World War IIMr. OwenAP WorldSpring 2012

Road to War in Asia

Japanese aggression in China1937: major attack on the Chinese heartland started WWII in Asia

1940–1941: Japan launched conquest of European colonies (Indochina, Malaya , Burma , Indonesia , and the Philippines )

July 1941: U.S. imposes oil embargo on Japan

Dec 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor

The Road to War in Europe

Britain , France , and the USSR were unwilling to confront German aggression

Appeasement

War was perhaps actually desired by the Nazi leadership

Germany quickly gained control of most of Europe

Germany ’s new tactic of blitzkrieg was initially very successful

World War II: The Outcomes of Global

ConflictAn estimated 60 million people died in WWII

USSR suffered more than 40 percent of the total number of deaths

China also suffered massive attacks on civiliansin many villages, every person and animal was killed

the Rape of Nanjing (1937–1938): 200,000–300,000 Chinese civilians were killed;

countless women were raped

Indiscriminate Bombing

World War II: The Outcomes of Global

ConflictThe Holocaust: 6 million Jews were killed in genocide

WWII left Europe impoverished its industrial infrastructure in ruins,

millions of people homeless or displaced

Weakened Europe could not hold onto its Asian and African colonies

WWII consolidated and expanded the communist world

World War II: The Outcomes of Global

ConflictWWII consolidated and expanded the communist world

Growing internationalism

Creation of the United Nations (1945)

The new dominance of the United States as a global superpower

The Recovery of Europe

Europe recovered in the second half of the twentieth century.

How Europe recovered:Industrial societies are very resilient

The major states of Western Europe integrated their recovering economies

An extension of European civilization existed: the United States

The United States took the initiative to rebuild Europe : The Marshall Plan

Japan underwent a parallel recovery process.