World War II (1939-1945)

Causes of World War 2

R- resentment: Germany and Italy viewed the treaty of Versailles as unfair
E- economic depression: lead to social upheaval, instability, strong totalitarian leaders
A- appeasement: the League of Nations tried to avoid war by appeasing leaders (they were too weak to use force)
L- land: Japan, Germany, and Italy broke treaty and invaded free lands

Japan Invades China:

• 1931-1932: conquers Manchuria

• 1933: Condemned by League of Nations

  • withdrew for LoN

  • viewed expansion as necessary for raw materials/resources

• 1937: Full invasion of China

  • conquered Beijing (capital)

• NPP (nationalists) and CCP (Communists) end civil war and unify against Japan

Rape of Nanjing (1937)

• Japanese soldiers killed 400,000 Chinese

• Raped 7000 women

• Burned 1/3 of city

• China remembers Nanjing

Aligning with Belligerents

• 1940: Japan signs 10 year pact with Germany and Italy

• 1941: Neutrality pact with USSR

Italian Expressionism

• Wanted more land after WWII

  • fought for winning Allied Powers

• Ethiopia invaded and conquered in 1935

  • warned by League of Nations

  • 1937- Leaves league

• 1939: Invades and annexes Albania

Germany

• 1933: Hitler/Nazis take power by popular support

  • promised to undo terms of Treaty of Versailles

  • blamed “internal enemies” and foreigners

    • Jews, Communists, liberals

• left League of Nations

• 1935: Violated treaty by re-militarizing

  • increased troops

  • militarizing Rhineland (region next to France)

Appeasement

• March 1938: Germany annexes Austria

  • wanted to unify German people

  • British/French did nothing

• September 1938: Annexed Sudetenland

  • German region of Czechoslovakia taken after WW1

• Munich Conference:

  • Great Britain/France allow Hitler to keep lands- had to promise not to expand further

• 1939: Annexes Czechoslovakia

  • broke promise

WWII Begins

• August 1939: Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact

  • agree not to attack each other during expansion

  • divided up Eastern Europe and Poland

• September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland

• Blitzkrieg: German “lighting war” strategy using surprise and overwhelming military force

• September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

• September 17, 1939: USSR invades Eastern Poland

Fall of France

• June 1940: France surrenders to Germany

  • response to Hitler’s blitzkrieg captures Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and Netherlands

• Vichy France = self-rules Southern France

  • Northern France under direct control by German military

• Britain becomes only power against Germany

• July-October 1940: Battle of Britain

  • Nazi air attacks on British cities

• US provides pilots for British, halts Germany

• 1941: Germany turns toward Balkans instead

Germany Attacks USSR

• June 1941- Operation Barbarossa

  • breaks non-aggression pact

  • Russia predicted attack and moved factories away from front and mobilized troops

• Russia joins Great Britain in Allied Powers

US Enters War

• 1939: Cash-and-Carry policy

  • US supplies British with goods, refuse to join war

• 1941: Lend-lease program

  • US leads destroyers to Britain in exchange for use of naval bases in Pacific

• December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor

  • Japan bombs US naval base in Hawaii

    • destroys majority of Pacific fleet

• December 11, 1941: Germany/Italy declare war on USA

Theaters of WWII

Theaters: Region where major fighting occurs during a war

Major theaters: Atlantic, Europe, Pacific, North Africa

North Africa Theater

• Major players:

  • US vs. Germany (the “Desert Fox”) and Italy

• Allied Goal: Enter Europe through Southern Italy “underbelly of Europe”

  • defeat Italy and invade Germany

• July 1943: Allies invade Italy

  • Italian military turns on Mussolini

• August 1944: Italy surrendered

  • Germany takes command of Northern Italy

European Theater

• Eastern Front

• Major players: Soviet Union and Germany

• Allied Strategy: push Germany out of Russia

  • Capture Berlin

• Axis Strategy:

  • Captures Moscow

Allied Success on Eastern Front

• German soldiers weakened

  • division of troops between Eastern and African fronts

  • harsh winter

• August 1943- Soviets push Nazis back to Germany

  • prepares Allies for invasion of France

Western Front

• Major Players: England, USA, vs. Germany

• Allied Strategy:

  • surround Germany; divide German troops between East, Africa, and France

  • push Nazis out of France, into Germany

  • captures German capital- Berlin

D-Day

• “Operation Overlord”

• Landing on Normandy Beach

• June 6, 1944- 150,000 British, American, French, and Canadian troops invade German held Northern France (Normandy)

