World War II

Global Conditions between

WWI and WWII• After WWI, countries looked to America for

economic help• The stock market crash started a global

depression.• There was a 50% decrease in world trade during

the 1930’s.• Totalitarianism, fascism, and dictatorships are on

the rise in Europe and Asia as a result of these hard times.

• Strong leaders thrive in these conditions.

Franco’s Rise to Power and the

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

The famous painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Spanish Civil War

• Franco and the Fascists vs.

• Nationalists = rebels

• Conservative• Strongly supported

byGermany and Italy

The• Loyalists = current Republic government• Liberal• Had a little support from the US, USSR, and the InternationalBrigade, but not much (British/French/US isolationism)

Road to War: Asia 1931-1945

• Japan seizes Manchuria in September 1931– Japanese government controlled by militarists

• Mao’s Long March occurred in 1934• Japanese invaded mainland China in 1937

– Rape of Nanjing occurred winter of 1937-1938– Chiang Kai-shek retreated into western China– Mao’s communist forces led guerilla warfare in East

• Japan occupied French Indo-China in 1940

War Fronts

Timeline of German Aggression• 1921 - takes control of the National Socialist Party

(a.k.a.the Nazis)• 1923 - attempts Putsch (seizure of government) and

fails;lands in jail, where he writes Mein Kampf• 1933 - becomes Germany’s Chancellor– Begins passing restrictive laws for Jews– Germany leaves League of Nations– Dachau opens• 1934 - German president dies; Hitler takes over• 1936 - Takes back the Rhineland (forbidden!)• 1937 - Hitler renounces Treaty of Versailles• 1938 - Munich Pact - gives Hitler Czechoslovakia• 1939 - Non-aggression Pact with USSR

Road to War: Europe 1933-1939

• Hitler withdraws Germany from the League of Nations in 1933

• Hitler annexes German inhabited regions of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938– Europe follows policy of appeasement at

Munich Conference in 1938

• Nazi-Soviet Pact signed August 23, 1939– Stalin and Hitler agree to divide Poland

• Germany invades Poland on Sept. 1, 1939

World War II: European Theater

• World War I was a defensive war; World War II was an offensive war– Blitzkrieg led Germany’s easy conquest of

Poland, Belgium, France, et al.– Mobilized massive amounts of human and

natural resources from around the globe– Citizens viewed as legitimate targets for war

• War for oil?– German army attempted to seize Suez Canal– German army besieged Stalingrad

World War II: European Theater

World War II: Pacific Theater

• After Japan occupied French Indo-China, the U.S. and Britain stopped shipments of steel, iron, and oil to Japan– Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941

• Japan quickly conquered Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands

• Battle of Midway marked a turning point– Japan lost 4 of its 6 largest aircraft carriers– Japan’s productivity was one-tenth of U.S.

World War II: Pacific Theater

Major Turning Points in the

European WarA. Battle of Stalingrad - Using the cold weather to their advantage, the Soviets managed to stop Germany’s advance into their country.

B. Operation Overlord - Led by General Eisenhower, the Allies landed on the shores of Normandy France to re-take France from German control (aka D-Day, June 6th, 1944)

C. The Battle of the Bulge - Allied forces break Germany’s ability to be offensive

D. “East Meets West” - The German’s are now on the run from the Soviet forces on the Eastern Front and from the Anglo-American forces on the Western Front. Eventually Berlin is taken by the Soviets.

End of War: European Theater

• Three major allied offensives– After victory at Stalingrad, Soviets begin

counteroffensive in 1943– Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943– Invasion of Normandy (D-Day) June 6,1944

• Hitler commits suicide on April 28, 1945• Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945

Major Turning Points in the Pacific War

A. The Battle of Coral Sea - Thanks to a broken code, the U.S. destroyed several vital Japanese carriers

B. The Battle of Midway - Involved planes trying to sink the other’s battleships; a victory and turning point for the Allies; Japan was now on the defensive!

