The Great Depression and World War II

The 1920s: Temporary Prosperity  Optimism and prosperity in the 1920s led many to hope that large scale conflict could be avoided.  This hope ended abruptly in October, 1929, with the onset of the Great Depression.

The Great Depression’s Causes  After effects of World War I  Overproduction  Tariffs and other trade barriers  Stock market crash  Bank failures in the US and other countries

The Great Depression ( )

The New York Stock Exchange in October, 1929

Bank Failures

The Dust Bowl

Responses to the Great Depression  The enormous economic decline led many western governments to take greater control over their nation’s economies.  Many saw the Depression as evidence that democratic governments and capitalism were incapable of solving problems or meeting the needs of modern society.

US reaction to the Depression  Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt the US enacted a reform program known as the New Deal.  The New Deal expanded government powers and regulated the US economy more closely than ever before.  Programs such as Social Security were designed to help Americans through the worst effects of the Great Depression and, it was hoped, prevent another.

Western European Reactions  Social Democratic governments were elected in Scandinavia. They were socialist but democratic.  In England, the Labour Party took power  France’s government was led by the Popular Front, a mixture of socialist and moderate parties.  These governments attempted to help end the Depression by taking more power over their economies

The Soviet Union  Because its economy was independent and did not depend on external trade, the Soviet Union had few economic troubles during the 1930s.  Joseph Stalin boasted that this demonstrated the superiority of socialism over capitalism, and some Westerners agreed.  Stalin’s Five Year Plans and focus on heavy industry and militarization made the Soviet Union a powerful force.

Japan  Japan had fought on the Allied side during World War I, but was disappointed with its treatment by the other powers afterwards.  By the 1930s, military leaders or warlords had taken power.  Japan began to construct the Greater East Asia Co- Prosperity Sphere, promising “Asia for the Asiatics.”

Germany  After World War I Germany’s economy was devastated, its territory shrunken, and its military force depleted.  Many Germans felt their country had been badly treated by the Treaty of Versailles, and were eager for revenge.  The Great Depression made Germany’s situation worse, and many Germans looked to new leadership.

The German Mark

The “Stabbed-in-the-Back” Theory Disgruntled German WWI veterans

Adolf Hitler  Born 1889, Austria  Obsessed with German racial superiority  Anti-Semitic  World War I veteran, took leadership of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) in early 1920s  Attempted to seize power in 1923, but was imprisoned.  Wrote Mein Kampf  Appointed Chancellor after Nazis won the German elections in January, 1933.

The Third Reich  By 1934 Hitler had taken total power and become Der Fuhrer, or “The Leader” of Germany  He began to remilitarize Germany in defiance of the Versailles Treaty.  Anti-Semitic Decrees first separated the Jews from the Germans, then began to limit their rights, eventually leading to the Holocaust.

Nazi Propaganda

Anti-Semitism

The Road to World War II  Many point to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in Northern China in 1931 as the true beginning of World War II.  During the 1930s, Mussolini’s Italy invaded and conquered Ethiopia, Japan continued to invade and conquer China, and Germany made aggressive moves towards war  The Spanish Civil War of was another omen of greater conflicts to come.

“ Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

Germany Invades the Rhineland March 7, 1936

The Austrian Anschluss, 1938

The Japanese Invasion of China, 1937

The “Problem” of the Sudetenland

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938 “Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.” “Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.” British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939 The “Pact of Steel”

The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, 1939 Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop & Molotov

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939 Blitzkrieg [“Lightning War”]

The “Phony War” Ends: Spring, 1940

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis: The Tripartite Pact September, 1940

Battle of Britain: The “Blitz”

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Operation Barbarossa: Hitler’s Biggest Mistake

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941 “A date which will live in infamy…”

Pacific Theater of Operations

Allied Counter-Offensive: “Island-Hopping”

“Island-Hopping”: US Troops on Kwajalien Island

Battle of Midway Island: June 4-6, 1942

Axis Powers in 1942

Battle of Stalingrad: Winter of German ArmyRussian Army 1,011,500 men1,000,500 men 10,290 artillery guns13,541 artillery guns 675 tanks894 tanks 1,216 planes1,115 planes

The Italian Campaign [“Operation Torch”] : Europe’s “Soft Underbelly” Allies plan assault on weakest Axis area - North Africa - Nov May 1943 Allies plan assault on weakest Axis area - North Africa - Nov May 1943 George S. Patton leads American troops George S. Patton leads American troops Germans trapped in Tunisia - surrender over 275,000 troops. Germans trapped in Tunisia - surrender over 275,000 troops.

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Normandy Landing (June 6, 1944 ) Higgins Landing Crafts German Prisoners

T The Liberation of Paris: August 25, 1944 De Gaulle in Triumph!

The Battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s Last Offensive Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 28, 1945

US & Russian Soldiers Meet at the Elbe River: April 25, 1945

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Crematoria at Majdanek Entrance to Auschwitz Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Slave Labor at Buchenwald

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed Mass Graves at Bergen-Belsen

Hitler Commits Suicide April 30, 1945 The Führer’s Bunker Cyanide & Pistols Mr. & Mrs. Hitler

V-E Day (May 8, 1945) General Keitel

Japanese Kamikaze Planes: The Scourge of the South Pacific Kamikaze Pilots Suicide Bombers

US Marines on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]

The Manhattan Project: Los Alamos, NM Dr. Robert Oppenheimer ‘I am become death, the destroyer of worlds!” Major General Lesley R. Groves

Hiroshima – August 6, ,000 killed immediately. 70,000 killed immediately. 48,000 buildings. destroyed. 48,000 buildings. destroyed. 100,000s died of radiation poisoning and cancer. 100,000s died of radiation poisoning and cancer.

Nagasaki – August 9, ,000 killed immediately. 40,000 killed immediately. 60,000 injured. 60,000 injured. 100,000s died of radiation poisoning and cancer. 100,000s died of radiation poisoning and cancer.

Japanese A-Bomb Survivors

End of the War (September 2, 1945)

V-J Day in Times Square, NYC