World War II

1. World War II McFarland

2. Aggression leads to war in Europe and Asia.

3. Attempts at Peace (good intentions). • The League of Nations-had been established by the Treaty of Versailles to promote world peace. More than 60 nations joined, but the League was weak due to the refusal of the United States to join. More importantly, the League lacked power to enforce decisions.

4. International Conferences-in London & Washington, D.C., diplomats discussed disarmament & agreed to limit the size & strength of navies. • Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, 1928-an agreement eventually signed by all countries to renounce war, named for American Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, & Premier Aristide Briand of France. This promise would soon be broken.

5. Germany violates the Versailles Treaty. • Germany had originally joined the League of Nations, but left when the Nazis took over. Germany had bitterly resented the treaty due to the fact that disarmed the country, taken away conquests, and ordered the payment of huge sums for war damages. When Hitler gained power, he vowed to change things.

6. His first step in restoring Germany’s power was to rebuild its military force. In 1935, Hitler declared Germany would build a peace-time army of 550,000 men, going against the provision in the treaty that set a 100,000 limit. • Britain & France denounced German rearmament but did not take action in order to preserve peace. A law or rule was violated and there were no consequences.

7. Fascist aggression goes unchecked. • Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. (Italy would leave as a member of the League.) Ethiopia, this independent African kingdom, had resisted earlier Italian invasions in 1896. Now, they would be defeated.

8. HaileSelassie (HY-lee suh-LASS-ee), Ethiopia’s emperor, appealed for help from the League of Nations. • The League condemned Italy for this act of aggression. • The League urged members not to sell arms or raw materials to Italy, rather, adopt economic sanctions, but only a few cooperated.

9. Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland in March, 1936, the region between the Rhine River and the French border, violating the Versailles Treaty again.

10. Japan took Manchuria in 1931. • The League of Nations condemned the move but took no action. • Japan resigned from the League in 1933. • In July, 1937, Japanese & Nationalist Chinese troops clashed and the Sino-Japanese War followed. • Japanese troops began an all-out invasion of China-1937.

11. Hitler south to bring together all German-speaking peoples. • Troops entered Austria in March, 1938 & declared it part of the Third Reich, violating the treaty again. A union, or Anschluss, was prohibited between Germany & Austria.

12. 1938, Hitler moves on Czechoslovakia. Most Czechs & Slavs lived here, but there were some Germans. • Most Germans lived in the Sudetenland, the western region along the German border. • France & Britain opposed this & British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain called for the Munich Conference in September, 1938. The two agreed to the German claim on the Sudetenland, continuing a policy of appeasement. Both nations desired peace at almost any price.

13. Americans wanted to stay out of European wars. • Germany’s actions were often unopposed for many, especially in Britain, felt the Versailles Treaty was too harsh. • March, 1939, German troops took Prague, the Czech capital, and Czechoslovakia now ceased to exist as an independent nation.

14. March, 1939-Hitler demanded that the city of Danzig, Poland return to German rule; Hitler wanted Poland. He demanded that Germany be granted a railroad & a highway through the Polish Corridor, which had been created after World War I. This corridor was a strip of land that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany, giving Poland access to the sea.

15. Poland refused. • Britain & France declared that they would help defend Poland’s independence. • They were stunned when the Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed in late August, 1939-a pact of friendship & non-aggression. In return for half of Poland, the Soviet Union agreed not to interfere with Hitler’s invasion.

16. On Sept. 1, German troops marched into Poland. • On September 3, 1939, Britain & France declared war against Germany.

17. At the time of the invasion of Poland, Germany was better prepared than Britain & France for war and would now begin to exert their power in Europe, thus, a long war was in store for the world.

18. Europe falls to the Axis Powers (Italy & Germany) between 1939 & 1942.

19. Poland falls to Germany-In less than 1 week after the Sept. 1st invasion, the German blitzkrieg (BLITS-kreeg), or lightning war, occurred. Hitler developed this type of warfare that used quick, massive attacks on land and in the air. On Sept. 27, 1939, after heavy days of bombing, Warsaw surrendered. Poland was divided between Germany & the Soviet Union.

20. The Soviet Union claimed land in the Baltics. • They established military bases in Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia. • Finland was seized in the winter war of 1939. • Phony war of Western Europe-little action in late 1939-early 1940.

