WORLD WAR II

1939-1945

HITLER’S LIGHTNING WAR Germany used “Blitzkrieg” – or lightening

warPlanes bombed airfields, factories, towns, etc.Then tanks and troops roared into the country Motorized high speed “keep enemy off balance

Poland was conquered within a month Soviet forces took control of

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and part of Finland

INVASION OF POLAND

• Two days later Britain & France declared war

• So begins the phase of the war called the “phony war”

• Coalition Forces wait at the “impenetrable defensive barrier” Maginot Line where all was quiet

• Why did the Allied forces not go on the offensive?

http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/interactives/inside-wwii-interactiveMaginot Line

EUROPEAN NATIONS CONTINUE TO FALL

April 1940, launched blitzkrieg against:

1) Norway2) Denmark

3) Netherlands4) Belgium

Miracle of Dunkirk Germans pushed all

French/British troops to the coastline

British sent an improvised armada to rescue trapped soldiers in France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FddKPGE19wA&feature=relmfu

FRANCE FALLS TO AXIS POWERS

Germany heads toward Paris!Benito Mussolini of Italy put his Pact of Steel

with Hitler into action Italy declared war against France and Britain on

June 10June 22, 1940 – French surrendera new government formed by Marshal Philippe

Petain (France's hero of World War I) requested an armistice

France was divided into two zones, one under German military occupation and the other under Petain's government (south)

Petain’s government was Hitler’s “puppet”

FRANCE (CONT.) Charles de Gaulle –

French general, set up a government in exile in London.Committed to re-

conquering France.Organized Free French

military who battled the Nazis until France was liberated in 1944.

WWII TECHNOLOGY

Air power takes prominent roleLuftwaffe- German air forceParachute troops role increases

Tanks were much improved from WWI Deadlier bombs Radar – to detect planes Sonar – to detect submarines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi7mcJCOWp4

OPERATION SEA LION Hitler now turned his attention to Britain, invasion (Operation Sea Lion) German planes

bombed Britain throughout the summer of 1940

including night raids on London and other industrial centers

THE BATTLE OF BRITAINKnown as the “London Blitz”

8/12/1940 – air attacks on southern England Germans bombed London for 57 nights Considered a failure because British did not

quit Continued until May 10,1941 The Royal Air Force (RAF) eventually defeated

the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) Hitler turns his attention out of Britain onto

the Eastern Front

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister who rallied Britain to fight against Nazi aggression

“voice of calm”

Britain began receiving crucial aid from the U.S. under the Lend-Lease Act, passed by Congress in early 1941.

Churchill rallies the Britishhttp://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive

What is Churchill’s prediction if they lose to the Nazi army?-End of the free world

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZ

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZ

DAMAGES FROM THE LONDON BLITZ

THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE EASTERN FRONT Hitler’s goal: continue expanding

German property….East of the BalkansMediterranean SeaSOVIET UNION

NORTH AFRICA Mussolini takes North Africa in

September of 1940 while the Battle of Britain was going on.

Attacked British controlled Egypt.Egypt’s Suez Canal = key to

reaching oil fields of the Middle East Britain strikes back in December and

by February 1941 Italy needs help…

Hitler lends help to Mussolini Germans come in with the Afrika Korps

German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia

its first commander Erwin Rommel “Desert Fox”

Seize Tobruk= loss for the Allies

THE NAZI EMPIRE CONTINUES TO GROWS

The Axis power grows..

Bulgaria Hungary Romania

Greece and Yugoslavia had pro-British governments

Resist Hitler Hitler invades them

These nations mostly devote resources and political alliance to the Nazis

• They deport Jews to Poland

• The employ secret police forces

• They become puppet governments

OPERATION BARBAROSSA!

1941 go get the USSR!!! The Soviet Union was their allies…Why invade?

Plentiful Soviet resources! Stalin had the largest army in the world but it

wasn’t prepared!3 million Germans caught Stalin’s 5 million

unprepared Soviets retreated

Used “torch-earth policy”

German’s surrounded Leningrad Starved them USSR lost 2.5 million troops

Next moved towards Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union!Germans were halted by Russia’s cold weather

October 1941 Germany fails to take Moscow!

AMERICA GETS INVOLVED End of Neutrality Acts Lend-Lease Act (1941)

Selling or lending of war materials to countries “Vital to US defense”

United States of America supplied Britain, Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations

Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941)FDR and Churchill agree on:

Free trade and the right of people to CHOOSE their government

“Final destruction of Nazi tyranny”

JAPAN ATTACKS; PEARL HARBOR (DAY OF INFAMY)

America controlled Philippine Islands and Guam

Japan had successfully grabbed Manchuria, China and beyond…plans to take Southeast Asia

http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive Japan invades

America sends aid to China 1940 FDR bans the sale of iron, steel and

airplanes to Japan

Japan felt that the US was interfering in their plans to expand

12/7/1941 – Japan surprise attacks American fleet @ Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) 2,400 deaths

US declares war on Japan (12/8/1941) Germany, Italy declare war on US four days

later!

Pearl Harbor

U.S.S. ARIZONA MEMORIAL

TOTAL WAR Factories stopped making cars &

refrigerators & made planes & tanks

Shoes and sugar were rationed Use of propaganda War ended unemployment of the

depression Japanese people in US and

Canada Lost their jobs and propertyForced into camps Seen as a security risk

US PROPAGANDA ANTI - GERMAN

US PROPAGANDA – ANTI - JAPANESE

US PROPAGANDA ANTI - JAPANESE

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