1. An overview of the Major Events and Key Players.
World War II
An overview of the Major Events and Key Players.

2. Key Players in the War Axis Powers Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini
Hideki Tojo
Allied Powers
Neville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
Charles De Gaulle
Franklin Roosevelt
Harry Truman
Joseph Stalin

3. ADOLF HITLER
Brought prominence to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NAZI Party)
Head of the 3rd Reich
Believed in Master Race – Aryan Race
Unite all German-speaking people
1933 took power
Anti-communist
Private property with strong governmental control
Das Fuhrer

4. BENITO MUSSOLINI Led fascist movement in Italy Black-shirt army
Totalitarian State under his rule
AKA - Il Duce- The Chief
Anti-communist
Private property with strong government control

5. HIDEKI TOJO Militant Japanese general Took control of Japan in 1941
Pushed for vast colonial empire stretching from China to Thailand
Organized attack on Pearl Harbor

6. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN British Prime Minister at the onset of War
Believed in policy of Appeasement for dealing with Hitler.
Signed Munich Pact to turn over Sudetenland
Believed he obtained “Peace in Our Time”

7. WINSTON CHURCHILL Critical of Chamberlin’s policies toward Hitler.
Became Prime Minister During the War (1940)
Strong Ally for the United States
Powerful public speaker he helped to rally his troops to fight German Aggression

8. CHARLES DE GAULLE French General
Fled to England after Germany took over France.
Set up government-in-exile

9. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT President through Much of the War (Died in 1945)
Lend Lease program to aid Allies prior to US entry into the War
Signed order to intern Japanese after Pearl Harbor.

10. HARRY TRUMAN VP under FDR Took over Presidency at the end of the War.
Made Decision to Drop Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

11. JOSEPH STALIN Totalitarian Regime in USSR.
Awaited world-wide Communist revolution.
Great Purge of the 1930s to clear out enemies from country
1939 – Signed nonaggression pact with Germany. (Divide Poland)
Germany broke the pact, opening up the Eastern Front of the War.

12. Background
Treaty of Versailles (1919) - Harsh treatment of Germany: land losses, reparations, military reductions, and war guilt
League of Nations (1920) – International organization charged with preventing future wars. United States senate refused to allow the United States of America to become a member. The League had neither the will nor the power to check the rising totalitarian governments.

13. Background
Washington Conference (1922) – Italy, Japan, the United States of America, France, and Britain agree to not build up their navies for ten years
Mussolini takes over Italy (1922)
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) – sixty-two nations agree to solve problems diplomatically
Japan invades Manchuria (1931)
Hitler comes to power (1933)

14. Short Term Causes
Italian, Japanese, and German aggression not stopped by League of Nations

15. Short Term Causes
Appeasement – Britain and France wanted to avoid war and therefore gave in to Hitler’s demands
Western democracies would not act aggressively
Britain – Sympathetic towards Germany – knew Versailles Treaty too harsh, wanted to avoid war
France – Would not do anything without Britain
United States of America – Isolation from Europe

16. Major Events of the War- The Onset of War
Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland
1938 – Hitler unites Austria with Germany
1938 – Signed Munich Pact to Gain control of Sudetenland (In Czechoslovakia)
1939 – Hitler and USSR sign nonaggression pact (Agreed to divide Poland)
1939- Blitzkrieg in Poland
September 1, 1939 – World War II official start

17. Major Events of World War II- The War
Inactive Winter 1940 –Britain and France Defend the Maginot Line
1940 – Germany invades Norway and Denmark
1940 – France Falls
Summer 1940 – Britain withstands the German onslaught
1941- Germany broke pact with USSR
German setbacks- the harsh winters in Soviet Union; Bitter defeat in Stalingrad

18. Major Events of World War II - American Involvement
Lend-Lease Program to aid Allies
Attack on Pearl Harbor – December 7, A Day that will live in infamy
US enters World War II
1942 – War turned in favor of the Allies
Victories in North Africa versus Germany
Victory in the Battle of the Midway in the Pacific

19. Major Event of World War II - Allied Conferences
Tehran (1943)
Yalta (1945)
Potsdam (1945) - After Victory in Europe
United States, Britain, and Soviet Union participated

20. Major Events in World War II – The End of the War
June 6, 1944 – Storming of Normandy
December Hitler lost the battle of the Bulge
Germany surrendered in May 1945
Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945
Japan Surrendered in September 1945