The Great Patriotic War, 1941-45

PRINCIPAL BELLIGERENTS:

• Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan

• Allies: British Empire United States Soviet Union France China

Soviet Foreign Policy, 1934-1938• Comintern, 1919-1943• 1933: USA recognized USSR

• W. Bullitt, US ambassador

• Collective Security, 1934-1937– Maxim M. Litvinov (1876-1951)

• Narkom Foreign Affairs, 1930-38• Jew, anti-Nazi, pro-West• Sept. 1934: USSR joined League of

Nations• May 1935: France and USSR sign

pact• USSR pledged to help

Czechoslovakia, if France first.

– March 1936: Germany re-militarized Rhineland

– 1936: Germany, Italy, Japan form anti-Comintern pact

Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939• Germany and Italy supported Francisco Franco,

Nationalists’ leader• West proclaimed non-intervention, but many leftists

volunteered.• USSR supported Popular Front government (lost).• Seen as dress rehearsal for eastern war

Appeasement and Aggression

• March 1938: Anschluss (“joining”)

• Austrians warmly greeted Hitler

• 1938-39: Appeasement: Neville Chamberlain

• Sept. 1938: Munich Agreement

• Britain, France, Italy, Germany signed.

• Czechoslovakia and USSR not invited.

• Stalin realized West powerless or worse.

Outbreak of war, 1939• March 1939: Germany occupied

Czechoslovakia• May 1939: Stalin replaced Litvinov

with V. Molotov• August 23, 1939: German-Soviet

Nonaggression Pact (10 years)– Secret protocol divided EE

• Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland

• Sept. 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

• Sept. 17, 1939: Soviet Union attacked Poland• Soviet Union imposed control over Lithuania,

Estonia and Latvia• Nov. 1939-March 1940: Soviet-Finnish War or

the Winter War

Katyn massacre, April-May 1940• 25,700 Polish POWs

killed, 4400 at Katyn.• Germans discovered

graves 1943.• NKVD Lavrenti Beria’s

idea• Stalin signed• Only in 1990 admitted.

Soviet Union’s expansion, 1939

Blitzkrieg: "Lightening War"

• Panzer Divisions• Armored vehicles• motorcycles• Planes• Concentrated

attack

Blitzkrieg (cont.)

• Germans quickly took France (occupied Paris on June 14, 1940)

• June 22, 1940, at Rethondes (the scene of the signing of the Armistice of 1918) Franco-German Armistice was signed

• Vichy France created: General Henri-Philippe Petain became head of state

German occupied Europe

German-Soviet War, 1941-45

• Mein Kampf (My Struggle)• Lebensraum (Living space)• Slavs - “subhumans”• Poor Soviet Army performance in “Winter

war” with Finland• Possibility of Soviet attack• Hitler: “We have only to kick in the door

and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down!”

June 22, 1941: Germany broke Non-Aggression Pact and attacked USSR: Operation Barbarossa

Numbers on the eastern frontAxis powers USSR

3.9 million Troops 3.2 million (later 5 million)

Troops

3600 Tanks 12-15,000 Tanks

4839 Aircrafts 11,357 (later 35-40,000)

Aircrafts

Casualties

250,000 Killed 802,191 Killed

500,000 Wounded 3,000,000 Wounded

3,300,000 Captured

2093 Aircraft destroyed 21,200 Aircraft destroyed

2758 Tanks lost 20,500 Tanks lost

The Holocaust, 1941-45“The Final Solution”

• Until 1941, Hitler and Nazis did not agree on what to do with Jews• Emigration• Madagascar

• TURNING POINT: June 1941, Operation Barbarossa

• Einsatzgruppen: “Mobile Killing Groups” or “Single-task groups”

• Jews• Communists• Gypsies• Poles

Einsatzgruppen, 1941-42

Final Solution (cont.)

• The ghettos were already sealed (1940)• Poison gas vans tested the use of gas• Auschwitz-Birkenau• Systematic annihilation of Jews and Gypsies• 1942–1944: one million killed

• Anonymous slaughter• People were tortured, beaten, and executed

publicly

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Overall human costs

• 5.1-6.0 million Jews– 800,000 in Ghettos– 1,400,000 in open-air shootings– 2,900,000 in camps

• 1.8 -1.9 million Poles• 200,000-800,000 Roma & Sinti• 200,000-300,000 people with disabilities• 10,000-25,000 gay men• 2,000 Jehovah's Witnesses

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US enters the war

• December 7, 1941: Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor

• 2.5 hours later, Japanese officially declared war on the United States and Britain

• Dec. 8: US Congress declared that a state of war had existed since December 7

• Dec. 9: China declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy

• Dec. 11: Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, and the US Congress voted declarations in return

The Grand Alliance

• BIG THREE:– Great Britain: Winston Churchill– USA: F.D. Roosevelt– USSR: Josef Stalin

• Keys to victory: Agreed to:– Europe first (Hitler - greatest evil)– Postpone politics (capitalism vs. communism)– Unconditional surrender (no 1918!)

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But war in the east was decisive

• Battle of Stalingrad: summer 1942-February 2, 1943

• Hitler wanted to take the city. Why? Named after Stalin Important port on Volga river But distraction from oil reserves

Battle of Stalingrad: summer 1942-February 2, 1943

• Axis powers advanced (General F. Paulus)• Soviets held on• Axis supplies started running out• Winter came• Panzer tanks useless in street fighting• Soviets counterattacked (pincer

movement)• Surrounded Axis forces

Stalingrad: Street-to-street fighting

Stalingrad

• Feb. 2, 1943: Paulus surrendered (ignored Hitler)

• Total Axis losses (Germans, Romanians, Italians, and Hungarians): 800,000 dead

• Soviet soldiers: 1,100,000 dead

• But turned the tide of the war

June 6, 1944: D-Day: Battle of Normandy

• Long period of preparation and planning• Largest amphibious landing in history• Five beaches:

Utah Gold Juno Sword “Bloody” Omaha

Significance: opened up a large second front

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Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945

• Big Three• Key issue: Poland

– London Poles (pre-WWII govt.)– Lublin Poles (communists)

• Sovietization• Big Three agreed on “interim governmental

authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population . . . and the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people.”

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ENDGAME

• April 25, 1945: Soviet Army first to reach Berlin

• April 30: Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide

• May 8, 1945: Victory in Europe!!

• War in Europe ended

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Potsdam Conference, summer 1945

• USA: Harry S Truman

• USSR: J. Stalin

• Great Britain: W. Churchill, then Clement Atlee

• Solved nothing

• Showed sides in emerging Cold War

• Truman told Stalin about the bomb

End of War with Japan

• August 6, 1945: Hiroshima• Killed 70,000-90,000 people, injuring

another 70,000

• August 9: Nagasaki• Killed 60,000-75,000 and injured about

the same number

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August 14, 1945: Japan surrendered

• Total deaths:

• Civilians’ deaths: 40 to 52 million, including 13 to 20 million from war-related disease and famine.

• Soldiers’ deaths: 22 to 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war.