World War II and World War II and the Holocaustthe Holocaust

1939-1945

Recap of Causes

Hitler wanted to scrap the restrictions the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany

The Allies and League of Nations were unable to stop Hitler

• British followed policy of appeasement to correct the Treaty of Versailles

• Belief that if Germany treated fairly, there would be a lasting peace

Lead-up to War

Hitler remilitarizes Rhineland in 1935 Hitler builds up army and air force Italy invades Ethiopia in 1935; Allies do

nothing Rome-Berlin Axis formed in 1936 Germany annexes Austria in 1938 Germany dismembers Czechoslovakia in

1938

Spanish Civil War

Prelude to Second World War Monarchy overthrown in 1931 Republic established Fascists vs. Socialists

– Germany and Italy supported Fascists– Soviet Union supported Socialists

Allies did nothing– Fascists took over

War Leaders

The Allies– The United States:

• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (later succeeded by Harry Truman)

– Great Britain• Prime Minister Winston Churchill

– The Soviet Union• Premier Josef Stalin

War Leaders

The Axis– Germany

• Adolf Hitler

– Italy• Benito Mussolini

– Japan• General Hideki Tojo

The War in Europe

Germany invades Poland on September 1, 1939– Britain and France declare war on Germany– Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed

before invasion• Germany and Soviet Union agree to divide Poland

in half• Soviet Union takes Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

– Poland no match for Germany and Soviet Union

The War in Europe

Germany invades Western Europe in 1940– “Blitzkrieg” (lightning war)

• fast moving attacks by tanks and aircraft

– Norway and Denmark conquered in April– Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg conquered in

May– France conquered in June

• Hitler forces armistice on the French

• Northern France occupied; southern France and colonies under Vichy government

The War in Europe

Hitler targets Britain– Britain and Empire alone in war against

Germany• Fall of France leaves Britain vulnerable

• Britain forced to evacuate from France in Dunkirk

– Winston Churchill (1874-1965) becomes Prime Minister in 1940

• Chamberlain resigns in disgrace

The War in Europe

The Battle of Britain (1940)– German strategy: Operation Sea Lion

• Knock out air force before invasion of Britain

• Luftwaffe (air force) begins air raids in southern England between August and September

• Hitler turns on cities

• Radar and British fighters turn back Germans

• Hitler forced to postpone invasion of Britain

The War in Europe

Italy and the war– Mussolini wants to recreate Roman Empire– Alliance with Italy becomes a burden for

Hitler• Mussolini invades Greece and Egypt

• Resistance by Greeks and British force Hitler to divert resources

• Delays Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union

The War in Europe

Hitler turns to the Soviet Union– Despite non-aggression pact– Part of master plan

• Germany would expand to the Soviet Union

• Germans would settle into western Russia

• Poles, Russians, and Slavs would serve Germany

– Stalin warned of German attack but did not listen

The War in Europe

Hitler invades Soviet Union June 22, 1941– Operation Barbarossa– Stalin taken completely by surprise– Soviet Union unprepared by invasion

• Most of experienced officers purged during the 1930s

– German army sweeps through western Russia• Russian winter stops German army outside

Moscow and Leningrad

The War in the Pacific

Japan becomes a major power in Asia in early 20th century– Japan annexes Korea in 1910– Japan takes over German colonies in the Pacific after

World War I Japan militarizes in the 1930s

– Military takes over the government– Depression also hits Japan– Military sees conquest of Asia as solution for

Depression• Also to “liberate” Asia from European imperialism

The War in the Pacific

Japan invades Manchuria in 1931– League of Nations does nothing

• Manchuria becomes Japanese puppet state

– Japan invades the rest of China in 1937– Japan enters Rome-Berlin Axis in in 1940– Japan takes over French Indochina in 1940

Japanese aggression makes United States nervous

The War in the Pacific

United States neutral at the beginning of the war– Americans believed US was “duped” into

World War I– Many Americans did not want to get involved– Congress passed strict neutrality laws in 1938– Franklin Roosevelt wanted to help Britain