21. Germany strikes in the spring of 1940. Heavy bombing devastated cities & terrorized the civilian population as Germany pushed into northern France. • Denmark-April, 1940 • Norway-April, 1940 • Belgium-April, 1940

22. The Netherlands-April, 1940 • Luxembourg-April, 1940 • France-June, 1940 • Allied forces (British, Belgian, & French) rescued at Dunkirk. The fall of Belgium allowed the German army to move around the end of the Maginot Line. Germans broke the French defenses near Sedan & moved to the English Channel. Every available vessel set sail from England-even fishing boats. By June 4, most of the soldiers were taken to England leaving equipment behind. Germany advanced steadily across northern France. Many civilians fled south.

23. Italians invaded from the South. • German troops marched into Paris on June 14th. • The French government asked for an armistice, under which Germany occupied northern France, including Paris, and the coast. • In the south, a government was established at Vichy (VEE-shee) that was very cooperative with the Germans, headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Pe’tain, a hero of World War I.

24. Battle of Britain, 1940-1941; Great Britain stood alone. Hitler planned to invade, but hoped they would surrender. • When it was clear Britain would not surrender, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to heavily bomb British factories, airfields, seaports, & cities. On August 8, 1940, hundreds of bombers & fighter planes attacked, beginning months of air raids, day & night, in preparation for an invasion.

25. British Royal Air Force defended Britain inflicting heavy losses on German aircraft and the British were aided by radar, a new device to detect enemy planes. • By late fall, Hitler abandoned his invasion plans. The Blitz continued until spring, however, claiming thousands of British civilians. • A German naval blockade prevented the shipment of food & supplies, thus there were shortages. Britain needed help, but U.S. neutrality prevented the U.S. from lending money or goods to a country at war.

26. Invasion of the Soviet Union. June 22, 1941-anniversary of Napoleon’s invasion. Even though Hitler & Stalin had made a nonaggression pact when they divided Poland, Hitler moved to destroy communism & seize Soviet territory.

27. Reasons for the invasion: • Hitler wanted land for German settlers. • Hitler wanted rich grain fields to feed the German nation. • Hitler wanted oil, coal, & iron ore to supply the German war machine. • Soviet armies suffered enormous losses in the first months. By October, 1941, German troops were only 50 miles from Moscow. The Russian civilians were suffering hardships.

28. The Soviet defense. • As the Soviet troops withdrew, crops were burned in the fields & equipment was destroyed. These “scorched earth” tactics left no food or supplies for the advancing Germans. • Autumn rains & winter snow slowed the Germans. Obviously, blitzkrieg tactics were not effective on muddy, snowy roads. The Soviets were ready for winter, while the Germans were not.

29. Autumn rains & winter snow slowed the Germans. Obviously, blitzkrieg tactics were not effective on muddy, snowy roads. The Soviets were ready for winter, while the Germans were not. • Tanks & trucks could not start in the cold.

30. Even another offensive would not be successful. The Soviet victory marked the turning point for Eastern Europe in the war. Germany surrendered Stalingrad in 1943.

31. Lend-Lease: In March, 1941, the U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act which allowed President Roosevelt to sell, lease, or lend military equipment to nations whose defense was vital to American security. This applied to Britain & China, and was extended to the U.S.S.R.

32. Fighting in North Africa. Mussolini sought control over the Mediterranean, while Hitler expanded westward in Europe. • In the fall of 1940, Italian forces from Libya invaded Egypt. • to capture the Suez Canal. • To open the way to the oil fields of the Middle East.

33. To open the way to the oil fields of the Middle East. • The British forces were led by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery; they blocked Rommel’s advance toward Egypt. At El Alamein (ell ah-lah-MAYN), Britain had their first major victory of the war.

34. The U.S. meanwhile had entered the war after the attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. In November, 1942, Allied troops were under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. They began in French Morocco and Algeria. Rommel’s armies became trapped between the two Allied armies. By May, 1943, the Allies held North Africa.

35. Europe under Hitler. • A New Order was imposed. Despite the Allied victories in Africa & Eastern Europe, most of Europe was firmly under Nazi control. • Over this Reich, Hitler planned to extend a New Order in which all of Europe would serve the German “master-race” idea of Aryan superiority.

36. These racial policies called for enslavement or extermination of all inferiors. The non-Aryans were not only the Jews, but Slavs (mostly Poles & Russians). • These policies were administered by Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s police chief.

37. Persecution begins in Poland-When Poland fell in 1939, both the Soviets & the Nazis terrorized the Poles. • Soviets transported over 1 million from eastern Poland to labor camps and concentration camps in the U.S.S.R., especially the upper class. 4,000 officers were massacred. • In Western Poland, concentration camps were built and many Poles were relocated here.

38. Conquered lands are exploited by Germany. (France, U.S.S.R, Czechoslovakia, & Rumania) Food, resources, labor, and art were taken by the Germans. About 7 million were sent to forced labor camps. • European Jews faced the Holocaust-remember, wiping out the Jews was one of Hitler’s major goals.

