Transcript World War II - Collierville High School

World War II Looms
The World Again Faces
Turmoil
FAILURES OF THE WWI PEACE
SETTLEMENT
Instead of securing a “just
and secure peace,” the Treaty
of Versailles caused anger and
resentment.
Germans saw nothing fair in a
treaty that blamed them for
starting the war.
FAILURES OF THE WORLD WAR I
PEACE SETTLEMENT
These problems
overwhelmed the Weimar
Republic, the democratic
government set up in
Germany after World War I.
War in Europe
On November 5, 1937, Hitler
secretly met with his top
military advisors.
He declared that for Germany
to grow it needed the land of
Austria and Czechoslovakia.
War in Europe
On March 12,
1938, German
troops
marched into
Austria and
one day later
claimed a
union.
War in Europe
The majority of Austria’s 6 million
people were German and favored
unification.
The U.S. and the rest of the world
did nothing.
War in Europe
Hitler then turned toward
Czechoslovakia October 1938.
The Sudetenland or (western
border Czechoslovakia) was
mostly German speaking. Hitler
sought to move through this area
in order to gain control of the
country.
Neville Chamberlain & Edouard
Daladier
Hitler, invited to
a meeting in
Munich,
met with the
British prime
minister &
French premier.
Neville Chamberlain & Edouard
Daladier
Hitler declared that
the Sudetenland
was his “last
territorial
demand”. Sept. 30,
1938, they signed
the Munich
The German Offensive Begins
March 15, 1939, German
troops poured into what was
left of Czechoslovakia.
Germany then looked East to
Poland.
The German Offensive Begins
Many thought that Hitler was
bluffing. By attacking Poland,
Germany risked war with the
Soviet Union, France, & Britain.
The German Offensive Begins
Stalin shocked everybody by
signing a nonaggression pact
with Hitler. Molotov-Ribbentrop
Treaty
Russia and Germany agreed not
to attack each other.
This pact sealed the fate of
Poland.
Blitzkrieg in Poland
September 1, 1939, the German
Luftwaffe,
or German
air force,
roared over
Poland
bombing military bases, airfields,
railroads, and cities.
Blitzkrieg in Poland
This was the 1st test of
Germany’s newest military
strategy
“blitzkrieg”
or lightning
On Sept. 3, Britain & France
declared war on Germany.
war.
The Phony War
For the next several months, after
the fall of Poland, French and
British troops along France’s
eastern border stared at German
troops staring back.
Blitzkrieg gave way to sitzkrieg
or sitting war. Newspapers called
it the Phony War.
Stalin and Hitler Expand
April 9, 1940, Hitler responded
by attacking Norway &
Denmark.
Then he attacked the
Netherlands, Belgium, &
Luxembourg.
The Fall of France
With the French and British
holding the eastern border, Hitler
ordered troops and tanks to move
in northern France.
The Ardennes in northern France
were thought to be impassible,
but the German army continued
on to Paris.
The Fall of France
The German offensive trapped
about 400,000 British & French
soldiers as they fled to the
beaches of Dunkirk.
Using anything that would float,
330,000 British, French, & Belgium
troops escaped across the English
Channel to safety in England.
The Fall of France
Germany closed in on Paris from
the north.
Italy then entered the war on
Germany’s side and attacked
France from the south.
In June of 1940 France fell.
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940 & into the
fall Germany continued a
relentless attack on London.
Knowing that the German Navy
was no match for the British,
Hitler used his Luftwaffe to
continuously bomb London night
after night.
The Battle of Britain
The German bombers hammered
London until the advent of radar.
Radar allowed the British to track
German flight paths even at night.
The Battle of Britain
The British RAF (Royal Air
Force) began to turn the tide
against Germany.
On September 15, 1940, the RAF
shot down 185 German planes
while losing only 26.
The Battle of Britain
Churchill said “Never in the field
of human conflict was so much
owed by so many to so few.”
Japan Attacks the U.S.
The United States cut off trade
with Japan.
The embargoed goods included
one Japan could not live without—
oil to fuel its war machine.
Japan Attacks the U.S.
The leaders declared that Japan
must either persuade the United
States to end its oil embargo or
seize the oil fields in the Dutch
East Indies.
This would mean war.
Pearl Harbor
Prime minister of Japan, Hideki
Tojo promised the emperor that
the Japanese government would
attempt to preserve peace with
the Americans.
But on November 5, 1941, Tojo
ordered the Japanese navy to
prepare for an attack on the
United States.
Pearl Harbor
The U.S. military had broken
Japan's secret codes and learned
that Japan was preparing for a
strike, despite peace talks.
Then on Dec. 6, 1941, Roosevelt
received a decoded message:
Japan's peace envoy to reject all
American peace proposals.
Attack Begins
Early the next morning, a
Japanese dive-bomber swooped
low over Pearl Harbor—the largest
U.S. naval base in the Pacific.
The bomber was followed by
more than 180 Japanese
warplanes launched from six
aircraft carriers.
Attack Begins
For an hour and a half, the
Japanese planes were barely
disturbed by U.S. antiaircraft guns
and blasted target after target.
By the time the last plane soared
off around 9:30 A.M., the
devastation was appalling.
USS Arizona
In less than two hours, the
Japanese had:
killed 2,403 Americans
wounded 1,178 more
sunk or damaged 21 ships,
including 8 battleships—nearly the
whole U.S. Pacific fleet
more than 300 aircraft were
severely damaged or destroyed.
Pearl Harbor
These losses constituted greater
damage than the U.S. Navy had
suffered in all of World War I. By
chance, three aircraft carriers at
sea escaped the disaster. Their
survival would prove crucial to the
war's outcome.