World War Ii

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

The Allied Powers

Britain, France and the United States were the 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

Blitzkrieg

The German’s new strategy literally means “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

European Theatre

As soon as Germany conquered France they 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

Pearl Harbor

Japan believed that one swift strike against 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.

Island Hopping

1941-1942 Japan captured numerous islands 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

D Day

June 6, 1944 more than 160,000 Allied 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

V-E Day

Germany launched one last major offensive in 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

Kristallnacht translates literally to the “Night of Broken Glass” 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

The Holocaust was an act of genocide, or an 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 https://youtu.be/DwKPFT-Rio U

The destruction and devastation from World War II was unprecedented Even today it seems unfathomable that this type of destruction ever took place