Chapter 22 Section 2

The Global Conflict: Axis Advances

Setting the Scene

"Hitler will collapse the day we declare war

on Germany," predicted a confident French

general on the eve of World War II. He

could not have been more wrong. World

War II, the costliest war in history, lasted

six years—from 1939 to 1945. It pitted the

Axis powers, chiefly Germany, Italy, and

Japan, against the Allied powers, which

eventually included Britain, France, the

Soviet Union, China, the United States, and

45 other nations.

I. Early Axis Gains

On September 1,1939, Nazi forces stormed into Poland in what was known as a blitzkrieg (lightning war)

I. Early Axis Gains

Soviet forces invaded Poland from the east

and within a month, Poland ceased to exist

I. Early Axis Gains

During the winter of 1939-40, French and

British troops waited behind the Maginot Line

for Germany’s attack - the "phony war”

I. Early Axis Gains

In April 1940, Hitler launched a blitzkrieg

against Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands

and Belgium

I. Early Axis Gains

British forces were trapped and Britain sent

naval vessels to rescue the troops - the

“Miracle of Dunkirk”

I. Early Axis Gains

As German forces headed toward Paris, Italy

declared war on France - France surrendered

on June 22,1940

I. Early Axis Gains

Germany occupied northern France and in the

south set up a "puppet state," with its capital

at Vichy

French Vichy leader Philippe Petain and Nazi

leader Adolf Hitler meet on October 24 1940.

I. Early Axis Gains

In October 1940, Italy invaded Greece and

met stiff resistance, so Germany sent

reinforcements

I. Early Axis Gains

In 1941 and 1942 German General Erwin

Rommel pushed the British back across the

desert toward Cairo, Egypt

Rommel, the "Desert Fox"

II. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz

Hitler planned to invade Britain in Operation

Sea Lion and began the London Blitz in

August 1940

II. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz

Although much of London was damaged and

15,000 people were killed, Operation Sea Lion

failed

III. Operation Barbarossa

In June 1941, Hitler began Operation

Barbarossa - the conquest of the Soviet Union

- and caught Stalin unprepared

III. Operation Barbarossa

The Nazis reached Moscow and Leningrad

before Russia's "General Winter" stopped the

advance

Soviet troop on the offensive

III. Operation Barbarossa

More than a million Leningraders died during

the siege and Stalin urged the Allies to open a

second front

IV. American Involvement Grows

Although the US was neutral, FDR found

ways around the Neutrality Acts to aid to

Britain and the USSR

President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing the nation

IV. American Involvement Grows

In 1941, Congress to passed the Lend-Lease Act, and Roosevelt and Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter

FDR and British PM Winston Churchill

V. Japan Attacks

In 1940, Japan seized Indochina and the

Dutch East Indies - the US banned the sale of

war materials

V. Japan Attacks

Japan’s aims were to create a “Greater East

Asia Co-prosperity Sphere” and felt the US

was interfering with their plans

V. Japan Attacks

December 7, 1941 - Diplomacy failed and General Tojo Hideki ordered an attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

US Battleship Arizona, sunk with the loss of 1177

crew members

In the long run, the Japanese attack on Pearl

Harbor would be as serious a mistake as Hitler's

invasion of Russia. But the months after Pearl

Harbor gave no such hint. Instead, European and

American possessions in the Pacific fell one by

one to the Japanese. They captured the

Philippines and seized other American islands

across the Pacific. They overran the British

colonies of Hong Kong, Burma, and Malaya,

pushed deeper into the Dutch East Indies, and

completed the takeover of French Indochina.

By the beginning of 1942, the Japanese

empire stretched from Southeast Asia to the

western Pacific Ocean. The Axis powers had

reached the high point of their successes.