Allied Morale/Success High Low 2. Germany, Japan, and Italy start breaking the Treaty of Versailles- World Wide Depression 1. Treaty of Versailles- Germany is punished 3. Hitler crushes Poland 4. Hitler crushes France in less than 3 months 5. London is bombed 6. German General Rommel pushes allies out of all of North Africa except Egypt WWI [Trench Warfare] 7. Operation Barbarossa 8. Pearl Harbor8. Russian Winter 9. American victories in the Pacific, vitory in North Africa, Italian campaign, 10. Normandy
Turning Points
But First- Understanding Fronts EEEEastern, Western, Southern, Pacific AAAAxis has been winning on all of them BBBBetween 1941 and 1943, most fronts turned in the allies favor Western Eastern Southern
Eastern Front It is true that the Nazis quickly got deep into the Soviet Union They surrounded the three main Soviet cities: Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moscow However, the Soviets wouldn’t give in Hitler ordered sieges
Siege of Leningrad = St. Petersberg 900 days 2 slices of bread a day In Jan. & Feb ,000 people starved People ate leather briefcases and put sawdust in bread
Stalingrad Soviets managed to wait for ‘General Winter’ –Sometimes history does repeat itself… Hitler refused to back down –Stalingrad became symbolic. Why? For the Soviet Union, the war becomes one of survival –Stalin focuses on NATIONALISM, not loyalty to COMMUNISM In the end, the Soviets won the battle for Stalingrad. –They surrounded and captured an entire German army –General Paulus story (if time) This is THE key turning point of World War II
“On January 24, 1942, -56c degrees was measured at our division observation post.”
Why was Stalingrad key, you ask?
Pacific Front Pearl Harbor- I’ve already talked about this as an Axis victory, but why was it also a turning point? Like in WWI, U.S. was the most powerful economy not involved Pearl Harbor pulled this industrial might into the war on the Allied side Hitler was actually kind of pissed off at the Japanese
Europe First! Difficulty in forging an alliance between U.S. and Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other Basic modus operandi (way of functioning) –Military before political –Unconditional surrender
Doolittle Raids Not on your note-taking sheet
Midway It took the U.S. a while to rebuild their fleet Aircraft Carriers were the key weapons in the Pacific In the Battle of Midway, the U.S. intercepted Japanese messages (they’d broken Japanese codes) and set a trap U.S. Plan –Let Japan bomb Midway and do little to fight back (they were hiding on aircraft carriers) –Then, when the Japanese airplanes were returning to their carriers the U.S. attacked, sinking four carriers Why was this a good time to attack? –Each side only has like 9 aircraft carriers, so sinking 4 is a pretty big deal A U.S. victory in the Pacific is almost guaranteed from here on out, as U.S. production can easily outpace Japan’s
Douglas MacArthur Commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific
Southern Front Germans took over much of Northern Africa during their early victories under Hitler’s favorite General, Erwin Rommel (the Desert Fox) Allies eventually won a major victory at El Alamein in Egypt and forced the Axis out of North Africa This gave the Allies a place from which to launch an invasion of Italy
Western Front Least important (before D-Day) Stalin begged and begs for a second front –Why? –Africa and Italy are too small for Stalin The Allies stalled –Amphibious assaults are difficult Remember, Hitler couldn’t get into England either –Also, Why stop Stalin and Hitler from wiping each other out? Allies did manage to win the ‘War of the Atlantic’. –Hitler uses U-Boats to try to ‘siege’ England –U.S. and Britain develop the Convoy System