World War II

CAUSES:
1) The measures taken in the peace treaties after the World War I
2) The emergence of communism as an organized state, after the Russian Revolution
of 1917.
3) The March on Rome of October 28, 1922 that with Mussolini in front, began the
era of Italian Fascism.
4) The serious economic crisis suffered by Germany in 1923
5) The expansion of the Japanese Empire
6) The arrival of Adolph Hitler to power in Germany
 IMPORTANT FACTS:
• 1919:The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, with it the WWI ended.
• 1936: Mussolini and Hitler form the Rome-Berlin Axis.
• 1939: The War in Poland and Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland);
the Germans invade Poland on September 1 and three weeks later World War II erupts.
• 1941: The Japanese make a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor
Hawaii.
• 1941: Hitler orders the “Final Solution”, a program to kill the entire Jewish population
in Europe.
 DEVELOPING:
In 1939 German troops invaded Czechoslovakia and the Italians took Albania, so British and French leaders began to
prepare for war and promised to protect Poland if Germany attacked. But Axis Powers with Soviets gained military
control over of Europe: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Scandinavia and the Low Countries, reaching the coast, so
they cut off the Allied troops.
After that, in June 1940 German entered Paris and controled the South of the country, but some of French under the
leadership of General Charles de Gaulle they resisted.
Hitler ordered his air force invated Great Britain and then the president of the U.S.A Franklin D. Roosevelt sent his
troops to support Great Britain and his president Churchill in 1941.
On June 22 1941 the war began a new phase. Without declaring war, German armies invaded the Soviet Union.
Churchill and the U.S. offered aid to the Soviet Union. The Soviets were able to hold off German control and the cold
Russian winter forced them to retreat.
In 1942 26 nations in Washington promised to use all its resources to the Axis. They became “The Allies” and during
1943 bombing attacks against Germany, and troops took the Italian Peninsula and moved into northern France.
Finally Germany surrender in 1945 and the Allies occuped the military zones of the invaded countries.
The war ended with Postdam Conference.
 COUNTRIES INVOLVED:
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• United Kingdom
• France
• Australy
• Canada
• New Zeland
• India
• Russia
• U.S.A
 POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
• The WWII ended with a victory of peace, but the Allied nations had trouble to determining
how keep peace in Europe.
• In Postdam (outside Berlin) the Allies discussed a postwar settlement. They agreed on several
basic principles:
• Germany should remain a single country, although for the time being it would be divided.
• Germany must be demilitarized
• The Nazy Party must be outlawed
• Germany should be a democratic country
• Individuals responsible for war crimes should be brought to trial
• The Allies stablished “The Allied Control Council” and together write the peace treaties.