Quick Review of WWII

Human Costs Quick Facts Recall that WWI had 37 million casualties, 8.5 million of which were deaths of soldiers 50 million people died in WWII, 20 million of which were soldiers 11 million died as a result of the HOLOCAUST (6 million Jews + 5 million others) 7.5 million civilians in China 20 million Russians (10 million civilians)

When? 1939-1945 US involvement 1941-1945 1939 1941 1945 Sept.1 - Germany invades Poland (official start to the war) Sept. 3 -Britain & France declare war on Germany Dec. 7 – Japan bombs Pearl Harbor; US enters the War May - Germans Surrender Sept. - Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Japanese Surrender

Allies Axis Who? (major powers) (major powers) Great Britain Germany Russia Italy United States Japan France (note: France surrendered to Germany in 1940 (after 6 weeks of fighting)

Major Leaders Adolf Hitler Nazi Germany Benito Mussolini Italy

Major Leaders Hideki Tojo Winston Churchill Japanese Prime Minister British Prime Minister

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Major Leaders Joseph Stalin Russian Leader Franklin Delano Roosevelt US President

Why? (underlying causes of WWII) 1. Treaty of Versailles 2. World-wide Depression 3. Rise of Totalitarian Regimes 4. Isolationism of Major Powers

Why? 1. Treaty of Versailles A. Germany lost land to surrounding nations B. War Reparations 1) Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to U.S. 2) Germany must pay $57 trillion (modern equivalent) 3) Bankrupted the German economy & embarrassed Germans Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson during negotiations for the Treaty

Why? (underlying causes of WWII) 2. World-wide Depression A. The Depression made Germany’s debt even worse B. Desperate people turn to desperate leaders 1) Hitler seemed to provide solutions to Germany’s problems 1923 - Wallpapering with German Deutchmarks

Why? (underlying causes of WWII) 2. World-wide Depression 2) Hitler provided scapegoats for Germany’s problems (foreigners, Jews, communists, Roma (Gypsies), mentally ill, homosexuals) 3) Kristallnacht - vandalism & destruction of Jewish property & synagogues

Why? 3. Rise of Totalitarian Regimes A. In a Totalitarian country, individual rights are not viewed as important as the needs of the nation Communist Dictatorship (USSR) Fascist Dictatorship (Germany, Italy) Fascism: military government with based on racism & nationalism with strong support from the business community Totalitarianism Military Dictatorship (Japan)

Why? 4. Isolationism of Major Powers A. Why was the U.S. Isolationist? 1. Great Depression (problems at home) 2. Perceptions of WWI a. WWI did not seem to solve much b. People began to think that we’d got into WWI for the wrong reasons (greedy American businessmen!)

Why? 4. Isolationism of Major Powers 3. Opposition to war (Pacifism) a. Washington Conference - Limits on size of country's navies b. Kellogg-Briand pact - condemned war as a way to solving conflicts

Why? 4. Isolationism of Major Powers B. This led to policies of “Appeasement” 1. Appeasement: give dictators what they want and hope that they won’t want anything else 2. Begins with Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and continues with Hitler . . .

1931-Japan Invades China Japan wishes to build an empire similar to that of Germany. In 1937, Japanese forces kill an estimated 350,000 Chinese in Nanjing.

So What Was Hitler Asking For? Return of German Speaking Lands - “Lebensraum” Austria - Peacefully Annexed in 1938 German Troops Parade in Streets of Czechoslovakian Town, ca. 1939

So What Was Hitler Asking For? Return of German Speaking Lands - “Lebensraum” Sudentenland - (now part of Czech Republic) Munich Conference - Great Britain & France give to Hitler in return for peace Hitler then invades the rest of Czechoslovakia German Troops Parade in Streets of Czechoslovakian Town, ca. 1939

So What Was Hitler Asking For? Return of German Speaking Lands Nonaggression Pact Russia stays out of the war in return for 1/2 of Poland Great Britain & France finally declare war on Germany Hitler's triumphal entry into Danzig, Poland 1939

How Did Hitler Make War? Blitzkrieg “Lightning War” In the next year, Hitler invades: Denmark Norway The Netherlands, France Luftwaffe Hitler in Paris

Meanwhile … in the Pacific: 1941 Pearl Harbor: “a date which will live in infamy” What? Surprise attack by the Japanese on American forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Effect? US declares war on Japan & other Axis powers USS Arizona Sinking in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Causes of Pearl Harbor Japan wants more power and more oil. It decides to invade Southeast Asia. It chooses French Indochina; this makes the Allies mad because Indochina is governed by the French. Indochina today is Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Japan plans the attack on America to prevent them from interfering in the invasion of Southeast Asia.

1942: America Reacts to Pearl Harbor Japanese Americans are rounded up and sent to internment camps so that the government can keep an eye on them. Many innocent people lost their jobs and had their lives disrupted.

Relocating Japanese-Americans

Japanese Internment Camps

Relocating Japanese-Americans

Relocating Japanese-Americans

Western Front D-Day: Operation Overlord The Allied needed to establish a second front. General Dwight Eisenhower launched an invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. An invasion fleet of some 4,000 ships and 150,000 men (57,000 U.S.) Invasion successful. 5,000 killed and wounded Allied troops. It allowed them to gain a foothold on the continent from which they could push Germany back.

Race to Berlin D-Day was the turning point of the western front. Stalingrad was the turning point of the eastern front. The British, U.S., and Free French armies began to press into western Germany as the Soviets invaded eastern Germany. Both sides raced to Berlin.

Victory in Europe Mussolini was captured and killed by Italian partisans and Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, as the Russian troops took Berlin. Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7, 1945 (V-E Day). Fighting in the Pacific would continue until August.

The Atomic Bomb The Japanese continued their expansion through the Pacific after Pearl Harbor The United States launched their “Island Hopping” campaign to fight back against the Japanese By 1945, the Japanese were pushed back to Japan with no way to win the war They refused to give up and kamikaze soldiers made an invasion extremely dangerous 31

Japanese Kamakazi pilots The Atomic Bomb The Allies agreed the use of a new weapon was needed to bring an end to the war and save Allied soldiers’ lives This weapon was the atomic bomb – dropped on August 6, 1945 Japanese Kamakazi pilots 32

The Atomic Bomb The Japanese still did not surrender and a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945 Japan surrendered and WWII was over 33