World War II Setting the Stage for World War

Factors that led up to World War II The Treaty of Versailles The Depression The rise of Totalitarian Governments: Government controls all parts of citizens’ lives. (TOTAL control)

the GREATLY DEPRESSED United States Cripples Europe Problems Stock Market crash Unemployment Farmers in trouble Widespread poverty Civil Rights issues Mood at Home US did not want to get into any European conflicts

How did the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression help cause war in Europe?

Treaty of Versailles Ended World War I in 1919 Severely punished Germany Had to admit War Guilt Could not have a large standing army Pay for the damages $33 billion Give up large parts of Germany

How World War I affected Europe? Germany 1. Lost the War 2. In debt to France, Britain, Russia, Italy and US 3. Stripped of their army 4. Economic depression 5. People morale at a low Rest of Europe 1. Mad at Germany 2. Need to rebuild after battles 3. Millions of lives lost 4. Economic depression 5. Does not want to have any more war.

HyperInflation=Inflation on Steroids!!HyperInflation HyperInflation twice in post-war Germany 1929 = Great Depression Inflation hits 1 billion percent Money is now worthless How does this affect the average German? - Savings are wiped out - Loans are worthless - You have to buy what you want quickly, causes hoarding and reduction in supply, so more inflation! - Increase in crime

What’s a Mark worth?Mark In 1918, it took 4.2 Marks to equal 1$ August, 1923: 1,000,000M to 1$ 1 Nov. 1923: 1,300,000,000M to 1$ * 11/8/23 15 Nov. 1923: 1,300,000,000,000 to 1$ 16 Nov. 1923: 4,200,000,000,000 to 1$

WWII - A Truly Global War Key: Grey – Air battle; Green – Land battle; Blue – Naval battle; Red – Amphibious landing; Yellow – Spy/Diplomatic activity European TheatrePacific Theatre EisenhowerMacArthur Nimitz

A brief Word about Japan…. In 1931 the Japanese begin to occupy Asia By 1937, Manchuko puppet state “Rape of Nanking” begins ( Capitol of China, Japanese atrocities) Invade Vietnam (“French Indochina”) in 1940 Begin to turn toward U.S. possessions

World War II Overall: Lasts 2,174 days Around 61 million dead overall 27,600 lives per day 1,150 per hour 19 every minute 1 every 3 seconds

Hitler makes a move to expand Germany (1938) Nazi Troops Invade: The Rhineland (De-militarized Zone) Parts of Czechoslovakia

Hitler’s Buildup to War Hitler gains power slowly [Recall Hitler Rise to Power] Nazis secretly begin to rearm ~ direct violation of Treaty of Versailles Democracy is disappearing Elected in ‘33, dictator by ’34 (Kristallnacht is in 1938) Hitler/Mussolini treaty creates Axis (1936) [Japan will join later] Hitler wants more territory—east Hitler takes the Rhineland (1936) Hitler aids Franco in Spanish Civil War (‘36-’39)Spanish Civil War Are any of these cause for war?

Why did the rest of Europe let this happen? Britain used appeasement policy with Hitler They gave him the territory if her promised not to invade any more Hitler agreed He lied Appeasement: A policy of avoiding war with an aggressive country by giving in to its demands.

Li’l Hitler

Hitler gets Aggressive Why did Great Britain and France not react to Hitler’s violation of the Treaty of Versailles? - Remember many thought it was too harsh on Germany - WWI was costly and leaders were reluctant to challenge Hitler So then in 1938, Hitler sends troops into Austria (after Chancellor refuses to surrender) - Britain and France protest this, but Hitler says this only a concern to Germany…butt out! Few months later, Hitler demands Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia…  Allies respond with appeasement—give in to avoid war appeasement

Munich Pact Hitler and Mussolini met with Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) and Edouard Daladier (French president) France and Britain were unprepared for conflict France had treaty to defend Czech, so gave up Sudetenland to Hitler Chamberlain: “There will be peace in our time.” ~ British crowds cheered his return

Nazi Expansion

Broken Promises… (Don’t trust a mad man!) Hitler had ‘promised’ Sudetenland was all he wanted… Winston Churchill (member of British Parliament; will become Prime Minister of Britain in 1940) knew Hitler wasn’t going to stop Head of British navy resigns March 1939 Hitler occupies western half of Czech and gave rest of country to his allies; Italy invades and occupies Albania Britain and France give-up appeasement and prepare for war; pledge support to Poland

One ‘little’ problem…..

