world war 2

The Second World War

Chamberlain – British Prime Minister, wanted to avoid war as much as possible. Believed in appeasement (giving Hitler what he wanted to avoid war)

The four war leaders

Stalin – Soviet (Russian) Dictator – Hated Hitler, but fearful of war with Germany. Communist. Signed Nazi-Soviet Non Agression Pact with Hitler in an attempt to avoid war with Germany.

The four war leaders

Mussolini – Italian dictator, allied with Germany, believed in fascism, hated communism.

The four war leaders

Adolf Hitler – German Dictator. Believed in Lebensraum (living space for Germans) by invading other countries. Anti-Se.mitic racist

The four war leaders

Build up the German Military – Hitler believed that Germany should be powerful, even if that meant breaking the Versailles Treaty

Unite all German Speakers in Europe into one Empire, called the Third Reich

Conquer other countries for Lebensraum (living space)

Hitler’s ideas

Appeasement – belief that by giving Hitler what he wanted he would not attack them

Many people in France and Britain also felt sorry for Germany after World War 1.

What did the French and British do?

Hitler took over the Rhineland (the part of Germany near France) in 1935

Supported fascist General Franco in Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)

Took over Austria in 1938 (This event was known as The Anschluss)

Took over the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland) in 1938

Took over all of Czechoslovakia in 1939

Hitler begins to take over Europe

Hitler wanted Poland, but invading Poland would mean going to war with Russia.

To avoid this, Hitler and Stalin signed a treaty, known as the Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Pact

This agreement secretly allowed Poland to be divided between the two countries

Britain and France could not understand this as Stalin and Hitler hated each other!

Poland

Hitler and Stalin – enemies pretending to be friends

1st September 1939 – Hitler invades Poland. Britain and France declare war on Germany – World War 2 begins.

Hitler believed in using overwhelming air power and tanks – a tactic known as blitzkrieg (Lightning War)

When Stalin also invaded Poland, the Poles surrendered.

The Attack on Poland

German bombers during the invasion of Poland

German troops and tanks during the blitzkreig

Once Poland was defeated, a quiet period set in as the main countries prepared for the battles ahead – this was known as the “Phoney War”.

The French had built a line of forts along their border with Germany – the Magniot Line– however Hitler was able to bypass this by invading through Belgium

The invasion of France

After Germany invaded France, over 300,000 British troops in France retreated to Dunkirk where they were rescued by British ships in Operation Dynamo

France then surrendered Hitler took over Northern France, the southern part of

france was ruled by Pro-Nazi Frenchmen in the town of Vichy

Dunkirk & Vichy France

Hitler in Paris after the French surrender

Chamberlain was seen as too weak and Winston Churchill was elected Prime Minister

Churchill belived that the only way to deal with Hitler was to fight.

Churchill takes over in Britain

The Battle of Britain was an air attack on Britain by Germany. It lasted from August 1940 to May 1941

Hitler’s Luftwaffe failed to defeat the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Hitler then decided to invade Russia

The Blitz was the bombing of British cities (including Belfast) during the Battle of Britain.

The Battle of Britain

London burning after German attack – “The Blitz”

Underground train station used as a bomb shelter in London

Churchill inspecting war damage

Dublin bombed by Germans “by accident”

Hitler realised he would not be able to defeat Britain in the West so turned his attention to Russia

The Russian army (the Red Army) was weak after Stalin had shot most of its leaders in the 1930s

The invasion of Russia on 22nd June 1941 meant that Hitler was breaking the Non-Aggression pact with Stalin

Operation Barbarossa – the German Invasion of Russia

“We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down” – Adolf Hitler

“When Barbarossa commences, the world will hold its breath and make no comment” – Adolf Hitler

“We drowned the enemy in our own blood” – Russian survivor of Operation Barbarossa

Quotes on Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa – the German invasion of Russia

Stalingrad – the turning point of World War Two – Germany in Retreat

German soldiers taken prisoner after Stalingrad

The British view of the Battle

War monument at Stalingrad

Americans wanted to avoid geting involved in the war – this was known as “isolationism”

Japan (allied with Germany) wanted to take over large parts of the Pacific and decided to launch a pre-emptive attack on America at Pearl Harbour

America’s President at this time was Franklin D. Rosevelt (FDR)

America enters the war

American Isolationism

Pearl Harbour – America attacked by Japanese

Germany declared war on America after Pearl Harbour In response, the Americans decided to defeat Germany

first and then defeat Japan War broke out in Africa between Germany and the

Allies (Britain and America) The allies pushed Germany out of Africa and then

invaded Italy, which surrendered to the Allies in 1943

War in Africa

War in Africa