Transcript World War Two Causes of the War World War Two • In the 1930s, Italy, Germany, and Japan aggressively sought to build.

World War Two
Causes of the War
World War Two
• In the 1930s, Italy, Germany, and Japan
aggressively sought to build new empires.
• The League of Nations was weak.
• Western countries were recovering from the
Great Depression and did not want any more
war.
• As a result, acts of aggression occurred and
were allowed to go unchecked.
a) Japan Invades China
• The militaristic leaders
of Japan wanted to build
a Japanese empire.
• In 1931, Japan seized
the Chinese territory of
Manchuria.
• When the League of
Nations condemned the
action, Japan merely
withdrew its membership
from the League.
• In 1937, the Japanese army invaded the Chinese
mainland.
• Establishing a puppet government in Nanjing, the
Japanese invasion of this city was so brutal that
it became known as the “rape of Nanjing.”
b) Italy Attacks Ethiopia
• In 1935, the Italian
army invaded the African
country of Ethiopia.
• The Ethiopian king
appealed to the League
of Nations.
• The league agreed to
stop the sale of weapons
and other war materials
to Italy.
• However, the agreement
was not honored by all
nations.
c) German Aggression in Europe
•
• Hitler glorified war as a means of restoring
German national pride.
• This philosophy led to a policy of expansion.
• Hitler rebuilt the German army, in violation of
the Treaty of Versailles.
• In 1936 Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland
along Germany’s border with France, and in 1938
he made Austria part of the German empire-all
in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
d) Appeasement
• Western democracies adopted a policy of appeasement.
• Under appeasement, nations gave in to aggressive
demands to maintain peace.
• The western democracies responded weakly to German
aggression.
• At the Munich Conference in 1938, western
democracies agreed that Germany would seize
control of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
WWII Begins!
World War Two
• In the face of this weakness, Japan, Italy, and
Germany formed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.
• These nations agreed to fight Soviet communism
and not to stop each other from making foreign
conquests.
• At this point it became clear that the policy of
appeasement had failed.
Several events led to a declaration of war.
1) In March of 1939,
Hitler took over
Czechoslovakia.
2) In August of 1939,
Hitler made a pact
with Stalin, leader of
the Soviet Union. In
this Nazi-Soviet
Pact, the two
enemies agreed not
to fight each other.
3) In September of
1939, Germany
invaded Poland.
Hitler Invades Poland
• Finally, Britain and France responded by
declaring war on Germany.
• World War II had begun!
The Axis Powers Advance
World War Two
• World War II was fought between the Axis
Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the
Allied Powers (France and Britain).
• The Allies were later joined by the Soviet Union,
China, and the United States.
• During the first portion
of the war Germany and
the other Axis nations
prevailed.
• Nazi forces conquered
Poland in a swift,
massive attack known as
a blitzkrieg, or lightning
war.
• In April 1940, Hitler
overran Norway,
Denmark, the
Netherlands, and
Belgium.
• By June 1940, the
Germans had entered
Paris.
• Charles de Gaulle
formed a French
government in exile,
calling on French forces
to continue fighting
Germany.
• These “Free French”
worked from England to
liberate their homeland.
Turning Points of the War
World War Two
a) The Entry of the United States (1941)
• Although the United States had declared its
neutrality in the war, it banned the sale of war
materials to Japan in order to stop Japanese
aggression.
• Angered by the ban, Japan launched a surprise
attack on military bases at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
• More than 2,400 people were killed, and many
ships and planes were destroyed.
• In response,President Franklin Roosevelt asked
Congress to declare war on Japan, allowing the
United States to join the Allied effort.
A Burning USS Arizona
USS Arizona Memorial,
Pearl Harbor
b) Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943)
• The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
• Hitler tried to take Stalingrad in 1942 however,
Russian troops and a freezing winter caused the
German invaders to surrender in 1943.
• Soon the Red Army (the Soviet military) drove
the Germans out of the Soviet Union and made
an advance towards Germany.
c) El Alamein (1942)
• The Germans, under General Erwin Rommel,
gained many victories in North Africa in 1941
and 1942.
• British forces in Egypt finally stopped Rommel’s
advance during the Battle of El Alamein in 1942.
• The Allies trapped Rommel’s army in 1943, in
which General Rommel surrendered.
d) Invasion of Italy (1943)
• The victory in North Africa allowed British and
American forces to land in Italy in July 1943.
• This move forced Hitler to send troops to Italy,
weakening his forces in Western Europe.
e) Invasion of Normandy (1944)
• The Allies invaded France (D-Day) on June 6,
1944.
• Allied troops were ferried across the English
Channel, landing on the beaches of Normandy.
• They broke through the German defenses,
liberating Paris from Nazi occupation.
• The Allies then moved from France into
Germany.
Storming the Beach on D-Day
The Beaches of Normandy Today
The War Ends!!!
World War Two
• The war in Europe
ended on May 7,
1945, with the
surrendering of
Germany to the
advancing Allied
forces.
• Unfortunately,
fighting in the
Pacific would
continue until the
Japanese
surrendered in
August 1945.
a) Yalta Conference
• In February 1945,
Roosevelt, Churchill, and
Stalin met at a resort,
called Yalta, located in
the Soviet Union.
