WORLD WAR II

Set the stage

Its the 1914. The world is still struggling to repair itself after
World War I.
Germany was held responsible for the war. They were told
to pay reparations, or money to those who had suffered as a
result of the war, according to the Treaty of Versailles.
The Great Depression affected not only the United States,
but also many other countries around the world. Everyone
suffered from the financial toll of the war.
As these countries suffered, men such as Adolf Hitler, Benito
Mussolini, Josef Stalin, and Hideki Tojo rose to power with
fascist views of government control.
 What were we doing???
President Roosevelt was very concerned about the economic
health of the USA. He agreed to attend the London
Economic Conference to discuss plans for the stabilization of
national currencies on a worldwide front. However, FDR
decided not to go, as he was more concerned about our
nations economic health.
Since FDR did not attend the conference, the rest of the
delegates became angry and did not make any decisions, and
returned to their countries, suffering in isolation.
What is fascism?
Fascism is a form of government in which individual
freedoms are denied and complete power is given to the
government.
 Who is Adolf Hitler?

Hitler rose to power in Germany in the 1920s, as the leader

of the Nazi party. Nazi stands for National Socialist German
Workers Party.
Hitler believed that the Aryan race (white people) were the
supreme race.
He blamed the Jewish people for Germanys economic
problems, and promised a better life for all others.
Who is Benito Mussolini?
Mussolini took power in Italy in 1922.
Mussolini was an inspiration to Adolf Hitler. They joined
forces a few years later.
Who was Hideki Tojo?
Tojo was the Prime Minister of Japan during WWII.
He felt Japans future lay with dictators such as Hitler, who
was well respected in Japan.
He was responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor in
December, 1941.
The beginning of the war.
Hitler and Mussolini signed a treaty agreeing to support each
other. Japan later joined. They became known as the Axis.
In the mid-1930s, these three countries attacked many
weaker countries such as Ethiopia, Austria, an
Czechoslovakia.
In 1939, Germany prepared to invade Poland. Britain and
France formed the Allies and promised to protect Poland.
Hitler ignored them and attacked on September 1, 1939.
France and Great Britain declared war on Germany for their
invasion of Poland. This was the official beginning of World
War II.
Meanwhile
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 had inadvertently helped
Hitlers cause. The United States demanded payment for
loans given in WWI, and Germany had no money to pay
them.
Hitler had spent years convincing his people that the Treaty
of Versailles was an unfair punishment to Germany, and that
Jewish people were to blame for their hardships.
Hitler took advantage of his countrys suffering and blamed
their hardships on Jewish people, demanding an end to the
corruption of pure German blood by the Jewish people.
The Beginning of the Holocaust
Hitler began his campaign to purify Germany by severely
limiting what Jewish people could and could not do.
The Nuremberg laws began to exclude Jewish people from
every day life.
Nazis then issued additional anti-Jews laws over the next
several years. For example, some of these laws excluded Jews
from places like parks, fired them from civil service jobs (i.e.
government jobs), made Jews register their property, and
prevented Jewish doctors from working on anyone other than
Jewish patients.
Hitlers Holocaust
In 1941 he began what he called the final solution to the
Jewish question. It was a campaign of mass murder against
all European Jews called the Holocaust (which means
sacrifice by fire or widespread destruction). Historians
estimate that 12 million men, women, and children were
killed in the Holocaust. At least half of them (6 million)
were Jews. During the course of the war, Hitler placed many
people into terrible prisons called concentration camps.
The horrors of these concentration camps were unknown to
the rest of the world for a long time.
The Horrors of Hitlers Reign
Questions and Connections
Why didnt European leaders stop Hitler sooner?

Hitler was an aggressive force in Europe, slowly taking over the

country bit by bit. European leaders hoped that by giving him
what he wanted, or appeasing him, he would eventually be
satisfied.

Their policy of appeasement was wrong.

And in Italy
Italy received very little from the Treaty of Versailles. As they
had been part of the Allies, they expected more from the
agreement.
Mussolini agreed that Italy should have received more from
the Treaty, especially land.
Mussolini found many supporters who, like the Germans,
were suffering economically, and thought that Italy should
have benefited more from the agreement.
Mussolini promised to attack smaller, weaker countries to
increase Italys power.
The War Rages On
Germany continues to defeat countries and quickly conquers
most of Western Europe.
France is defeated in June of 1940, leaving Britain to fight the
Axis alone.
Britain, led by Winston Churchill, vows to defeat the Axis,
even though his office is moved to an underground bomb
shelter and children are being evacuated from London.
Churchill urges President Roosevelt to help, but gets no
assistance, as American is still suffering through the Great
Depression, and many (including FDR) felt that the stronger
need was to focus on solving problems in the USA.
 What was the Lend-Lease Act?

