Objective: Analyze the causes and course of World War II and evaluate it as the end of one era and the beginning of another.

 Created new air force & began military draft in 1935  Sent troops into Rhineland, 1936; violated Treaty of Versailles  Britain & France followed policy of appeasement  Hitler & Mussolini became allies (Rome- Berlin Axis, 1936)  Hitler achieved Anschluss or union with Austria, 1938  Hitler demanded the Sudetenland (western Czech.)

 Munich Conference – high point of appeasement (United Kingdom, France and Italy)  Hitler & Stalin signed Nonaggression Pact, August 1939 Included secret agreement on spheres of influence Sent armies into Poland, 1 September 1939 Britain & France declared war on Germany two days later

 Overran Manchuria in 1931; China protested to League  Japan withdrew from League of Nations, 1933  Signed Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936, with Germany  Launched full-scale invasion of China in 1937; “rape” of Nanjing  Japan moved into Southeast Asia  U.S. threatened economic sanctions if Japan did not withdraw  Japan began planning surprise attack on U.S. Video clips history channell

Objective: Analyze the causes and course of World War II and evaluate it as the end of one era and the beginning of another.

 Hitler used blitzkrieg, “lightning war,” to overrun Poland  Sitzkrieg, “sit-down war,” or “phony war”  Germany attacked the Low Countries, 10 May 1940  Maginot Line had a fatal gap in Ardennes Forest area  “Miracle” of Dunkirk – nine-day evacuation of Allied troops, 26 May  Paris fell on 14 June; puppet government of Vichy France  Battle of Britain – “Never…was so much owed by so many to so few”

 “The blitz” of London – 57 consecutive nights; RAF held fast  Erwin Rommel, “Desert Fox”, pushed Brits out of Libya by April 1941  RN was able to sink the Bismarck in May 1941  Germany invaded Soviet Union, June 1941 – stunned Stalin  U.S. initial isolationism but increasingly involved  USS Reuben James torpedoed off coast of Iceland in October 1941

 British stopped GEN Rommel at El Alamein & pushed west in 1942  Battle of Stalingrad, Feb 1943, a turning point, Germans lost 6 th Army  Soviets won Battle of Kursk, Jul 1943 – greatest tank battle in history  German & Italian troops surrendered in North Africa in 1943  Italy – Allies invaded Sicily, Jul 43; “soft underbelly” of Europe

 Soviets broke siege of Leningrad, Jan 44 & liberated Ukraine in spring  After five-month battle at Monte Cassino, Allies took Rome, June 1944  D-Day – Operation Overlord, greatest amphibious operation in history  Normandy invasion took place 6 Jun 44; confusion but success  Battle of the Bulge, Dec 44 – last desperate German offensive

 Soviets reached Berlin, 19 Apr 45 & linked up with Americans, 25 Apr  Hitler committed suicide, 30 Apr; Soviets took Berlin, 2 May  V-E (Victory in Europe) Day – 8 May 1945

 Attacked Pearl Harbor – Dec 7, 1941 – “a day which will live in infamy”  Battle of Midway, Jun 1942, turning point, U.S. naval superiority  Island-hopping – capture some islands; bypass others  Kamikazes – suicide pilots demonstrated Japanese tenacity

 Iwo Jima, Feb 1945,"Uncommon valor was a common virtue"  Two atomic bombs – Hiroshima, 6 Aug & Nagasaki, 9 Aug  V-J (Victory over Japan) Day – 15 Aug 45; surrender signed 2 Sept