World War II World War II

European & European & Pacific Pacific

TheatresTheatres

european

theatre1938-1945

Fascist rise to power

Hitler addresses the Reichstag after Anschluss

Molotov signsNazi-SovietNon-Aggression PactStalin in background

Early efforts of Appeasement•Germany invades the Sudetenland

•Munich Agreement with Chamberlain

•America First Committee

Omaha, NE - 1938

Anti-war labor pamphlet

Nazi Troops March Into Polandin September 1939

FDR announced neutrality, but stated “Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or his conscience.”

1939 Neutrality Actwith FDR support for “cash and carry” policy

Dunkirk Beach

Private boats that helped Allied troops evacuate Dunkirk

In June 1940 France surrendered.

On September 3, 1940, FDR began the U.S. policy of Lend-Lease (Cash-n-Carry) “We must be the great arsenal of democracy.”

First peace-time draft begins

StukaSpitfire and V-1

Spitfire

V-1

The German “blietzkrieg” overwhelmed enemies and gave the Nazis control over continental Europe by mid-1940

Hitler and Franco

Joseph Goebbels

RudolphHessDeputy

HeinrichHimmlerSS Commander

ErwinRommellDesert Fox

RudolfHoessAuschwitzCommandant

German Advances:

WEST: 1938-1940, Appeasement

1940, Battle of Britain

EAST:1938-1941, Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact

1941 Invaded the Soviet Union

NORTH: “soft” invasion and creation of puppet gov’ts

SOUTH: 1939, alliance with Franco of Spain

NORTH AFRICA: 1939, Rommel dominates to attempt to cut off Middle East from Allies

ATLANTIC OCEAN: submarine and battleship warfare

Battle of Britain

Bomb shelters became a way of life in London, Liverpool, Manchester, and other manufacturing centers in England.

CoventryCathedral

“We have not yet begun to fight!”

"Blood, Toil, Tears and SweatBlood, Toil, Tears and Sweat"

       "I would say to the House, as I said to those who have

joined this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood,

toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the

most grievous kind. We have before us many long months

of toil and struggle.

       "You ask what is our policy. I will say, it is to wage You ask what is our policy. I will say, it is to wage

war with all our might, with all the strength that God can war with all our might, with all the strength that God can

give usgive us, to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never

surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human

crime.

       "You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word:

Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror.

Victory however long and hard the road may be. For Victory however long and hard the road may be. For

without victory there is no survivalwithout victory there is no survival."

Four Freedoms Speech Four Freedoms Speech (Jan. 6, 1941)

1.1. Freedom of speech and expressionFreedom of speech and expression2.2. Freedom of worshipFreedom of worship3.3. Freedom from wantFreedom from want4.4. Freedom from fearFreedom from fear

Lend-Lease Act, 1941Lend-Lease Act, 1941Over $50,000,000,000 in aid for the Allies (most to

Britain)This decision ended all claims of neutrality. Germany immediately began submarine attacks on U.S. merchant ships. The U.S. became the “Arsenal Arsenal of of DemocracyDemocracy.”

Atlantic Charter Atlantic Charter - August 9, 1941

First meeting of Churchill & FDR. Agreement of common interests between the two nations.

Embargos on Japan

July 1940 EmbargoJuly 1940 Embargo: following Vichy France’s assistance into Indochina, the U.S. began an oil, scrap iron, and steel embargo.

July 1941 EmbargoJuly 1941 Embargo: FDR froze Japanese funds in the U.S., closed the Panama Canal to Japan, and stopped sale of all U.S. products to Japan.

Japanese prepare for surprise attack at Pearl Harbor

Germany, Italy, and Japan formed the Axis Powers in the 1930s. Japan’s role was “Asia for Asians.”

December 7, 1941 “A day which will live in infamy.”

First wave atHickam Field

Corregidor, Philippines

Congress declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941

Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on Dec. 11th

FDR declared that “Dr. Win the War” had replaced “Dr. New Deal.”

Nearly every resource and every person played some part in the war effort.

Ike, Patton, Truman

Supreme Allied CommanderGeneral in

charge of Operation Torch

442nd Troopsin Italy

Operation Torch:

1. Protect Middle East (control North Africa)

2. Invade Italy

Operation Overlord begins June 6, 1944

Eisenhower speaks to troops

The Normandy Invasion was the largest sea to land invasion in the history of the world.

June 6th: 150,000

By July 4th: 1,000,000 men had landed.

Goals of Operation Overlord:1.Create a 2nd Front (western)2.Go to Berlin

Normandy Nazi POWs

Operation Overlord

Deception and misdirection limited casualty figures:

Normandy Invasion (June 6, 1944)

Casualties:

United States 6,603 (1,465 dead & 1,928 missing)

Britain 2,700

Canada 946

Germany ~8,000

Total Deaths during Operation Overlord:

United States 9,386 Britain 17,769

Canada 5,002 Poland 650

Germany 77,866

Paris is liberated

Battle of the BulgeDecember 1944 – January 1945

Bastogne

Battle of the Bulge

The Big Three at Yalta (Feb. 1945)

Allied bombing of Berlin

The devastation of Berlin

Allies enter Germany

Nuremberg in ruins

Mussolini, his mistress, and aides are shot and hung by theirfeet for people to spit on

Keitel signs surrender; the war in Europe is over

VE DayVE DayMay May 19451945

The Allies discover thehorrors of the Holocaust

11,000,000 died in death camps

6,000,000 Jews

Spoils of war werehidden by the Nazisin Salt mines andstorage facilities.Many illegally foundtheir way to museums.

