World War II

EQ: How do
the events of
WWII impact
world history?
Failures of the League of Nations
The League of Nations was designed to
keep peace and negotiate treaties in
order to prevent World War II

Their efforts were ineffective due to lack

of cohesion within and the lack of
support from the United States

The League’s failure to keep peace and

appeasement policies practiced by world
leaders led to World War II
The Axis Powers Germany, Italy and Japan would join together to
form the Axis Powers

As Germany and Italy would expand their

“empires” more countries would join the Axis
Alliance

The deal was for the three countries to work

together to eventually control the entire world
with Germany controlling Europe, Japan
controlling Asia and the Pacific and Italy
controlling Africa. They would then turn their
sights on the Americas
 Britain, France and the United States were the
The Allied Powers Major Allied Powers

Other parts of the British Empire would support

the Allied effort as well

Much like World War I, the United States would

not get involved immediately

The Soviet Union originally had signed a

nonaggression pact with Hitler, however when
Hitler breaks that agreement and invades Russia
the Soviets join the Allied Alliance

Fighting in both the European and Pacific

Theatre’s would prove to be extremely difficult
for the Allies.
 The War Begins
Just days before the war began, the
Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression pact was
signed which included a secret
agreement to divide Poland and other
parts of Eastern Europe

The War officially begins when Germany

invaded Poland in September 1939

Using their new technique Blitzkrieg,

Germany took Poland over in just 5
weeks

The Allies did not oppose them at all

 The German’s new strategy literally means
Blitzkrieg “lightning war”

The idea was to use rapid fire strikes from

the air and the ground to create holes in the
opposing defenses

Once holes were opened up the German

forces would rush in and cause chaos until
the country surrendered

It was extremely effective and successful,

which terrified the Allies
The European Theatre Many of the Allies, except the United States and the
Soviet Union, had all declared war on Germany, Italy
and Japan

In May 1940 the Germans used captured Belgium to

go around the French defenses, known as the Maginot
Line, and invade France.

Hitler quickly was able to overtake Allied forces and

300,000 allied troops were forced to escape through
the port at Dunkirk when they got cornered

Paris fell on June 14 and by June 22 France had

officially surrendered
 As soon as Germany conquered France they

European Theatre turned their attention to Britain

Their attacks against the British were less

successful due to the fact that the Germans
could not cross the English Channel unless they
destroyed the Royal Navy and the Royal Air
Force

Hitler attempted to wipe out the British Air

Force with bombing raids but when that failed
they started bombing civilian targets in London

The British never surrendered though and

Hitler eventually gave up in 1941 so he could
focus his attention on invading Russia
EQ: Why is 1941 a turning
point in the war?
Operation Barbarossa Hitler wanted to destroy the Jewish
population in the Soviet Union and
he wanted to provide lebensraum for
German people

Russia also had massive amounts of

resources the German’s needed and
after the failure of the Blitz he
wanted a decisive victory

June 22, 1941 Germany invaded the

Soviet Union breaking the non
aggression pact and forced the
Soviets to join the Allies
The War in Africa While Germany focused on Europe, Italy
focused on Africa

When Italy invaded Egypt in 1940 the

British were already prepared to
respond. Oil in the Middle East and
control of the Suez Canal were at risk.

Fighting in Northern Africa dragged out

for two years until Allied forces pushed
Italian forces in Africa to surrender,
soon the Allies pushed into mainland
Italy and Italy surrendered in 1943
The Pacific Theatre
The US placed economic
sanctions on Japan even
though they were staying out
of the war militarily

Without the US supplying oil

and other resources to Japan
they had to look to invade
China and East Asia

They believed the US was a

serious threat their plans to
expand in the Pacific
 Japan believed that one swift strike against
Pearl Harbor the US at the naval base at Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii would destroy the US Navy in the
Pacific

They also felt that this would make the US

reluctant to go to war with Japan

On December 7, 1941 Japanese pilots

attacked Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack
that destroyed 300 planes, 19 naval ships and
killed 2,300 people

The next day the US declared war on Japan

and formerly entered WWII, which was the
exact opposite result Japan had hoped for.
 1941-1942 Japan captured numerous islands
Island Hopping in the Pacific and was threatening India and
Australia

In June 1942 the US repelled an attack from

Japan at the Battle of Midway and was
perfectly positioned to retake territory seized
by Japan

They began taking territory back through

“Island Hopping” which meant working
towards Japan by seizing lightly defended
islands and then using them as bases to
support their next attack
 June 6, 1944 more than 160,000 Allied
D Day troops landed on the beaches of
Normandy

They were met with tremendous

resistance but the invasion gave the
Allies a foothold in France and by
August 25, 1944 Allied forces liberated
Paris

With victories in Paris, Stalingrad and

Normandy the Allies began marching to
Germany from both the Eastern and
Western fronts
 Germany launched one last major offensive in

V-E Day
December 1944 along the border of Germany and
Belgium at the Battle of the Bulge

They had some early success but they did not have
enough soldiers or fuel to sustain the battle

In early 1945 the Allies crossed the Rhine River and

officially entered Germany, moving toward Berlin

British and American forces allowed the Soviet Army

to capture Berlin, during which Hitler committed
suicide

The Leader of the German Forces signed a statement

of unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945 and the
next day became known as Victory in Europe Day
Progress in the Pacific
Thanks to Island Hopping, by the spring of 1945
American forces had reclaimed the Philippines and
were beginning to advance toward the Japanese
island of Okinawa

