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Chapter 4. World War 2 Notes. Causes of the Second World War. Pan-Germanism. Pan- Germanists wanted to unify the German-speaking populations of Europe in a single nation-state known as Großdeutschland (Greater Germany).
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Chapter 4 World War 2 Notes
Pan-Germanism Pan-Germanists wanted to unify the German-speaking populations of Europe in a single nation-state known as Großdeutschland (Greater Germany). In 1891,Pan-German League was formed,and adopted openly ethnocentric and racist ideologies, and ultimately gave rise to the Heim ins Reich policy pursued by Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1938, one of the primary factors leading to the outbreak of World War II
Hitler Hitler's Rearmament rally, 1935 It broke the Treaty of Versailles It started a rearmament race It divided the nations opposing Germany. The Remilitarization of the Rhineland, 1936 It was the first military action by Hitler and it was successful France lost the opportunity to stop Hitler once and for all.
What were Hitler’s foreign policy objectives? Establish Germany as the dominant power in Europe Expand Germany, and obtain new territory through conquest Obtain rich agricultural land by expanding into eastern Europe
The Treaty of Versailles solved nothing • Reparations left many people in the victorious nations feeling guilty. • The loss of all that land to other countries simply made Hitler's early aggression look justified. • Self-determination surrounded Germany by a lot of small nation states that fell easy prey to Germany. • Most of all, the Treaty made the Germans angry, just waiting their chance for revenge
The League of Nations failed to keep the peace • The League of Nations failed to keep the peace • It was weak from the beginning, and had spectacular failures in Manchuria and Abyssinia, and it failed to prevent Hitler breaking the Treaty of Versailles. • It failed to achieve disarmament, which resulted in an arms race. • Countries left the failing League, and realized that they would have to fight a war. • Britain and France abandoned collective security, and turned instead to appeasement
Appeasement encouraged aggression • Appeasement encouraged war. It made Hitler think no one dare stop him, which encouraged him to go further and further until in the end he went too far. • The Sudetenland led Stalin to make the Nazi-Soviet Pact, because he believed he could not trust Britain.
APPEASEMENT - the policy of making concessions to satisfy the demands of Nazi Germany prior to World War II
Questions to Consider • League of Nations was an organization formed after WW1 To keep World Peace. • Why did Hitler decide to violate the Treaty of Versailles? • 1. To establish Germany as the dominant power in Europe. • 2. Felt the Treaty of Versailles was humiliating and designed to keep Germany weak.
Aryan • Aryan- a term used by Hitler to describe non-Jewish people, especially those of Nordic heritage. Hitler saw these people as a “Master Race”
Anschluss. • The union of Germany and Austria . Hitler wanted it for two reasons • 1)an important military advantage-much stronger military due to combining both countries • 2) So that Hitler and his fellow Austrians would be officially German. • LEBENSRAUM- living space • BENITO MUSSOLINI- the dictator of Italy
SUDETENLAND • German speaking part of Czechoslovakia. Hitler decided to take over this area by attacking Czechoslovakia.
MUNICH CONFERENCE- • at this conference in 1938 Hitler, Chamberlain(Britain), Daladier(France), and Mussolini(Italy) signed the Munich Pact, giving Germany the Sudetenland. • Germany agreed not to make any more territorial demands. Czechoslovakia was not even at the conference, and had no say in the matter! • Following the Munich Conference, Chamberlain returned to England and said: “I believe it is peace for our time.” • What were Hitler’s foreign policy objectives?
Munich Conference Source • British Prime Minister Chamberlain*, landing at Heston aerodrome on 30 September 1938 after his meeting with Hitler at Munich. In his hand he holds the peace agreement between Britain and Germany.
Nazi-Soviet Pact • August, 1939 agreement between Germany and Soviet Union where each promised not to wage war against the other. Secretly they agreed to divide Poland when Germany conquered it. • this agreement also called the non-aggression pact shocked the world • this agreement meant that Germany would not have to fight a two front war. • in essence it only delayed the inevitable clash between these bitter enemies
Questions to Consider • Activity: Examine the picture on page 104 of your textbook and answer the following questions. 1. What does the cartoon suggest about the nature of the Nazi- Soviet Pact? 2. What does the corpse represent?
