Topic 12: World War II Study Guide

I. Prelude to War
Economic devastation of World War I gives rise to fascist dictators Benito
Mussolini (Italy) and Adolf Hitler (Germany). Both deliver on promises of
economic recovery and job creation.
Europe is committed to preserving peace and avoiding another major
conflict: Locarno treaties, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, disarmament.
Italy, Germany, Japan challenge this resolve with increasing aggression and
military build-up.
Germany directly violates the Treaty of Versailles: armament, failure to pay
reparations, annexation of Austria (Anchluss) and portions of
Czechoslovakia.
Munich Conference: high point of European appeasement of Hitler.
German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact: Hitler avoids two-front war.

II. World War II

September 1, 1939 German blitzkrieg of Poland begins WWII.
Germany experiences early military success based around advanced military

weaponry and trained military (ex. Luftwaffe)

Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan
Japan expands into mainland Asia and China.
France falls to Hitler and Germany invades Soviet Union.
December 7, 1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters war.
Battle of Stalingrad proves to be turning point of WWII in the east.
Allied invasion at Normandy on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) proves to be turning
point of WWII in the west.

 Mussolini killed by Italian nationalists; Hitler commits suicide.

Germany surrenders (1945)
U.S. drops two atomic bombs on Japan (Hiroshima & Nagasaki) to end war
in the Pacific.
Holocaust: Hitler and the Nazis murder 6 million Jews and 4 million other
minorities in concentration camps like Auschwitz.

III. Post-WWII
Two superpowers emerge following WWII U.S. and the Soviet Union
The Cold War begins
NATO: U.S. and their Allies
Warsaw Pact: Soviet Union and their
Allies
Nuremberg Trials: SS officers are put on trial for war crimes and crimes
against humanity
Creation of the United Nations