World War II Early Years

Aggressiveness and Allied Appeasement Mussolini attacks Ethiopia Late 1800s Italy tried to establish Ethiopia as a colony Ended in humiliating defeat for Italy Many Italians bitter about defeat and wanted revenge Italy conquered Ethiopia League of Nations response: nothing Why not?

Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles Rebuilds Army Rebuilds Navy with British approval thanks to the Anglo German Naval Pact (June 18, 1935) Remilitarizes the Rhineland (March 7, 1936)

US Reaction Isolationism – avoid political ties with other nations

Great Britain and France’s Reaction Appeasement – giving into an aggressor

Hitler Continues Expansion and Defiance of Treaty Anschluss – union between Germany and Austria (March 12, 1938)

Sudetenland Part of Czechoslovakia with many German speaking people Czechoslovakia turned to Britain and France for help At the Munich Conference Great Britain and France agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland to avoid war (example of appeasement) September 30, 1938 ‘Peace in our Time 5) 6 Months later Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia and Italy took Albania

Alliances Rome Berlin Axis – Mussolini (Italy) and Hitler (Germany) October 1936 Nazi Soviet Non-aggression pact Germany agreed not to attack Russia and give Russia soon to be conquered parts of Eastern Europe Russia agreed to stay out of Germany’s way August 1939

Hitler Demands Poland Hitler used Blitzkrieg (lightening war) – massive air and land strike Polis fought but not match for German military and technology Great Britain and France declared war on September 3, 1939 once Hitler pushed into Poland Not enough time to mobilize to save Poland

Phoney War Allied Strategy – wait for Hitler’s next move Period of inactivity Germany was planning how to attack France and decided to go through the Ardennes

Phoney War ended when Hitler took Denmark and Norway to control seas Allies had massive troop levels to the north of the Ardennes along the Belgium and French border French/German border protected by bunkers and fortresses called the Maginot Line Allied forces did not have forces along the Ardennes because the thought it would be too treacherous for Germany to attack here – they were WRONG Phoney War ended when Hitler took Denmark and Norway to control seas

Hitler takes France May 1940 German troops swept through Netherlands and Belgium While France’s attention on the North, Hitler sent troops through Ardennes German troops able to trap Allied forces in Northern France Allies rescued at port city of Dunkirk

By June France had surrendered German occupied much of France The unoccupied part of France was known as Vichey France Vichey France was ruled by officials who obeyed Hitler

Charles DeGaulle French General Charles DeGaulle fled to Great Britain to organize resistance to Hitler He created the Free French military and battled Hitler until France’s liberation

Battle for Britain Winston Churchill had become British Prime Minister Hitler’s plan was to destroy British Royal Air Force Hitler failed due to 2 secret weapons 1) Radar Enigma – gathered secret German messages

German Air Force then began bombing civilians in the city of London Nation kept spirits up and Hitler called off attacks Hitler did not sense easy victory so turned sights to Eastern Europe and Mediterranean

Axis Powers 1940 Japan formed a military alliance with Germany and Italy

Balkans (Eastern Europe) Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary joined Axis Powers in 1941 Yugoslavia and Greece resisted so Hitler invaded

Hitler Invades the Soviet Union Soviets unprepared for attack due to Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact Not equipped or trained despite warnings from Allies that Hitler was going East

Germany reached 500 miles inside the Soviet Union In September they surrounded the city of Leningrad 1 million died that winter alone 800,000 civilians died in the battle for Leningrad Leningrad would not surrender so Hitler turned attention to Moscow (capital)

Germans advanced to outskirts of Moscow where they met counterattack and winter Germans retreated due to being unprepared for Russian winter Hitler ordered them to not retreat so Germans held the line 125 miles outside the city

US Aides Allies Congress passed Neutrality Acts which made it illegal to sell or lend money to nations at war – trying to remain isolated Roosevelt was not an isolationism and did not want to remain neutral but he needed isolationists’ political support

After Japan invaded China in 1937 Roosevelt decided he had to speak out He urged the US to work with ‘Peace loving countries to quarantine aggressive nations and stop the spread of war’ Roosevelt got Congress to establish and new policy called Cash and Carry This allowed countries to purchase goods if they paid in cash and picked them up at American ports

Congress passed Lend Lease Act, which allowed the US to send weapons to Great Britain regardless of their ability to pay Roosevelt and Churchill then met and issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter which upheld free trade and the right of people to chose their own government

US Entry to War American leaders convinced a war with Japan was likely American officials wanted American forces to be prepared for an attack Hideki Tojo, Japan’s Prime Minister, was planning a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor caught off guard and unprepared to defend partially due to no single commander in charge

Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 (Sunday Morning) Japan’s strike went into action Many US planes never got off ground A complete defeat for the US December 8 FDR asked Congress to declare war 3 days later Germany and Italy declared war on the US

American Mobilization Military spending increased in 1940 This spending largely responsible for ended the Great Depression Many found work in factories making military supplies

Millions volunteered to serve after Pearl Harbor Women joined and performed clerical work, tested, and delivered aircraft, repaired equipment, and worked as electricians African Americans served in war but were in segregated units Not one received a Medal Honor until 50 years later

Women began working outside the home in factories Working women of the war were represented by symbolic figure Rosie Riveter

New agencies created to regulate what product factories produced, what prices they would charge, and how raw materials were used Manhattan Project – top secret program to build atomic bomb in Los Alamos