World War 2

The rise of Dictators 

All three major dictators in Europe are a product of one thing. The Great Depression 


RUSSIA: Joseph Stalin 

  1. Childhood & Past 

    1. Orthodox priest 

    2. Abusive fathers 

  2. Stalin's nickname is Man of Steel

    1. Bolshevik - editor of Pravda 

    2. Organized, fearless

  3. Rise to power 

    1. Shaky ideology

    2. Purge trials 

  4. KGB

    1. Economic Policies 

    2. Five-Year plans 

    3. Famine 

  5. NO MAN NO PROBLEM!!

    1. If he were fighting someone, he would just shoot them to eliminate the problem. He kills like 25,000 men!! 


ITALY: Benito Mussolini

  1. Childhood & Past 

    1. anti-church/ socialism 

    2. Educated 

  2. Fascism: 

    1. Right-wing radicals 

    2. Nationalism 

    3. blackshirt 

  3. Rise to power 

    1. Conservative economic policy 

    2. Efficiency is key 

  4. IL Duce

    1. Foreign policy 

    2. Aggressive militarism

  5. Hitler/Mussolini Alliance - Most people do not realize that Hitler looked up to Mus. At the start of the war  



GERMANY: Adolf Hitler 


  1. Childhood & Past 

    1. HS failure 

    2. Poor artist 

    3. Bavarian army 

  2. Nazism 

    1. German worker’s party 

    2. Mein kampf 

  3. Rise to power 

    1. Great depression 

    2. Third reich (1st holy roman 2nd Germany WWI)

    3. Aryan Supremacy 

  4. The “Fuhrer”

    1. Use of strong-arm tactics, SS, and the Gestapo 

    2. Concentration Campes



LIFE OF HITLER 

  • Son of a school teacher and government official in Austria 

  • Tried to be an artist. Was rejected) Blamed his failure on the large and rich Jewish population in Vienna 

  • Migrated to Germany, joined the army, and fought in WWI

  • After WWI was over, Germany was disheartened, and many ex-soldiers and the poor blamed the German government for the defeat. (The government lied to the people)


EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

  1. Lebensraum - living space

  2. UNION with austria 

  3. Sudentenland: filled with natural resources (coal)  

  4. Munich Pact (1938): Appeasement 

    1. Appeasement: giving in to an aggressor to avoid conflict was the world’s policy towards Germany 


Why give in to a dictator??

  • Reasons for appeasement 

    • The Great depression - people were worried about different things 

    • WWI - nobody wants to fight another war 

    • Most countries did not modernize their armies after World War I, so they were not ready for war.



  • England’s leaders think that they have made lasting peace; opponents believe they have made war more likely. 

  • Hitler now believes he has nothing to fear from these so-called “powers” and now speeds up his war plans.

  • Hitler then attacked Poland in 1939, claiming he was recovering lost German land. He makes a deal with Russia to make sure that neither side attacks him.

  • On September 3, 1939, fearing they could do nothing else, England and France declared war on Germany. World War I starts. 


Poland falls to Germany. 

  1. September 1, 1939

  2. Blitzkrieg - to win by not fighting

    1. Identify the weak point 

    2. Quickly break through 

    3. Disrupt the enemy rear   

  3. France fell to Germany by June 1941 

  4. Battle of Britain 

    1. Luftwaffe 

    2. RAF: Britain's Royal Air Force

 

American Neutrality 

America get involved 

Since the end of World War I, America began to adopt the policy of isolationism. 

American leaders lean towards getting involved, but the public is against it. 

Eventually, Americans began to help the Allies by lending them ships and other war materials. 