• Allies successfully push Germans out of France

• August 25, 1944: German forces surrender to Allies

  • pushed out of France into Germany

Surrender of Germany

• April 1945: Soviet army surrounds Berlin

• April 30, 1945: Hitler and top officials commit suicide

• May 2, 1945: Germany surrenders to Allies

• Japan is the last Axis power to continue fighting

Pacific Theater

• Major players: United States and Japan

• Allied goal: “Island hop” across Pacific to position land invasion of Japan

• Axis Goal: remove US and European influence from Pacific

  • “Asia for Asians”

• Japan controls fighting until May 1942

  • US rebuilding after Pearl Harbor Attack

• May 1942: Battle of Midway

  • US destroys majority of Japanese carriers

US Prepares for Japan Invasion

• March 1945: Battle of Iwo Jima

• April 1945: Battle of Okinawa

  • US takes islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa

• Japan refuses to surrender

  • US does bombing raids on major cities

  • US afraid of land invasion will be too deadly

Manhattan Project

• 1942-1946: Allied program to develop atomic bomb

  • created out of belief Germany was developing a similar program

• July 16, 1945: First successful atomic bomb test

Japan Surrenders

• Japan 1945: Japan warned of “destructive new weapon”

• August 6, 1945: US bombs Hiroshima

  • first use of atomic bomb

  • killed 166,000 civilians

• August 8, 1945: US bombs Nagasaki

  • 80,000 civilians killed

• August 12, 1945: Japan Surrenders

Post War Treaties

Yalta- February 1945

• meeting of Allied leaders

  • Roosevelt = USA

  • Stalin = USSR

  • Churchill = GB

• Decide how to rule post-war Europe

• Germany and Berlin divided and occupied by Allied Powers

• Independence and free elections of all occupied countries

Potsdam- July 1945

• Japan emperor maintains title

• must announce to people that he is not divine

• increased power of parliament

• occupation of Allied Powers

Cold War

Era of tensions between US and USSR that came close to, but never erupted into war

Origins of Cold War

• Yalta conference

  • Allies agreed to allow free elections in Poland and Eastern Europe

• 1944-1945: USSR supported rise for communism in Albania and Yugoslavia

• 1946-1947: Helped establish communism in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland

• communist bloc: Eastern European communist countries influence by USSR

US Reaction to Communism

• March 12, 1945- Truman doctrine

  • pledged help to free countries threatened by communism

• 1947: Marshall Plan

  • US pledges money to help rebuild European economies after war

    • meant to encourage democracy and capitalism

• COMECON- USSR version for Marshall Plan

  • offered increased trade to Eastern European countries if they reject Marshall Plan

Cold War Alliances

• NATO- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949)

  • military alliance between USA, UK, Italy, and Northern European countries

  • collective defense against Soviet aggression

• Warsaw pact (1955)

  • USSR and Eastern European communist countries

Conflict in Germany

• Germany and capital Berlin divided into 4 occupied zones

  • Berlin is in USSR zone

• June 1948-May 1949: Berlin blockade

  • USSR wants to control all of Berlin

  • blocks supplies to Western Berlin

  • NATO dropped supplies for Western Berliners

• May 1949: US, UK, France merge zones creating free country of Western Germany (Republic of Germany)

• October 1949: USSR establishes communist country of East Germany (German Democratic Republic)

Berlin Wall

• Thousands of Germans left East Berlin for West

  • most educated and skilled workers

• 1961: Built Berlin Wall separating free and communist Berlin

Arms Race

• 1949: USSR tests successful Nuclear Weapon

  • US/USSR completed to have more powerful weapons

• 1952: US tests hydrogen bomb

• MAD- mutually assured destruction

  • conflict would lead to destruction of both countries

De-Stalinization

• 1953: Stalin dies

• New leader Khrushchev reforms harsh policies

  • freed political prisoners

  • decreased terror programs

  • increased individual rights

• 1964: Brezhnev Doctrine

  • Many Eastern European countries inspired by de-Stlainization

  • attempt more autonomy from USSR

  • Soviets intervened in communist countries “hostile to socialism”

    • Invasion of Hungary to stop democratic uprising

Cuban Missile Crisis- 1962

• 1961: Cuba becomes communist country after revolution

• 1962: USSR builds Missile launch site on Cuba

• Bay of pigs invasion:

  • US trains anti-communist Cubans to invade and overthrow government

    • FAIL

• US and USSR negotiate peace

• Closest to actual war in Cold War

1969- Dentente

• Dentente: relaxation of tension

• SALT: Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

• USSR/US start series of Treaties decreasing weapon supply

• Helsinki Accord: 1975

  • agreement between Western and communist Powers to improve relations

Spread of Communism

Chinese communist Revolution:

• NPP/CCP continue civil war after WWI

  • CCP gains support from peasants

    • 1948: Nationalist government exiled to Taiwan

• October 1, 1949: CCP take control

  • establish Communist People’s Republic of China

    • only allow for 1-part system (like USSR)

• Relationship with USSR

  • Supplied China with military/economic aid

    • industrial advisors to support rapid industrialization

  • 1950’s- USSR and China are each other’s primary trading partners

• 1964: Decreased Cooperation

  • China demands more support from USSR

  • USSR competes for more control in Asia

Containment Policy

• US policy to stop the spread of Communism

• Korean war

  • After WWII Korea freed from Japan and divided

    • US control south and USSR controls North

  • June 1950- North attacks south to re-unify as communist

    • US supports south; attack North

    • China supports North

  • 1953: Cease-fore established two Korean countries

    • communist North Korea

    • Democratic south Korea

TEST OUTLINE (Onalaska High School AP World History)

• Japanese expansion into China

  • Rape of Nanjing

• Tripartite

• How the Chinese Resisted Japanese Invasion

  • Nationalist and Communists

• How Mussolini tried to restore power and glory of Italy

• Anschluss

  • How does it play into Nazi Germany sending troops into different regions

    • connects German-speaking people (Pan-Germanism)

    • Get rid of “undesirables” and replace them with Germans

    • Goal was to do this all over the world

• Munich Conference

  • Results

• Soviet German non-aggression pact

• Blitzkrieg

  • why was it so effective?

  • How did it work

• Operation Barbarossa

• How the Soviet Union was able to defend itself against Nazi invasion

• Attack on Pearl Harbor

• Keys to Allied victory in the European Theater

• Allied Success in Pacific Theater

• Analyze map (Japanese Expansion)

• Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Wannsee conference

  • High ranking German Officials meet (@ Wannsee)

  • Under Hitlers request

    • Come up with Final Solution (for “handling” the Jews in Europe)

    • Establishment of death camps in Poland

• Role Women Played in WWII

  • how roles helped to open up new opportunities

• Truman Doctrine

• Marshall Plan

• Warsaw Pact and the something Conn

• Berlin Blockade and airlift

  • how it was beginning of Cold War

• Bay of Pigs invasion

• Cuban Missile Crisis

Short Essays:

• WWII: D-day invasions

  • what took place on the beaches, significance

• Cold war

  • How the Cold war heats up in US vs Soviets and China

    • space race, central America, southeast Asia, Korea

During WWII, Germany occupied France. As part of their plan to be victorious in the Eastern Theater of the war, the Allieds needed to plan an invasion of France. This plan was called “Operation Overlord”, and it involved 15,000 Allied forces entering the Normandy beaches through both water and air. 5 of the Normandy beaches were attacked by the Allieds that say, coded named Utah, Juno, Sword, Omaha, and Gold. Omaha beach, attacked by U.S. forces, faced the most opposition by German troops, and resulted in the bloodiest battle. Many paratroopers landed far off course, and boats were as much as a mile away from the indented target thanks to strong currents. The attacks involved Allied troops getting as close to shore as possible to the beaches in small boats, and then swimming/wading through the water to land. Once there, they had to climb cliffs to reach the Germans. Allied forces faced heavy machine gun fire and bombing attacks from the German forces. Many soldiers died from injuries, drowning, or fires caused by the bombs. Despite all odds, however, the Germans were forced to surrender and were pushed out of France into Germany.

Although the Cold War never divulged into actual fighting (hence the name “Cold War”), the United States and Soviet Union engaged in many “proxy-wars”. These proxy-wars included the Space Race, and the Korean War, among many others. In an effort to prove their country was more technologically advanced than the other, The US and Soviet Union entered into “the Space Race”, trying to get a man to the moon first. Initially, Soviet Union was ahead in the race; as they succeeded in sending the first satellite (Sputnik), dog (Laika), and man (Yuri Gagarin) into space. However, partially due to the motivational words of John F. Kennedy, the United States ultimately landed 3 men on the moon in 1969 in the Apollo 11 space ship. The Korean war was another proxy war that the United States and Soviet Union got were involved in during the Cold war. During WWII, Korea was divided on the 38th parallel. North Korea was communist, and supported by the Soviet Union. South Korea was supported by the United States. Tensions ran high between the two sides, and North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, resulting in the Korean war. President Truman viewed the war as more than just a war between two countries, and thought it was a communist strike against freedom. The Korean war ended in an armistice in 1953. These proxy-wars are just two examples of conflicts that the United States and Soviet Union involved themselves in as an alternative to physical fighting or the use of nuclear weapons in the Cold War.