World War 2

Dictators Threaten World

Peace
Nationalism Grips Europe and Asia

Postwar Brought:
oEconomic Conflicts
oPowerful Dictators
oNationalism
oDreams of territorial
Expansion
Failures of WW1 Peace Settlement
Treaty of Versailles caused ANGER and
RESENTMENT
Germans
o saw nothing fair about being blamed for the war
o Lost territories
Russians
o Mad that they lost territories
New democratic governments set up in
Europe did not last and it was easy for
dictators to take over
 Joseph Stalin & Soviet Union
Russia aka Soviet Union, 1922,
communist state
Lenin dies in 1924 Stalin takes power
 Stalin
Stalin means man of steel
Goal: Create a model
communist state
Goal: Move Russia from a
rural to an industrial state
All economic activity was
placed under the
governments control
By 1937, the Soviet Union
became the worlds second-
largest industrial power
 Stalin eliminated anyone
Stalin that stood in his way

Stalin is estimated to be
responsible for 8 to 13
million deaths (total is
not known)

AND millions more died

from a result of famine
when reconstructing the
Soviet Union
 Stalin
Totalitarian
Government=
o government that
exerts complete
control over its
citizens.
o Individuals have no
rights
o Government
suppresses all
opposition
Fascism in Italy
Benito Mussolini and
totalitarian government in Italy
Mussolini appealed to Italys
wounded national pride and
strikes by workers
Italy wants peace, work, and
calm. I will give these things
with love I possible, with force
if necessary. Benito
Mussolini
 Fascism

Fascism=
stressed nationalism
and places the
interests of the state
above those of
individuals
Power must rest with
the strong single
leader and a small
 Mussolini

Mussolini marches on
Rome with his
followers (Black
Shirts) and eventually
the Italian King
appointed Mussolini
head of the
government
The Nazis Take Over Germany
Born: April 20,
1889 in Austria-
Hungary
Poor student who
never completed
high school
He applied to the
Academy of Fine
Arts in Vienna, but
was rejected
He was convinced that it was a Jewish professor
that had rejected his art work; he became
convinced that a Jewish doctor had been
responsible for his mothers death; he cleared
the snow-bound paths of beautiful town houses
in Vienna where rich people lived and he
became convinced that only Jews lived in these
homes. By 1910, his mind had become warped
and his hatred of the Jews - known as anti-
Semitism - had become set.
Hitler served in WWI
In 1919 he joined the National Socialist
German Workers Party (Nazi)
o Didnt believe in Democracy or failed Capitalism of
the West
o Want to distribute wealth more equally
 Adolf Hitler
After WW1, Hitler was
a jobless soldier
1919, he joined the
Nationalist Socialist
German Workers
Party aka Nazi Party
(had no ties to
Socialism)
He was a powerful
speaker and organizer
In 1923, Hitler led in
uprising in Munich
against the Weimar
Republic
Imprisoned for 8
months (sentenced to 5
years)
Mein Kampf

Hitlers book, My
Stuggle, set forth
his basic beliefs of
Nazism that
became his plan of
action
1933, The legislature anointed Hitler dictator,
der Fuhrer
Soon he declared all labor unions and political
parties illegal except his own
Established the Gestapo= powerful police force
 Nazism

Nazism=
o German brand of fascism
o Extreme nationalism
o United all German-speaking people in a great
German empire
Nazi Ideology

Anti-Semitism
Nationalism
Militarism
Anti-communism
 Purification
Enforce racial
purification
In his view, Germans
(especially blue-eyed,
blond-haired Aryans)-
formed a master race
Inferior Races= Jews,
Slavs, and all
nonwhites, were only
fit to serve Aryans
 Nazi Expansion
Hitler believed that for
Germany to thrive
Germans needed more
living space even if that
meant getting that land by
force
Because of Germanys
economic depression after
WW1, Hitler had an easy
time getting men to join the
army (Why?- needed jobs)
 By 1932, Nazis had
Nazis Take Power
become the strongest
political party in
Germany
In 1933, Hitler was
appointed chancellor
(prime minister)
Hitler soon dismantled
Germanys democratic
government and
established the Third
Reich (Third German
Empire) and this
Reich would last
Militarists Gain Control of Japan

Japan wanted to
expand
Attack Manchuria and
take control of a
providence of China
League of Nations
condemned Japan for
doing this and Japan
dropped out of the
Aggression in Europe and Africa

