Major Events and Turning Points

A Weak League of Nations

A Weak League of Nations

The Great DepressionThe Great Depression

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Emperor Haile

Selassie

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

U. S. Neutrality Acts:1934, 1935, 1937, 1939

U. S. Neutrality Acts:1934, 1935, 1937, 1939

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936

The “Pact of Steel”

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do

business with.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop &

Molotov

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

Blitzkrieg [“Lightening War”]

Soviet Union Invades PolandSeptember 17, 1939

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940

The Tripartite Pact

Axis and Allies• The Allies• Great Britain• France• Belgium• Netherlands

• Later—USSR (1941)• Later—US (1941)• Later—Italy (1943)

• The Axis• Germany• Italy (1939-1943)• Japan

• The Nonagression Pact (1939)• Germany• Soviet Union

France SurrendersJune, 1940

France SurrendersJune, 1940

Dunkirk EvacuatedJune 4, 1940

Dunkirk EvacuatedJune 4, 1940

What about the US?• Strong isolationist

feelings, but increasingly helped Britain.• Gave Britain

military supplies in exchange for bases in the Caribbean and Bermuda

Great Britain.........................$31 billionSoviet Union..........................$11 billionFrance..................................$3 billionChina..................................$1.5 billionOther European......................$500 millionSouth America.......................$400 million

The amount totaled: $48,601,365,000

U. S. Lend-Lease Act,1941

U. S. Lend-Lease Act,1941

Allowed FDR to lend or lease materials to the Allies because he said it was best for our national defense.

The President and Lend/Lease

• FDR compared the Lend Lease act to “lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house is on fire.”

Battle of Britain (Summer and Fall 1940)

•Germans launched a Blitzkrieg attack on Britain•Began by attacking airfields and aircraft

factories•Royal Air Force (of Britain—RAF) were

severely outnumbered•Churchill urged Britain to remain positive

and keep fighting

Battle of Britain:The “Blitz”

Battle of Britain:The “Blitz”

Battle of Britain Continued

• Germany expected to take Britain within a couple of weeks• Eventually Germans stopped daylight raids and

focused on night raids• By October 1940, Hitler stopped regular

bombings of Britain in order to focus on the rest of Europe• Churchill's Speech

The Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

COPY THIS:

• First two years of war—US officially neutral• Germany took over France and most of Europe• Battle of Britain—Germany bombed Britain

continuously for three and a half months• Mid-1941 Hitler turns on Soviet Union and invades

U.S.S.R. - Stalingrad

1. Soviet army defeated the Germans, July 1942-February 1943

2. Germans did not seize the Soviet oil fields3. Major Turning Point in Europe4. The Soviet army began its long push toward Germany.

North Africa: El Alamein

• *British defeat German forces

• *Denied Hitler control over the

• Middle Eastern oil fields and Suez Canal

• *Hitler could not attack the

• Soviet Union from the south.

Gen. Eisenhower Gives the Orders for D-Day [“Operation

Overlord”]

Gen. Eisenhower Gives the Orders for D-Day [“Operation

Overlord”]

D-Day (Allied Invasion of Europe—June 6, 1944)

•Allies land on beaches of Normandy• Largest amphibious invasion of all time• Invasion was planned by Allied

Supreme Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower• Significant victory for Allies•Allies begin to liberate France

Normandy Landing

(June 6, 1944)

Normandy Landing

(June 6, 1944)

Higgins Landing Crafts

German Prisoners

War in Asia and the Pacific

• 1930s- Militaristic Japan invades Manchuria and China• The US refused to recognize Japan’s land claims and

imposed an embargo on oil and steel

What is an EMBARGO?When one country bans trade of certain goods with another country.We did not send oil or steel to Japan….what will this mean for Japan?

Pearl Harbor MemorialPearl Harbor Memorial

2,887 Americans Dead!

Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor

• Air attack on naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941• Destroyed most of Pacific fleet and killed several

thousand Americans• Roosevelt calls it “a date that will live in infamy” as

he asks Congress for declaration of war on Japan• Honoring Tripartite Pact, Hitler declares war on US• US feelings of ISOLATION are GONE

Strategy in the Pacific:• AXIS: After Pearl Harbor, Japan invades

Philippines and Indonesia; plans to invade Australia and Hawaii• Hoped that US would cede Japanese dominance in SE

Asia and the Pacific rather than a costly war

• ALLIED: “Island Hopping”– taking islands closer and closer to Japan, and using them as bases for air attacks on Japan• Also—cutting off Japanese supplies through sub

warfare against Japanese shipping.

Battle of Midway“Miracle at Midway”• June 4-7, 1942

• American naval forces defeat much larger Japanese force at the Midway Islands

• Victory ended Japanese threat to Hawaii

• Began a series of victories on “island hopping” campaign carrying war closer to Japan

Turning Point!

