James Doolittle led 16 bombers in a daring raid over Tokyo. It lifted the spirits of the Americans and shocked the Japanese.


American and Australians managed to stop the Japanese drive toward Australia.


The Battle of Midway

Japan next moved against Midway, northwest of Hawaii. Americans had broken the Japanese code and were forwarned. The Japanese fleet was attacked with torpedo planes and dive bombers. Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser and 250 planes.


This was a turning point in the Pacific War.

Allied troops began island hopping (taking unoccupied or lightly defended islands) and avoiding the heavily defended ones.

Navajo Code Talkers


The Allies Go on the Offensive

The first Allied offensive began in August 1942 at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands – nicknamed the Island of Death.

Personal Voice pg 581


Guadalcanal was Japan’s first defeat on land

Americans continued to leapfrog across the pacific toward Japan.

In Oct. 1944 178,000 Allied troops with General MacArthur marched ashore saying “people of the Philippines, I have returned”


Japanese used a new tactic, kamikaze suicide planes to crash bomb laden planes into Allied ships.

424 kamikaze pilots sank 16 ships and damaged 80 others.

The battle was a disaster for Japan, after 3 days they lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers and 500 planes. Its navy was effectively neutralized


Iwo Jima was strategic as a landing place for U.S. bombers to reach Japan. Mt. Surbachi had a radio tower critical to the Japanese.

20,700 Japanese were entrenched in tunnels and caves.

6000 marines were lost taking the island. Only 200 Japanese survived.

The only obstacle left was the island of Okinawa.


The Battle for Okinawa

April 1945 to June 21, 1945 Marines invaded Okinawa. 7600 Americans died. 110,000 Japanese died, 2 Generals committed ritual suicide rather than surrender.


The battle foreshadowed what was in store for Allies if they continued to fight Japan in this manner.

Churchill predicted 1 million American and ½ million British would be lost.

The Atomic Bomb ends the War

The way was now open to attack Japan. Truman weighed the enormous loss of both American, Allied and Japanese lives to be lost.

He decided to use the new atomic bomb.


J. Robert Oppeheimer, a Jewish-Amerian scientist developed the atomic bomb in a secret program called the Manhattan Project.

It was so secret that Truman did not learn of it until he became president.


The first test came in July 16, 1945 in the New Mexico desert.

On July 25 plans were made to drop 2 bombs on Japan.

Japan was warned it faced “prompt and utter destruction unless it surrendered. Japan refused.


On August 6th a B-29 bomber named the Enola gay dropped “Little Boy” over Hiroshima an important military center.

43 seconds later almost every building collapsed into dust.

Japanese leaders still refused to surrender.


3 days later a second bomb “Fat man” was dropped on Nagasaki leveling one half of the city.

200,000 people died within a year of the blast from radiation .

Emperor Hirohito ordered his generals to surrender.

A formal signing was done on the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The Rebuilding Begins

With Japan defeated the Allies turned to rebuilding.

Feb. 1945, the Yalta Conference was the last conference of the “Big Three”.

Roosevelt was ailing (By April he would be dead.)


For 8 days they discussed the fate of Germany and the post war world.

Stalin wanted to punish Germany because his country had been devastated.

He wanted to keep Germany divided into occupation zones so Germany would never threaten Russia again.


The Nuremberg Trials established the idea of Individual Responsibility and set it firmly in International law. “I was just following orders” would not be an excuse for cruelty.

The Occupation of Japan

Japan was occupied by U.S. forces under General Douglas MacArthur.

In the early years more than 1,100 Japanese from Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to prison guards were arrested and put on trial.

7 including Tojo were sentenced to death.


In the Philippines, China, and other Asia battlegrounds, other Japanese officials were tried for atrocities committed against civilian and prisoners of war.


During the 7 year occupation, MacArthur reshaped japan’s economy to free market principles leading to a booming economy.

MacArthur transformed the government, established a new constitution giving women suffrage rights and guaranteeing basic freedoms.

Today their constitution is known as the MacArthur Constitution.

The Internment of Japanese-Americans

The bombing of Pearl Harbor created a wave of fear of Japanese on the West Coast of the U.S.

Theories that they must have had inside help led to a round-up of Japanese Americans starting with an order of mass evacuation from Hawaii. (Instead 1,444 were held in camps for the duration of the war)


On Feb. 19, 1942 Roosevelt signed an order requiring the removal of people of Japanese ancestry from the coastal states.

110,000 Japanese were shipped to 10 hastily constructed relocation centers.

No charges were filed, no evidence of subversion was found. They lost their homes, businesses, and belongings.


A lawsuit filed established “military necessity”

Korematsu vs. U.S. found it constitutional. Similar action had been taken by President Lincoln during the Civil War.

In 1965 Congress authorized payment of 38 million to the families affected by the Internment of families

Reagan later signed a bill giving 20,000 to every Japanese person sent to a camp.

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