Everyone noticed that the League of

Nations did nothing to Japan (especially in
Europe)
o Germany dropped out of the League and
attacked a land (Rhineland) that was taken
from them after WW1 and the League did
nothing to stop him
 Civil War Breaks Out in Spain
Francisco Franco and
Spanish army officers
revolted against Spanish
government and the
Spanish Civil War broke
out
Americans were worried
about fascism spreading
through Spain
Hitler and Mussolini helped
Franco and later formed an
U.S. Responds Cautiously

Americans were
shocked but believed
the U.S. would not get
involved
Antiwar feelings (so
strong that the Girl
Scouts of America
changed the color of its
uniforms from khaki to
 Neutrality Acts

Congress passed a series of laws

Outlawed arms sales or loads to nations at
war or engaged in civil war
 Neutrality Breaks Down
Roosevelt helped by
sending arms and supplies
to China after being
attacked by Japan again
He said this wasnt against
the Neutrality Acts because
Japan hadnt officially
declared war against China
Roosevelt spoke against
isolationism but many
accused Roosevelt of
bringing the US into
Section 2: War in Europe

Hitler wants Austria and

Czechoslovakia as part
of his Third Reich
Many advise Hitler that
this will lead to war, and
he said, The German
Question can be solved
only by means of force,
and this is never
 Union with Austria
In the Peace Conference
after WW1 Austria was
created out of the Austria-
Hungary
Majority of Austrians were
Germans who favored
unification with Germany
Hitler came in unopposed
and Austria was united with
Germany
The US and the rest of the
 Bargaining for the Sudetenland
Sudetenland= area in
Czechoslovakia that had about 3
million German-speaking people
Hitler accused the Czechs of
abusing the Sudeten Germans
France and Great Britain promised
to protect Czechoslovakia
Hitler invited leaders of France and
GB to Germany and he explained
that the Sudetenland would be his
last conquest
Munich Agreement was signed,
Winston Churchill
Churchill (political rival of
Chamberlain, who
signed the Treaty) did
not like this and called it
appeasement.
Appeasement= giving up
principles to pacify an
aggressor
The Germans Offensive Begins

Hitler soon marched

on Czechoslovakia
and gloated,
Czechoslovakia
has ceased to exist.
Next target: Poland
(Germanys eastern
neighbor)
Soviet Union Declares Neutrality
Hitler said that Germans in Poland were
being mistreated
o Many thought that if Hitler attacked Poland,
Russia would enter the war (Poland and Russia
and neighbors)
o France and Britain had promised military aid to
Poland
o Many thought Hitler would not be foolish to fight a
2 front war like in WW1
Nonaggression Pact= Hitler and Stalin
commit to never attack each other, and
Blitzkrieg in Poland
Germany storms Poland
Germanys newest
military strategy,
blitzkrieg, or lightning war
(fast tanks, powerful
aircraft, take enemy by
surprise and then quickly
crush the opposition)
2 days after the attack on
Poland, Britain and
 The Phony War
=France built a system
of fortifications along
Frances eastern
border (Maginot Line)
and waited for
Germany to attack
they never did
Meanwhile, Russia
attacked Poland,
Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania, and later
Finland
Hitler attacked Finland
Hitler went around the Maginot Line to
attack France
 Fall of France

Germanys surprise attack on northern Italy

Italy enters war on side of the Germans and
attacks France from the south
Germans occupied northern Italy and Hitler
set up a Nazi-controlled government in the
 The Battle of Britain
Germans attacked Britain
by air (Germany knew they
couldnt compete with their
navy)
For 2 months, Germans
bombed Britain everyday
RAF (Britains Royal Air
Force) fought back and with Churchill said in praise of the RAF
pilots, Never
in the field of
the help of the radar, human conflict was so

Germany eventually called much owed by so many to

so few.
Section 3: The Holocaust
 The Holocaust
Persecution Begins
Hitlers first move:
ordered all non-Aryans
to be removed from
government jobs
Holocaust= the
systematic murder of 11
million people across
 Jews Targeted

Anti-Semitism= hatred of Jews, had a long history in

many European countries
For many decades, Germans blamed Jews for
everything
Nuremberg Laws= stripped Jews of their German
citizenship, jobs and property
 Stars of David

