1. World War II Notes

2. What was WWII? Largest war in human history.
Involved countries, colonies, and territories around the entire world.
By the end, over 70 million were dead.
It lasted from 1939 until 1945.

3. W WI and the Treaty of Versailles Appeasement Rise of Totalitarianism
Causes
W WI and the Treaty of Versailles
Appeasement
Rise of Totalitarianism

4. WWI and the Treaty of Versailles
Germany lost land to surrounding nations
War reparations
Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to US
Germany pays $57 trillion (modern day equivalent)
Germans are bankrupt, embarrassed, guilt ridden, and angry.
Desperate people turn to desperate leaders

5. Appeasement
Giving someone something to make them happy and leave you alone.
Hitler demanded land that wasn’t Germany’s and others just gave it to him.
Nations were trying to prevent war…it didn’t work.
Appeasement just showed Hitler that he could do whatever he wanted.

6. Rise of Totalitarianism
A system in which the state and its leader have nearly TOTAL control.
Individual rights are not viewed as important as the needs of the nation.
No right to vote
No free speech
Government controlled economy
Often a police state

8. Adolf Hitler-Germany
Hideki Tojo -
Japan
Benito Mussolini-Italy
Josef Stalin-USSR

11. What did Hitler Want?
Militarism- soon after becoming chancellor he begins rearming Germany breaking the Treaty of Versailles
Rhineland- moves troops into the Rhineland territory again breaking the Treaty of Versailles
Lebensraum- “living space” wanted more land for Germany
Austria – annexed (adds) peacefully in 1938
Sudetenland – territory in Czechoslovakia
Given to Germany by Great Britain and France
On to Poland

12. How did WWII start?
Germany invaded Poland to get lebensraum

13. How did WWII start? Germany invaded Poland.
Allies declare war on Germany.
Germany then invades France, Belgium, etc.
Then Hitler invades Russia.
Germans use “blitzkrieg” to overwhelm other armies.
Blitzkrieg means “lightening war”
Fast process: Bomb an area, then use tanks, finally bring in soldiers

14. Who was on each side? Axis Powers Germany Italy Japan Allied Powers
Great Britain
Soviet Union
United States
France
Surrendered to Germany in 1940 after 6 weeks

15. France – False Sense of Security?

17. France falls!!
Once France is out of the war Britain is the only nation left to fight Germany
Germany Firebombs Britain, Britain pleads for help from the US.

18. The US gets involved!! The US (mostly) fought the Japanese.
December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to sink US ships there. US declared war on Japan and Germany the next day
Two hours = most US navy destroyed and 2,000 sailors killed

23. Japanese Internment Camps
After the attack on Pearl Harbor many Americans feared or hated Asian-Americans living in the US.
The US gov set up work camps and forced Asians to stay there until after the war.
Who also did something like this????

24. Normandy Invasion (D-Day)
June 6, 1944 
Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Patton influential in leading attack
3 million ally troops attack Germany in Normandy France. Biggest land invasion in the history of the world!

28. Germany’s big mistake
Operation Barbarossa: Germany attacks Russia in June 1941
This opens a Two-Front war

29. Battle of Stalingrad
Turning point of the European war, Germans run out of supplies while invading Russia.
Germans forced to give up
Almost 2 million causalities, lasted 199 days
**Soviets lost more people in this 1 battle than the US lost in the entire war

30. Photos from Stalingrad