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WW 2
WW 2
WW 2
In April 1940 the quiet time of the war exploded into action.
Hitler launched a series of blitzkrieg.
Norway and Denmark both fell.
Germany had overrun the Netherlands and Belgium.
Germany along with Italy forced France to surrender.
The Holocaust
Hitler’s policy of Nazi racism
targeted Jewish people and fed on
European anti-semitism
Hitler began implementing his
Final Solution—elimination of
Jewish people by sending them to
concentration camps and then
executing them in gas chambers.
The extermination of nearly 6
million Jews, as well as Gypsies,
Slavs, and other people deemed
undesirable came to be known as
the Holocaust.
Russia and Finland
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939,
and Joseph Stalin ordered his own invasion of Poland
on 17 September.
Later the Soviets demanded that the Baltic States
allow Red Army garrisons on their territory
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia acceded
Then Russia made similar demands of Finland
The Finns agreed to cede some territory but refused
any terms that compromised their independence.
On November 30, Russia attacked Finland, but instead
of the expected swift victory the Russians met stiff
resistance
Russia and Finland
Only after massive artillery
bombardments did Russians
finally compel the Finns to
surrender in March, 1940.
The Russian Army was
plagued by shortages in
leadership.
The poor performance
made Hitler think the
Russians would not be much
of a challenge if Germany
invaded. Finnish infantry passing
a destroyed Russian tank
Denmark and Norway
Germany quickly moved
into Denmark, but had a
more difficult time
capturing Norway
In April, British destroyed
most of the German Navy
at Narvik, including
sinking half of Germany’s
destroyers
These losses would make
it impossible for the
German Navy to
adequately support any
upcoming invasion of the
British Isles
Fall of France
• By May 1940, Europe had been at war for nine
months.
• The ‘Phoney War’ – met an abrupt end on 10 May
1940, when Germany launched an invasion of
France.
• Just four days into the invasion German troops
crossed the Meuse river, and had broken through the
French lines. Attempts by the Allies to launch
counterattacks by air and land either failed with heavy
losses.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to aid in the
defence of France.
Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands on 10 May
1940, and three of their corps attacked France through the
Ardennes and rapidly drove to the English Channel.
By 21 May, the German forces had trapped the BEF and French
armies in an area along the northern coast of France.
Commander of the BEF General John Vereker immediately saw
that evacuation across the Channel was the best course of
action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest
location with good port facilities.
Miracle at Dunkirk
Retreating Allied forces made it to
Dunkirk and found themselves
trapped between the advancing Nazis
and the English Channel. The British
sent every boat they could get across
the English Channel to pick up
troops off the beaches of Dunkirk.
The event at Dunkirk is called a
miracle because the retreating allies
had lost hope and then the British
pulled through for them and rescued
338,000 men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6C5P-AYGdY
Fall of France: June 22, 1940
On June 22, 1940 France signs an armistice with Germany in
occupied France.
The Franco-German Armistice divided France into two zones.
One zone was under German military occupation and the
other was under French control.
In 1942 Germans occupied all of France.
Refusing to recognize defeat, General Charles de Gaulle
escaped to London and organized the Free French forces.
Britain now stood alone against Germany.
US Neutrality before World War II
1935— Neutrality Act passed by Congress to
stay out of European conflicts
1940 -- U.S. imposes embargo on Japan after
its invasion of China
1941– Roosevelt is convinced that the U.S.
cannot stay out of the war much longer, even
though most citizens favor neutrality.
1941 - Congress passes Lend-Lease Act to
allow President Roosevelt to send aid to Great
Britain
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
Dec. 7th 1941—Japan launches surprise attack on
U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Disputes With Japan
By 1940 U.S. relations with Japan were
becoming increasingly strained. Japan’s invasion
of China & territorial ambitions to extend its
conquests to Southeast Asia
Beginning in 1940, Japan was allied with
Germany & Italy as one of the Axis powers
U.S. Economic Action
When Japan joined the Axis in September
1940, US responded by prohibiting the
export of steel and scrap iron to all
countries except Britain and nations of the
Western Hemisphere.
FDR cut off Japanese access to vital materials,
including U.S. oil (trade embargo).
Secretary of State Hull insisted that Japan pull
its troops out of China, which Japan refused to
do.
Negotiations
Negotiations failed.
In October, a new Japanese
government headed by General
Hideki Tojo made a final attempt, but
neither side changed its position.
Britain’s military advisers hoped that
an armed confrontation with Japan
could be delayed until U.S. armed
forces in the Pacific were sufficiently
strong.
Japan believed that quick action was
necessary due to its limited oil supplies
Why did Japan Attacked America?
Japan was trying to become the dominant
power in East Asia and the Pacific
They wanted to use their territories for
oil and raw materials.
Japan was trying to become the dominant
power in East Asia and the Pacific.
Japan decided to attack first
PEARL HARBOR
THE DAY OF INFAMY
December 7, 1941
Japan’s Carefully-planned & well-executed
attack removed the U.S. Navy’s battleship
force
America was unprepared.
