1941- The Dark Year

• Rommel was successful in North Africa

• Germany couldn’t take Britain so Hitler turned East.

• He had said in his book Mein Kampf, that Russia was to become the Liebensraum (living room) for Germans to expand into.

• Stalin knew this but hoped that Germany would wait a few more years

German General

• In June 1941 Germany invaded Russia and started the largest land war the world has ever known.

• The invasion was known as Operation Barbarossa.• 3 giant thrust were made into Russia.• The Russians were completely

unprepared (purges of the 30’s).• The Germans drove deep into Russia,

surrounding and capturing over a million Russian troops

• Germans were at the borders of Leningrad, and laid siege to it for the next 900 days.

• They were all the way to the outskirts of Moscow when the winter set in.

• It was called the Russian Winter – it was the worst in decades – Germans had no winter equipment – tanks froze, soldiers froze

America and Japan

• US was isolationist• Japan was expansionist• Japan decided to go after the resources in

the Pacific.• In order to eliminate their rival in the

Pacific, Japan needed to sink the US fleet.• Admiral Yamamoto planned the surprise

attack on Pearl Harbor• Attack on Pearl Harbor fails becasue

Japanese Admiral

Isoroku Yamamoto

Pearl Harbor