The War Begins WWII: 1939-1945
Important Terms • Blitzkrieg: German term for “lightning war”. The use of swift massive strikes from the air coupled with rapid tank invasions on the ground. • Phoney War: period of time from Oct. 1939 to April 1940 when there was a lull in fighting.Maginot Line: elaborate set of defensive fortifications, built by the French, along the French German border. • Kamikazes: The suicide missions of Japanese air force pilots who crashed their aircraft into enemy targets during World War II.
The Alliances of WWII The Allied PowersThe United StatesThe Soviet UnionBritain France The Axis PowersGermanyItalyJapan
German Successes Early in WWII- Hitler Seemed Unstoppable! • Poland was pleased to learn that France and Britain would help defend Poland against German attack. Germany could now be defeated. Within 4 weeks Poland was crushed at the cost of just 8000 German dead. The British and French had hardly fired a shot. • What had happened? The answer is Blitzkrieg. The principle behind this strategy was that the best way to defeat an enemy is to throw a massive assault against the enemy’s weakest point and cut them off from all supplies and communication.
Blitzkrieg was achieved: • 1st enemy headquarters and communications were bombed by artillery and bombers. Parachutists dropped behind enemy lines to cause panic. • 2nd tanks and infantry punch a hole in the weakest part of the enemy frontline encircling enemy strong points. • 3rd troops following up cut the enemy off from reinforcement’s thus forcing surrender.
Key Events in WWII • Dunkirk Evacuation • Battle of Britain • Operation Barbarossa • Dieppe • Battle of El Alamein • Battle of Stalingrad • Battle of the Atlantic • Pearl Harbour • Battles of Midway and Coral Sea • The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki • Normandy invasion (D-Day)
The Fall of France and the Miracle at Dunkirk • In World War II, France fell to Germany in just over a month. Hitler penetrated through the Ardennes Forest (the weakest area in the Maginot Line) and divided the troops, and pushed them to the sea and the beaches of Dunkirk. • This was a severe blow to the Allies because now all of continental western Europe was under Hitler’s control • In 1940 the Germans forced British and French troops to retreat to the west, and pinned them down on the beaches at Dunkirk in northern France. • If Hitler had gone in right away, he could have won a terrific victory. However, as he tried to decide if the army or air force should have the final honour, thousands or ordinary citizens and the British Navy rescued the Allied troops on the beaches. Their efforts resulted in the rescue of 330 000 troops. Now that Hitler has France, he turned his attention to the invasion plans for Britain.
The Battle of BritainIn the summer of 1940, Hitler dominated Europe his one remaining active enemy—BritainThe new prime minister, Winston Churchill—vowed to continue fighting. The British army had left most of its weapons on the beaches of Dunkirk. The Germans hoped to defeat the British by starving them out. In June 1940 they undertook the Battle of the Atlantic, using submarine warfare to cut the British overseas lifelines. Invasion was the quick way to finish off Britain, but that meant crossing the English Channel; Hitler would not risk it unless the British air force could be neutralized first.The Battle of Britain was fought in the air, not on the beaches. In August 1940 the Germans launched daylight raids against ports and airfields and in September against inland cities. The objective was to draw out the British fighters and destroy them.
The Battle of BritainThe Germans failed to reckon with a new device, radar, which greatly increased the British fighters' effectiveness. Germans losses were so high they had to switch to night bombing at the end of September. Between then and May 1941 they made 71 major raids on London and 56 on other citiesThe damage wrought from these attacks was too indiscriminate to be militarily decisive. On September 17, 1940, Hitler postponed the invasion indefinitely, thereby conceding defeat in the Battle of Britain. So Hitler turned his attention east to Russia.
Invasion of Russia • On June 22, 1941 Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa. This was possibly his biggest mistake of WWII. • It split his troops, who now had to fight on two fronts (East against the USSR and West against Britain) • Hitler had signed an agreement with Russia, but in truth he hated communism and needed Russia’s oil and wheat. • The cold Russian winters and fierce Russian resistance took its toll on German troops. Over 250 000 would die on the Eastern front.
Operation Barbarossa • Germany invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941,with more than 3 million troops. The Soviet army had 2.9 million troops on the western border and outnumbered the Germans by two to one in tanks and by two or three to one in aircraft. • German Success Hitler and his generals had agreed that their main problem was to lock the Soviet army in battle and defeat it before it could escape into the depths of the country. To Hitler, the land and resources of the Ukraine and the oil of the Caucasus were most important. • German plans indicated a victory in about ten weeks, which was significant because the Russian summer was the ideal time for fighting in the USSR. • By the end of the first week in July Germany had 290,000 prisoners and by August 5, having crossed the Dnieper River, the last natural barrier west of Moscow they had another 300,000 Russian prisoners. On reaching Smolensk, the German army had covered more than two-thirds of the distance to Moscow.
