1. Section 2 – Focus Questions What early gains allowed the Axis powers to control much of Europe? What were the Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa? How did Japan respond to growing American involvement?

2. Section 2 - Vocabulary Nazi forces stormed into Poland revealing the enormous power of Hitler’s blitzkrieg, “lightning war.” They produced ever more deadly bombs and invented hundreds of new devices, such as radar to detect airplanes and sonar to detect submarines.

3. Section 2- Main Idea The early years of World War II were marked by Axis victories.

4. Early Axis Gains By 1941, the Axis powers or their allies controlled most of Western Europe. Germany and Russia conquered and divided Poland. Stalin’s armies pushed into Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Soviet forces seized Finland. Hitler conquered Norway and Denmark. Hitler took the Netherlands and Belgium. France surrendered to Hitler. Axis armies pushed into North Africa and the Balkans. Axis armies defeated Greece and Yugoslavia. Bulgaria and Hungary joined the Axis alliance.

5. In 1940, Hitler ordered Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain. The Germans first bombed military targets, then changed tactics to the blitz, or bombing, of London and other cities. London did not break under the blitz. The bombing only strengthened British resolve to turn back the enemy. Operation Sea Lion was a failure. In 1941, Hitler embarked on Operation Barbarossa, the conquest of the Soviet Union. The Nazis smashed deep into Russia, but were stalled before they could take Moscow and Leningrad. Thousands of German soldiers froze to death in Russia’s winter. Russians also suffered appalling hardships. Stalin urged Britain to open a second front in Western Europe. THE BATTLE OF BRITAINOPERATION BARBAROSSA The Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa

6. Growing American Involvement When the war began in 1939, the United States declared its neutrality. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the President to supply arms to those who were fighting for democracy. Roosevelt and Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, which called for the “final destruction of the Nazi tyranny.” Japan advanced into French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. To stop Japanese aggression, the United States banned the sale of war materials to Japan. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The United States declared war on Japan. Germany and Italy, as Japan’s allies, declared war on the United States.

7. The Japanese in China - Since 1937, the Japanese had been trying to expand into Asia by taking over China. Although the Japanese occupied much of eastern China, the Chinese refused to surrender. The occupying Japanese treated the Chinese brutally. Below, Japanese soldiers load Chinese civilians onto trucks to take them to an execution ground during the sacking of Nanjing in 1937.

8. Meeting at Sea - President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter in August 1941. December 7, 1941On the sleepy Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, the military complex at Pearl Harbor was suddenly jolted awake by a surprise attack. Planes screamed down from the sky, dropping bombs and torpedoes. Americans were shocked and horrified by the attacks. How did Pearl Harbor change the isolationist policies of the United States?