U.S. Naval fleet in the Pacific was
anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Major Combatants
Japan
- Fleet of 6 Aircraft Carriers under the command
of Admiral Nagumo and Admiral Yamamoto
- Aerial Assault Force under the command of
Mitsuo Fuchida
United States
- Pearl Harbor Naval/Army Base under the
command of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and
Lt. General Walter C. Short
USS Arizona
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941
while most American sailors were still
asleep in their bunks, Japanese planes
from aircraft carriers flew over Pearl
Harbor
Battle Sequence
5 PHASE ATTACK BY JAPANESE…
(as noted by the U.S. Navy)
PHASE 1: Combined torpedo plane and dive
bomber attacks lasting from 7:55 a.m. to 8:25 a.m.
PHASE 2: Lull in attacks lasting from 8:25 - 8:40
a.m.
PHASE 3: Horizontal bomber attacks from 8:40 –
9:15 a.m.
PHASE 4: Dive bomber attacks between 9:15-9:45
a.m.
PHASE 5: Warning of attacks and completion of
raid after 9:45 a.m.
Attack at Pearl Harbor
Lasted less than 2 hours
2,403 Americans were killed (including over
1,100 when the battleship Arizona sank)
68 civilians were killed
Almost 1,200 were wounded
Approximately 150 airplanes were destroyed
20 warships were sunk
Approximately 150 airplanes were destroyed
Warfare & Casualties During Attack
Japan United States
- Less then 100 men - 2,335 servicemen killed, 68
- 81 Fighter Planes civilians killed, 1,178
- 135 Dive Bombers wounded
- 104 Horizontal - 188 planes
Bombers - 18 ships (8 battleships, 3
- 40 Torpedo Planes light cruisers, 3 destroyers,
4 other vessels)
- At least 5 Midget
Submarines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvhwtv6Vr98
US entered the war
The U.S. finally was forced to join World War II
(“The Sleeping Giant was awakened”)
The U.S. & Great Britain declare war on Japan (Dec.
8, 1941)
Germany & Italy declare war on the U.S. (Dec. 11,
1941).
Over the course of World War II, American and
German scientists were both working on
developing nuclear weapons
America developed them first
Germany & USSR
In 1939, Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with
Stalin. It was an agreement that neither country would
attack.
Both men believed the pact was a strategic move:
Hitler saw it as a way to keep the USSR from attacking
Germany, while Stalin saw it as a way to provide the
USSR with time to prepare for Germany’s inevitable
invasion.
He also felt he needed the agricultural and raw
material resources of Eastern Russia
Ideologically Hitler viewed the Soviet Union as an
amalgamation of his greatest enemies, the Jews and the
Slavs
Moscow, August, 1939: German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop signs non-aggression pact with Russia
Operation Barbarossa
June 22, 1941
Operation Barbarossa was the code-name
given to Nazi Germany’s invasion
of Russia on June 22nd 1941. Barbarossa
the largest military attack of World War
Two, based on blitzkrieg
Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers
invaded the USSR along an 1,800 mile
front.
Operation Barbarossa
The Germans caught the Russians
unprepared and made great advances
The Soviet Army seemed on the verge
of collapse
At this point the weather broke and
autumn rains turned the roads to mud
The German advance stalled, allowing
the Russians to hurry reinforcements
from the interior
Operation Barbarossa
Plans for the attack on Russia had been
around since 1940.
Original Plan was to fight on three fronts:
1. Moscow – his primary target
2. Kiev - a secondary attack
3. Leningrad and in Moldavia - two
masking attacks
But later changed to major one against
Moscow, a smaller attack on Kiev and a
major attack on Leningrad
Operation Barbarossa: Battle of Moscow
VS.
Britain
Germany
Canada
Before the Invasion
They tried to
destroy railroad
lines and disrupt
communication
US troops in a
Higgins landing craft
approaching the
coast of Normandy
Normandy Invasion, D-Day
D-Day - June 6, 1944
Landing on Normandy Beach
Japan Surrenders
However, the Allied Powers began to turn the tide of the
war in 1942 & defeated the Axis Powers by 1945
The Marshall Plan
International peacekeeping
organization
FDR was the “principal
architect” of the UN
The Postwar World Order
Of all the Allied nations, the United States emerged strongest
from World War II.
Britain and France were physically & economically devastated.
Neither would be a dominant world power after 1945.
Although the Soviet Union had suffered greatly during the war, it
emerged in a much stronger position than Britain and France.
Despite U.S. efforts to keep the technology behind the atomic
bomb a secret, Soviet scientists (thru espionage) developed a
nuclear bomb by 1949. “superpowers” by the start of the 1950s.
The United States and the Soviet Union had fought together as
Allies, but ideological differences became a major point of
contention. (communism and capitalism)
This would dominate international politics for the next 40 years
as America and the USSR engaged in a “Cold War.”