• Lend Lease Act gives Britain money and weapons in exchange for naval bases

The War in the Pacific

Japanese aggression threatened American interests in the Pacific

US pressures Japan to withdraw from Indochina– Freezes access to oil and metal supplies– Japanese military government had to decide

whether to withdraw or attack

The War in the Pacific

Japanese navy attacks Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941– Plan was to knock out US Navy so Japan

could take over Asia– Catches US by surprise– Battleships were destroyed– US declares war on Japan December 8, 1941

The War in the Pacific

Japan takes over Southeast Asia and the Pacific– Takes the Philippines, Malaya, East Indies,

Burma, and islands in the South Pacific– The US Navy temporarily crippled

• Battleships destroyed, but not aircraft carriers

– US in charge of the Pacific

The Home Front

Total War– Like World War I, entire economies of nations

involved devoted to war effort• Government in control of the economy

– Rationing of rubber, oil, and anything that would serve the war

– Propaganda used to rally support for the war

Major Battles

Battle of El-Alamein (1942)– First major Allied victory

• In North Africa under leadership of British field marshal Bernard Montgomery

Battle of Midway (1942)– Ended Japanese advance in the Pacific

Battle of Stalingrad (1942)– Ended German advance into Russia

The Holocaust

Hitler begins “Final Solution” for the Jews during the war– Precedents

• Anti-Semitism not new in Europe

• Nuremberg Laws in 1935

• Kristallnacht (1938)– Jewish businesses attacked by Nazis

– Many Jews left Germany

The Holocaust

Construction of concentration camps throughout Europe

Nazis had help from collaborators in occupied countries in rounding up Jews

Jews sent to concentration camps– Worked as slave labor– Eventually killed in gas chambers

The Holocaust

Six million Jews died in the Holocaust– 1 million died in Auschwitz alone

Other populations also suffered– Gypsies, Poles, Russians, Romanians, etc.

Allies informed about the Holocaust as early as 1942 but did nothing

The End of the War

D-Day June 6, 1944– Allies begin liberation of Western Europe

• Through landing at Normandy in France• To provide “Second Front” for the Soviet Union• Landing allowed Allies to begin liberation of France and

neighboring countries and invasion of Germany from the West

– Soviets invade Germany from the East• Suffered the most casualties in the war• 20 million dead

– Germany surrenders on May 8, 1945• Hitler commits suicide

The End of the War

Surrender of Germany allows Allies to focus on Japan– Pacific campaign costly for the US– Fierce fighting on islands

• Iwo Jima, and Okinawa

• Japanese soldiers would not surrender

• Kamikaze tactics used by Japanese

Allied War Aims

Atlantic Charter – Signed in 1941 by Roosevelt and Churchill– To liberate countries occupied by Nazis– To allow liberated countries to choose their

own governments

Unconditional Surrender by Germany and Japan

The End of the War

Secret Allied plan to end war with Japan– Atom bomb (“Manhattan Project”)

• Germans first began research on atom bomb

• Scientists warn Allies

• Allies beat the Germans in developing atom bomb

– US drops first atom bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945

• Warned the Japanese government first

• Second bomb dropped on August 9, 1945 in Nagasaki

• Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945

The End of the War

The Yalta Conference– February 1945– Plans to reconstruct Europe after the war– Soviet Union had troops in Eastern Europe

• “liberated” from the Nazis

• Stalin wanted security on western border

– Stalin promises to allow free elections in Eastern Europe

The End of the War

Potsdam Conference– July 1945– Changes in Allied leadership

• FDR replaced by Harry Truman

• Churchill replaced by Clement Atltlee (Labour)

– Russian border moves westward– Poland takes eastern Germany

The End of the War

Germany divided into four zones– Britain, US, France, Soviet Union

Japan occupied by the United States World War II officially ends on

September 2, 1945– The most destructive war in history

Cities leveled Millions killed: ca. 72 million total (military

and civilian) New fear of atomic war Antagonism between West and USSR= Cold

War Decolonization

Effects of WW II