  1. Scholarships, not battleships - 70% of the public are isolationists 

  2. Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act

  3. Neutrality acts - mid 1930’s 

    1. Efforts to keep us out of war 

    2. Outlaw arms sales and loans to warring countries


Revising Neutrality 

  1. Cash and carry - pay in cash and carry on their own ships 

  2. The tripartite pacts/ axis power - mutual defense treaty 

  3. Selective Training and Service Act - 1940

    1. First peacetime draft in the US 

    2. 16 million men registered 

  1. Secret meeting between FDR and Churchill: declaration of Principals 

  2. Provisions 

    1. No territorial expansion 

    2. No territorial change without the consent of the people 

    3. Choice of the government's free trade 

    4. Build secure peace 

    5. Disarm aggressors 


Nazi - Soviet Pact 1939 

  1. Hitler wants Poland 

    1. Fear of soviet union 

    2. Involving England and France 

  2. Secret treaty - non-aggression pact 

    1. Aka Nazi-Soviet Pact

    2. No fighting 

    3. Divide Poland 

  3. Invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939


The fall of France 

  1. Margrave line fortifications 

  2. Retreat to England - French government in exile 

  3. Italy is located in the south of France 

  4. In June 1940, France fell to Germany 

  5. Charles de Gaulle / Marshal Petain


  • 1940 - 

    • Hitler's armies marched north and west 

      • Through Denmark and Norway, Holland, Belgium, and eventually into France 

    • Britain sent troops to France’s defense; however, it did very little to help

      • Sunkirk - The French and British were driven back to their port 

        • Every available boat was sent to rescue over 338,000

        • France was captured 6 weeks later


Operation Dynamo 

  • Private “navy” is called to evacuate the entire British army. 


The Nazi backstab the Russians. 

  • Opperation barbarossa 

    • June 22nd - Hitler backstabs Stalin in Russia and launches an invasion 

    • This attack totally surprised the Russian government and forced them to retreat deep into Soviet Territory 

    • Russians practiced a “scorched earth” policy when they retreated. They left nothing for the Germans to use 

    • However, Germans got caught up in the cold Russian winter, and the attack was stalled 18 miles from Moscow 

    • Even though Stalin had a pact with Hitler, the Allies agreed to help them, so they could keep Germany occupied on the Eastern Front

Barbarossa forces Russia to ask the Allies for help. “My Enemies Enemy is my ally.”


Next up: Battle of Britain 

  1. Hitler’s goals for Britain -Gain total control over the skies by destroying raf 

  2. Luftwaffe vs. raf

  3. Germany backs down 

    1. RAF fights back - attacks the enemy

    2. Use of radar to plot the flight plans of the enemy

    3. Germany calls off attacks two days later


Battle of Britain 

  • Britain now stands alone : (U.S. not there yet)

    • “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall never surrender.”

  • German planes 

    • Dropped bombs on London for months straight 

    • 2,000 German planes were shot down 

    • Germany eventually gave up the air assault 


Japan on the Horizon 

  • Japan joins the Axis powers

  • Japan begins an aggressive stance around the Pacific

 

Neutrality Breaks

  1. The Pearl Harbor attack in 1940 

  • Japan signed an alliance with Germany and Italy 

  • Embargo 

    • The U.S. tried to stop Japanese aggression in China 

    • Refused to sell oil and scrap metal to Japan 

      • This angered the Japanese 

  • Japan and the U.S. met to resolve problems

    • Nothing was done


Pearl Harbor 

  • Warning signs - “mini-subs 

  • December 7, 1941

    • American Pacific Fleet - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 

    • Japanese attacked 

      • 19 ships 

      • 200 planes 

      • 2,400 american lives 


Notes on splitting up the war front 

  • What should America do? Revenge for Pearl Harbor or fight the real threat, Nazi’s. Fight the Nazi’s first, then go after Japan.


  • War in the Pacific 

    • The majority of the war was fought on land and sea 

    • The plan from the beginning was to end the European war first, then concentrate on the Pacific (fight a protective war)

    • The plan was 3 steps 

  1. Subs would cut off Japanese oil supplies 

  2. Establish sipremacies of the ocean 

  3. Island hop to get close enough to Japan for a full invasion

Mobilizing Amrits 

  1. Army chief of staff: George Marshall 

  2. Selective Service System 

    1. GI’s (government issue)

    2. Itraing (8 weeks)

  3. Women in the Military 

    1. Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)

