WORLD WAR II

Standard 8

WORLD WAR II VOCAB• Axis Powers• Appeasement• Blitzkrieg• Munich Conference• D-Day• Dwight Eisenhower• Island-Hopping

Campaign• Manhattan Project

• Holocaust• Nuremberg Laws• Pearl Harbor• Hiroshima• Winston Churchill• Franklin D.

Roosevelt• VE Day

ITALY & FASCISM• In other countries, leaders took different

measures. In Italy, the postwar economy was failing as well, and in their desperation the people turned to Benito Mussolini & his new gov’t, fascism

• Mussolini gathered his followers into combat squads called Black Shirts; these groups attacked gov’t officials but were widely supported because of Italians’ distrust of the gov’t. In 1922, the Fascists marched on Rome. Fearing a bloody conflict, the king asked Mussolini to take over as the prime minister of Italy

ITALY & FASCISM (cont.)• Mussolini brought the economy under state

control & helped improve the situation. • In Italy, like other Fascists states, the state

was the highest priority. Propaganda urged people to defer their goals to the state’s goals

STALIN’S SOVIET UNION• Stalin took power in the Soviet Union after the

death of V.L. Lenin. The economy developed into a command economy, where officials make all the basic decisions

• Stalin implemented what he called “five-year plans” that got mixed results & forced collective farming. Any wealthy farmers who resisted their land being confiscated were sent off to prison camp

• Stalin’s reign in Russia is full of human rights violations & constant purging of his political opponents

STALIN’S SOVIET UNION (cont.)

• Despite this cruelty, Stalin used the media as a tool to spread his message about what a great leader he was. He had pictures & statues made of himself that portrayed him as a divine figure. We call this a “cult of personality.”

• Soviet authors had to write & create work that pushed the glory of socialism (socialist realism)

STALIN’S SOVIET UNION (cont.)• Stalin undertook to russify other countries,

building a very large group of nations called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

• Organized religion took a hit under Stalin; atheism (the belief that there is no god) became the state policy. All other religions were intimidated into fleeing

HITLER & NAZI GERMANY• The gov’t of Germany after WWI was called

the Wiemar Republic, a democracy set up with a chancellor. The problem with this group was that Germany was divided

• In this setting, control was up for grabs, & would be grabbed by a political group call the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis for short. The group’s leader was Adolf Hitler, a former soldier from Austria who organized them into a force of “storm troopers” to take power

HITLER & NAZI GERMANY (cont.)• They tried to overthrow the gov’t once in 1923,

& Hitler was arrested. In prison, he wrote Mein Kampf, a book of Nazi goals & ideology. It’s full of racism, fierce nationalism, & anti-Semitism

• After his release, he began to make more great speeches (he was good at that). Germany was still desperate & Hitler’s promise led to more Nazis getting seats in the legislature

HITLER & NAZI GERMANY (cont.)• In 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor & he

made Germany into a one-party state under his empire which he called the Third Reich. He enacted public works programs to rebuild the country

• Like Stalin, Hitler was also very paranoid & would execute anyone with the help of his troops (the SS) & his secret police (the Gestapo). Also like Stalin, he became well-loved & revered through a system of propaganda

THE CAUSES• Campaigns of Aggression• Japan, Italy, & Germany all push the envelope by invading nearby

nations & conquering:• Japan invades Manchuria & China (“Rape of Nanjing”)• Italy invades Ethiopia• Germany break the Treaty of Versailles, annexes Austria &

announces intentions to occupy the Sudetenland, a highly industrial district of Czechoslovakia

• The League of Nations is not empowered to fight the aggression; they issue condemnations that meant nothing• At the Munich Conference, Hitler promises to stop invading if he is

given the Sudetenland. The European nations follow an appeasement policy, give him the land, and he breaks his word months after the conference when he takes all of Czechoslovakia

• Hitler signs nonaggression pact with Russia in August 1939• After Hitler invades Poland, war is declared in September

1939

THE COMBATANTS• Axis Powers• Germany, Italy, Japan

• Allies• Great Britain, France (United States is neutral in the beginning)

THE COURSE• The Blitzkrieg• Hitler’s attack strategy is called the blitzkrieg (“lightning war”)

which involves aerial bombing, fast-moving tanks & infantry.• Once the war begins, Hitler conquers all of Poland & France by

summer of 1940• In Africa, General Erwin Rommel conquers much of North Africa

in 1941-1942• Operation Sea Lion• At this time, Great Britain is all that stands between Hitler &

full occupation of Europe• The German Luftwaffe begins to bomb first military targets,

then cities like London nightly• The British stood strong & kept morale high, the Royal Air

Force fought hard & Hitler was forced to call off the invasion in May 1941

THE COURSE (cont.)• Momentum Stalls• Hitler invades the USSR, breaking the non-aggression pact, in

June 1941. They were about to conquer the entire country when the winter set in. After a 2 ½ yr siege of Leningrad, & an equally bloody attack on Stalingrad, Hitler had to leave Russia without taking it.

• Pacific Theater• Japan pretended to negotiate for peace with the US when the

war broke out, all the while planning an attack on the US Pacific fleet• December 7, 1941- Japanese forces launches a massive multi-

phased attack on the Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The fleet is crippled but not destroyed• The next day, FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan,

calling the attack “a date that will live in infamy.” The declaration opened up the Pacific Theater of the war• Early on in the Pacific Theater, Japan conquered a lot of

territory

THE COURSE (cont.)• Allies Fight Back• Dwight Eisenhower take command in 1942 in Africa, traps

Rommel’s army & forces their surrender in May 1943• In the Pacific, the Japanese suffer huge losses at the Battle of

the Coral Sea & the Battle of the Midway

THE COURSE (cont.)• D-Day & V-E Day• D-Day (June 6, 1944)- A combined Allied army invades

occupied France at the beaches of Normandy. Through hell & fighting, they re-take France & liberate Paris on August 25• In March 1945, Russia and the Allies were closing in to

Germany. At this point, Axis powers began to fold• Mussolini was caught & executed• Hitler commits suicide on May 6

• The Germans surrender on May 7th (V-E or Victory in Europe Day)

THE COURSE (cont.)• The Pacific War• Japan continued to fight after the European War ended• General Douglas MacAthur begins an “island-hopping”

campaign, taking back the Pacific island by island• Facing the cost of an invasion of Japan, the US unleashed a

new technology it had been developing – an atomic bomb – dropping it on Japan on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima. More than 70,000 were killed• After a second bomb fell in Nagasaki on August 9th, the

Japanese surrendered

THE CONSEQUENCES• Allies uncover atrocities of the Holocaust on their

march through Europe. Germans and Austrian involved in the Holocaust were tried in late 1940s at Nuremberg. Several top officials received death sentences. Similar trails were held in Japan over atrocities committed there.

• The United Nations was formed to mediate conflicts in the future.

• Alliances break apart & the foundation is set for the Cold War