The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 began a program of military aid

by which the US provided goods and services to its allies in
the fight against Germany, Italy, and later Japan during World
War II. The allies that were helped would repay the United
States returning the goods or using them in support of the
cause, or by a similar transfer of goods instead of money.
 What about the Russians?
USSR was one country that benefited from the Lend-Lease
Act, as much of their agricultural territory was under attack
from the Axis countries. While there was concern that the
USSR was a risky ally, the overriding thought was that the
Red Army was the only force that could defeat Hitler on the
ground, and supplies made its way to the Soviet Union.
Lend-Lease, continued
While the Act was first criticized as misuse of Americas
precious resources (especially after the Depression),
eventually the Act was a success, assisting Allies and boosting
morale and providing much-needed supplies to help fight the
Axis powers.
Timeline
What the War looked like
By the end of 1940.
Pearl Harbor
By 1941, Japan had gained control of much of China and
Southeast Asia.
The United States spoke out against Japanese expansion.
Tojo believe that the US was standing in the way of Japans
goals.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombed the United
States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
More than 2300 American soldiers, sailors, and civilians were
killed.
Declaration of War
The United States declared war on December 8 and entered
WWII.

Photos of Pearl Harbor

Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at
influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause
or position.

It can be negative OR positive, and hopes to sway the

intended audience to the creators opinion.
 Propaganda Posters

Who is the intended audience? What do you think the creators of these
posters hoped to accomplish? Do you think these posters were effective?
Back at home
When war was declared, new rules called for rationing, or limiting,
what Americans could buy so that more supplies could be sent
overseas. Citizens received ration books for each rationed item,
such as sugar, butter, meat, heating oil, milk, gasoline, and clothes.
Without these coupons, people could not buy the rationed goods.
Americans were also asked to save scrap metal (tin cans, pots) and
grow victory gardens again (like in WW1).

This collaborative effort was called the DOYOUR PART campaign.

Questions and Connections
What did Americans at home (those not fighting on the front
lines) do to help the war effort?

Families organized scrap drives, planted Victory Gardens,

used ration books. By conserving resources and doing without,
communities were able to support soldiers overseas by sending
them food, clothing, metals, and other necessities
The Allied Powers

Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin

made up the Allied Powers. Their common goal became
to stop the Axis Powers and defeat them unconditionally.
African Americans in the war
Factory owners, who had previously not hired African
Americans, found that with the war going on, they needed
more workers.
African Americans found new opportunities for work all over
the country.
However, while they earned more money than they had in
previous years, they still earned less than white workers.
The Tuskegee Airmen
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. graduated from West Point in 1936
and wanted to be a fighter pilot.
The Air Force did not accept black pilots, but after protest
from African American leaders, Davis and 12 other pilots
began fighter pilot training.
Their training took place in Tuskegee, Alabama, which gave
them the name The Tuskegee Airmen.
Internment Camps

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Japanese Americans

were suspected of being enemies of the United States.

About 125,000 Japanese Americans lived in the US in 1941.

Executive Order #9066
President Roosevelt signed the order in February 1942 that
allowed the military to removed anyone seen as a threat from
the West Coast.

Japanese Americans were moved into relocation or

internment camps around the country.
Internment Camps
By the summer of 1942, more than 110,000 Japanese
Americans were held in relocation camps.

Still, thousands of Japanese Americans enlisted in the United

States military to help defend the country. Henry Ebihara
wrote to the Secretary of War asking for a chance to fight in
the war.

Question: Why did Henry Ebihara get upset over the

presumption that he supported the Japanese?
Questions and Connections
How were the experiences of African Americans and
Japanese Americans similar during World War 2?

