Hitler’s War Machine Hitler dreamed of

revenge for Germany’s defeat in WWI and their harsh treatment in the Treaty of Versailles.

Launched a massive buildup of the country’s military and put people back to work in the midst of a worldwide depression in the early 1930’s.

Kid in a Candy Store… Hitler throws a fit and

gets what he wants! 1936 sent troops into the

demilitarized Rhineland 1938 forced Austria to

unite with Germany. 1938 demanded that

Czechoslovakia turn over the Sudetenland to Germany. Said that was all he wanted.

1939 seized the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Then demanded Poland as well.

Fighting Begins! Britain and France

pledged to defend Poland if Germany attacked.

Hitler negotiated a temporary peace with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to keep them both out of war with the other (Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact).

War Begins… WWII began on

September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

Attacked in a blitzkrieg, or lightning war.

Britain and France become the Allied Powers and mobilize for war.

France massed their troops behind the Maginot Line, a fortified wall between France and Germany built after WWI.

Didn’t work!

Miracle at Dunkirk April 1940. Germany took

over Denmark and Norway.

May 1940. Germany took over Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

At the French port of Dunkirk, over 300,000 Allied soldiers were rescued by boat as the Germans had moved north of the Maginot Line and trapped them.

EVERY boat of any size was used to evacuate the beaches.

Battle of Britain June 22, 1940. France

surrendered to Germany. Germany looked to Britain

next. July 1940 the Luftwaffe,

German air force, began to attack British military installations.

Two months later, Hitler ordered civilian targets attacked.

For 57 nights straight. The RAF (Royal Air Force)

defended the British skies with newly developed radar.

German invasion was a failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc

Defeated by “General Winter” Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet

Union after nullifying the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Unleashed the blitzkrieg in June 1941 – 3

million Germans. 2.5 million Soviets died fighting the Nazis The temperature hit -40F in December,

freezing thousands of German soldiers to death.

This invasion was also not a success!

U.S. Neutrality Isolationism on our part.

Congress passed a series of laws to support neutrality.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is president.

1939 FDR asked Congress to adjust these laws. Approved the “lend-lease” program for our allies.

We will lend/lease you materials for your war effort. You must come and get them. We will not provide men to fight this war.

Battle of the Atlantic Germany began

using submarine forces to stop the transportation of weapons in the Atlantic. “U-boats”

Convoys of cargo ships were used as well as US Navy ships to safely carry the weapons to Britain.

“Detention Centers” During the 1930’s, the

Nazis sent thousands to Concentration Camps- “detention centers”.

The “racially inferior” were used for slave labor; were poorly fed and often worked to death.

The “Final Solution” 1941, German leaders decided on the

extermination of European Jews. Six “death camps” were built in Poland. “Undesirables” were shipped in from all over

Europe, within a few days packed into shower rooms and gassed.

Some were used in “medical” experiments. At the height of the Holocaust, 5,000 Jews

could be gassed in a camp/day. By 1945 – SIX million Jews had died.

Gas Chamber

Conflict with Japan Japan had been an

aggressor nation in the 1930’s, conquering much of China.

Japan allied itself with Germany and Italy, or the Axis Powers.

The U.S. stopped trading valuable goods with the Japanese.

Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941,

Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor.

Also, same day, they attacked US military bases in the Philippines and Guam, Midway, and Wake Island.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJZLc5_l-_Q

A “date which will live in infamy (disgrace)” – FDR

December 8, 1941, US declares war on Japan. Germany and Italy then declare war on the US.

Transcend life and death. When you eliminate all thoughts about life and death, you will be able to totally disregard your earthly life. This will also enable you to concentrate your attention on eradicating the enemy with unwavering determination, meanwhile reinforcing your excellence in flight skills.

- A paragraph from the Kamikaze pilot's manual, located in their cockpits.

Pearl Harbor

U.S.S. Arizona

Who were the Allies? After the U.S. entered

the war the new “Big Three” began meeting to make war plans.

United States – FDR Britain - Winston Churchill Soviet Union - Joseph Stalin

FDR and Churchill didn’t trust Stalin…but needed him!

D-Day Building up for an

invasion of France by Allied forces!

June 6, 1944 on the coast of Normandy, France.

