Chapter 20 World War II

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The desire of Fascist dictatorships for more territory increasingly threatened world peace during the 1930s. The League of Nations, which had been formed after World War I to preserve peace, proved powerless to stop the drift toward war. Why? Because after World War I the League did issue sanctions but also not wanting to start a World War II used a strategy of appeasement. This policy of giving in to demands to avoid conflict allowed for the slow expansion of powerful dictators-like Hitler –ie: by giving in to his small territorial demands.

Better example: Adolph Hitler aimed to bring much of Europe under Nazi control. When the German leader threatened to invade Czechoslovakia in 1938, Great Britain and France negotiated the Munich Agreement that gave Hitler the part of Czechoslovakia that he demanded. "I saw my enemies in Munich, and they are worms.“ A. Hitler This appeasement or compromise with the dictator-to avoid war only increased Hitler’s expansionism. In 1939, Hitler took over all of Czechoslovakia, and in September of that year secured the help of the Soviet Union in attacking Poland.

The Nazi assault on Poland led Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. In the spring of 1940, German forces took control of Norway and Denmark, and then invaded the Low Countries and France, pushing British and French forces to the English Channel. Germany was able to quickly defeat France here because in the beginning France failed to recognize Germany as a threat but more importantly they over relied on their fortifications like the Maginot Line. France surrendered in June, leaving the British to fight Hitler alone. In the summer and fall of 1940, Great Britain, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, fought and won a crucial victory over Germany in the air conflict known as the Battle of Britain.

By 1941, however, Nazi Germany had conquered large areas of Europe, and in June 1941, launched a large-scale invasion of the Soviet Union. 1941:, the United States remained neutral in the conflict, but implemented a lend- lease policy to aid Britain. This allowed the United States to supply the British with equipment to fight the war. Dec 7 th 1941: In the Pacific: to prevent the Americans from interfering with Japanese expansion in East Asia and the Pacific, Japan decided to attack the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. US lost all battleships and several smaller ships. over 2,000 US died.

The Pearl Harbor attack brought the United States into the war on the side of the Allies- Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the French, and other anti Fascist governments and nations. However, it was not until 1942 that the tide begin to turn in favor of the Allies. Americans responded to Japan’s aggression or attack on Pearl Harbor by defeating Japanese naval forces at the Battle of Midway in the Pacific Ocean. Then, in 1943, Soviet forces also contributed to “the turn of tide” by throwing back a German offensive at Stalingrad. This victory however was mostly due to complications of the Russian winter. German’s were not use to this weather and were not prepared for such an environment. Later, the British and American forces would also push the Germans out of North Africa.

From there, the Allies launched an invasion of Sicily and the Italian Peninsula. Finally, in June 1944, Western Allied forces invaded Normandy in France, better known as D-Day, and pushed Germany inland as Soviet troops advanced from the east. In April 1945 Western and Soviet allies met at the Elbe River, and on May 7 th 1945 Germany surrendered. the United States then turn to Japan and dropped its new secret weapon, the atomic bomb, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sept. 2 nd 1945 Japan surrendered.

World War II was over, but much of Europe laid in ruins, and over 60 million of people had died. The most shocking horror in a war filled with atrocities was the Holocaust, the killing of over 6 million Jews by the Nazis in a campaign of genocide, or the deliberate killing of a racial, political, or cultural group. Nazi's wanted to racial purify Germany and Europe. Among the political changes brought by the war was the division of Europe into Communist and non-Communist areas.

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