    2. 13,000 woman applies 

    3. 250,000 women served

  4. Minorities 


Home front America 

  1. Industrial response 

  1. Consumer to military 

  2. Liberty ships - Henry Kaiser 

  1. Labor

    1. woman/African American workers 

    2. Office of scientific research and development (OSRD)

  2. Entertainment


Japanese internment 

  1. The threat posed by the Japanese 

    1. Evacuation of the Hawaiian Japanese 

    2. Hate crimes

  2. Executive order for internment 

    1. NISEI: Japanese Americans 

    2. 110,000 in camps 


Economic controls 

  1. Inflation issues 

  2. Office of Price Administration (OPA) - Raised income tax 

  3. War Production Board (WPB)

    1. Collection of scrap iron 

    2. Rationing of food, stamps, gas, etc. 


Fighting in Russia & Africa 

  1. Battle of Stalingrad 

    1. The Germans advanced into inland Russia

    2. Stalin refused to give up the city bearing hus names 

    3. Lost 1.2 million soldiers and civilians


Operation Overlord 

  • As of now 

  • Operation Overlord remains the largest seaborne invasion in history 

    • Involved 156,000 troops 

      • Crossing the English Channel 

      • U.S, British, and Canadian troops involved 


Allied Commander 

Axis Commander 

American - Dwight Eisenhower

Germany - Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox)

The attack 

  • June 6th 1944

  • Parachute and Glider landings 

  • Massive air attacks 

    • 10,000 tons of bombs were dropped before the invasion 

    • Naval bombardments 

  • An early morning amphibious landing 

    • 156,000 troops 

    • Several Beaches 

      • Sword, Juno, Omaha, Gold, Utah 

  • Germany 57-59


After the Invasion 

  • Allied Success 

  • Causalities 

    • Around 10,00 Allied soldiers killed 

    • In one week, the Allies put over 500,000 troops ashore 

      • Chruchhill had estimated and accepted the fact that 20,000 could die in this invasion 

Fighting in Russia & Africa 

  1. North African Front 

  1. Operation Torch, Dwight D. Eisenhower 

  2. Pushed back Hitler’s Afrika Korps 


Back to Europe 

  1. The Italian Campaign 

  1. The Italians are tired of war 

  2. Hitler took over Italy 

  3. Mussolini was killed by a mob

       C. Battle of the Bulge 

  1. In germany 

  2. last -ditch offensive 

  3. Germany’s offense is wearing down 

       D. Liberating the Death Camp 

  1. SS is desperate to hide evidence 

  2. Roumd “Living Corpses”

       E. Unconditional Surrender (V-E day) 


War atrocities 

  • Holocaust and other Atrocities 

    • Brutality was based on Nazi policies. Hitler believed the Germans needed more living space, so it was justified. 

    • Hitler believed the Germans needed to be “purified”, so he tried to get rid of the Jewish population through his “Final Solution.”

Nuremberg Laws - September 15, 1935 

  • A set of laws ratified by the Nazi to purify Germany 

  • ID Jewish people not by blood but by religious means (goes against original NAzi ideology)

  • 3 out of 4 grandparents were fully Jewish, Concentration camps, and executed 

  • Mixed race - “Mischlinge” depends on the time, meant different things; some fought for the Germans. Sometimes forced sterilization, sometimes forced labor camps, and death


Japanese Advances 

  1. Douglas MacArthur commanded Pacific troops 

    1. Lost Philippines 

    2. Dootlittle mission 

  2. Battle of Midway 

    1. Adm. Chester Nimitz 

    2. Suprise attack 

    3. Turning point of the Pacific Front

  3. Island hopping 

    1. Take weaker islands, leave the strong 

    2. First US land victory at Guadalcanal 

    3. Siapan - Close to D-Day invasion 

    4. Kamikaze attacks were first used at the Battle of Leyte Gulf 

    5. Iwo Jima: largest # of Americans lost 

  4. Okinawa - FDR died in April 1945

    1. Closest island to Japan’s main islands 

    2. Fierce defense  

War in the Pacific - after VE Day, our attention turned to Japan


Manhattan Project 

  1. Clueing in Truman (the new pres) - Secretary of War, Henry Stimson  

    1. Splitting an atom in half - they did this because of the amount of energy it released 

    2. University of Chicago —--> New Alamo, New Mexico - smartest woman and men 

  2. Manhattan project 

    1. Secret project to build an atomic bomb 

    2. Headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer 

    3. Lost Alamos, NM 

    4. In July 1945, it was successfully tested

  3. To bomb or not to Bomb 

    1. Petition against the use 

    2. Test bomb to show Japan? 

    3. Immediate explosion 

  4. The two Bombs 

    1. Hiroshima was bombed by Little Boy on August 6, 1945

    2. Nagasaki, bombed by Fat Man: August 9

End of war peace treaties - Nuremberg trials 

Are they War Criminals or just following orders