While economic opportunities for African-Americans

significantly, they still faced discriminatory practices, much as
Japanese Americans did.
Women in WW2
As many men were overseas fighting in the war, women were
left to take over traditionally male roles.
Some women joined the WAC (Womens Army Corps) as
nurses, radio operators, mechanics, and pilots.
Rosie the Riveter became the symbol for women working in
factories.
Women in WW2
Women were trained in many jobs traditionally held by men. The
barrier between men and women had been broken. Production of
metals for military use actually increased tremendously with
women at work, allowing the military to focus on the war, instead
of securing materials.

At home, mothers assumed the role of fathers for their children

while their husbands were overseas.

Even womens fashion changed women now wore overalls and

work pants in a world that had always seen them in dresses and
skirts!
Manhattan Project
Einstein told Roosevelt that the Germans were probably
already working on atomic bombs.
In 1942, the government began the effort to build an atomic
bomb. They gave the project the code name Manhattan
Project.
The top-secret lab was located in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The Race for the Bomb
Albert Einstein was a Jewish man who had escaped from
Germany after Hitler rose to power. He told President
Roosevelt that it might be possible to build extremely
powerful bombs of a new type.
Trinity Test Site
 Secrecy of the Manhattan Project
The address of the Los Alamos lab was
so secret that the address for residents
was simply Box 1663, Santa Fe, NM.
All children who were born during that
time at Los Alamos have this address
listed on their birth certificates.

The total cost of the Manhattan Project

was $20,000,000,000.

After the test at the Trinity site, Robert Oppenheimer was reminded of the
following quote: I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds.
Questions and Connections
How did the development of the atomic bomb impact
Americas economy during and after World War 2?

Jobs were created by the race to develop new and better bombs.
Technology
Wireless radio communication was very important for
directing military forces spread all over the world. But radio
messages could be intercepted, so secret information -- plans
and orders -- had to be transmitted in secret codes. All the
major powers used complex machines that turned ordinary
text into secret code.

The German military used an extremely complicated code

machine called Enigma. They were convinced that Enigmas
codes could not be broken. But they were wrong.
 Technology
Communication codes were a major factor in the
development of computer systems during and after World
War II.

Enigma machine, and Colossus machine that broke the codes.

Code Talkers
Navajo soldiers used their language to create an unbreakable secret
code.
Aside from the Navajo people, only about 30 people in the world
knew the language.
Because it does not have a written language, there was no way to
study it.
They were responsible for saving many lives and helping win many
battles.
By the end of the war the Navajo code, and the very technique by
which it was developed, became the most innovative, successful,
and closely guarded military secret code of its time.
Battle of Midway
In 1942, America was sure the Japanese would strike again in
an attempt to destroy more naval forces located on the island
of Midway (northeast of Japan).
Battle of Midway
Dive bombers destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers as
well as many other ships and planes.
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was one of the most decisive battles in the history
of warfare. In one action, the dreams of the Japanese empire were
extinguished in the flames and explosions which tore through the ships
of their ever victorious navy. In the space of a few short hours, half of
the Japanese heavy fleet carriers were sunk. The highly trained and
experienced aircrews who had vanquished all opponents, were dead,
blown out of the sky or drowned in their sunken ships. Japan would
never recover from the defeat. She would extend her grasp no further. It
would take three more years to reverse her gains in the last 6 months.
Much blood and many tears would flow, but they would go no further.

Battle of Midway animated

Battle of Stalingrad
Before WW2, wars were fought with certain rules in place. Holidays
were observed. Truces were honored.
Hitler broke those rules he betrayed Stalin, fought through truces, and
broke agreements. Stalin knew that there were German forces at his
border, but could not believe Hitler would attack.
The day Russia was invaded, the still disbelieving Stalin sent a huge coal
shipment by train into Germany. It was part of their treaty the
shipment was due, and Stalin felt bound by the treaty.
On June 22, 1941, four million troops poured over the Russian border.
Within one month, over two and half million Russians had been killed,
wounded or captured. The Germans made tremendous advances into
Russia into portions of Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad.
Attack on Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany in 1941 was
the largest invasion of one country by another in the history
of the world.
Hitler wanted to capture Stalingrad, a major industrial city.
Battle of Stalingrad
And then winter hit. The Germans were caught in summer uniforms,
and it was a bitter, cold winter that year.
Stalin, using sheer force of numbers, threw another two million soldiers
at the Germans.
The German offensive sputtered, and then stopped. The German army
was about 1,800 miles away from home, and the railroads did not work.
In the spring of the next year, another German offensive was launched
especially around the approaches to Stalingrad. What followed can only
be described as a nine-month titanic battle, with the result that the
German Sixth Army in Russia was almost completely destroyed. That
was the beginning of the end for Germany, but it would take three more
years of desperate fighting, and millions and millions of people dead
before it was all over.
Battle of Stalingrad
 "...Effective command no longer possible... further
defense senseless. Collapse inevitable. Army
requests immediate permission to surrender in
order to save lives of remaining troops."
General Paulus' radio message to Hitler on January 24, 1943