Even though the US captured Okinawa in June of

1945 the brutal fighting there made US officials
worried that invading the Japanese mainland
would be immensely costly

As British, Chinese and American forces resisted

Japan in other parts of Southeast Asia, The Allies
considered strategies to bring the war to the end
EQ: Why did the war in the Pacific
last longer than the war in Europe?
The War in the Pacific is Dragging Out
Japanese military tradition made the Japanese forces
often fight until the last man rather than surrender or
retreat

Because of this, even when the Allies won, casualty

rates were extremely high

Kamikaze pilots also caused lots of issues for the Allies

In 1945 President Harry Truman wanted to secure

unconditional surrender but they knew that invasion
of Japanese mainland would cost too much
 Pressure to End the War
The Soviets had promised to help in the fight against
Japan by August 8, 1945, but President Truman did
not want to co-occupy Japan after the war

In 1942 scientists had begun working on a secret

experiment called the Manhattan Project in order to
develop the Atomic Bomb

As the war in the Pacific dragged on, the Atomic

Bomb seemed to be the only way to secure
surrender from the Japanese
The Atomic Bombs and V-J Day
There was debate back then, and even still today, on if the
bomb was necessary or safe to use

August 6, 1945 the US dropped the first Atomic Bomb on

Hiroshima. When Japan refused to surrender the US
dropped a second Atomic Bomb three days later on
Nagasaki

The bombs destroyed everything within a mile of its path

and killed 140,000 people. The emperor surrendered on
August 15, 1945

VJ Day or Victory over Japan Day is collectively known as

August 8th, August 15th and September 2nd
The War is Over Now What?
The use of the Atomic Bomb forever changed the world
and brought about a new set of challenges in foreign
policy and diplomacy

Also the aftermath of the Holocaust and the war itself

was unprecedented leaving the Allies uncertain how to
precede in terms of rebuilding and establishing peace

The Nuremberg Trials would occur the year following

the war and the United Nations was formed in October
1945 and is still functioning today with 193 member
countries
Anti Semitism
Anti-Semitism is the term used to describe views or actions that harm or
discriminate Jews

For centuries Jews faced persecution in Europe as many felt they should be
punished for not accepting Christianity

Hitler utilized this ideology to push his way to power and blame the Jews for
Germany’s problems

The Holocaust began as just Anti-Semitic speech and gradually grew into the
extermination of an entire group of people
Progression Towards the Holocaust
Persecution of Jews by the Nazi became official law in 1933
after Hitler gained control of the German government

He first called for Germans to boycott Jewish owned

businesses

The Nuremberg Laws were approved on September 15,

1935

These laws defined Jews racially rather than religiously. If

you had more than two Jewish grandparents was excluded
from Jewish citizenship and other rights
EQ: Why is the Holocaust so horrifying?
 Kristallnacht translates literally to the “Night of Broken Glass”
Kristallnacht November 9, 1938 was an outbreak of violence against Jews
and Jewish Owned businesses

Hitler announced that day that the Nazis would not take formal
action against Jews but he would not stop any “spontaneous”
actions from the public. This seemed like implied permission for
the community to lash out against Jews.

Many Nazi leaders and supporters that night organized violent

attacks against Jews. German Police were ordered to let these
happen and the Firefighters did not respond to fires

From this night on more and more laws were put in place to
persecute Jews
Concentration Camps
Concentration Camp construction began
in 1933 and they increased in the 1940s

Prisoners at these camps were forced to

perform hard labor and live in miserable
and harsh conditions

Thousands died from starvation and

disease. Many others were killed outright

Some even became victims of cruel Nazi

Medical Experiments
 The Holocaust was an act of genocide, or an
The Holocaust attempt to eliminate all members of a
particular group of people

The Nazi’s program of genocide was carried

out by the German Government’s
Schutzstaffel (SS) originally Hitler’s
bodyguards

There were other groups persecuted by the

Nazis

By the end of the Holocaust and the camps

were liberated 6 Million Jews and countless
others had been killed.
Survivor Stories
Primo Levi - Italian Jew, survived Auschwitz

Elie Wiesel - Romanian Jew, survived Auschwitz

Roman Polanski - Polish Jew, survived the Krakow Ghetto

Inge Auerbacher - German Jew, Survived Dachau concentration camp

Boris Pahor - Slovakian Jew Living in Italy, Survived multiple relocations to different
concentration camps

Eva Schloss - Austrian Jew, Survived Auschwitz

People Who Saved the Jews
Oskar Schindler - Industrialist and Nazi Party Member, Saved
1,200 Jews

Antonina and Jan Zabinski - Husband & wife couple who owned
the Warsaw Zoo, Saved hundreds of Jews

Irena Sendler - Polish Catholic Social Worker, Saved 2,500

Jewish children

Giorgio Perlasca - Italian who became a Spanish Diplomat in

Turkey, Saved 5,000 Jews

Frank Foley - British Secret Service Agent, Saved 10,000 Jews

Raoul Wallenberg - Swedish humanitarian, Saved 100,000

people
The Aftermath The destruction and
https://youtu.be/DwKPFT-Rio
devastation from World
U War II was
unprecedented

Even today it seems

unfathomable that this
type of destruction ever
took place