1. Hitler’s Big Mistake
Lecture # 2
Standard

2. Standard
Identify and locate the Allied and Axis powers on a map and discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theaters of conflict, key strategic decisions, and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions, with emphasis on the importance of geographic factors.
Essential Question: What was Hitler’s Big Mistake?

3. Failure in the West Hitler Looks East
Invasion of the U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) June 22, 1941
Ended the Soviet-Nazi Non-Aggression Pact
Same date Napoleon launched his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812

4. Germany Invades the Soviet Union
Hitler NULLified the Nazi-Soviet Pact
Began Operation Babarossa
Wanted Raw Materials
Wanted to end communism
Unleashed Blitzkrieg
3 million Germans invaded
Stalin unprepared
Burned crops and destroyed factories
Germans could not handle the Winter
Thousands died
Russia suffered appalling hardships
Food Rations

6. Battle of Stalingrad Nov 1942
Germans controlled 90% of city. Then winter sets in!!!
Soviets counterattacked, took back the city, & went on the offensive, driving the German army back

7. Not One Step Back!!!
January 24, 1943
"Surrender is forbidden. 6 Army will hold their positions to the last man and the last round and by their heroic endurance will make an unforgettable contribution towards the establishment of a defensive front and the salvation of the Western world."
Hitler's communication with von Paulus.
Feb. 2, 1943~ 90,000 frostbitten, half-starved German troops surrendered to the Soviets

8. Invasion of the U.S.S.R Opened up a two-front war for Germany
USSR join the Allied side to fight Nazi Germany.

9. Concept Cube Project Invasion of Poland Fall of France
Battle of Britain
Italian and Ethiopian Conflict
Pearl Harbor
Final Solution
D-Day
The Atomic Bomb
Operation Barbarossa
Spanish Civil War
Rise of Hitler
Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Pact
Battle of Midway
Rape of Nanjing
Nuremburg Trials

10. Lecture 1-2 Quizlet Why did France surrender? What happened?
What was the Dunkirk Miracle?
Who fought in the Battle of Britain? Where did the fighting take place?
Describe the Blitz.
What was Operation Barbarossa?
What proved to be disastrous for the German military?
Whose team did the Soviet Union join when they entered the war?