Iwo Jima and OkinawaFebruary-June 1945

• Americans invade islands close to Japan• Heavy casualties on both sides• But Japanese committed suicide rather than surrender

• Lost more than 100,000 men

• Allied victory, bringing troops closer to Japan

Geneva Convention• Series of international treaties aimed at helping

soldiers and civilians in times of war.

• Meetings in 1864, 1906, 1929, and 1949

• 1929 meeting--required belligerents treat POWs humanely, provide information on them, and allow inspections of POW camps

Treatment of Prisoners of War in the Pacific:

• Often reflected the savagery of the fighting there.• Did not necessarily abide by laws of Geneva

Convention• Bataan Death March—American and Filipino POWs

suffered brutal treatment by Japanese after surrender of Philippines

Bataan Death March

Back to Europe:

• US and Allied strategy: “Defeat Hitler First”• Most American military resources were targeted for

Europe

Yalta: February, 1945Yalta: February, 1945

y FDR wants quick Soviet entry into Pacific war.

y FDR & Churchill concede Stalin needs buffer, FDR & Stalin want spheres of influence and a weak Germany.

y Churchill wants strong Germany as bufferagainst Stalin.

y FDR argues for a ‘United Nations’.

US & Russian Soldiers Meet at the Elbe River:

April 25, 1945

US & Russian Soldiers Meet at the Elbe River:

April 25, 1945

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Crematoria at

Majdanek

Entrance to Auschwitz:

Work Makes You Free

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Mass Graves at Bergen-Belsen

Terms to Know• Genocide: The systematic and purposeful

destruction of a racial, political, religious, or cultural group

• Final Solution: Germany’s decision to exterminate all Jews

Groups Affected by the Holocaust:

• Jews• Poles• Slavs• Gypsies• “Undesirables” (homosexuals, the mentally ill,

political disidents)

And then…War Ends in Europe

• April 28, 1945 Mussolini is executed and his body is taken to a public square in Milan and put on display• On April 30, Hitler and his new wife (of only a

couple hours), Eva Braun, committed a joint suicide to avoid Mussolini’s fate• By May 8, all German armies had surrendered and

War in Europe was over….but what about Japan?

Mussolini & His Mistress,

Claretta Petacci

Are Hung in Milan, 1945

Mussolini & His Mistress,

Claretta Petacci

Are Hung in Milan, 1945

Hitler Commits Suicide April 30, 1945

Hitler Commits Suicide April 30, 1945

The Führer’s Bunker

Cyanide & Pistols

Hitler and Eva Braun

V-E Day (May 8, 1945)V-E Day (May 8, 1945)

General Keitel

Potsdam Conference:July, 1945

Potsdam Conference:July, 1945

y FDR dead, Churchill out of office as Prime Minister during conference.

y Stalin only original.

y The United States has the A-bomb and

decide to warn Japanese.y Allies agree Germany

is to be divided into occupation zonesP.M. Clement President

Joseph Atlee Truman Stalin

The Manhattan Project:Los Alamos,

NM

The Manhattan Project:Los Alamos,

NM

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer

Major GeneralLesley R. Groves

Col. Paul Tibbets & the A-Bomb

Col. Paul Tibbets & the A-Bomb

Hirohito ignores Potsdam• Truman orders bombs to be dropped• Effects of those bombs are outrageous

and still evident today:• People died from flash burns• People died from radiation poisoning• Over 90% of doctors in Hiroshima died

with initial blast• Bomb burned through clothes—dark

colors on fabrics were emblazoned into skin

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

© 70,000 killed immediately.

© 48,000 buildings.

destroyed.© 100,000s died of

radiation poisoning & cancer later.

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

©40,000 killed immediately.

©60,000 injured.©100,000s died of

radiation poisoning& cancer later.

Why Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

•Hiroshima—industrially important•Nagasaki—one of the largest seaports in Japan

Use of the atomic bomb:• Truman thought it would force

Japanese to surrender• Avoid horrendous casualties of Allied invasion

of Japan (on both sides)• Tens of thousands killed in both cities• Week later, Japan announced surrender

Japanese A-Bomb Survivors

Japanese A-Bomb Survivors

V-J Day (September 2, 1945)

V-J Day (September 2, 1945)

Japanese POWs, GuamJapanese POWs, Guam

Massive Human Dislocations

Massive Human Dislocations

The U.S. & the U.S.S.R. Emerged as the Two

Superpowers of the later 20c

The U.S. & the U.S.S.R. Emerged as the Two

Superpowers of the later 20c

The Division of Germany:1945 - 1990

The Division of Germany:1945 - 1990

The Creation of the U. N.

The Creation of the U. N.

The Nuremberg War Trials:Crimes Against Humanity

The Nuremberg War Trials:Crimes Against Humanity

Nuremburg War Crimes Trials• Nazi leaders and others were convicted of war

crimes.• Emphasized individual responsibility for actions

during the war, regardless of orders received.• Trials led to increased demands for a Jewish

homeland.