Bags of cash

Allies learn of Polish massacres fromNazi documentation

22 top Nazis were tried and convicted of war crimesat Nuremberg

pacific

theatre1941-1945

Emperor Hirohito

Hideki Tojo

Japan followed its hereditary heir, the emperor. However, its industrialization was followed by a government dominated by the military.

“Asia for Asians” was a propaganda technique used to inspire anti-American feelings. It generally failed as the Japanese brutalized their neighboring Chinese, Filipinos, and Koreans.

Japan vs. China

Japan invades Manchuria in 1931 for oil and minerals

Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Left to Right:

Chiang Jieshi (Chang Kai-shek), Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill

December 7, 1941

Japan surprise attacks the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Military Deaths: 2,117

Wounded: 781

Civilian deaths: 57

In 3 hours

MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific, tells troopsin the Philippines, “I shall returnI shall return!”

On December 8, 1941 Japan attacked U.S. forces in the Philippines

Americans and Filipinos surrender at Corregidor

85 miles in 6 days with only one meal of rice

Bataan

Death

March

April

1942

78,000 marched to POW camps (24,000 died during march)

Total captives from 1942 to 1945:

24,000 U.S. (12,000 died) 64,000 Filipinos (~66% died)

Japan did not attend the 1929 Geneva Convention for POWs.

Chinese guard Flying Tiger guarding P-4 planes

The Battle of Midway was the first decisive American victory in the Pacific War as it began the U.S. move toward Japan

June 1942

Japanese admiral Yamamoto had noted without complete victory at Pearl Harbor the “giant would be awakened.”

Island HoppingIsland HoppingThe idea was to capture certain key islands, one after another, until Japan came within range of American bombers.

Guadalcanal (Dec. 1942): beginning of march to Japan

Iwo Jima (Feb. 1945):

70,000 U.S. troops (6,281 dead, 20,000 wounded)

27,000 Japanese (20,000 dead)

Okinawa (March to June 1945):

60,000 U.S. (7,613 dead, 31,800 wounded)

142,000 Japanese casualties including thousands of civilians

1,900 kamikazee missions

American marines raise flag at Iwo Jima

Allied soldiers at Saipan beach head

B-29 crashes onto Iwo Jima

Japanese culture did not allow for surrender.

It was the ultimate dishonor for a soldier to be taken prisoner. Japanese soldiers therefore treated POWs incredibly harsh because of their culture.

MacArthur returnsThe Philippine Islands are liberated

Tokyo RoseAmerican-born propagandists not only antagonized American troops but often misinformed Japanese citizens of their plight in the war. It also led to American distrust of Japanese-Americans living in the United States.

The Death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

As the Allies were converging on Berlin and Tokyo, FDR died at his retreat in Warm Springs, GA on April 12, 1945

Harry S Truman became the 33rd president and inherited the war. When Truman asked Eleanor, “Is there anything I “Is there anything I can do for you?” can do for you?” she responded, “Is there anything “Is there anything we can do for you? For you we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now.”are the one in trouble now.”

Bombing over Tokyo

Truman announcesrain of ruin will fallon Japan

Manhattan ProjectIn 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to FDR on behalf of his colleagues who recently had fled Nazi Germany. Einstein warned FDR to begin work on an atomic bomb because the Germans were already working on one.

FDR ignored his prompting until Pearl Harbor and then devoted $2,000,000,000 $2,000,000,000 to the research. On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was set off near Alamogordo in the New Mexican desert. The explosion produced a flash that lit mountains 10 miles away, vaporized the bomb tower, and turned the desert sand to glass for 800 yards around.

Fat Man

Little Boy

J. Robert Oppenheimer

“I am become deathDestroyer of worlds”

HIROSHIMA, Japan, August 6, 1945—The first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped today on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Of the 344,000 people living there, approximately one hundred thousand were killed instantly. Another hundred thousand died later from burns and radiation poisoning. The ten-foot-long bomb, code-named Little Boy, was carried by the Enola Gay. This B-29 bomber dropped Little Boy from an altitude of thirty-two thousand feet. The bomb exploded two thousand feet above the ground, leveling more than four square miles of the city. Waves of flame engulfed the rest of Hiroshima as the river flooded, trapping wounded people too weak to move. President Truman justified the massive civilian casualties by pointing to the hundreds of thousands of U.S. servicemen who might have died during an invasion of Japan.

Paul Tibbets before and after thebombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

Hiroshima in ruins

Patterns burned into skin

Keloids over burns

Japan refused to surrender following the attack on Hiroshima. Truman then ordered a second bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 (3 days later). Japan surrendered on August 10th.

VJ Day

August 1945

MacArthur presides over Japanese surrender

The “Occupation”The U.S. occupied conquered Japan from August 1945 to April August 1945 to April 1952.1952.

Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur essentially ran Japan from VJ Day until the Korean War

Due to the fear of communist expansion, the U.S. treated Japan more like an ally than a conquered enemy almost immediately after the war. Numerous war crimes were never prosecuted. Somehow Emperor Hirohito was absolved of all involvement in the war and was completely exonerated.

The U.S. outlawed criticism of its

occupation with Japan and even forbade the issue of censorship

from discussion

A) Did the United States need to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan?

•Island hopping vs. atomic bomb drop•Retaliation for Pearl Harbor•Anti-Asia history

B) Did the United States need to drop a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan?

•Teheran Conference (Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1943)•Beginning of Cold War led to “sharing” Germany, Vietnam and Korea

Queen Mary brings troops home

“The real war involves getting down there and killing people. And being killed yourself or just barely escaping it. And it gives you attitudes about life and death that are unobtainable anywhere else. The rest of it is just the show-biz war.”

--Paul Fussell