World War II 1939-1945. Fascist Militarism &Aggression Appeasement at Munich Molotov-Ribbentrop...

World World War IIWar II1939-19451939-1945

Fascist Militarism Fascist Militarism &Aggression&Aggression

Appeasement at Appeasement at MunichMunich

Molotov-Ribbentrop Molotov-Ribbentrop PactPact

Germany Invades Germany Invades PolandPoland

Causes

Hitler receives ovation after Munich Agreement

Czech Women, 1938

Phony War: Phony War: 3 September 1939 -10 May 19403 September 1939 -10 May 1940

Twilight WarTwilight War: SitzkriegSitzkrieg

German Military and German Military and Diplomatic Diplomatic Successes Successes in the Westin the West1939-19411939-1941

5.10.40: 3 Front Assault: Nazi 5.10.40: 3 Front Assault: Nazi Invasion of Denmark, Norway, Invasion of Denmark, Norway, France (France (Sichelschnitt)Sichelschnitt), Belgium, , Belgium, Luxembourg & the NetherlandsLuxembourg & the Netherlands

May –June 1940: May –June 1940: Evacuation of Evacuation of DunkirkDunkirk

6.16.40: 6.16.40: Germans enter Paris: Germans enter Paris: Vichy GovernmentVichy Government signs armistice signs armistice with Naziswith Nazis

Germans Control Western Germans Control Western EuropeEurope

German Success?• German doctrine/strategy

– Flexibility, speed, leadership– Armored divisions– Sichelshnitt: sickle stroke

• French Failure– Underestimated Germans through Ardennes

forest– Doctrine had not changed from wwi (inflexible)– No back-up plan

Evacuation of Dunkirk,

June 1940

Fortress EuropeFortress Europe

Nazi’s Enter Paris, June 1940

War with Britain War with Britain (1940-1941)(1940-1941)

•Battle of BritainBattle of Britain

•Battle for the AtlanticBattle for the Atlantic

•Operation Sea LionOperation Sea Lion•German Blitzkrieg German Blitzkrieg ((42,000 civilians killed)42,000 civilians killed)

•RRommel’s ommel’s Afrika KorpsAfrika Korps

German BlitzkriegGerman Blitzkrieg

Rommel’s Afrika KorpsRommel’s Afrika Korps

The Desert FoxThe Desert Fox

General Bernard MontgomeryGeneral Bernard Montgomery

The Eastern The Eastern FrontFrontInvasion and defeat Invasion and defeat

of Yugoslavia and of Yugoslavia and GreeceGreece

Middle Eastern Middle Eastern Campaign: Iraq, Syria Campaign: Iraq, Syria and Lebanonand Lebanon

Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa

1941: New 1941: New Participants & Participants &

Allied ExpansionAllied ExpansionJune 22 1941: Germans Invade Soviet Union (Russians occupy Poland & Baltics)

December 11, 19411941: Germany declares War on US

Eastern Front• Early German successesEarly German successes• Wanted to avoid Napoleonic experienceWanted to avoid Napoleonic experience

– Northern assault to Leningrad– Center assault Moscow– Southern assault through Ukraine to Stalingrad

• Plan to attack on flanks and encircle Plan to attack on flanks and encircle MoscowMoscow

• Germans began outdistancing supply Germans began outdistancing supply lineslines

• Hitler diverted troops to Center to drive Hitler diverted troops to Center to drive for Moscow (for Moscow (Operation TyphoonOperation Typhoon))

• Fall/Winter 1941 rain, coldFall/Winter 1941 rain, cold– Germans reached outskirts of MoscowGermans reached outskirts of Moscow

• Soviets launch massive counterattackSoviets launch massive counterattack

Turning the Tide in Turning the Tide in the Eastthe East

Battles of Battles of Stalingrad & KurskStalingrad & Kursk

• Germans hadn’t achieved any of its goals• Summer 1942:Offensive in the South – oil

fields, Stalingrad• Battle of Stalingrad (7/1942 - 2/1943)