"...Capitulation is impossible. The 6th

Army will do its historic duty at
Stalingrad until the last man,
the last bullet..."
Hitler's response to General Friedrich Paulus' request
to withdraw from the city
Total casualties for both sides are estimated to be over two
million. The Axis powers lost large numbers of men and
equipment, and never fully recovered from the defeat.
For the Soviets, who also suffered great losses during the
battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the start of the
liberation of the Soviet Union, leading to eventual victory
over Nazi Germany in 1945.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl
who was born in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Franks moved to the Netherlands in 1933 in an attempt

to escape the control of Nazi Germany and Hitler.
The Netherlands came under Nazi control as well, and
shortly after her 13th birthday, Annes family went into
hiding after her older sister Margot received an official
summons to report to a Nazi work camp in Germany.
Biography
Arrested
In August, 1944, the Frank family was betrayed by a still
unknown person who notified the authorities where they
were hiding.

The women were sent to Auschwitz; the men to other camps.

Annes mother died at Auschwitz; Anne and Margot died
within a day of each other of typhus at the Bergen-Belsen
camp.

Otto Frank, Annes father, was the only survivor among those
who hid in the annex.
In Hiding
The Franks and four friends, Hermann and Auguste van Pels
with their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer moved into Otto Franks
office building, living in a secret room behind a bookcase in a
small annex off the office.
Enter the bookcase...

Four of Mr. Franks employees, Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman,

Victor Kugler and BepVoskuijl, were a lifeline for the Franks and
the others living with them. They brought food, supplies and
news to the families in hiding for two long years.
The Diary of a Young Girl
Miep Geis, Otto Franks secretary, gathered Annes diary
shortly after the Franks arrest. She returned the book to
Mr. Frank upon his return to Amsterdam.

In spite of everything, I still believe people are good at heart.

Timeline
Victory in Europe
The Allies realized that, in order to win the war, they would
have to invade and conquer German-controlled Western
Europe.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of the Allied forces.
Eisenhower chose the coastal region of Normandy, France, as
the location for the Allied Invasion.
The Invasion Begins
General Eisenhower speaks to the Allied forces before the
invasion begins, encouraging them to victory.

General Eisenhower's Message

On the night of June 5, 1944, an invasion force of 175,000
and 6000 ships sailed from Great Britain toward the coast of
France.

June 6 would become known as D-Day the largest invasion

by sea in world history.
D-Day in Pictures

D-Day Pictures
Battle of the Bulge
In December, 1944, after months of liberating towns from
German control, the Allies face German forces in one final
attack.
The Battle of the Bulge turned into the biggest battle ever
fought by the US Army.
The Battle of the Bulge became the popular name for the
German counterattack in the Ardennes, December, 1944
January, 1945. It is also known as the Battle of the Ardennes.
On Dec. 16, 1944, a strong German force, commanded by
Marshal von Rundstedt, broke the thinly held American front
in the Belgian Ardennes sector.
The Battle of the Bulge
Taking advantage of the foggy weather and of the total
surprise of the Allies, the Germans penetrated deep into
Belgium, creating a dent, or bulge, in the Allied lines and
threatening to break through to the N Belgian plain and seize
Antwerp.
The Battle of the Bulge
The Americans held out at Bastogne, even though surrounded
and outnumbered.

German forces were then attacked from the north and the
south. After Dec. 24, better weather allowed for Allied
counterattacks. By Jan. 16, 1945, the German forces were
destroyed or routed. but not without some 77,000 Allied
casualties.

This battle turned into the biggest battle ever fought by the
United States Army.
V-E Day

As General Patton led the Allies across the border into

Germany into victory, the Soviet Union was invading
Germany from the east.

When Soviet troops neared Berlin, Adolf Hitler killed

himself.

