WWII

Axis Powers

Nazi German

Imperial Japan Emperor Hirohito

Italy Benito Mussolini

Adolf Hitler

Allied Powers

Great Britain

United States

France

Soviet Union

BLITZKRIEG “Lightning War”

Quick strike by Panzer divisions, supported by airplanes—Germans used this tactic to take land quickly

Junkers Ju87 Dive-Bomber (Stuka) fitted with siren

Germans used their blitzkrieg tactics to dominate the war in Poland, France, and the low countries from September 1939-June 1940.

Maginot LineDefense system consisting of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, and artillery and machine gun posts.

Proved to be ineffective when Germans flanked Maginot Line when they invaded Belgium—French thought war would be like Western Front during WWI, but Germans were more mobile

5 years to construct

Early German VictoriesBritain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.

Most European countries, including Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal (and U.S.) remained neutral

Nazis used blitzkrieg to defeat the low countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands)

DunkirkGermans trapped hundreds of thousands of British and French troops by the English Channel.

Operation Dynamo evacuated troops from the Beaches of Dunkirk—338,226 troops

900 Boats helped with the evacuation

Battle of BritainJuly to October 1940

German air attack on British naval bases, harbors, communication centers, and war industries

Hitler began to bomb British cities, but ultimately the British propelled the attack and Hitler decided not to invade Britain

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Winston Churchill

Total war—target civilians to decrease morale

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Radar was very important to detect incoming aircraft and help the RAF win the Battle of Britain

Spitfires and Hurricanes played integral role in defeating the Luftwaffe

RAF had pilots from all around the world—Poles, Czechoslavs, Frenchman, Canadians, New Zealanders, and 7 Americans

U.S. Neutrality & Lend LeaseU.S. signed Neutrality Acts into law in 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hitler retaliated by attacking U.S. ships

U.S. lent over 50 billion to over 40 countries. FDR had the power to lend money for ammunition, tanks, airplanes, trucks and food for the war effort

FDR signs Lend Lease Act

NORTH AFRICAItaly invades Ethiopia in 1935

British troops stop German advancement in El Alamein

German and Italian troops surrendered in May 1943

Defeat in North Africa enabled the Allies to invade Italy

Battle of Stalingrad

Germans tried to take Stalingrad on the Volga in order to reap the resources of the South (Oil and Wheat)

Lasted from August 1942 to February 1943. Some of the most intense fighting took place in this battle.

Germany’s surrender proved to be a turning point, Germany was no longer unbeatable

500,000 troops on both sides died and 2 million Stalingrad civilians died

D-DayJune 6, 1944—Opened up Western front against Germany

150,000 British, American, and Canadian soldiers invaded the beaches of Normandy

Dwight D. Eisenhower was commander

Now Allies have a entry point for trucks, tanks, troops, and supplies to enter Europe

Operation Neptune:7,000 vessels from Battleships to landingCraft used in this Operation.

FINAL DAYS IN BERLINSoviets advanced from the East and British/American troops from West to capture the capital city

Russian soldier raises Red Flag over German capital

Denazification

Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide

Germany surrenders in May of 1945

Japan invades ChinaNeeding natural resources, Japan attacked the northern region of Manchuria in China in September of 1931

Japan eventually began to take over territory in Southern China and in French Indochina

Rape of Nanking is when the Japanese killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and raped over 20,000 women in 1937

PEARL HARBOR

December 7, 1941 Japan achieves a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

19 Ships were destroyed and 2,403 sailors were killed

Congress officially declared war on Japan and Germany on December 8, 1941

ISLAND HOPPING

Policy to attack Japanese-held islands in the Pacific while getting close to the Japanese main islands

A few decisive battles halted the advancement of Japan: Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942 & Battle of Midway Island in June of 1942

Aircraft carriers played key roles in the Battles in the Pacific

Kamikaze pilots were volunteer pilots who died for their emperor—700 attacked the US fleet off Okinawa on April 6, 1945

Battle of MidwayDecisive American victory in the Pacific

Japan could never recover from damage sustained in the battle

4 Japanese Aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk, to 1 American Aircraft carrier and a destroyer

Japanese Internment Camps

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

US developed the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project—based out of Los Alamos, New Mexico

Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on August 6th and August 9th

More than 200,000 citizens were killed by the bombs and countless others affected by the nuclear radiation

Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945

HolocaustAryan race were superior, Jews were the opposite according to Hitler

The SS was given responsibility for eliminated the Jews in their “Final Solution”—total genocide and extermination

Einsatzgruppen were a strike force created by Reinhard Heydrich

Initially tried to starve the Jews in Polish ghettos

June, 1941 the Einsatzgruppen became mobile killing units

Killed one million Jews this way—but too inefficient

Death CampsIn 1942, Eight extermination camps were set up to accelerate the killing process with gas chambers

Bodies were cremated in ovens at the death camps

More than 6 million Jews were murdered in the death camps

Over 90% of the Jewish population of Poland, Baltic countries, and Germany were killed

Gypsies, Poles, Homosexuals, Soviet Prisoners, and Handicapped also killed

The Homefront

Many civilians endured fighting for hundreds of days & withstood food shortages

Women and children worked in industries, mines, and railroads

To create total war mobilization, Hitler closed schools, theaters, and cafes in 1944

Millions of men were drafted to fight in the war

Aftermath of WarCold War—political tension and conflict between the U.S. and Soviet Union from 1945 through the end of the 1980s