To make them easier to identify, Jews had to

wear a bright yellow Star of David attached to
their clothing
 Kristallnacht
=Night of Broken
Glass
Nazi storm troopers
attacked Jewish homes,
businesses, and
synagogues across
Germany
Many were killed or
arrested
Later, the Nazis blamed
the Jews for the
A Flood of Jewish Refugees
Many Jews fled and became
refugees but they had no place
to go
France would only accept
40,000, Britain, 80,000 refugees
Many countries feared what
would happened if they let
Jewish refugees in.
The US let in 100,000 refugees,
but many Americans were
fearful that the immigrants would
hurt the economy more during
 Plight of the St. Louis
Coast guard refused to let
this German ocean liner
(filled with Jewish
refugees) stop in America
and forced them to return
to Europe.
Later, of these
passengers were killed in
the Holocaust
Significance: Indifference
(not caring) about the plight
 Hitlers Final Solution
Final Solution= a
policy of genocide,
the deliberate and
systematic killing of
an entire population
 The Condemned
Master Race= Aryans
Inferior Race=
o Communists
o Socialists
o Liberals
o Homosexuals
o Gypsies
o Jews
o Anyone who spoke out against the Nazi government
o Mentally deficient and ill, physically disabled, incurably ill
o Freemasons (supporters of the Jewish conspiracy to rule the
world)
o Jehovahs Witnesses (who refused to join the army or salute
Hitler)
SS

Nazi death
squads secret
squadrons
Rounded up
Jewish men,
woman and
 Forced Relocation

Forced in crowded ghettos

(segregated Jewish areas
in certain Polish cities)
Nazis sealed off ghettos
with barbed wire and stone
walls
Conditions were hard
inside
o Bodies of victims pilled in
 Concentration Camps
The brutecamps
=labor Schmidt was our guard; he beat and
kicked us if he
Originally thought we were
used for political not working fast
enough. He ordered
opponents his victims to lie down and
and protesters,
gave
butthem 25 lashes
later turned overwith a whip, ordering them to
to the
SS outloud. If the victim made a mistake he was
count
Crowded
given in barracks,
50 lashes30 or 40 of us were shot every
meager
day. A doctormeals, ratsprepared
usually and a daily list o the
flees, worked from dawn to
weakest men. During the lunch break they were
dusk
taken to a nearby grave and shot. They were
If you were too weak, you
replaced the following morning by new arrivals from
were killed
 Arriving at the Camps

When prisoners
arrived, doctors
determined whether
they were strong
enough to work or
not
Personal belongings
were collected,
promised that they
would be returned
 Showers
Weak were told to
undress and go to the
showers (gas
chambers)
Prisoners were even
given a bar of soap as
part of the deception
Poisoned with cyanide
gas that came from the
vents in the walls
Orchestras of fellow
camp inmates were
 Evidence of Mass Murder
Graves were being filled too fast
Smell of murder
Huge crematoriums, or ovens, to hide the
evidence
 Ways of Death
Shot
Hung
Injected with Poison
Starved
Gassed
Became medical experiments. Experiments
carried by camp doctors in order to study
diseases
Medical experiments of sterilization (to study
how to improve the master race)
 The Survivors
6 Million died
Some able to live through the concentration camps
Survivors were forever changed by what they
witnessed

Survival is both an exalted privilege an a painful

burden. Gerda Klein
 Section 4: America Moves Toward
War
Moving Away from
Neutrality (Roosevelt)
cash and carry
provision= allowed
nations in war to pay
cash for war items
and transport them in
their own ships
Many isolationist
criticized Roosevelt
 The Axis Threat
Axis Powers: Germany, Italy and Japan
Signed a mutual defense treaty
This treaty was aimed to keep the US out of the
war, because the US would not want to fight a 2-
ocean war (Atlantic & Pacific)
 Building U.S. Defenses

Roosevelt asked Congress to

increase spending for
national defense
Selective Training and
Service Act= nations first
peacetime military draft
o Under this law 16 million men
b/t the ages of 21 and 35 were
registered
Roosevelt Runs for a Third Term
FDR decided to break
tradition of a 2-term
presidency (started with
Washington) and run for
reelection
Little difference between
him and his running
mate (Wendel Willkie)
that people voted for the
 The Great Arsenal of
Democracy
FDR at Fireside Chat:
No man can tame a
tiger into a kitten by
stroking it.
It Britain was defeated,
FDR warned that all of
the world would be
under the power of the
Axis Powers
We need to help and
become the great
The Lend-Lease Plan
President would lend or
lease arms and other
supplies to any country
who defense was vital to
the United States.
FDR compared it to
lending a garden hose to
a neighbor whose house
is on fire. The only thing
you can do to save your
 Supporting Stalin
Hitler broke promises he
made with Stalin to not
invade Russia
US decides to help
Russia under the idea
that the enemy of my
enemy is my friend
Churchill said that if
Hitler invaded Hell, the
British would be
prepared to work with
 German Wolf Pack