Two Mad Men Should not Trust Each other either…. Remember Nazi Germany & Soviet Union are enemies But strength in numbers… Stalin did not believe Hitler wanted Soviet Union So they sign a ten-year Nonaggression Pact in 1939 Now Germany is safe from Soviet invasion from east. They divided up independent states of Eastern Europe.

War Begins? 1939 Invasion of Poland Blitzkrieg (“lighting war”) – surprise, fast, concentrated air & land attack Poland falls in just one month - imposed German laws, imprisoned and murdered Jews - Stalin seized eastern Poland

Nap Time?  After Poland fell, there was a quiet period British and French held back troops American press called the lack of combat the ‘Phony war’/Sitzkrieg (“sit-down war”) German troops just waited for several months Key to France’s defense… MAGINOT LINE

Maginot Line Provided massive string for fortification along France’s border with Germany. Problem: only protected part of French border that faced Germany; could attack through Belgium and guns only pointed east, so if Germans got around…France would be out of luck.

Nap Over Facts: -Luxembourg 1 day -Netherlands 5 days -Belgium took less than 3 weeks April 1940 Hitler attacks Denmark and Norway Next attack Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg

Dunkirk

FALL OF FRANCE May-June Invasion of France End of June Germany has conquered France June 10 French Government flees Paris Surrender terms allow Germany to have 3/5 of France French gov’t supervises the vacation resort of Vichy— zone becomes known as Vichy France [regime has 40% of southern France] ~ collaborated with Germany Invasion of Britain planned; Churchill (now Prime Minister) prepares Britain’s defense “Wolfpacks” start to block shipping

Hitler Vacations in Paris

Battle of Britain After France Fell….Hitler set sights on Britain, 20 miles across the English Channel. Churchill (Prime Minister) vowed to defend England at all costs. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and the streets…We will never surrender” Luftwaffe-German Air Force Objective: Gain air superiority over England;s Royal Air Force (RAF). 1 st Major Campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. German targets-Ports, RAF air fields, oil refineries and eventually moved to “political” areas.

RAF DefendsRAF Defends….. “ Never has so many owed so much to so few” Difficult battle….bombing continued day and night RAF successfully decoded Nazi codes to anticipate tactics Germany’s first major defeat since their offensives began. One of the crucial turning points of the war.

What should America do? Our army is 17 th in the world in power (behind Romania) Coastal defenses not tested since WWI Not enough air defenses for a single city! 6 medium tanks produced in 1939 According to War Department, war would take 10 years and over 200 divisions We had 5 active divisions Germany had 136, and invade Russia with 200 divisions! Wolfpacks are deadly – One convoy in 1940 had 13/40 ships sunk despite an escort of 77 warships

Nazi Anti-Semitism Biological Anti-Semitism Social Darwinism Eugenics – uses the new science of genetics to back up ideas of race Those ‘unfit’ should not breed Nuremberg Laws (1935) create a separate class of citizens for Jewish Germans; prohibits marriage, etc.

WHAT IS GENOCIDE? "intent to destroy", which can be either "in whole or in part", groups defined in terms of nationality, ethnicity, race or religion Major Genocides: Rwanda, Darfur, Native Americans(?),…

Stages of Mass Murder/Genocide Definition: one group is defined as ‘other’ Isolation: the group is marginalized from society (Emigration: the group is encouraged to leave) Ghettoization: the group is concentrated in separate living quarters Deportation: the group is forced to leave society Mass murder

1938 Kristallnacht – the Start of it all?

Einsatzgruppen Mobile killing squads in Russian territory Composed of ‘ordinary’ Germans

Warsaw

Warsaw Ghetto

Resistance?

Concentration Camps & Death Camps The “Final Solution” 6 million 5-6 million Other victims Including: Gypsies, Polish, ‘unfit’, Ukranians…

Arrival at Auschwitz

Cattle Cars

Brushes

Auschwitz, Entrance

Bergen-Belsen

Bergen-Belsen Again

Crematorium