Chapter 21The SecondWorld War
1939-1945
1936 Italy and
Germany form Axis Powers
Britain and France follow a policy of Appeasement
Britain's Neville Chamberlain
Lebensraum = Living Space
1936 Occupied Rhineland
1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement 1938 Munich
Agreement(Czech Sudetenland)
1938 Annexed Austria
“Many people, no doubt, honestly believe that they are
only giving away the interests of Czechoslovakia, whereas I fear
we shall find that we have deeply compromised, and perhaps
fatally endangered, the safety and even the independence of
Great Britain and France … There can never be friendship
between the British democracy and the Nazi …”
Winston Churchill on the Munich Pact
Long-Term Causes of WWII
French Marshal Ferdinand Foch
"This is not peace. It is an armistice for
20 years."
“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That
is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag
the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist
dictatorship. ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you
have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the
country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
-Hermann Goering
Green = Allied PowersOrange = Axis Powers
1939 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and the division of Poland
“Poland will be depopulated and
settled with Germans. … After
Stalin’s death … we will break the Soviet Union. Then there will begin the dawn of the German rule
of the earth ...”1939 speech to German generals
Sept. 1, 1939 German Blitzkrieg into Poland
UK and France declared war on Germany
World War II 1939-1945
1940Tripartite Pact
Axis Powers
Later Affiliations = Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Thailand
April-May 1940 Blitzkrieg Denmark, Norway, Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg
May, 1940 Failure of the French Maginot Line
June, 1940 Italy Invaded France
Battle of DunkirkUK and French retreated to England
June 22, France surrendered rather than be destroyed
Vichy France worked with the Germans
Philippe Pétain
Reasons for German success1. Overwhelming speed of air and amour2. No two front war3. Enemies not fully prepared for war
Charles de Gaulle
(1890-1970)
Leader ofFree France resistance
Involved in battles in Europe, Russia, Africa, and Britain
Guerilla war in France and colonies
July-October 1940Battle of Britain
Winston Churchill
(1874-1965)Prime Minister(1940-1945 and
1951-1955)
Conservative
“Never give in--never, never, never,
never, in nothing great or small, large
or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good
sense. Never yield to force; never yield to
the apparently overwhelming might
of the enemy”
June 1941 Hitler
attacked the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Soviet General Georgy Zhukov
(1896-1974)
1941-1944Siege of Leningrad500,000 starved to death
“In the Soviet
Army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance”
The Pacific FrontEmpire of JapanExpansion and Recourses
Emperor Hirohito 1901-1989
General and PM Hideki Tojo
1884-1948
1937 Brutal Japanese invasion into China
December 7, 1941Pearl Harbor attacked
The Grand AllianceUSA, Britain, USSR, and resistance
groups throughout Europe
The Allies had 3 policies that led them to victory
1. Europe First (then Japan)
2. Military needs before political differences
3. The principle of “Unconditional Surrender” (1943 Casablanca Conference)
Henri Giraud
Franklin Roosevelt
Charles de Gaulle
Winston Churchill
Allied Advantages
PopulationProductive capacityResourcesControl of the seas
North African Front
Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, etc.
1942 USA, British, and colonies battled the Nazis
GermanGen. Erwin
Rommel(1891-1944)
“The Desert Fox”
British Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery
(1887-1976)
Led soldiers in North Africa, Italy, Normandy,
and Germany
Montgomery with his
puppies Hitler and Rommel
1942 Battle of El AlameinBritish defeated Rommel and Axis powers
pushed out of North Africa by 1943
Eastern Front 1942-1943Battle of Stalingrad
Stalin angered by lack of assistance80% of Axis military attacked USSR
1944 = 228 Axis divisions on E. Front, 61 on W. Front
Bloodiest battle in historyCombined casualties above 1,500,000
A Nazi defeat and a turning point
1943 Soviets begin to
push toward
Germany
1943 Italian Fascists defeatedGermany wont give up Italy
1944 Allies took Rome1945 Mussolini Killed by communist partisans
1946 Kingdom of Italy Ended
1943 Tehran ConferenceUK and US will open a 2nd Front (D-Day)Stalin guaranteed Polish border adjustments
1944 Percentages Agreement divided influence of Eastern Europe
Countries Soviet Union UK/USA
Bulgaria 75% 25%
Greece 10% 90%
Hungary 50% 50%
Romania 90% 10%
Yugoslavia 50% 50%
Operation OverlordJune 6, 1944 “D-Day”
Normandy coast
Liberate France and push back Germans
8-25-1944 Paris Liberated
Gen. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
(1889-1952)
Led French 1st Army in 1944 Operation
Dragoon liberation of S. France
Allies pushed toward GermanyUS & UK from the west and
USSR from the east
Battle of the BulgeDec 1944 - Jan 1945
The Ardennes Forest,
Belgium
Allied VictoryThe road to Germany is open
1945 Firebombing of Dresden
~40,000 Civilian Deaths
90% Of The City
Destroyed
Late April 1945 Berlin surrounded
April 30, 1945 Hitler
killed himself
May 7 Germany SurrendersV-E Day May 8, 1945
Montgomery, Eisenhower, Zhukov and de Tassigny
Why did Germany lose?• Resources• Industrial
production• Multi-front war• Allied
leadership
Pacific Front
Naval Warfare and“Island Hopping”
J. Robert Oppenheimer
(1904-1967)Physicist
The Manhattan
Project
Trinity July 16, 1945
1st Atomic Bomb
Should the USA use the atom bomb?
Pro and Con?
?
Curtis LeMay(1906-1990)
US Air Force General
“There are no innocent civilians.” New York Times, August 1945
Curtis LeMay(1906-1990)
US Air Force General
“Killing Japanese didn't bother me very
much at that time... I suppose if I had lost the
war, I would have been tried as a war criminal”
August 6, 1945The Enola Gay
dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima
70,000+ killed instantly100,000+ died later
August 9, 1945 “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki
40,000+ killed, 25,000+ wounded
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/classic/
“The atomic bomb was more than a weapon
of terrible destruction; it
was a psychological
weapon”
Secretary of War Henry Stimson
Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri
Aug 14 Japan surrendered
V-J Day Aug 15
• USA: 295,000• UK: 388,000 (62,000 civilian)
• Italy: 410,000 (80,000 civilian)
• France: 810,000 (470,000 civilian)
• Japan: 1,806,000 (300,000 civilian)
• Germany: 7,060,000 (3,810,000 civilian)
• Poland: 6,850,000 (6,000,000 civilian)
• China: 11,324,000 (10,000,000 civilian)
• USSR: 25,568,000 (16,900,000 civilian)
Total Deaths
Peace Conference and SettlementsUnconditional Surrender
Germany• Divided and
destroyed
Japan• Empire ended – Korea
and China evacuated• 1947 democratic
constitution • 1952 occupation ended• 1960 USA Alliance treaty
• Agreed to divide Germany• Russia occupied Poland, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia
• Pro-Russian govts installed in E. Europe–Tension grew and US/UK pushed for free
elections in occupied territories
Feb. 1945 Yalta Conference
“I consider it completely
unimportant who in the party will
vote, or how; but what is
extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how.”
The Eastern
Bloc
• Truman more aggressive–Demanded free elections in the east–Recent Trinity test
• Stalin refused free elections–Wanted security against Germany
• Germany Divided• US wanted to avoid war with USSR
1945 Potsdam Conference
Truman cut off aid to Russia when Stalin’s insisted on communist govts in E. Europe
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