With supplies going to his

enemies, Hitler, again
unleashed German
submarines (U-boats)
U-boats were successful
FDR gave permission to
sink German ships in self-
defense
Radar helped
Airborne antisubmarine
 Atlantic Charter

Churchill and FDR meet on a battleship USS

Augusta
Atlantic Charter= promises to each other (collective
security, disarmament, economic cooperation and freedom of seas)

FDR said he couldnt ask Congress for a declaration of

Undeclared War with Germany
U-boats attacked, Americans were killed
Undeclared naval war with Hitler
This did not bring us into the war.yet!
 Hideki Tojo- chief of
Japan
Japans army, launched
invasion of China
British were too busy
with Hitler to block
Japanese expansion
Only the US and its
Pacific islands remained
in the way
Japan took over bases in
Vietnam, Cambodia and
Laos
US protested by cutting
off trade with Japan
Japan couldnt survive
Peace Talks are Questioned

Tojo met with emperor

Hirohito and promised that
their government would
attempt to preserve peace
with Americans
But, Tojo ordered the navy to
prepare for an attack on the
US
 Hints of an Attack
US military broke Japans
secret communication codes
and learned Japan was
preparing for an attack.
US didnt know where attack
would be
FDR sent war warnings to
Hawaii, Guam and
Philippines
US didnt want to attack and
thus waited for an overt act
Japan denied any talks of
 Pearl Harbor
6 Japanese aircraft carriers, 180 air
bombers
Radio operator flashed this message,
Air raid on Pearl Harbor. This is not a
drill.
For an hour and a half, the Japanese
planes attacked without disturbance of
US
Americans killed: 2,403
Wounded: 1,178
Ships Sunk/Damaged: 21, 8
Battleships
Pearl Harbor had more losses than in
all of WW1
 Reaction to Pearl Harbor
Yesterday, December 7,
1941, a date with will live
in infamy, the Japanese
launched an unprovoked
and dastardly attack.-
FDR

US declared war on
Japan
Germany and Italy
 War and the Depression

War efforts did more to help the US

economy than all the New Deal programs
o Companies had army materials to make
o Factories needed workers
Chapter 17: The US in WW2
 Section 1: Mobilizing for
Defense
Selective Service
System= added 10
million soldiers (5
million had already
volunteered)
GI= American
soldiers
Trained for 8 weeks
 Expanding the Military
WAAC= Womens
Auxiliary Army
Corps, women
volunteers who
could serve in
noncombat
positions
o Nurses, ambulance
drivers, radio
operators, electricians
and pilots
o Later they received the
same benefits as male
 Minorities in the War
Some believed this wasn't their war to fight,
especially when they did not have democracy
themselves
Mexican-Americans= 300,000
African-Americans= 1,000,000
Chinese-Americans= 13,000
Japanese-Americans= 33,000
o Some worked as spies and interpreters
Native-Americans= 25,000
 Industrial Response
Factories were converted to
war production

Car Makers tanks, planes,

boats, and command car
Mechanical Pencils bomb
parts
Bedspread manufacturer
mosquito netting
Soft drink company filled
 Labors Contribution
18 million workers in factories
6/18 million were women
Many would not hire minorities
 A. Philip Randolph
Nations most respected
African-American labor
leader
Organized a march on
Washington
Roosevelt back down and
issued an executive order
calling all employers to
hire without
discrimination because of
 Mobilization of Scientists

OSRD= Office of Scientific

Research and Development
Radar
Sonar
Pesticides to fight off insects
Penicillin
ATOMIC BOMB
 Manhattan Project

Germans had already succeeded in splitting

uranium atoms
Albert Einstein (German refugee) warned
Roosevelt of Germanys growing abilities
Manhattan Project= research work of the
atomic bomb (performed at Columbia
 Federal Govt. Takes Control
OPA= Office of Price Administration, prices were
rising, Roosevelt fixed/froze prices
WPB= War Production Board, decided which
companies were work on wartime production
o Nationwide drives to collect scraps
o Kids searched attics, cellars, garages for useful junk
 Rationing

