Chris Sullivan Period 3 3-31-09 World War II Chapter 29 Chris Sullivan Period 3 3-31-09 www.historyimages.com

The Road to War At the end of World War I, the treaty of Versailles was created. Although they were not happy with the terms of the treaty, Germany had no choice but to sign it, causing anger and embarrassment in the country. Germany was forced to accept the blame for causing World War I, paid tons of money for the damage caused by the war, had a small army and navy and no air force or submarines, and land was taken from the Germans and given to other countries. Many countries in the early the early 1900’s desired to expand. Germany, for example, wanted to regain lost territory, while Japan had expansionist desires due to the minimal gains received after World War I (Historyonthenet.com). Germany blamed socialists, Jews, and foreigners for their troubles. Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis), published Mein Kampf, in which he stated his aspirations for the German nation, racial theories, and proposed to eliminate all Jews from Europe. Hitler declared himself the Führer of the “Third Reich” in August 1934, and Benito Mussolini, an Italian Fascist, forced the Italian government to appoint him to the post of prime minister (Bulliet 774). Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations, built up his armed forces, and established an air force. All of this was in violation of the Versailles Treaty (Bulliet 775). Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland in 1936. In 1938, Hitler invaded Austria and demanded the German-speaking portions of Czechoslovakia. Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, and he and Stalin made a Nazi-Soviet Pact to divide Poland between them. Britain and France declared war on Germany, and World War II began (Armstrong 248).. Telegraph.co.uk 1

World War II www.ww2f.com Germany’s tactic, blitzkrieg (lightning war), is an example of how motorized weapons gave the advantage to the offensive (Bulliet 779). In 1937, Japan invaded China and captured the capital Nanjing in December (Historyonthenet.com). Germany conquered Poland and the rest of Europe between between Spain and Russia in 1940 (Bulliet 780). Hitler attempted to invade Britain, but the British Royal Air Force’s victory in the Battle of Britain (June-September 1940) stopped him, so he launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union (Armstrong 250). Hitler’s forces were successful at first, but the winter of 1941-1942 stopped them. They were defeated at Stalingrad in 1943 (Bulliet 780). Italian forces in Africa were driven back by the British, and the Germans were finally defeated at Al Alamein in 1943 (Bulliet 782). Japan took control of Indochina from France, and the U.S. and Britain stopped shipment of steel, iron, and oil to Japan (Bulliet 782). In response, Japan chose to go to war. They attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and proceeded to occupy all of Southeast Asia and the Dutch East Indies. The U.S. joined Great Britain and Soviet Union in an alliance called the Allies. On June 6th, 1944, or D-Day, American soldiers landed on the Normandy beaches in France. France was liberated from German control in 1944 (Armstrong 250). 2

The End of the War www.ww2f.com The Soviet Red Army’s offensive in the east, combined with the Western invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943 and France in 1944 lead to the defeat of Germany in May 1945 (Bulliet 782). Throughout the war the U.S. was secretly working on the development of an atomic bomb. This was called the Manhattan Project (Armstrong 250). President Truman ordered the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands of people were killed or injured, and Japan surrendered (Historyonthenet.com). During World War II, more than 12 million people were killed in the Holocaust (Bulliet 788). Germany became occupied by the Allied nations, Nazi officials were sentenced, and Japan became a democracy (Armstrong 251). The Marshall Plan, in which billions of American money was offered for European reconstruction, allowed Western European economies to recover in less than a decade (Armstrong 251). 3

Bibliography Armstrong, Monty. Cracking the AP World History Exam 2008. Princeton: Princeton Review, 2007. Bulliet. Earth and It's People Advanced Placement Version Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division, 2004. http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/causes.htm www.historyimages.com Spodek, Howard. The World's History, Combined. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Limited, 2000. www.ww2f.com