39. Genocide-considered the final solution to the Jewish problem; the systematic murder of an entire people. • Jews were rounded up, loaded into sealed cattle cars, & shipped to death camps. Remember Anne Frank. • Those who were used in labor were of a prime age; the very young and old were killed first. • Many were herded into gas chambers. • Others were beaten and starved. • Some were victims of cruel medical experiments. • 6 million Jews died; about 1.5 million children.

40. Most notorious death camp was Auschwitz (OUSH-vitz) in Poland. Here alone, 3-4 million died. In charge here was Rudolf Hoess, who was later tried for crimes against humanity and executed.

41. Resistance movements; some occurred in each German-occupied country. Some aided the Allies. Some led strikes. Others sabotaged plants making German war equipment. • They symbol of resistance became the “V” for the Victory sign. • These people took great risk. For every German soldier killed, many other civilian hostages were executed. • Governments in exile were established; for example, the Free French, led by General Charles de Gaulle (de GOHL).

42. While war was raging in Europe, another arena caught the attention of the world. This Pacific theater would bring the United States directly into the war.

43. War breaks out in the Pacific.

44. Japan expands in southeastern Asia. • Occupation of British, French, & Dutch colonial possessions in Asia & the Pacific. These nations’ involvement in World War II in Europe left these areas undefended. Japan already had control of Korea, Manchuria, & parts of China for oil, rubber, tin, & rice. This was very important to feed their people on the island. The United States would have been capable in 1940 to stop Japanese expansion. The Japanese feared this and thus worried.

45. Attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: December 7, 1941 • Reasons for Japan’s actions: • The U.S. passed an embargo, which limited trade & banned the export of war material. • Japan resented the Russo-Japanese War settlement; unhappy because they had to remove their troops from Manchuria. This settlement, the Treaty of Portsmouth, had been orchestrated by Theodore Roosevelt. • They disliked the U.S. immigration policy because it excluded Orientals. Earlier in 1941, the U.S. Congress passed an act providing for the refusal of visas to aliens whose presence in the U.S. would endanger public safety. For those Japanese living in America, they were herded into internment camps. • Japan also wanted to cripple American naval bases, as well as the United States’ power to interfere in Asia.

46. The attack came on Sunday, December 7, 1941, at 7:55 a.m. Before this, the U.S. & Japan had been negotiating to improve relations. Nothing came from these talks, though, and many expected war. Japan had talked of an attack. However, Americans were taken by complete surprise. That morning, the radar picked up the Japanese bombers headed toward the base in the Hawaiian Islands, but thought they were American planes. No alert was sounded, thus, destruction came.

47. The fleet was destroyed. American losses: 8 battleships & 10 other naval vessels were sunk or badly damaged; about 200 aircraft were destroyed; about 3,000 naval & military personnel were killed or wounded. Over 1,000 were entombed in the USS Arizona when it exploded and sank. Japan's losses: 29 planes, 45 pilots, 1 submarine, & 5 midget subs. • This resulted the U.S. entering the war. On December 8, the U.S. and Great Britain declared war on Japan; 3 days later, Germany & Italy declared war on the United States.

48. Japan continues its conquests in Asia. Japan had more victories after Pearl Harbor, and by early 1942, claimed these possessions. • The Philippines-an American possession. • Burma-British • Singapore-British • Dutch East Indies • Japan also had plans to capture New Guinea and Australia.

49. U.S. regains strength. • Battle of the Coral Sea-In May, 1942, American & Japanese clashed here. After this defeat, Japan made some plan changes. • Battle of Midway-June 4-7, 1942: Japan suffered its most serious defeat at Midway Island, 1,135 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor. Japan lost their 4 best aircraft carriers along with the planes on deck and many pilots. Despite the loss of the carrier Yorktown, the U.S. regained naval superiority. The tide was now turning; the Allies would now be more aggressive.

50. The Allies are Victorious. • The Allied Offensive Becomes Aggressive. • The Invasion of Italy-By occupying North Africa, the Allies were in a good position to invade Italy. • July, 1943-British & American troops landed on the island of Sicily. • July, 1943-Mussolini was overthrown. Fascism collapsed after 20 years. Mussolini was now powerless, but somewhat popular still. He later died on April 28, 1945, telling his family goodbye, then going into hiding with his long-time mistress Clara Petacci. A partisan communist leader found their hiding place in a farmhouse up in the mountains of Italy. He wanted to put down any fascist, especially Mussolini. Both were shot dead.