– 250,000 German troops surrendered

• Summer 1943: Operation Citadel – encircle Kursk – turning point– One of the Largest Battles of WWII– Germans not capable of launching another

offensive

• Eastern Front essentially over

Allied SuccessesAllied SuccessesOperation Torch: Summer 1942North West African Invasion

Rommel, Patton (Bradley)& Montgomery

Operation Husky: Invasion of Sicily

June 1943 Italian Government collapses

Operation Overlord: D-Day June 1944 Invasion of

Normandy

"Mes Amis", FDR said, "We come among you to repulse the cruel invaders — have faith in our words — help us where you are able

— Vive La France eternelle".

The soft underbelly of Europe

Churchill

Mussolini and his mistress are hanged in Milan

June 1944

Collaborators Punished!

Allied Bombing Campaign

• Winston Churchill, speech, 22nd June 1941.

We shall bomb Germany by day as well as night in ever increasing measure, casting upon them month by month a heavier discharge of bombs, and making the German people taste and gulp each month a sharper dose of the miseries they have showered upon mankind.

• Members of the RAF bombing crews became increasingly concerned about the morality of area bombing. Roy Akehurst was a wireless operator who took part in the raid on Dresden.

It struck me at the time, the thought of the women and children down there. We seemed to fly for hours over a sheet of fire - a terrific red glow with thin haze over it. I found myself making comments to the crew: "Oh God, those poor people." It was completely uncalled for. You can't justify it.

Firestorms

Dresden, February 1945 est. 35,000 deaths

Allied ConferencesAllied ConferencesJune 1943: Casablanca (FDR & Churchill)

Unconditional German surrender

November 1943: Tehran (Big 3)

Planned invasion of Europe

February 1945: Yalta (Big 3)

Plans for postwar Europe

July 1945: Potsdam (Truman & Atlee &Stalin)

Japan’s unconditional surrender

Beginning of Cold War Tensions…

Tehran ConferenceTehran Conference

Yalta ConferenceYalta Conference

Potsdam ConferencePotsdam Conference

StatisticsStatisticsTotal Deaths

Military Civilian

USSR

GERMANY

FRANCE

US

BRITAIN

ITALY

20,600,000

6,850,000

810,000

500,000

388,000

410,000

13,600,000

3,250,000

340,000

500,000

326,000

330,000

7,000,000

3,600,000

470,000

62,000

80,000

Total Deaths: Total Deaths: estest. 52,200,000. 52,200,000

Times Square CelebrationTimes Square Celebration

V-E Day 1945V-E Day 1945

The Holocaust• 1933, Jewish population of Europe stood at over

nine million. – By 1945, nearly two out of every three European Jews

had been murdered as part of the "Final Solution" (1941)– Approx 6 million

• Other victims included – 200,000 Roma (Gypsies)– at least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients

(Euthanasia Program)• 2-3 million Soviet prisoners of war were murdered

or died of starvation, disease, neglect, or maltreatment.

• Also targeted – non-Jewish Polish intelligentsia – homosexuals and others whose behavior did not match

prescribed social norms– political opponents (Communists, Socialists, and unionists)

Martin Niemöller

First they came for the communists,and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for meand there was no one left to speak out for me.

Scholarly Debate, Why?• Christopher Browning,

Ordinary Men (1992, 1998)• Daniel Goldhagen,

Hitler’s Willing Executioners (1996)• Used same research materials – postwar judicial

interrogations of Police Battalion 101

Debated Question:

Was the Holocaust rooted in a long history of European anti-Semitism, or a more complex set of factors including a blind deference to authority?

Nuremberg Trials• Nuremberg, Germany

• 1945-1949

• Arranged at Meetings during War

• Legacy– International criminal

courts

– Nuremberg Defendants

sources

• http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143