C. As the U.S. got closer to the main island of Japan, fighting got more brutal as was seen in Okinawa

D. After some debate, the U.S. decided to use the atomic bomb developed in the secretive Manhattan Project

E. Harry S. Truman used the Atomic bombs

F. Japan to surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.

End of the War: Pacific Theater

• U.S. strategy of “island-hopping” by-passed heavily fortified islands to get closer to Japan

• Bombing raids of Japan began June 1944– 40% of Tokyo was destroyed

• U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9)

• Japan surrendered August 14, 1945

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Effects of War

• 60 million dead– Six to eight times more than World War I– Over half the dead were civilians victims

of massacres, famines, and bombs– Russia lost 25 million; China 15 million;

Poland 6 million; Germany 4 million

• World flooded with refugees– 90 million fled China– Most refugees never returned home

War of Science

• New inventions: synthetic rubber, radar, antibiotics

• Military advances: airplanes, tanks, weapons, etc.– Nazi V-2 missiles

• Atomic bomb

The Holocaust

• Nuremburg Laws passed in 1935• German and Polish Jews eventually

moved to ghettos or work camps• Final Solution starts in 1942

– Applied modern industrial methods to the slaughter of human beings

• Killed 6 million Jews and millions of Poles, gypsies, homosexuals, physical and mentally handicapped

The Holocaust

Liberation of Dachau

Prison Labor

Warsaw Ghetto Riots

Ovens at Auschwitz

Home Front in Europe & Asia

• No clear distinction between “front” and “home front”

• Soviet Union dismantled 1500 factories and rebuilt them in Ural Mountains

• Russian women took over 50% of industrial jobs and 75% of agricultural jobs

• German women were encouraged to stay home and have children– Imported 7 million “guest workers”

Home Front in the United States

• U.S. economy experienced prolonged boom after 1940

• Women and minorities were recruited for factory jobs– 6 million women enter workforce– 1.2 million African-Americans migrate

north looking for work

• Japanese were placed in internment camps

Women in World War II

U.S. Propaganda

U.S. Propaganda

Decolonization

Defeat of European “masters” & brutal treatment by Japanese conquerors inspired nationalism

FDR – Atlantic Charter “right of the people to choose the form of gvt. under which they live.”

USSR condemned colonialism & provided support to nationalist campaign

IndiaI. Quit India Movement – Gandhi pushed or

independence “Do or Die” non violence passive resistance

Muslim League – Muhammad Ali Jinnah demanded separate Muslim state-thousands supported movement; fear of discrimination from Indian majority

II. 1947 Britain handed independence to majority party in India with partition of India –Pakistan

Regardless of dual state—riot and killing by religious fanatics

-Gandhi killed 1/30/1948

Philippines: US granted independence 7/4/1946 Treaty of Manila

-President Diosdado Macapagal proclaimed 6/12 as Independence day; 7/4 = Philippines Republic Day

Africa

Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah formed “Convention People’s Party”

-organized mass rallies, boycotts, & strikesReason: govt. control market board favored British

merchants1957- Ghana free with Nkrumah as prime minister

Senegal and Ivory Coast– wanted to keep culture ties with France

-slow concession given due to war in Indo-ChinaBy 1960 all French colonies in West Africa free

Belgium free Congo in 1960

Algeria, Kenya, South Rhodesia different due to permanent European settlements

Result: Bloodshed by nationalist movements

I. Kenya: Jumo Kenyatta (Kenya African Union) formed “Land Freedom Army”

-campaign of terror and guerilla warfare against British settlers(Mau Mau –anti colonial rebellions) Result in full war by Britain: rebellion curshed; Kenyatta

captured-Free in 1963 with Kenyatta as spokeman for Kenyans

II. Algeria: (seen by French as apart of France)National Liberation Front –organized by Arabs and BerbersSecrete Army Organization (OAS)-French nationalist campaign

to crush rebellion; Algeria gained independence in 1962

III. South Africa : Politic dominated by racist supremacist Afrikaners

-Afrikaner Nationalist Party formed in 1930*Apartheid created in 1948 (police state)“Segregation and racist policies to ensure white domination.”

Nelson Mandela “African national congress” (ANC)

-1990 President Frederik Willem de Klerk began negotiations to end apartheid

• V. Nationalism and Decolonization•

E. Conflicting Nationalisms: Arabs, Israelis, and

the Palestinian Question

Arab nations• Most independent by 1960s•  • Palestine• Zionist movement• Holocaust• Muslim revolt, 1936-1939•

• 1948, Palestine divided• Warfare

The Partition of Palestine After World War II