Ms. Soles Social Studies

Ms. SolesSocial Studies Lesson 58 World War II: Part II

“Timeline of World War II” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_timeline

“Global Conflict” http://www.mrdowling.com/706-globalconflict.html

World War II in Europe Germany invaded France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. The Netherlands and Belgium were overrun using blitzkrieg tactics in a few days and weeks, respectively.

British troops were forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk, abandoning their heavy equipment by the end of the month. On 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom;

Twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime. On 3 July, the British attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent its possible seizure by Germany.

With France neutralized, Germany began an air superiority campaign over Britain (the Battle of Britain) to prepare for an invasion. The campaign failed, and the invasion plans were canceled by September. http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=26522&CategoryID=528

Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy, using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic.

Italy began operations in the Mediterranean, initiating a siege of Malta in June, conquering British Somaliland in August, and making an incursion into British-held Egypt in September 1940.

In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased and, after the Japanese hostile entry into Indochina, the United States embargoed iron, steel. In September, the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases.

The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia and Romania joined the Tripartite Pact. These countries participated in the subsequent invasion of the USSR, with Romania making the largest contribution to recapture territory ceded to the USSR and pursue its leader’s desire to combat communism.

In October 1940, Italy invaded Greece but within days was repulsed and pushed back into Albania, where a stalemate soon occurred. In December 1940, British Commonwealth forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa.

By November 1941, Commonwealth forces had launched a counter-offensive, Operation Crusader, in North Africa, and reclaimed all the gains the Germans and Italians had made.

On Germany's eastern front, the Axis defeated Soviet offensives in the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkov, and then launched their main summer offensive against southern Russia in June 1942, to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus and occupy Kubansteppe.

In early September 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland, following an Italian armistice with the Allies. Germany responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian areas, and creating a series of defensive lines.

Map of the Invasion of Italy

The Soviets decided to make their stand at Stalingrad, which was in the path of the advancing German armies. Soviet soldier waving the Red Banner over the central plaza of Stalingrad in 1943

Operation Blau: German advances from 7 May 1942 to 18 November 1942

By mid-November the Germans had nearly taken Stalingrad in bitter street fighting when the Soviets began their second winter counter-offensive, starting with an encirclement of German forces at Stalingrad and an assault on the Rzhev salient near Moscow, though the latter failed disastrously.

“Battle For Stalingrad” http://watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=619&CategoryID=1867

German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May 1943, as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective, the resulting sizable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign.

A Brief Look at world War II from 1939-1945 1939: ---Germany invaded Poland. ---Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. ---Italy and Japan form Axis Powers with Germany.

1940 ---Germany conquered Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France. ---Germany bombed Great Britain, (Battle of Britain).

1941 ---Hitler turned on ally, invaded the Soviet Union, with winter and lack of supplies, defeated and retreated. ---Japan took control of Southeast Asia and South Pacific. ---Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

---United States declared war with Japan. ---Great Britain declared war with Japan. ---Germany and Italy declared war with the US. ---Hitler ordered the destruction of Europe’s entire Jewish population.

1942 ---Germans tried for 6 months to capture Stalingrad, Soviet Union, lost. ---American and British forces defeated Germans in Africa. ---Allied forces, with those of Australia and New Zealand, regained Pacific islands from Japan.

1943 ---Allies captured Italian island, Sicily. ---Italy’s Fascist leader, Mussolini forced to resign, his party’s control ended, Italy stopped fighting Allies.

1944 ---D-Day, Allied forces land in Normandy, France, retook Paris. ---Allied forces attacked germany from the West, the Soviet Union attacked from the East, Germany surrendered. ---Hitler committed suicide. ---Fighting continued with Japan in the Pacific.

1945 ---Japan refused to surrender. ---Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, then Nagasaki. ---Japan surrendered.

“D-Day – Invasion of Normandy” http://www.history.com/videos/d-day-invasion-of-europe#d-day-invasion

“Germany Surrenders in Berlin, 1945” http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=4428&CategoryID=4217

“Montage of World War II Historical Footage” http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=3417&CategoryID=4213

“Postwar” http://www.mrdowling.com/706-postwar.html

Review and Assessment http://mrdowling.com/706test.html

Resources http://www.wikipedia.org http://mrdowling.com http://www.watchknowlearn.org http://www.history.com

Ms. Soles Social Studies