• The three leaders
decided at this meeting,
the Yalta Conference,
that at the war’s end
Germany would be
temporarily divided
amongst them.
• British, French, American, and Soviet forces
would each control a zone in Germany.
• They agreed that Stalin would oversee the
creation of new governments in Eastern Europe.
b) Victory in the Pacific
• Japan was greatly
weakened, and the United
States took the offensive
after two Japanese fleets
were severely damaged by
Americans in 1942.
• Gradually, American
forces recaptured
Japanese-held islands
south of Japan.
• By 1944, the Americans
began their bombing
campaign of Japanese
cities.
c) Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• By mid-1945, most of
the Japanese navy and
airforce had been
destroyed, yet their
army still remained
strong.
• On August 6, 1945, an
American plane
dropped an atomic
bomb on the Japanese
city of Hiroshima.
Hiroshima
• The bomb flattened 4 square miles of the city
and killed an estimated 70,000 people.
• The Americans dropped another atomic bomb on
the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing 40,000
people.
Aerial View of Nagasaki
Nagasaki
Nagasaki
• On August 10, 1945, Japanese emperor Hirohito
forced his government to surrender.
• Japan signed a peace treaty on September 2,
1945.
The Holocaust
World War Two
Video Assignment
• The Holocaust: A Teenager's Experience
streaming video (38:11)
• Video Quiz corresponds with the video.
• One of Hitler’s goals was to create “living space”
for Germans who he considered racially superior.
• He planned to destroy people he found inferior.
• Jews became the main target, but Hitler also
wanted to destroy or enslave others, including
Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally or
physically disabled.
• The attempt to destroy an entire ethnic or
religious group is called genocide.
• Hitler began his genocide against the Jews by
limiting their rights and encouraging violence
against them.
Jews being loaded onto the train to
Birkenau.
• ON November 8, 1938, called Kristallnacht,
organized violence began.
• Thousands of Jewish synagogues, businesses,
cemeteries, schools, and homes were destroyed.
• The next day, 30,000 Jews were arrested for
being Jewish and more restrictive laws on Jews
and Jewish businesses began.
• Jews were forced to live in separate areas.
• Hitler, set-up concentration camps (death
camps), like Auschwitz.
• Jews were starved, shot, or gassed to death.
• By 1945, over 6 million Jews died in
what became known as the Holocaust.
Other Wartime Atrocities
World War Two
• The Japanese invasion of Nanjing in 1937
involved mass shootings and terrible
brutality. As many as 250,000 Chinese
were killed.
• In the Philippines, Japanese soldiers
forced American and Filipino prisoners of
war on a march up the Bataan peninsula.
Along the way, prisoners were beaten,
stabbed, and shot. The event became
known as the Bataan Death March.
• In Poland, Soviet troops subjected
thousands of Poles to imprisonment,
torture, and execution.
Impact of WWII
World War Two
Human Losses
• Total-75 million people
dead.
• In Europe itself-38
million people dead.
• Soviet Union-22 million
people dead.
• Millions of Jews and
others had been killed
in the Nazi
concentration camps.
Economic Losses
• Throughout Europe and parts of Asia, cities
were in ruins.
• Aerial bombardment had been very destructive.
• The European countryside was devastated as
well.
• The economies of war-torn countries took many
years to recover.
War Crimes Trials
• At meetings conducted
during the war, Allied
leaders had agreed to
punish those responsible
for “crimes against
humanity.”
• Trials were held in
Nuremburg, Germany;
known as the Nuremburg
Trials.
• Hitler was dead but 22
surviving Nazi leaders
were tried during these
proceedings.
• Some received the
death penalty; others
were imprisoned.
• Additional trials were
held in Italy and
Japan.
• The trials
demonstrated to the
world, that leaders
could be held
accountable for their
actions during war.
Occupied Nations
• In order to prevent another world war and
to promote democracy, western nations
occupied West Germany and Japan.
• They built new governments with
democratic constitutions, which protected
individual rights and liberties.
• Soviet forces occupied East Germany and
most of Eastern Europe.
• They established communist governments in
these nations, backed by the power of the
Soviet Union.
• Thus, Europe was divided in twobetween democracy in the West and
communism in the East.
The United Nations
• World War II resulted
in the formation of a
new international body,
known as the United
Nations.
• The purpose of the
United Nations is to
provide a place to
discuss world problems
and develop solutions.
The 2 Main Bodies of the U.N.
The
General
Assembly
Which includes
Representatives
From all member
Nations; each
Representative
Has one
Vote.
The
Security
Council
Contains 15 member
Nations, 5 of which
Are permanent:
The United States,
Russia,
France,
Great Britain,
And China.
SUMMARY
• Germany, Italy, and Japan tried in the 1930s to
build world empires. When Germany invaded
Poland in 1939, World War II began, and the
world faced the most devastating conflict in
human history. During WWII, new weapons and
massive power caused the loss of millions of
lives. Civilians were greatly affected by the war,
facing rationing, military attacks, and sometimes
severe repression. The conflict continued until
1945. WWII resulted in millions of deaths,
heavy economic losses, and brutality on a scale
such as the world had not seen before. After
1945, the world became divided between
communist and democratic forms of government.