OPA set up a
system of
rationing
= fixed
allotments of
goods
Gas rationing
Carpools
Section 2: The War for Europe and
North Africa
2 days after Pearl Harbor Churchill wired
Roosevelt, would it be wise for us to
have another conferenceand the sooner
the better.
 War Plans

Churchill arrived at
the White House and
worked out war
plans with Roosevelt
Churchill convinced
FDR that Hitler was
a greater threat than
Japan
 Battle of the Atlantic

Germany and U boats

Allies responded by
organizing cargo ships
into convoys
With radar and sonar,
the US could spot the
German boats and
destroy them
Battle of the Atlantic
 Battle of Stalingrad
Germans were attacking Soviet Union
Stalingrad= major industrial center, and a
city that Hitler wanted to wipe out
Citizens wanted to abandon the city, but
Stalin ordered that they defend his
namesake city no matter what
By the next winter, Germans controlled 9/10
of the city
During winter Soviets brought in fresh tanks
and trapped the Germans
Starving Germans surrendered
Soviets lost 1,100,000 soldiers (more than
the Americans in the entire war) defending
Stalingrad
From then on, Soviets took control and
 The North African Front
Dwight D. Eisenhower led an invasion against
Axis controlled North Africa (Operation Torch)
The Italian Campaign

Churchhill and
Roosevelt decided that
they would only accept
the unconditional
surrender of the Axis
Powers
America wanted to
attack Germany
Britain thought it was
 Heroes in Combat
99th Pursuit Squadron-all black pilot
squadron
o Impressive strikes against Germans,
award winning
92nd Infantry Division- all African
American unit, nicknamed- Buffalos
Mexicans served in segregated units,
but were still awarded Medals of
Honor
100th Battalion- 1,300 Hawaiian Nisei
(Americans whose parents had
emigrated from Japan)
 D-Day
3 million British, American and
Canadian troops
Attack at Normandy in northern France
Code Name: Operation Overlord
June 6, 1944
Shortly after midnight, thousands
landed
Largest land-sea-air operation in army
history
 D-day
German retaliation brutal,
especially on Omaha Beach
People were yelling,
screaming, dying, running
on the beach, equipment
was flying everywhere, men
were bleeding to death,
crawling, lying everywhere,
firing coming from all
directionsWe dropped
down behind anything that
The Allies Gain Ground
Allies gained
influenced
By 1944, the
Allies had freed
France, Belgium
and Luxembourg
This helped FDR
become elected
to an
unprecedented
 The Battle of the Bulge
=Hitlers last ditch effort on the
offensive
SS Germans soldiers pushed
forward
Captured 120 GIs and shot
them down in a huge field
Germans lost 120,000 troops,
600 tanks and 1,600 planes-
soldiers and weapons they
could not replace
From this point on, the Nazis
Liberation of the Death Camps
As Soviets and Allied troops
pushed into Germany, SS
soldiers tried to destroy the
Nazi death camps but they
ran out of time
When Soviets arrived in
Poland, they found 1,000
starving prisoners barely live,
the worlds largest
crematorium and a

Liberation of the Death Camps
We started smelling a terrible odor and suddenly we were
at the concentration camp at Landsberg. Forced the gate
and faced hundreds of starving prisonersWe saw
emancipated men whose thighs were smaller than wrists,
many had bones sticking out thru their skinsAlso we
saw hundreds of burned and naked bodiesThat evening
I wrote my wife that For the first time I truly realized the
evil of Hitler and why this war had to be waged.
Robert T. Johnson
 Unconditional Surrender
Soviets stormed on
Berlin, shooting on the
spot or hanging from the
nearest tree
Hitler was in his
underground head-
quarters
He married Eva Braun,
his longtime companion
Wrote his last letter
blaming Jews for starting
 Hitlers Death

Hitler shot himself, while

Eva drank poison
In accordance with Hitlers
orders, the bodies were
carried outside, soaked with
gasoline, and burned

V-E Day-Victory in Europe

Day
 Roosevelts Death

Roosevelt did not live to

see V-E Day
While posing for a
portrait in Georgia, the
president had a stroke
and died
That night, VP, Harry S.
Truman became the