Led by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

60 mile stretch of coastline

D-Day Deception

136,000 Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.

They assaulted five beaches, code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The bloodiest fighting occurred at Omaha, where the Americans suffered more than 2,000 casualties.

Led way for 1 million + Allied forces to enter Paris, France on Aug. 25, 1944.

D-Day - The History Channel

D-Day Facts

At the same time…

The Soviets move in from the East. Freed Leningrad (800,000 people

had died in an 80 day siege against the Germans), Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Battle of the Bulge Hitler counterattacked

in Belgium in December 1944.

Allied lines bulged, but did NOT break.

Last German offensive of the war.

Battle of the Bulge - History Channel

V-E Day By March 1945, Allied

troops had worked their way into western Germany.

Soviet troops closed in from the east, shook hands with Americans once they met.

All over Europe, Axis armies began to surrender.

Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker.

May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered – May 8 proclaimed V-E Day (Victory in Europe)

War in Asia and the Pacific Japanese victories after

Pearl Harbor gave them control of much of Southeast Asia and many Pacific islands

Gen. Douglas MacArthur – In charge of US troops in the Pacific

March, 1942- Had to be evacuated from the Philippines

Bataan Peninsula American and Filipino soldiers

under attack on the Bataan peninsula by the Japanese.

65 mile Bataan Death March in May 1942.

10,000 Filipino soldiers and several hundred American soldiers died at the hands of the Japanese invaders while marching to a POW camp.

“Heat, dust, starvation, thirst, flies, filth, stench, murder, torture, corpses, and wholesale brutality that numbs memory.”

Civilians were killed if they assisted the prisoners.

The Tide Turns in the Pacific

June 1942 victories in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway Island by the United States.

Summer of 1942 MacArthur lands the Marines at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands; beginning the “island hopping” campaign in the Pacific.

This allowed the recapture of Japanese-held islands while bypassing others; served as stepping stones to the next objective.

Primary goal: Japan or bust!

Iwo Jima Strategic island in the

Pacific; a Japanese stronghold with 21,000 soldiers.

Feb. 23, 1945 all out fight to win Iwo Jima resulted in 6,821 American dead and nearly 20,000 Japanese dead.

An American victory; SIX soldiers raised the US flag on Mt. Suribachi when the island was nearly secured.

Iwo Jima - The History Channel

A New Weapon While Allied leaders

planned an invasion of Japan, scientists worked on another option.

Manhattan Project – Plan to split the atom and create the atomic bomb.

The 1st successful test happened in New Mexico, July 1945.

To drop the bomb or not… Mid 1945, Japan has no

navy or air force. Still, their army

numbers close to 2 million men.

FDR dies; VP Harry Truman becomes President.

The decision to invade the island of Japan could cost an estimated 1 million American lives.

Little Boy & Fat Man

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Truman gave the

Japanese a final offer to surrender; they refused.

August 6, 1945 = Hiroshima; 70k+ dead; refused to surrender.

August 9, 1945 = Nagasaki – 40,000 dead

September 2, 1945 Japan (finally) surrenders.

Hiroshima – Before and After

Energy was powerful enough to burn through clothing.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi – Recognized as first citizen to survive BOTH blasts. Died in January 2010 – 93 years old.

Aftermath Nuremberg Trials – Allies

agreed that Axis leaders should be tried for “crimes against humanity.”

Nearly 200 were tried, some sentenced to death, others imprisoned.

Several countries were occupied by Allied military leaders; democracies were set up.

The Alliance Breaks Apart! The United States and Soviet Union

emerge as the world’s two superpowers. Stalin wanted to spread communism into

Eastern European countries that the Soviet Union now controlled.

U.S. and others in the “west” didn’t agree.

Truman Doctrine – 1947, contain communism to areas that the Soviet’s already controlled.

COLD WAR BEGINS!

Berlin Airlift Marshall Plan – Aid package

offered to Europeans after WWII. Soviets did NOT allow U.S. aid to countries they occupied!

Berlin was divided up between the Allies…Stalin wanted it to be controlled by the Soviet Union.

He sealed off railways and highways into western Berlin.

The U.S., Britain, France began a year long airlift, supplying West Berliners with food, etc.