Battle of StalingradOn July 28 Stalin issued his most famous order of the war, “Not a step back!” While threatening severe punishment for defeatists, he called on the troops to fight a “patriotic” war for Russia. In late August he called on his two best Generals Vasilyevsky and Zhuchov to deal with the situation at Stalingrad. They proposed to wear the enemy down by locking its troops in a bloody fight for the city while they assembled the means for a counterattack. The German advances to Stalingrad and into the Caucasus had added about 1100 km to their line. No German troops were available to hold that extra distance, so Hitler had to use troops contributed by his allies Romania, Italy and a Hungary Serious weaknesses existed in these armies.
Battle of StalingradOn the morning of November 19, in snow and fog, Soviet army hit the Romanians west and south of Stalingrad. Within three days the Soviets had encircled most of the German Sixth Army, about half of the Fourth Panzer Army, and a number of Romanian units. Hitler ordered the Sixth Army to hold the pocket and promised air support which never arrived. The Sixth Army was doomed if it did not attempt a breakout, which Hitler refused to permit. The Russians pushed in on the pocket from three sides in January 1943, and the head of the Sixth army General Paulus surrendered on January 31. The battle cost Germany about 200,000 troops. In the aftermath of Stalingrad the Germans were forced to retreat from the Caucasus and back approximately to the line from which they had started the 1942 summer offensive.
The Pacific Conflict The United States and Japan
Japanese invasion of Manchuria • In 1931, the Japanese alleged that Chinese saboteurs had threatened to blow up the south Manchurian railway, so they moved into Manchurian on the pretext of guarding the railway. They were really there because Manchurian had an abundance of minerals and timber, resources which Japan wanted. • China appealed to the league of nations for help and the league recommended that Japan withdraw from Manchuria instead Japan withdrew from the league. • In 1937 Japan launched an all-out attack against Beijing, Shanghai, Nanking, and many coastal areas, the LON condemns Japan but takes no action. • Japan signs the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany in 1936, the two countries agree to co-operate against the world communist movement led by Stalin and the USSR (the USSR is now threatened on 2 fronts)
The U.S is still not in the war, but trying to reign in Japan….
What steps did the US take against Japan in 1930-40? • 1) announced its intention to cancel its commercial treaty with Japan, which would now allow the US to impose trade restrictions against Japan. • 2) issued repeated warnings to Japan against further aggression, • 3) imposed an embargo (stoppage) on aviation fuel, petroleum, steel, iron, and industrial machinery. • 4) froze all Japanese assets in the US.
How did Japan respond? Events in Europe in 1939 (Hitler!)created new opportunities; the focus was not on what Japan was doing, but on Hitler. Japan occupied the northern part of French Indochina in 1940, now posing a direct threat to the British naval base in Singapore, and the vast oil supplies in the Dutch East Indies. The US reinforced warnings to Japan, requesting that they withdraw from all territories taken. The Pacific Fleet was stationed in Pearl Harbour. The Japanese refused to buckle to US pressure and announced a new foreign policy called the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere (designed to eliminate Western influence in Asia) They attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941. During this attack, 2400 military and civilians were killed, 19 ships were destroyed or disabled and 150 planes were lost. This event brought the United States into World War II.
Attack on Pearl Harbour • The Japanese knew that they needed a quick and decisive victory over the US because they would lose in a long war due to America’s industrial powerhouse. • The plan was to attack Pearl Harbour because by eliminating this naval fleet Japan would have the supremacy in the western Pacific Ocean. • The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in a surprise attack on December 7, 1941. • 2400 military and civilians were killed, 19 ships were destroyed or disabled and 150 planes were lost. This event brought the United States into World War II. • Japans early successes in the Pacific were short lived. Within a yea almost all US vessels were back in service in action against the Japanese.
Battle of the Atlantic • The Battle of the Atlantic was Canada's longest military engagement of the Second World War, lasting from September 1939 to May 1945. This battle was fought by the men and women of the Canadian Merchant Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. More than 4,600 courageous service men and women lost their lives at sea.
Battle of the Atlantic • The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. The convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces.