On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered. The Allies named

this day V-E day for Victory in Europe.
 Victory in Asia
While the Allied forces
were retaking Europe,
General Douglas
MacArthur was planning
to fight his way to Japan
using a strategy called
island hopping.
 In February 1945, the US Marines invaded the small Pacific
Island of Iwo Jima, Japan.
 After taking Iwo Jima, American forces attacked the Japanese
Island of Okinawa.

While the Americans had taken several Japanese territories

and were now merely 350 miles from mainland Japan, they
feared an invasion of Japan may cost as many as 1,000,000
American lives.
Questions and Connections
How do Allied battle strategies in Europe compare to battle
strategies in the Pacific?

The war in Europe was fought primarily on land, with all three
of the Allied commanders participating. The war in the Pacific
was primarily a naval battle, with the Americans mostly in
charge.
A New President
On April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt
suddenly died. His Vice-President, Harry S.
Truman, took the oath of office.

Truman now faced the biggest decision of his

life. He was told that American scientists had
successfully tested the worlds first atomic
bomb in the New Mexico desert, and had two
more bombs ready for use.

He decided to bomb Japan, hoping to bring a

swift end to an already devastating war.
The A-bomb
On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb
on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb completely
destroyed the city and killed more than 80,000 people in just
a few seconds.

Little Boy
The A-bomb
Three days after Little Boy destroyed Hiroshima, second
bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan.

Fat Man

The bomb caused 70,000 instant deaths and many more from
the effects of the radiation. Japan unconditionally
surrendered six days later on August 15, 1945.
The Effects of the A-Bomb
V-J Day
With Japans surrender came the end of World War 2.
Timeline
 At the end of World War II, more than 50 million people,
both civilian and military, were dead. Countries were
destroyed, leaders removed from power, militaries
weakened. Millions were tortured and murdered. Millions
more lost everything they had.
After the War
The Yalta Conference was held in February, 1945, primarily
to discuss Europe's post-war reorganization.

Stalin expanded his Communist regime to include Poland and

East Germany, among other places.

Stalin was allowed to make these demands because of his political

affiliations with the Allies during the War. In retrospect, many believe
that Stalin should not have been trusted, and that his deception led to
the expanding of Communism in Eastern Germany.
After the war
Stalin argued that Soviet control over the countries on its
borders would help protect the Soviet Union from future
attacks.

The United States wanted these countries to remain

independent and did NOT want communism to expand.
However, because Roosevelt did not want negotiations to
stop, he agreed to Stalins conditions.

Korea was also divided between the United States and the
Soviet Union in order to rid it of Japanese forces.
After the war
The Soviet Union controlled much of Eastern and Central
Europe, including Eastern Germany, Finland, and Poland.

The United States stationed advisors in Western Germany

and Japan to help with their recovery.
The Marshall Plan
George C. Marshall, the US Secretary of State and a WW2
general, created the Marshall Plan.

The Marshall Plan allowed Congress to give more than $13

billion for European recovery.

Not only did the plan help Europe economically, it also

formed strong friendships between European countries and
the United States.
Continuing Aid

The United States wanted to help Europe recover from

WW2 for three reasons:
To help those suffering and in need,
To assist western European countries in becoming strong against the
Soviet Union, should the need arise,
To prevent the spread of Communism.
Effects of US Aid

As a result of US Aid, Japan and Germany became economic

powerhouses.

Economic aid allowed Japan and Germany to recover faster,

with more modern equipment, and less start up time.
After the war
In April 1945, leaders from 50 countries met to form the
United Nations or the UN. Its purpose was to find peaceful
solutions to international problems.
The Cold War
The Soviet Nation had control of much of eastern Europe,
with communism as their form of government. A communist
government controls business and land. Individuals have little
personal freedom.

The West had a different ideology and did not approve of nor
support the Soviet Union and their communist control.
The Cold War
Winston Churchill declared in 1946, An iron curtain has
descended across the continent.
The Cold War
Because of the differences in ideological beliefs, the United
States and the Soviet Union waged what is called The Cold
War.

The Cold War was waged with words and money more so
than weapons. Propaganda was a key element Radio Free
America would broadcast messages to people behind the Iron
Curtain letting them know they were not forgotten. The
Soviet Union would tell their people that Americans were
poor and that democracy did not work.
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http://www.biography.com/people/anne-frank-
9300892?page=3
http://www.hollistonreporter.com/article/5316/Diary-of-
Anne-Frank.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0806500.html