1. World War II

2. World War II
The war was fought across vast Pacific and Atlantic oceans, across Europe and Northern Africa, and throughout much of Asia between 1939 and 1945.
Entries of the US and the USSR in the war in widened the scope of the war even further
More than WWI, WWII was a conflict where entire societies engaged in warfare and mobilized every available material and human resources

3. More specifically, who fought the war?
Allied powers
Axis powers
France
Great Britain and Commonwealth allies of Canada, New Zealand, and Australia
USSR
China US
Germany
Japan
Italy

4. WWII Likely reasons Analyses at different levels of analyses
A) International level
Treaties after WWI fell short to bring about a new balance of power among states
B) State level
Militarist ideologies came to power in Japan, Italy, and Germany
C) Individual level
Hitler’s personal ambitions

5. Revisionist aggression before WWII
Japan
Italy
Germany

6. Revisionist aggression: Japan
Conquest of Manchuria between
Attempt of full scale invasion of China. Conquest of Shanghai and Nanjing in 1937
Civilians were targeted as a war strategy
League of Nations was ineffective
Signed Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940
Signed neutrality pact with USSR in 1941

7. Japanese War Propaganda

8. Japanese War Propaganda

9. Revisionist aggression: Italy
Fought with Allies in WWI, yet received less than its ambitions  resentment towards Britain and France
Conquest of Ethiopia in 1935 and 1936
Conquest of Albania in 1939
League of Nations remained silent
Civilians’ suffering especially in Ethiopia

10. Italian War Propaganda

11. Revisionist aggression: Germany
Hitler asked for revision of Versailles Treaty on the basis of its harsh terms, yet European nations turned a blind eye to his requests.
Hitler blamed the 1918 Armistice on what he perceived as Germany’s internal enemies: Jews, communists, and liberals of all sorts
The blame was also extended to neighboring states of Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria
Hitler embarked upon a unilateral revision of the Treaty through the use of force

12. Nazi Propaganda

13. Revisionist aggression: Germany continued…
Germany withdrew from League of Nations in 1933
It forced union with Austria in 1938
It invaded Czechoslovak Sudetenland, which is home to Sudeten Germans, in 1938
Munich Conference, 1938: Britain and France accepted Germany’s expansion thus far with the promise of no further territorial expansions: the policy of appeasement

14. Munich Conference 1938

15. Revisionist aggression: Germany continued
Next year Germany invaded most of Czechoslovakia
It signed Treaty of Non-Aggression with USSR in 1939
A secret protocol of this treaty divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence respectively
Hitler threatened Poland
Recognizing the failure of the appeasement policy, Britain and France guaranteed the security of Poland

16. Blitzkrieg: The War Starts
Germany moved into Poland unannounced on 1 September 1939
Blitzkrieg extended to Holland, Belgium and France
France signed an armistice in June 1940 in the very railroad car in which Germans had signed armistice in 1918
Heavy bombardment of British metropolitan areas, especially London

17. German Invasions

18. WWII: European Theater

19. Invasion of the Soviet Union & Soviet counter-attack
Germany assembled the largest and most powerful invasion force in history
By December 1941, Leningrad had come under siege and German troops reached the gates of Moscow
Soviet personnel reserves, industrial capability and the arrival of winter prevented German invasion of Moscow
By 1943, German forces in Russia lost the momentum. Moscow never fell and Soviet forces were victorious in Stalingrad.

20. War in Asia and the Pacific
German victories in Europe encouraged Japan to assert its influence on Southeast Asia
Japanese forced started invading French Indochina (now Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) in 1940
Fearful of growing Japanese influence in the Pacific, the US froze Japanese assets and initiated embargo on oil
By 1941, Japan sought war with both the US and Great Britain

21. Attack at Pearl Harbor
The Japanese hoped to destroy American naval capacity in the Pacific
Attack at Pearl Harbor would clear the way for the conquest of southeast Asia
7 December 1941, Japan attacked Hawaii
American naval power in the Pacific was devastated
On 11 December 1941, Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the US
By 1942, the US entered the war

22. WWII: Ending the War in Europe
As Germans retreated back from the Eastern front, British and US forces attacked from North Africa and through Italy
In August 1944, Allies forced Italy to withdraw from the Axis and to join them
On 6 June 1944, British and the US troops landed on French coast of Normandy
US and British aerial bombings also weakened the German resistance

23. WWII: Ending the War in the Pacific
First US Pacific victory on June 1942
Adoption of island-hopping strategy up until 1945
US attack on Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Japanese used kamikaze pilots for the first time in Okinawa
US direct attack on Japanese homeland
Atomic bomb was used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945
WWII: Ending the War in the Pacific

24. What makes WWII different?
No declaration of war: Germany’s Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactic
Civilians were targeted in major metropolitan cities as war combat strategy
First use of atomic bomb also targeted civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The Holocaust stunned many generations to come about the potential extent of human cruelty

25. The Holocaust

26. Kamikaze pilots

27. Dresden

28. The Atomic Bomb

29. Important Consequences of WWII
Nazi officials were trialed for their crimes againts humanity in Nuremberg.

30. Important consequences of WWII
2) Traditional gender roles were challenged

31. Important Consequences of WWII
3) British and French Empires were disintegrated

32. Important Consequences of WWII
4) The US and the USSR emerged as superpowers

33. Important consequences of WWII
5) The Cold War started and it lasted until the fall of Berlin Wall, 1989

34. Post-WWII re-constructions: A dual track
Marshall Plan (1948) versus COMECON (1949)
NATO (1949) versus Warsaw Pact (1955)
UN for all (1945)